WYOMISSING, Pa. — As part of Campus Pride Month, "The Long Road to LGBTQ+ Equality in Pennsylvania" is a traveling history exhibit that chronicles the efforts that activists have undertaken in Pennsylvania to achieve full equality for LGBTQ+ people. The exhibition will be on view in the Penn State Berks Thun Library from April 11 to 22, and it is free and open to the public.
According to the LGBT Center of Central PA website: With the lack of success in passing statewide legislative protections from discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations, and education, activists have been working for more than five decades to obtain these protections one battle at a time, one municipality at a time. The exhibit uses case studies of several cities and townships to highlight not just the political struggles, but the personal stories as well.
Protesters advocate for LGBTQI+ rights in this historic photo from "The Long Road to LGBTQ+ Equality" exhibition.
This exhibit tells these stories through historical narrative, photographs and video of activists’ first-person accounts who were involved in the struggles to achieve protection from discrimination. Along the way, they faced some of the very discrimination they were seeking to protect their communities from, including harassment, physical assault, arson and bombings.
"The Long Road" exhibit is sponsored by the PA LGBT History Network. Administrative support is being provided by the LGBT Center of Central PA on behalf of the Network. This exhibit is made possible through the contributions of The Schlegel-Deibler Charitable Foundation, The Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld Fund, The Montgomery County LGBT Business Council, and individual contributors, as well as in-kind services from several organizations and individuals.
About the The PA LGBT History Network
The PA LGBT History Network is a cooperative group of organizations, institutions and individuals that have an interest in LGBTQ+ history. It engages people in discovering Pennsylvania’s LGBTQ+ history, historic sites, history projects, artifacts and archival collections, and to facilitate collaboration between the organizations, institutions and individuals that provide stewardship of this heritage.
