The Long Road to LGBTQ+ Equality in Pennsylvania is a traveling history exhibit that chronicles the efforts activists have undertaken in Pennsylvania to achieve full equality for LGBTQ+ people. With the lack of success in passing statewide legislative protections from discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations and education, activists have been working for more than five decades to obtain these protections one battle at a time, one municipality at a time. The exhibit uses case studies of several cities and townships to highlight not just the political struggles, but the personal stories as well. This exhibit debuted in February 2019, the 50th anniversary year of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, a pivotal event in the LGBTQ+ movement toward equality.
This exhibit tells these stories through historical narrative, photographs and video of oral history first person accounts of activists involved in the struggles to achieve protection from discrimination. Along the way, they faced some of the very discrimination they were seeking to protect their community from, including harassment, physical assault, arson, and bombings.
The exhibit can be seen inside the State Library reading room in the Keystone Building, 400 North Street, Harrisburg, PA 17120. The exhibit will be on display from December 16, 2019 through January 14, 2020. The Library is open Monday through Thursday 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM and the second Saturday of each month.