NEWS FROM THE PROVOST

The GLBT Center will host the first of two guest lectures addressing institutionalized discrimination as part of GLBT History Month. On Thursday, October 20, 2016. Dr. Tammy Gordon, NC State associate professor of history, will give a talk on “The Impact of Legalized Oppression: The HB2 Digital Archive” from 6:00-7:00 p.m. in Park Shops 210. The lecture is open to students, staff, faculty and interested community members.

Following the passage of HB2 in March, Gordon created NC HB2: A Citizens’ History, a digital archive that provides a moderated forum in which individuals share materials relating to their own experiences. According to Gordon, the archive “privileges experiences over opinions because the former communicate more profoundly than the latter. It is an ongoing effort to make sure future historians and others have access to the diversity of experiences related to HB2.”

Gordon also notes that “historical methods and approaches are powerful tools in exerting control over one’s own narrative, and are particularly important for LGBTQ people, whose perspectives have been erased and marginalized in historical records.” A consequence of such erasure, Gordon points out, is that the only sources often available “reflect the perspectives of those who criticized .” NC HB2: A Citizens’ History aims to ensure that individual voices get heard and that the historical record is accurate.

Renee Wells is director of the GLBT Center.