The LGBT Legacy Project

Out in the 216: A Shared Perspective

Art show runs through July 6th
Sophie La Gourmande
2275 Lee Rd, Cleveland Heights, OH 44118

Charlotte Wells
I take pleasure painting in pastels, acrylics, and charcoal and find ideas from my photos, internet and the great outdoors.

The time I get to spend in my home studio listening to peaceful music and playing with my crayons is better than I could ever have imagined.

Valda Lewis
My art in the exhibit is ink-transfer & acrylic on canvas, inspired by a walking tour of street art and graffiti in Berlin (2016). There, I was surrounded by a public mishmash of political and social self expression on giant canvases — buildings, trains, streets, bridges, rooftops — it was literally everywhere. The anger, immediacy and passionate political thought was palpable.

LGBTQ+ History Special Exhibit
Sponsored by the LGBT Legacy Project

Legends and Heroes

LGBTQ+ HISTORY IS BEING ERASED

Our past can guide our future only
if it is remembered and preserved
for the coming generations

From Where We Stood:
AIDS & the Culture Wars

About the Documentary

The documentary looks at the continued rise of the LGBT Movement during the 1980’s – 1990’s. A movement that had cohesion of purpose, fueled by Stonewall and ignited by Anita Bryant’s “Save Our Children” campaign in 1977.

The documentary will place into the historical record stories from the Midwest and Deep South in regard to both the political advances and setbacks of the era. Parallel and interwoven stories of HIV/AIDS are told through those who experienced and survived these tumultuous years, and some that did not.

The cities included are guided by the producer’s own journey – from New Orleans (1983) to Dallas, Texas (1993), Wichita Kansas (1995) and finally to Cleveland OH (2002 – present day).

The documentary frames the progress of a strong but scattered LGBT movement in the 1970s into a cohesive national force by the 1990s. This still only partially visible community of social activists took on the task of gaining their civil rights. They also took on the task of caring for people within that community who had contracted HIV/AIDS.

A vast collection of broadcast quality footage from the era is at the producer’s disposal. Beginning in 1986, and for over ten years, she created LGBT programming for a local access cable TV, shooting locally and attending national conferences. Many of the storytellers are in the original footage, providing fascinating insights into the emotionally charged political struggles of the times.

Read the Whole Thing

MADE IN CLEVELAND

“Beautiful. You tell the story as one of us who lived and loved through it all. You had the emotional courage to take us back to the horror that it was with the heroes and heroines of then and now.

The thread of love and courage in the face of discrimination, disease and death serves as a tribute to our community for its strength during those dark times. It offers us hope as we confront dark days that threaten us now. Bravo.”

~ Ron Joullian, New Orleans, November 2024

What we need

We are writing grants again, but the funding climate for us is brutal in today’s world.

I am unable to pay my assistant on a regular basis, which is slowing things down,  
and we have licensing fees to cover on any outside copyrighted material used.