This week I had the pleasure of chatting with Robert Kesten, the President & CEO of Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He shared details about the history of the museum, his role there, and its mission moving forward.
The Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library was founded in 1973 and is open for visitors seven days a week. The exhibits, programs, archives, and library are based on the best available historic documentation. They are all designed to be an educational asset, as well as compelling in their own right. Originally only a library and archives located in Hollywood, Florida, Robert tells me that adding a museum made sense once people began to donate items, and the organization was able to create collections that could be viewed by the public.
“I have been here for three years,” Robert explains, “I started during the Don’t Say Gay and book banning era, so it has been a very interesting time.” He tells me that some days it feels like he’s been doing this for a hundred years. “What drew me here is that I spent my career trying to unseat the negative things that have been going on in the world. I’ve worked on contentious issues, primarily on strengthening democracy and fighting for acceptance of the universal declaration of human rights.”
Robert reminds me that the LGBTQ+ community is represented within every other community, and that the mission of the Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library is to bridge divides. “Our mission–which we believe is the mission of all queer people–is to be uniters, not dividers.”
So what goes on at the Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library? Robert tells me about some particularly meaningful exhibits, like a current one on Edie Windsor. “This one is important because it shows the power of an individual when they are determined to make something happen,” Robert explains. “When we sit here today and everybody’s saying, but what can I do? What is someone going to do? This exhibit is potent.”
Last year for Pride the museum recreated the Stonewall Bar as it looked on the night the police raided.
You walked in and heard the music on the jukebox and saw the cigarette machine, and you were taken back to NYC in 1969 to one of the grungiest little bars, and you were reminded of the rag tag bunch of young people who just wanted to dance, listen to music and be with people that were like them. When the police came to arrest them they said “No.” And an entire community was born. A movement began.
The exhibit will be in Key West for Pride events this June.
Most of the funding for the Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library comes from individual donations. “Government funding is gone,” Roberts tells me. “With that and the pressure to remove DEI and equality based concepts, corporations and foundations have walked away from our community. We are primarily dependent on individuals.”
Robert tells me that their goal is to make history come alive. “We try to remind people of the successes this community has had when it has stood up. Although we are small, we are uniquely representative of the faces of everyone around the world. That is our power.” Moving forward, Robert wants to continue to tell stories and protect history, so that future generations will see all that was accomplished in a short period of time, and how it benefitted the entire world. “We will not be frightened away from where we began. We will not be forced out of public life. Our stories will not disappear. Our history will be available to anyone and everyone who wants to learn about it.”
Next up, the organization is reimagining Act Up, an entity that began in the late 1980s to fight AIDS. The first Act Up event is April 6th, and The Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library has invited local elected officials to come and speak. “We don’t know if any of them will show up. If they don’t show up then we have to act up.”
How can you get involved? Make a monetary contribution or donate books or artifacts to the library or archives. If you’re interested in starting a chapter or bringing a traveling exhibition to your community, Robert says “there are an unlimited number of ways for people to become active in Stonewall, but also to make Stonewall active in your community to help you organize, stand up and stand out.”
The organization continues to integrate itself into its surrounding community. “We participate on committees of local museums and arts orgs, as well as the education community as best we can under Florida law.” They also try to be visible at political events. “We are doing whatever we can to foster positive visibility and ways for people to get engaged and to participate.”
To learn more about the organization and how you can get involved, visit https://stonewall-museum.org/
Hey there. Laura Leigh here. I’m a wife, writer, mama, small business owner, podcast host, and the Head of Content here at Pink Robin.
I love supporting the queer community and bringing shared experiences to life.
If you have a story to tell, I’m here for it.
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I remember when my wife and I first became moms, I knew that our ability to “pass” was behind us. I was never going to pretend that my wife and family were something other than exactly who they were. It was freeing to know that I had to live my queer life out loud, that I would forever be myself in every space, all the time.
In a 2023 CNN article Daniel Korschun, associate professor of marketing at Drexel University explained that when it comes to supporting the LGBTQ+ community, executives “are becoming much more skittish about taking these stands and making strong statements.
According to a 2022 Pew Research Poll, roughly eight-in-ten U.S. adults say there is at least some discrimination against transgender people in our society. Because trans rights have become such a contentious issue across the country, companies that used to view supporting pride as “low stakes” have become less likely to support the LGBTQ+ community as a whole. “The pendulum is swinging a bit back … toward a more conservative approach, where they’ll be less vocal,” says Korschun. According to a recent NBC News article, Target stores will only sell pride merchandise in select locations this year. The retailer will not have Pride collections in about half of their locations. Additionally, they will only sell pride merchandise for adults.
An argument that Target has made in the past and is now using again is that this decision protects their LGBTQ+ employees, but let’s be clear: Conditional allyship is not support. Pulling queer merchandise from their shelves and essentially pretending that we don’t exist–and ignoring those of us who have children that want to celebrate pride with us–is detrimental to our community. Erasure threatens our safety. This weekend my mom told me that she’s done with Target. Like her, I can’t say I feel good about spending my money in a place that doesn’t value my family. As of today, the ACLU is currently tracking 515 anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S. We exist, and abandoning us only endangers us.
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