With material drawn from hundreds of institutions and organizations, including both major international activist organizations and local, grassroots groups, the documents in this database present important aspects of LGBTQ life in the second half of the twentieth century and beyond. The archive illuminates the experiences not just of the LGBTQ community as a whole, but of individuals of different races, ethnicities, ages, religions, political orientations, and geographical locations that constitute this community.
Historical records of political and social organizations founded by LGBTQ individuals are featured, as well as publications by and for lesbians and gays, and extensive coverage of governmental responses to the AIDS crisis. The archive also contains personal correspondence and interviews with numerous LGBTQ individuals, among others. The archive includes gay and lesbian newspapers from more than 35 countries, reports, policy statements, and other documents related to gay rights and health, including the worldwide impact of AIDS, materials tracing LGBTQ activism in Britain from through , and more.
It provides new perspectives on a diverse community and the wealth of resources available in the archive allow for creating connections amongst disparate materials.
One of the fascinating aspects of the archive is the availability of materials such as oral history transcripts, diaries, and letters that provide a deeply personal and human interpretation of the LGBTQ experience. Some describe life in a community that was less than tolerant of homosexual lifestyles.
Other accounts detail lives well-lived, unhindered by archaic social mores, offering inspiration and a source of pride for future generations. The Archives of Sexuality and Gender: Sex and Sexuality, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century looks at gender and sexuality in the centuries leading up to, and inclusive of, the period covered in Parts I and II, providing context to the materials in those collections. It examines topics such as patterns of fertility and sexual practice; prostitution; religion and sexuality; the medical and legal construction of sexualities; and the rise of sexology.
