Making a Global Impact, Even During a Pandemic

by Gerard Koskovich

The year 2021 marks the 10th anniversary of the GLBT Historical Society Museum — a birthday worth celebrating. The global health crisis has not pushed aside our desire for LGBTQ history. Instead, the concerns caused by the pandemic have sharpened our need to stake a distinctive claim in the passage of time and to find lessons for the present in the queer past.

As a founding member, former board member and ongoing consultant for the Historical Society, I’ve become more aware than ever in the past year of the significance of the museum for people around the world. Individuals who have not yet visited our space in the Castro District are attuned to the society’s work, viewing online exhibitions and participating in programs remotely. I’ve had the privilege of joining colleagues in curating one such recent exhibition and in presenting several programs. The response has been extraordinary, with a striking number of international attendees.

Sharing Principles & Best Practices

Just as important: Professionals in museum studies and sister organizations in LGBTQ public history have looked to us to share our principles and best practices. For instance, the guest editors of an “LGBTQI+ Museums” special double issue of the journal Museum International invited Amy Sueyoshi, Don Romesburg and me to discuss our observations as stakeholders who have curated several exhibitions at the museum. In their introduction, the editors praise the society as an organization whose “transformative work is based on grassroot strategies and the personal involvement of community members.”

For a public history example, we can look to the Collectif Archives LGBTQI, the association working to open a queer archives in Paris, whose members have cited the GLBT Historical Society in making the case for their project. I helped the Collectif draft an open letter arguing that LGBTQ community-based organizations are uniquely qualified to document and display our past. Endorsed by 45 queer museums, archives and history groups in 22 countries, the letter appeared in January in the daily Libération. Shortly thereafter, the Paris City Council voted unanimously in favor of the Collectif’s proposal.

Even as we look forward to the day the society can reopen its galleries to exhibit tangible objects of our history and to welcome visitors in person, our members and supporters can take pride in the global reach of the museum we have created together. The pandemic may be keeping those of us who love the queer past apart physically, but it can’t stop us from crossing borders to share our dream of an ever-growing family of LGBTQ public history organizations worldwide.

Gerard Koskovich is queer public historian and rare book dealer who customarily divides his time between San Francisco and Paris. For a sampling of his publications, visit his page on Academia.edu.