New LaGuardia and Wagner Archives Online Exhibit Explores 15-Year Fight for New York City Gay Rights Bill
LONG ISLAND CITY, NY (June 25, 2024) — The LaGuardia and Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College/CUNY have a new exhibition exploring the 15-year battle to get the Gay Rights Bill, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in housing, employment, and public accommodations, enacted in New York City. “The Battle for Intro. 2: The New York City Gay Rights Bill, 1971 to 1986” online exhibit launched June 20 on the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives website.
“Amazing work,” said Former Queens City Councilmember Daniel Dromm about the exhibit. “LGBTQIA+ history is important to understand how we got to where we are today.”
The exhibit explores the history, memories, and figures involved in why, despite being one of the first cities across the nation to introduce a Gay Rights Bill, New York City was one of the last to enact a bill. The bill, known as Intro. 2, was first introduced in the New York City Council in 1971. When the bill passed 15 years later in 1986, by a vote of 21 to 14, NYC became the 51st city in the country to pass a gay rights bill.
Curated by Stephen Petrus, a historian and director of Public History Programs for the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, the exhibit introduces viewers to advocates and opponents of the Gay Rights Bill. “The Battle for Intro. 2: The New York City Gay Rights Bill, 1971 to 1986, is a treasure trove of material-rich resources—organized into 10 themes, which include Former Mayor Ed Koch, race, religion, the NYC Human Rights Commission, and the Gay Activists Alliance,” said Dr. Petrus.
Dr. Petrus and a group of LaGuardia students conducted oral history interviews with 25 gay and lesbian activists involved in the battle for the civil rights measure, including Allen Roskoff, co-author of the bill, Andy Humm, Ethan Geto, as well as former city councilmembers who voted for the bill in 1986, Ruth Messinger, Sal Albanese, and Fernando Ferrer.
The oral histories are supplemented with archival sources from the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives’ City Council Collection. LaGuardia Commercial Photography students, advised by Associate Professor Maureen Drennan, photographed the interview subjects.
The exhibit is accompanied by a curriculum, developed by LaGuardia students overseen by Dr. Poppy Slocum, associate professor of Communication Studies, for high school teachers and college instructors.
Exhibit Excerpt…
Early on, the strongest supporters of the bill were from the Gay Activists Alliance, formed in 1969. Powerful opponents included the Catholic Church, the Police Department, and the Fire Department, though there were dissenting voices in each. Ed Koch, Mayor of New York from 1978 to 1989, himself a closeted gay man, supported the bill but frustrated activists by showing deference to council members opposed to it for religious reasons. As the HIV/AIDS epidemic hit New York in the 1980s, the movement to pass the bill intensified, fueled by the efforts of the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights, the New York City Human Rights Commission, Men of All Colors Together/New York, and other groups.
“The Battle for Intro. 2: The New York City Gay Rights Bill, 1971 to 1986” exhibition is made possible through the support of the New York City Council LGBTQIA Caucus and the Office of the Mayor.
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The LaGuardia and Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College/CUNY chronicles the past 150 years of New York City history, with a growing focus on Queens and the outer boroughs. Housing more than two million documents, and with 100,000 photographs digitized and accessible on its website, the Archives serves students, scholars, journalists, policy makers, and exhibition planners. Collections include the records of the New York City Council and the New York City Housing Authority; explorations into Queens local history and LGBTQ activism in Queens; as well as selected documents from the administrations of Mayors Fiorello H. LaGuardia, William O’Dwyer, Robert F. Wagner, John V. Lindsay, Abraham D. Beame, Edward I. Koch, David Dinkins, and Rudolph Giuliani.
LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC), a Hispanic-Serving Institution, located in Long Island City, Queens offers more than 50 associate degrees and academic certificates, and more than 65 continuing education programs to prepare New Yorkers for transfer to senior colleges and rewarding jobs and careers. An institution of the City University of New York (CUNY), the College reflects the legacy of our namesake, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, the former NYC mayor beloved for his advocacy of the underserved. Since 1971, LaGuardia’s academic programs and support services have advanced the socioeconomic mobility of students from Queens, NYC and beyond.
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