The forthcoming American LGBTQ+ Museum, which is slated to open in 2024 as an extension of the New-York Historical Society, is planning a week of virtual and in-person events in October to mark LGBTQ History Month.
“LGBT History Month occurs in October specifically because of the number of important historical moments in LGBTQ+ history that happened in October,” Leti Gomez, the programming committee co-chair of the American LGBTQ+ Museum, said in a written statement.
The festivities will begin on October 11 with a virtual panel discussion commemorating the 35th anniversary — to the day — of the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, which coincided with the urgent fight against the AIDS epidemic. Ann Northrop, who was at the march and currently serves as co-host of the show “Gay USA,” will moderate the discussion alongside activists who will look back on the organizing effort and the impact of the march, according to museum officials. Panelists will include three others who were there that day: Leti Gomez, Joyce Hunter, and Steve Ault.
The event, which starts at 6:30 p.m., will also feature a screening of the 1990 documentary “For Love and for Life: The 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.” Learn more about the event on Eventbrite.
Three days later, on October 14 at 6 pm., the museum will team up with the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts to discuss the motivations behind the Salem witch trials and attempt to return “the queer perspective to narratives of paganism, religious persecution, and magic.”
Panelists will include Marcelitte Failla, an educator, researcher, and scholar of African heritage religions; Christopher Penczak, who co-founded the Temple of Witchcraft tradition and community; and Raquel Salas Rivera, a poet, translator, editor, and founding member of the Yerbamala Collective. Following the discussion, attendees will be able to tour the exhibition and there will be a performance and a reading. Learn more about the event at nyhistory.org. A registration link will come at a later date.
On October 16, the museum will conclude the week by partnering up with NewFest, the LGBTQ film festival, to mark 20 years since “The Cockettes” documentary highlighted a San Francisco performance group that emerged in the late 1960s featuring hippies in drag. The documentary won the LA Film Critics Award for Best Documentary of 2002.
There will be a film screening of “The Cockettes” at 6:30 p.m., followed by a post-screening Q&A with directors David Weissman and Bill Weber. Learn more at Newfest.org.
