Speakers to Talk about LGBTQ+ History and AIDS Memorial Quilt Legacy

UTA Libraries will honor the history of the LGBTQ+ community through a special event from 5 – 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, at the UTA Central Library sixth-floor parlor. The event will have a panel of three speakers who will discuss their experiences with the AIDS epidemic and the legacy of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.    

The first panelist is Todd Camp, Founder and Director of the Fort Worth Gay Historical Archive, YesterQueer. 

The Texas State Historical Foundation states that Camp’s journalism career spans more than two decades, with 18 of those years at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He has written and illustrated three graphic novels and seven long-running comic strips. Camp is the co-founder of Q-Cinema, Fort Worth’s Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, for which he served as Artistic Director for 14 years.  

Kathryn Slover, a Digital Archivist for Special Collections, stated that Camp would be able to provide information about the local LGBTQ+ community that might be unknown to people. 

“He has done an amazing job with community archiving and has a wonderful collection. Todd was chosen to give that local history perspective,” Kathryn said. “He is going to be speaking on how the AIDS epidemic impacted Tarrant County and Fort Worth generally, but he will be talking about more broadly the local history that he has been working on gathering.” 

The second panelist is LaLonnie Lehman, who served as a theater professor at Texas Christian University for more than 50 years and is the author of several books. Lehman will be sharing her experience with the audience about creating a panel for the AIDS Memorial Quilt while she was at TCU. 

The National AIDS Memorial website states that the quilt was conceived in November 1985 by human rights activist, author and lecturer Cleve Jones. The AIDS Memorial Quilt is a 54-ton tapestry with nearly 50,000 panels dedicated to more than 110,000 individuals.  

The final panelist is Hollace Weiner, a former Star-Telegram reporter who covered the LBGTQ+ community beat for the newspaper.  

Sara Pezzoni, a Photo Collection Coordinator for Special Collections, stated that when researching the LBGTQ+ community, Weiner’s name came up. 

“I had just been doing research for the quilt as well as anything that we may have had in the collection related to gay history or pride,” Sara said. “Her name kept showing up as an author for these articles about issues relating to AIDS and the LGBTQ+ community.” 

Sara stated she reached out to Weiner to see if she knew someone that would be interested in the panel. Weiner told her that she would be interested in being a panelist. During her time at the newspaper, Weiner had covered the LBGTQ+ community. She also helped to draft a policy at the paper that would list partners of LBGTQ+ people in obituaries. 

Josh Mackrill, UTA LGBTQ+ Program Coordinator, will be at the event to speak for a few minutes about resources for HIV and AIDS in the local community. 

Following the discussion, a question-and-answer session will be held with the panelists. 

The panel discussion is free to attend, and there will be food at the event. For more information, go to the UTA Libraries website at https://events.uta.edu/event/aids_memorial_quilt_exhibit.  

Additional information about the event is on the MavOrgs website at https://mavorgs.campuslabs.com/engage/event/8206692