Photo: Barbie Hull
The community-driven Revealing Queer exhibit surveyed how the Puget Sound lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community has grown, changed, become more visible, and worked towards equality. Informed throughout by the experiences of this incredibly diverse population, the exhibit traced LGBTQ history from an emerging underground group in the years before the Stonewall Riots of 1969, to the large and politically active community that helped make marriage equality law in Washington State in 2012.
Visitors discovered this complex history through a variety of themes, including language, significant cultural spaces, queer celebrations, regional law, and more. The artifacts, photographs, and documents that filled the exhibit came both from MOHAI collections and from donors across the country—many had not been seen before by the public.
This exhibit was the result of collaboration between many individuals and organizations, led by Erin Bailey and Nicole Robert, co-founders of Queering the Museum—an ongoing project to uncover and share LGBTQ stories in institutions across the country. Bailey and Robert worked closely with a Community Advisory Committee composed of representatives from local LGBTQ organizations to create Revealing Queer.
The Queering the Museum Project Facilitates dialogue between community members and museum practitioners.
The Queering the Museum (QTM) Project is an ongoing coordinated intervention into representations of LGBTQ people in museums, and addresses the role that museums play in forming social norms around gender and sexuality. QTM aims to facilitate critical dialogues between community members and museum practitioners, addressing the role that museums play in forming social norms around gender and sexuality.
Revealing Queer was co-curated by Erin Bailey and Nicole Robert, founders of the Queering the Museum Project. This exhibit is the result of collaboration between many individuals and organizations.
MOHAI.org aims to support every possible visitor, but you may experience some technical difficulties.