The stories, struggles and triumphs of the LGBTQ+ community in San Diego are told in a new exhibit opening Sunday at the San Diego History Center.
It’s the first exhibition in Balboa Park focused on what curator Dr. Lillian Faderman called “the remarkable saga of a segment of San Diego which, for generations, was forced to live in virtual hiding because of virulent prejudice.”
“The exhibit is making history itself…We have arrived,” said former state Sen. Christine Kehoe, San Diego’s first openly gay elected official, at an opening reception on Friday.
Kehoe, co-chair of the 40-person advisory council for the exhibit, was one of a number of elected officials who attended the opening reception.
State Sen. Toni Atkins, who began her career as an aide to Kehoe, said the LGBTQ+ community has come out of the shadows and now plays a key role in San Diego politics.
“San Diego has more LGBTQ elected officials than San Francisco,” she said. “It’s an honor to be part of this community.”
“LGBTQ+ San Diego: Stories of Struggles + Triumphs” is the history center’s major exhibition of 2018 and will run until early January 2020. An estimated 250,000 people will see it.
It’s being presented in partnership with the Lambda Archives of San Diego, an organization which collects and preserves the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community in San Diego and Northern Baja.
The history center is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is no admission fee, but the suggested donation is $10.
