This weekend’s Oral History Conference includes events focused on LGBT stories
An LGBT plenary session is lined up for the 44th annual Oral History Association conference in Atlanta this weekend at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel. Local and national gay and lesbian panelists will speak on the importance of oral history projects.
Oral history projects in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities have been underway for many years — in Atlanta, there is Touching Up Our Roots headed up by Dave Hayward and the artist collective John Q, including Wesley Chenault of the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, Andy Ditzler and Joey Orr.
Touching Up Our Roots filmed a documentary on noted Atlanta gay activist Jesse Peel, “The Saga of Dr. Jesse Peel,” who was a leader in the fight against AIDS when it hit the city.
In August 1969, a screening of Andy Warhol’s homoerotic “Lonesome Cowboys” was screened at the former Ansley Mall Mini Cinema.
Police stopped the film, confiscated the property and arrested the theater manager. They also took photographs of the some 70 people attending as they exited the theater, saying they were looking for “known homosexuals.”