Meet the Collaborators: Diversity Center of Santa Cruz County

Pat: When I approached the MAH in 2014 on behalf of the Diversity Center of Santa Cruz County to offer to donate a large cache of artifacts for the MAH’s archives. And you, Marla, enthusiastically supported the idea! Together we dreamed up how the MAH should do an exhibit based on the archive one day.

Soon thereafter, the MAH awarded the Diversity Center the Dolkas History Forum grant to videotape interviews with local LGBTQ+ trailblazers. At that time, you (Marla) and I reiterated that the MAH and the Diversity Center should work together to do an exhibit after the videotaping was completed. And now here we are!

Pat: This exhibit highlights the struggles, losses and triumphs of this marginalized community over several decades. The exhibit gives insight into how laws and public attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people have changed dramatically over the past 50 years, and how local LGBTQ+ people faced challenges, created community, and found allies along the way. Much of this history is unknown to the general public, especially to younger people, and so this exhibit is educational.

It is also inspirational because it shows how a marginalized community can pull together in the face of big obstacles and find a way to support each other and make progress towards legal and lived equality. Many of our trailblazers first made their marks as young adults in the 1970s, and they are now in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. It was really important to me to gather documents and record oral histories of our community elders - while we could still remember what happened way back when!

The exhibit has been online for just one week and I’ve heard from so many people, of all ages, about how much they appreciate it and how it reminded the older ones amongst us of all that has transpired.

Pat: My favorite thing is that the online exhibit is a major part of a bigger LGBTQ+ history effort here in Santa Cruz. A few years ago, Irene Reti made a wonderful book called “Out in the Redwoods” on LGBTQ+ people in the early days of UCSC, Rob Darrow has been creating curriculum and consulting on LGBTQ+ education for several years, and UCSC has LGBTQ+ history classes.

Today the MAH’s exhibit is online and Rob is doing webinars on various aspects of our history every week. At some point, the MAH will mount a physical exhibit in the MAH building, and then the MAH will do activities related to the exhibit and archives. I’m really looking forward to the day when our trailblazers and other members of the Santa Cruz community will be able to enter the museum together to view and discuss our historical artifacts in person at the MAH.

Pat: When I was first looking for historical documents in boxes in the Diversity Center’s loft in 2013, I found a copy of a big flyer for the very first Pride gathering in Santa Cruz in 1975. This 11” x 17” flyer was in the middle of a cardboard box with several heavy items on top of it, and yet miraculously it was in pristine condition. I knew at that moment I had to find a place that would protect and preserve this historical artifact better than we could at the Diversity Center. I have not seen another original of that flyer since, which adds to its preciousness. It’s one of the first things I showed you (Marla) at the MAH when I proposed that the museum accept the Diversity Center’s archives, and you (Marla) were of course thrilled to see it.

Pat: That a community like ours can start from nothing, band together, face significant challenges, and become stronger and make progress along the way. And that the struggle for legal and lived equality for LGBTQ people is still going on.