Stonewall National Museum Is More Than Its Namesake's Legacy

When police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York's Greenwich Village and ignited nationwide protests and the gay rights movement in 1969, many of the words that now form the abbreviation LGBTQIA+ hadn't yet been adopted by the community it has come to represent. Robert Kesten, director at Stonewall National Museum Archives & Library (SNMAL) in Fort Lauderdale, is betting there will be more letters added to the abbreviation — all of the letters in the alphabet even — in the coming years, as people find more words that describe their experiences and how they feel about themselves.

When they do, SNMAL will be there to hear and tell their stories.

"Our objective here is to tell every story of everyone in the LGBTQIA+ community and to ensure that people understand that, when all stories are told, it sort of weaves a fabric, and if we remove a thread, then we're no longer telling history; we're telling somebody's perception of history," Kesten says. "It's the combination of every story that is legitimate history. Our goal is to create a safe place that conserves and protects all the history and cultural elements that we can so that story is told in full."

People searching for a place devoted explicitly to memorabilia related to the 1969 Stonewall riots will not find it here, as SNMAL's website kindly informs. Instead, they will find a 50-year-old institution containing one of the largest collections of queer books and historical archives in the U.S. The books range from literary fiction to cookbooks to young adult novels and everything in between. Although the museum seeks out books and archives, the bulk of its collection is donated.

"The only limitation is that it be related to the community," Kesten explains. "For the archive, we want to be able to tell every story. For the most part, we don't turn anything down if it has any historical or cultural context, being that everyone is important, and every bit of material is important."

Kesten did not plan last year's Pride programming because he did not join the museum as director until June 2022. But this year, the museum debuted its Pride exhibit, "Pride in the Face of Prejudice," on May 23 with Keston as the lead curator. The exhibition focuses on the major obstacles the community has faced, beginning with the Stonewall Riots.

"This exhibit is demonstrating that we should not be afraid, that there is nothing for us to fear, and that every time this community has been confronted with a seemingly insurmountable problem, we have found a way to organize, regenerate, create, and overcome," Kesten adds.

Throughout June, the museum will host interviews and conversations highlighting the historical moments depicted on the exhibit's primary wall, including the AIDS epidemic, the fight for marriage equality, and other important moments in LGBTQ history.
On June 2, New York City-based curator Souleo will debut an exhibit at the museum titled "Rewind: History on Repeat," highlighting the Black LGBTQ experience in America. The show features collages by artist Beau McCall, based on McCall's book by the same name. Highlighting minority voices has been a focus of Kesten since he joined SNMAL. Although finding people willing to share their voices through exhibits like "Rewind" has not been difficult, there has been a greater challenge.

"That's not been as challenging as getting regular people, everyday people, to think of this as home. That's because historically this has been a white male bastion for a very long time, and breaking down that wall, and people believing that you are breaking down that wall, is a little bit more difficult," Kesten explains. "In the year that I've been here, I think that we're seeing some successes, and more people have shown up, and more people are paying attention."

Apart from the museum's programming, you can encounter display cases around the library with memorabilia from influential queer celebrities tucked in between shelving or hanging on walls between bookcases, including a signed red boot worn by actor Billy Porter in the Broadway musical Kinky Boots and Ricky Martin's leather pants and V-neck he wore during a performance. At the back of the library, a small viewing space plays video interviews with community members who have contributed their oral history.

Between new exhibits, thousands of books and archival documents, and memorabilia displays, SNMAL has outgrown its modest space attached to Fort Lauderdale performing and visual arts organization Art Serve. The museum is currently exploring options to move into a new building. Still, Kesten assures that despite the growing list of harmful legislation against the LGBTQ community, SNMAL leaving Florida is out of the question.

"We're here because somebody has to stand up, and somebody has to remind people of what the history really is and what the culture really is," Kesten says. "It seems to me that at this moment in time, there is no more important place for a museum, archive, and library to be located than in a place that has declared itself the ground zero of hate."

Stonewall National Museum Archives & Library. 1300 E. Sunrise Blvd., Fort Lauderdale; 954-763-8565; stonewall-museum.org. Monday through Wednesday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.