Editor’s note: This commentary is by Rep. John R. Killacky, of South Burlington, a Democrat serving in the Vermont House of Representatives who curated the exhibition “Dona Ann McAdams: Performative Acts” for Brattleboro Museum and Art Center.
This summer marked the 50th anniversary of New York’s Stonewall Riots when disgruntled drag queens and disaffected gays and lesbians fought back against police corruption, one of the key harbingers of the LGBTQ civil rights movement. Because of its importance, there were numerous exhibitions, films, and publications commemorating this seminal resistance.
Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown, creators of queerhistory.com and Instagram’s @lgbt_history, celebrate this event in their gorgeously illustrated, coffee table-sized book, “We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation.” LGBTQ activism from its roots in late 19th-century Europe to the present day is sumptuously documented throughout 368 pages. Meticulous research accompanies indelible images depicting ferocious outrage, glorious celebration, and profound mourning, making this an essential reference for generations to come.
The authors of “We Are Everywhere” drew upon the work of 70 photographers and 20 archives — underscoring diverse and unruly histories as well as mainstream assimilationists of all ages and races. Buttons, picket signs, newsletters, and other ephemera amplify the narratives of the early organizations beginning in the 1950s, notably the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis on the West Coast and the Homophile organizations on the East Coast — trailblazers to subsequent generations of gay and lesbian liberationists, AIDS activists, and marriage equality advocates.
One of the authors, Matthew Riemer, will speak Saturday, Sept. 7, at 5 p.m. at Brattleboro Museum and Art Center in conjunction with the photography exhibition, “Dona Ann McAdams: Performative Acts.” McAdams, who lives in Vermont, has chronicled queer aesthetics for over 30 years, adroitly capturing the urgency of early dyke marches, ACT UP actions, LGBTQ military members protesting in Washington against “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policies, and gubernatorial candidate Christine Hallquist marching in last summer’s Burlington Pride Parade.
Riemer and Brown said of McAdams, “Cutting her teeth in Harvey Milk’s Castro as women and queer people demanded more, perfecting her eye in the East Village as a generation fought an epidemic, lending a hand to the fight against injustice and erasure wherever she lands, Dona is an activist, in the truest sense of the word.”
Riemer visited McAdams’ goat farm in Sandgate and chose more than a dozen resplendent black and white photos to feature in their book. A few of these historic images are also included in the retrospective exhibition. Riemer will talk about how the book came together and then he and McAdams will answer questions. Copies of the book and exhibition catalog will be available for purchase and signing.
