Buffalo-Niagara LGBTQ History Project

See details in comments!

By now you know that for this Pride we built a replica of the float with which Chevon Davis challenged the homophobia of mayor Jimmy Griffin's rule. Chevon fought the city to have the first gay float in a parade. This was Buffalo's sesquicentennial parade in 1982, about a decade before we had the actual Pride Parade. For details of the story, see our posts of a few days ago.

Chevon may have been skeptical when we shared our plans with her, but our volunteers are nothing if not gifted and adventurous. Then, on Sunday, for the maximum energy, we were joined by DJ Elmwood Opera and, as a deluxe surprise, our friend Sean Anthony from Vogue Buffalo (check out the video and gasp).

It was heartening to see so many qu**rs and allies share love and wit so freely and to know that we have each other as we navigate the hard present.

A remarkably well done reportage about Madeline Davis and the archive she founded; but also about the building of the gay liberation movement in Western NY and the role Madeline played in this. Amazing job, Robert Hackford

Rooted in Pride: Inside the Buffalo archive preserving gay liberation history and the story behind its namesake Explore the rich history of the early gay liberation movement at The Dr. Madeline Davis LGBTQ Archive of WNY.