October 10, 2024 |LGBTQ+, Lynn Museum & Arts Center, News, Non-profits, United Lynn Pride

Lynn LGBTQ+ History Exhibit Is Now Virtual

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If you can’t make it to the Lynn Museum to see United Lynn Pride’s exhibit, “Through a Rainbow Lens, A Reflection on Lynn’s LGBTQ+ History”, you can now walk through the exhibit virtually using a 360° Virtual Museum on your computer or phone.

United Lynn Pride produced this LGBTQ+ history project in collaboration with Salem State University, the Lynn Museum & Arts Center, and The History Project, an LGBTQ+ archive in Boston, MA. United Lynn Pride received a $20,000 grant from the “Expand Mass Stories” initiative of Mass Humanities.

This exhibit spans close to a century of city history, covering everything from Lynn’s nearly 20 gay bars to members of the city’s LGBTQ+ community who went on to national fame. The project features more than two dozen filmed interviews with members of the city’s LGBTQ+ community, some dating back 40 years, as well as over 500 photos, fliers, posters, and dozens of news articles. It also features a panel that was donated by St. Pius V Catholic community to the National AIDS Memorial quilt.

Project Director Jim Moser says they were surprised by what was learned in the interviews, such as:

• The oldest LGBTQ+ bar in Massachusetts opened on Lynn Harbor in 1937.
• The first couple in the US to be issued a same sex marriage license met while working at the GE plant in Lynn.
• In 1969 Lynn had a big and wild waterfront LGBTQ+ bar described as “a palace.”
• Two gay bars, surrounded by flames, survived Lynn’s great fire of 1981.
• A gay magazine was produced in Lynn.
• and much more

The exhibit runs through October 31 at the Lynn Museum. You can find out Museum hours and more by clicking here.

The above information was submitted to us by Jim Moser.