2004 Campus-Community Partnerships

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Unearthing Self Esteem: Gay Los Angeles Documented

Abstract:

In 1967, CBS News called the average American reaction to homosexuality disgust and fear. In 37 years, these attitudes have largely reversed. Unearthing Self Esteem will document this social revolution. The project will utilize gay youth to process unique records and artifacts tracing the struggle of lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual (LGBT) people for use in an exhibition. The breakthrough Mattachine Society in 1951, the first National Lesbian Conference held at UCLA in 1973 and other events will show Los Angeles holds an unsung place in this ongoing civil rights struggle.

This collaboration between the UCLA Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender Resource Center and ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives in Central Los Angeles will have a broad impact. The exhibition will travel to other local and national venues, with a commemorative booklet and associated programming. A virtual version of the exhibit will be posted on the web, providing long-term sustainability for this project. To fully research this exhibition, a diverse array of student researchers from UCLA and local community colleges will be hired to process materials that have been donated to ONE, the nation s largest collection of LGBT research materials and cultural records.