The Centennial Museum, along with the Women and Gender Studies Program, has been showcasing exhibits from the members of the Engendering Community Project since June. Today, Sept. 2, members of the project held a Texas LGBTQ Rights Forum at the museum.
The first session featured Veronica Garcia director of development of Las Americas Immigration Advocacy Center, Alyssah Roth grad student and president of West Fund, and Shayla Alves senior women’s and gender studies major from UTEP’s Black Student Union, had an open discussion panel entitled “Queers and the Law, Policy and Law Enforcement.”
The Engendering Community Project chronicles the history of the LGBTQ community in El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. The exhibit, which will be displayed at the museum until Sept. 19, represents people from the region and focuses on sending the message of being “in unity” with one another.
Dr. Brenda Risch, who was the exhibit curator and pioneered the Engendering Community oral history project in 2009, began the project to explore how LGBTQ people are active in both their community and to document their day-to-day lives.
In the morning discussion, Garcia explained that she and Las Americas are trying to spread the message to not only a confined area, but also a much broader region.
Today’s forum featured seven speakers and four sessions on various topics.
On Sept. 19, “Pride LIVE!” by Stageworks Ensemble Theatre, inc. will present two free performances celebrating Gay Pride and Awareness. The performances will be at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Adrian Broaddus may be reached at [email protected]
