Texas A&M Exhibit Highlights LGBTQIA+ History

In its first large-scale collaboration with the LGBTQ community, Texas A&M’s Cushing Memorial Library and Archives highlights local queer history, including some special memorabilia from Houston.

Coming Out Together to Share Our History: LGBTQIA+ Collections in College Station, Houston, and Beyond runs through December 16, and is a must-see slice of local queer history and everyday life.

“It’s very important now,” says Dr. Francesca Marini, programming and outreach librarian of the Cushing Memorial Library, who proposed the exhibit idea as a way for the library to support and partner with various communities and area universities to showcase their shared history. “With so much in the news about anti-[LGBTQ] laws and pushback, it’s important for us to connect with Houston and surrounding communities to show that we are progressive and open.”

Texas A&M hasn’t always been that way. In 1976, the university refused to recognize a gay student organization. It wasn’t until 1984 that the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the First Amendment required the university to recognize the group. Today, the school has a Pride Center and an impressive program of queer studies. 

“The library has a large LGBTQIA+ collection,” says Dr. Marini. “I knew that the University of Houston (UH) did, as well, so we met together a few years ago and started to brainstorm what we could do together. This exhibit is the first step.”

“I’m really glad to see this broad, collaborative exhibit come together, showcasing not only the deep history of queer communities across Texas, but the broad array of individuals and organizations dedicated to preserving and sharing that history,” says Brian Riedel, associate director of Rice University’s Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. He is one of the collaborators for Marini’s project.

Besides Rice, Marini reached out to the UH Libraries LGBT History Research Collection, the The Black LGBTQ Houston History & Heritage Project—Charles Law Community Archive at the African American Library at the Gregory School, The Banner Project, the Gulf Coast Archive and Museum of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender History, Inc. (GCAM), Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin, The JD Doyle Archives, and The Botts Collection of LGBT History. 

Notable materials from these partner collections include selections from The Banner Project, a section of a bar top commemorating the community and history of Mary’s (an iconic ’70s bar in Houston), and video clips of oral histories that will be screened in the exhibit space. Cushing Library has drawn from their extensive LGBTQIA+ collections to add memorabilia from various queer events like the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation, a copy of The Intersexes, the first English-language defense of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other materials from their various LGBTQIA+ collections. Dr. Marini notes that the A&M library was chosen for the exhibit because they have the largest exhibit space featuring two floors of display cases.

“There is an entire case dedicated to Monica Roberts,” says Marini about Houston’s groundbreaking transgender advocate, “and a decorated chair on loan from the Gulf Coast Archive that is a collage of 45 years of history—both good and bad.”

“I love this beautiful chair from the Gulf Coast Archive,” agrees Rebecca Hankins, the Wendler Endowed Professor at Texas A&M. “It depicts 45 years of LGBTQIA+ local Texas history and across the U.S. It was created for a ‘Chair-ity’ auction at The Ripcord leather bar in Houston.”

“A Rice-specific example would be the ephemera from the Rice PRIDE collection and the evolution of this student organization from its founding in 1979 to the present day,” says Rebecca Russel, also of Rice. “The organization first appeared in the Rice yearbook as The Rice Gay/Lesbian Support Group. The photo did not include real names of members, and most of the people have their faces covered, out of concern. That organization has evolved to be both more visible and more inclusive, illustrating the greater acceptance in society but also the need for continued acceptance, activism, and allyship.”

Houston’s tireless archivist of LGBTQ history, J.D. Doyle, sent several items for the A&M exhibit. “I was honored to be included, and came up with several suggestions for items in my own collection that could be used,” he says. “A number of these were selected, such as display posters representing historical LGBT businesses that Sara Fernandez and I had designed a number of years ago. Along with Kirk Baxter, we also represent The Banner Project, so a number of individual banners were chosen to display. They make bold and colorful ‘instant history’ pop-ups. Another representation were several framed posters of the plays directed by Joe Watts, who played a prominent role in the arts community.”

What: Coming Out Together to Share Our History: LGBTQIA+ Collections in College Station, Houston, and Beyond
When: through December 16
Where: Texas A&M’s Cushing Memorial Library and Archives, 400 Spence St., College Station
Info: library.tamu.edu