The U.S. Department of the Interior is hosting a panel discussion of historians, scholars and preservationists today to discuss ways to educate the public about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history.
The event kicks off a National Park Service theme study to identify and interpret places and events connected to the story of the LGBT community so that they can be included in parks and programs.
“There are sites that have played important roles in our nation’s ongoing struggle for civil rights,” says Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. “The theme study will help ensure that we understand, commemorate and share these key chapters in our nation’s complex and diverse history.”
Currently, the Stonewall Inn in New York City is the sole LGBT-associated site that has designation as a National Historic Landmark for its significance in U.S. history. In 1969, patrons of the Stonewall Inn, a bar frequented by LGBT individuals, rioted to protest long-running police harassment. The incident is widely recognized as launching the LGBT civil rights movement.
The Park Service theme study is part of a broader initiative by President Barack Obama to ensure that the agency educates and interprets for the public the most complete story possible about Americans. The LGBT effort joins ongoing heritage initiatives to celebrate minorities and women who have made significant contributions to U.S. history and culture. Those theme studies focus on women, Latinos and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Over the course of the next 12 to 18 months, the Park Service will work with scholars and historians to explore ways to commemorate LGBT history. Scholars who have been invited to participate in today’s panel discussion are from institutions such as the University of Illinois at Chicago; the University of Maryland; the University of North Carolina, Charlotte; and Yale, Stanford, Florida State and San Francisco State universities.
The theme study occurs at a time when support for LGBT rights still remains uneven around the country.
