In celebration of LGBTQ History Month this October, the Class of 1945 Library will host the exhibition Pioneering Voices: Portraits of Transgender People, a touring photo-text display created by the award-winning Family Diversity Projects of Amherst, Massachusetts.  Pioneering Voices coincides with the Lamont Gallery’s exhibition of Queer Kids which will be on display from September 12 through October 21st.

Pioneering Voices, with photographs by Jack Pierson and Gigi Kaeser and interviews edited by Peggy Gillespie and Jack Pierson, introduces people who identify as transgender or gender queer, and their partners and children. Through first-person interviews and color photographs, this exhibit seeks to challenge damaging myths and stereotypes about transgender people, and to educate viewers about this often marginalized group of people and the challenges they face.

Family Diversity Projects (FDP) is a non-profit educational organization founded by exhibit creators, Peggy Gillespie (interviewer/editor) and Gigi Kaeser (photographer). They have created seven photo-text exhibits (three of which have been published in book form including Love Makes A Family: Portraits of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People and their Families) to help eliminate prejudice, stereotyping, and harassment of people discriminated against due to race, national origin, sexual orientation, religion, gender, class, and disability. The mission of FDP is to propel forward a world where all people and family structures are recognized, valued and fully supported.

The photographs will be on display in the Library Commons on the ground floor, during the entire month of October. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

More information on Pioneering Voices and the Family Diversity Project can be found here: https://familydiv.org/exhibits/pioneering-voices/.