New Initiative Seeks to Preserve Alabama LGBTQ Histories

 ========= Old Image Removed =========Array
(
    [_wp_attached_file] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2017/12/Crimson_White_1992_Kiss_Off_Article-scaled.jpg
        )

    [_wp_attachment_metadata] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:6:{s:5:"width";i:2560;s:6:"height";i:1872;s:4:"file";s:54:"2017/12/Crimson_White_1992_Kiss_Off_Article-scaled.jpg";s:5:"sizes";a:14:{s:6:"medium";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:47:"Crimson_White_1992_Kiss_Off_Article-336x246.jpg";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:246;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:5:"large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:47:"Crimson_White_1992_Kiss_Off_Article-771x564.jpg";s:5:"width";i:771;s:6:"height";i:564;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:47:"Crimson_White_1992_Kiss_Off_Article-140x140.jpg";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:12:"medium_large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:47:"Crimson_White_1992_Kiss_Off_Article-768x562.jpg";s:5:"width";i:768;s:6:"height";i:562;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"1536x1536";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:49:"Crimson_White_1992_Kiss_Off_Article-1536x1123.jpg";s:5:"width";i:1536;s:6:"height";i:1123;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"2048x2048";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:49:"Crimson_White_1992_Kiss_Off_Article-2048x1497.jpg";s:5:"width";i:2048;s:6:"height";i:1497;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:45:"Crimson_White_1992_Kiss_Off_Article-80x80.jpg";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:47:"Crimson_White_1992_Kiss_Off_Article-600x338.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:338;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:47:"Crimson_White_1992_Kiss_Off_Article-600x600.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:47:"Crimson_White_1992_Kiss_Off_Article-425x311.jpg";s:5:"width";i:425;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:47:"Crimson_White_1992_Kiss_Off_Article-362x265.jpg";s:5:"width";i:362;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:28:"ab-block-post-grid-landscape";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:47:"Crimson_White_1992_Kiss_Off_Article-600x400.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:400;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:25:"ab-block-post-grid-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:47:"Crimson_White_1992_Kiss_Off_Article-600x600.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:47:"Crimson_White_1992_Kiss_Off_Article-125x125.jpg";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}}s:10:"image_meta";a:12:{s:8:"aperture";s:1:"0";s:6:"credit";s:0:"";s:6:"camera";s:0:"";s:7:"caption";s:0:"";s:17:"created_timestamp";s:1:"0";s:9:"copyright";s:0:"";s:12:"focal_length";s:1:"0";s:3:"iso";s:1:"0";s:13:"shutter_speed";s:1:"0";s:5:"title";s:0:"";s:11:"orientation";s:1:"0";s:8:"keywords";a:0:{}}s:14:"original_image";s:39:"Crimson_White_1992_Kiss_Off_Article.jpg";}
        )

    [_media_credit] => Array
        (
            [0] => Maigen Sullivan
        )

    [_navis_media_credit_org] => Array
        (
            [0] => Invisible Histories Project Alabama
        )

    [_navis_media_can_distribute] => Array
        (
            [0] => 
        )

)
1617017455 
1513605278

Many people in the South’s LGBTQ community often think their histories don’t matter. This is especially prevalent in Alabama where a recorded history of this community doesn’t exist. But historian Josh Burford is trying to change that. He’s one of the founding members of the Invisible Histories Project Alabama. The new initiative is aimed at finding, recording and preserving what Burford calls the “always vanishing” stories of LGBTQ Alabamians.

On what he means by “always vanishing” histories

Well, the queer community has lost so much history since the mid 1980s. The AIDS epidemic wiped out one entire generation of community leaders, and their histories were oftentimes intentionally destroyed. We can’t even conceptualize the things that we’ve lost because we don’t really know at this point what we have.

On what he’s learned about the history of Alabama

Even a person like myself who teaches queer history all the time was wrong. There’s this mythology about the South that either queer people don’t exist here because by why would we; because of small “c” conservatives and religion. As if somehow queer people are not religious and conservative. That we were always behind. There’s this enduring myth that the South was 20 years behind like New York and Chicago. That our history is if it exists at all is very young. And so for a historian you know like 80s and forward and all of that is untrue.

On what has been the most difficult obstacle to overcome as far as finding that history in Alabama

People generally don’t imagine that their history is important because we can’t conceptualize history as the history of sort of like large faces. So, like [Martin Luther King Jr.] is not the whole civil rights movement. Like there’s millions of people involved, but we want to celebrity one person. And the queer community doesn’t really have that. And so it’s individual people toiling away oftentimes in isolation or in very small groups making what for them are small gains but for the community is a large gain. So, convincing someone who’s 70 or 80 that their life– existing, living and thriving– is important to the history is difficult. People don’t believe it. They’re like, ‘well that’s not important.’

 

BSC’s Daniel Coleman talks about his years-long effort to save the school and what happens next.

After the news that Birmingham-Southern College is closing, we sat down with the school’s president, Daniel Coleman.

IVF could help her start the family she wants. Will Alabama’s personhood law derail it?

Despite a law meant to protect IVF in Alabama, patients and advocates worry the protections won’t hold — and warn of future attacks on reproductive rights.

Struggling Birmingham-Southern College says it will close at end of May

The College Board of Trustees voted unanimously to close the longtime institution, officials announced in a news release. The announcement came after legislation, aimed at securing a taxpayer-backed loan for the 168-year-old private college, had recently stalled in the Alabama Statehouse.

What happens when a rural hospital shuts its doors? Look to Pickens County

Residents in the west Alabama county warn that the lack of emergency care can have deadly consequences. It's a fate that could befall a growing number of rural communities.

What issues are driving you to the polls this year?

What issues are top of mind as you head to the polls this year? What do you want the candidates to be talking about?

Q&A: A bad deal made Jackson’s water problems worse. It wasn’t the only Mississippi city harmed

Reporter Sarah Fowler talks about her investigation that found at least eight Mississippi cities were harmed by deals over faulty smart water meters.

More Arts and Culture Coverage