In another historic first, two documents from the Frank Kameny archives are now on display in the Library of Congress's ongoing show "Creating the United States." The inclusion marks the first time the library has displayed papers advocating LGBT equality, and they have not ghettoized the LGBT artifcats but incorporated them as a natural component of the exhibit on the Constitution, which opened in April 2008. My partner was instrumental in getting Kameny's papers into the library's permanent collection and he has the first quote in the AP story out today:
“This inclusion is an epic milestone in the telling of gay history because it places gay Americans’ struggle for equality where it belongs — in the story of the Constitution itself,” Charles Francis, a founder of the Kameny Papers Project, told The Associated Press.
The two documents are Kameny's petition to the Supreme Court -- which we now know was rejected 9-0 fifty years ago this spring -- and John Macy's infamous "Revulsion Letter" to Kameny, establishing the government's antigay policy for decades. The papers will be on display approximately six months.
(Above, Charles' photo of Frank, 85, attending the exhibit.)
Wonderful. On all counts.
Posted by: Sandy | May 09, 2011 at 10:29 AM