LGBTQIA+ people have been part of the Stanford community since its inception. Over the years, Stanford has been home to many queer faculty, students, and staff, whether or not they were public about their sexual preferences and identities. Although there is less documentation of queer life at Stanford than other dominant identities, primary source material found in this exhibit provide evidence that queer life always existed in and around the Stanford community. This exhibit contains photographs, pamphlets, posters, oral histories, and a variety of other materials documenting LGBTQIA+ life on and around the Stanford campus. This exhibit may be browsed by using the facets on the left of this page. Click Browse to see thematic groups of material in the exhibit. Curated Features includes a timeline of notable events and people in the queer community at Stanford, the documentary film Out on the Farm, and a short film on the history of the Gay People's Union and Stanford Pride. Some items in this exhibit are full text searchable. You can search the full text of these items by selecting the "full text" dropdown option adjacent to the search box. Please note that not all items included in the exhibit are full text searchable.
It is important to note that historically, materials by and about LGBTQIA+ people have not been prioritized for collection in archives and libraries. Although this has changed for the positive in the last 30-40 years, there are still absences, gaps, or silences when it comes to representation of LGBTQIA+ life and community in non-subject specific libraries and archives. Terminology and societal acceptance of LGBTQIA+ identities has also changed drastically over time, and is always evolving. Presently, this exhibit uses the term queer as an umbrella term to mean all members of the LGBTQIA+ community. We acknowledge that this term is not accepted by the entirety of the LGBTQIA+ community, and that it historically and continues to be used by a few as a hateful epithet. Our intention in using this term in our exhibit is to align with other resources and groups that use the term, as well as the broad acceptance and use of the term within the community. Queer serves as an inclusive description of the types of material, imagery, and themes that you come across in the exhibit. Finally, please note that some of the materials in this exhibit may use derogatory and offensive language.