Zachary-Taylor Wright
zwright9@student.alamo.edu
This college’s LGBTQ History Month will promote awareness and pride with activities including a screening of “Upstairs Inferno,” written, directed and produced by Robert Camina, at 7 p.m. today in the auditorium of McAllister Fine Arts Center. The documentary details an act of arson that took place in 1973 at a gay bar in New Orleans and killed more than 30 people, said Jonathan Lee, chair of the LGBTQ Cultural Committee and history professor.
Lee described what he hopes students will learn from watching the film. “I’m hoping that they see how long we’ve been struggling,” Lee said of the LGBTQ community. “That they see that there’s a generation before them. That as we become more visible, sometimes this is the consequence.”
Lee said students aren’t required to do any research prior to the viewing, but he suggests visiting Room 122 of Chance Academic Center if they would like to know more about LGTBQ history.
Tiffany Cox Hernandez, public policy and service chair, said she will host “LGBTQ History in Your Curriculum” for faculty 2-3:30 p.m. Oct. 13 in Room 208 of Moody Learning Center.
Hernandez will show how she can incorporate LGBTQ history into her criminal justice courses and explained the importance of doing so.
“It’s our history, and it’s overlooked,” Hernandez said. “U.S. and state corrections systems are struggling to manage all sorts of LGBTQ issues effectively.”
She says Celita Avila, distance learning librarian and Quality Enhancement Plan co-director, will show faculty how to create a library guide. Hernandez hopes to help new instructors use the research databases.
The series of talks will educate students on the diversity of LGBTQ history, culminating with the “LGBTQ History Showcase” 9:25 a.m.-3 p.m. Nov. 2 on the fourth floor of Moody.
The showcase will present posters showing LGBTQ history and host the San Antonio Prime Timers, an organization of “older men with gay interests,” who will describe the history of LGBTQ residents in this city.
For more information, visit www.alamo.edu/sac/LGBTQ-Month16/.