LYNN — An exhibit highlighting the city’s LGBTQ+ history will be unveiled at Lynn Museum/LynnArts on June 5 at 5:30 p.m.
The exhibit, “Through a Rainbow Lens, a Reflection on Lynn’s LGBTQ+ History,” covers approximately a century of everything from Lynn’s nearly 20 gay bars to members of the city’s LGBTQ+ community who went on to national fame, according to a press release for the exhibit.
The exhibit will include more than two dozen filmed interviews with members of the city’s LGBTQ+ community, with some dating back 40 years. According to the release, the project will also have more than 500 photos, fliers, posters, and dozens of news articles highlighting the LGBTQ+ history of the city.
It will also feature a quilt panel donated by St. Pius V Catholic community to the National AIDS Memorial Quilt.
Project Director Jim Moser said members of his team were surprised by what they learned through the interviews, including that the oldest LGBTQ+ bar in Massachusetts opened on Lynn Harbor in 1937 and the first couple in the U.S. to be issued a same-sex marriage license met while working at the city’s GE plant.
Following the public reception on June 5 at 5:30 p.m. there will be a panel discussion at 6 p.m. moderated by Cristela Guerra, senior arts and culture reporter at WBUR. The panel will feature humanities advisor Dr. Drew Darien, web designer Cristian Recinos, and LGBTQ+ history advisor Dr. Pat Gozemba.
United Lynn Pride produced the project in collaboration with Salem State University, the Lynn Museum, and the History Project, an LGBTQ+ archive in Boston.
United Lynn Pride received a $20,000 grant from the Expand Mass Stories initiative of Mass Humanities for the project, according to the release.
The exhibit will run until Oct. 31.
