June 27 is the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising in New York, the "birthdate" of the modern gay rights movement. July 7 is the 35th anniversary of the death of Charlie Howard in Bangor, the event which led to the founding of MLGPA, predecessor of Equality Maine. This year also marks the 45 anniversary of the founding of the Wilde-Stein Club at UMaine in Orono, Maine's first LGBTQ organization. Our panel discusses LGBTQ life in Maine, past, present and future.
Guests
Howard Solomon, activist, former Scholar in Residence in the LGBTQA Collection at University of Southern Maine’s Sampson Center for Diversity; taught queer history at Tufts for more than 30 years
Gia Drew, program director, Equality Maine; one of Maine’s first OUT transgender teachers and one of the first transgender coaches in the country.
Resources
Chronicling the LGBT rights movement since the Stonewall Riots
'We May Be A Little City, But We Have Got A Lot Of Pride' Portland Celebrates LGBTQ Pride
Bangor Daily News: Wilde-Stein, UMaine's gay rights group, celebrates 40 years of change
Children's book: The Yellow Square of Stonewall, by Sonny Dean
Rolling Stone: How exclusion from the military strengthened gay identity in America