Buffalo-Niagara
LGBTQ History Project

Documenting, preserving and sharing LGBTQ history in the Buffalo-Niagara Region since 2016. 
This website serves as a community hub for resources we find and share. Please contribute!
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Who We Are

The Buffalo-Niagara LGBTQ History Project is an organization with two goals: 1) to research, document, and share the unique histories of Western New York’s many LGBTQ+ communities, and 2) in so doing, to challenge the widespread notion that LGBTQ history happened only in New York City and the Bay Area, and nowhere else.

We research local LGBTQ history and share what we learn at events that are always sliding scale, accessible, and fun. Some of the methods we use to teach the public about LGBTQ history include:

  • Walking tours
  • Exhibits
  • Dance parties
  • Lectures
  • Concerts
  • Panels
  • Film screenings
  • Installing the first LGBTQ-themed historic marker in all of Western New York
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Photo by Ruth Goldman

We believe that history is political. When we plan an event, our goal is not simply to put the past on a pedestal. Our ultimate goals for our research include:

  • Developing a better understanding of how LGBTQ+ organizing in mid-sized cities, suburbs, and rural areas is both similar to and different from organizing in large cities.
  • Building a more diverse, intersectional picture of local LGBTQ+ history.
  • Creating space for LGBTQ+ Western New Yorkers of different generations to meet, interact, and build community.
  • Helping future generations of local LGBTQ+ activists refine their work by keeping a running record of past successes and failures.

All this work is undertaken by a small group of dedicated volunteers, and funded by the community.
In order to do it, we need your help.

Our Mission

The Buffalo-Niagara LGBTQ History Project is an organization that preserves and shares the histories of all local LGBTQ community members. We collect oral histories, assist in the preservation of archives, and otherwise document the legacies of Western New Yorkers of all races, genders, ages, and abilities, across the LGBTQ+ identity spectrum. We seek to bridge generational gaps between community members, and to promote the idea that local and regional activist histories matter just as much as those that originated in large cities on the American coasts. And we believe that knowing our histories will guide us into more meaningful political action, both in the present and across the generations.