Victor Salvo, the founder and executive director of the Legacy Project, shared remarks at the opening reception for the Legacy Wall, a traveling exhibit featuring stories of LGBT individuals who have made a significant impact in the world on display at Illinois Wesleyan University.
Other speakers included IWU Provost Jonathan Green, Equality Illinois Field Fellow Marcus Fogliano, Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner, and Rev. Kelley Becker, associate pastor of First Christian Church, Bloomington, representing Not In Our Town: Bloomington-Normal, one of the sponsors of the exhibit. The Wall will be available at IWU through Feb. 13.
Mayor Tari Renner eyes the exhibit.
The Legacy Wall is a one-of-a-kind traveling exhibit that features "mini-biographies" of LGBT people from every walk of life. Its digitally interactive content is international and multicultural, and has been substantially vetted and sourced.
This exhibit raises awareness of the roles LGBT people have played in shared human history – information which helps to boost the self-esteem of LGBT youth who are raised without the benefit of historically significant role-models. It has also been shown to lessen the incidence of all forms of bullying in our schools by encouraging a culture of mutual respect and tolerance. The goal of the Legacy Wall is to use the powerful lessons of history to spark conversations about this information’s ability to promote a feeling of safety and belonging in the classroom -– giving our children hope by improving their outlook on life.
The Legacy Project was inspired the first time the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt was shown at the National March on Washington for LGBT Civil Rights in 1987. At that time, there was no way for gay individuals to know about those who came before them and what they accomplished and The Quilt only seemed to magnify that.
At that same March LGBT persons celebrated the first "National Coming-Out Day" -- October 11, 1987.
In 1991, the City of Chicago instituted the only Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in the world to recognize the contributions of its LGBT citizens both to the city as a whole and the LGBT community. Several years later Chicago once again chose to celebrate LGBT people by installing the first-of-its-kind "Rainbow Pylon" streetscape on North Halsted Street. The combination of Chicago's annual Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame inductions and the 1998 dedication of the "Northalsted Corridor" as the nexus of the LGBT Community helped to crystallize the concept of The Legacy Walk; for finally there existed a place where the contributions of LGBT people from all over the world could be put on public display in the heart of an international city that had opened its arms to its LGBT sons and daughters.
At that same March LGBT persons celebrated the first "National Coming-Out Day" -- October 11, 1987.
In 1991, the City of Chicago instituted the only Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in the world to recognize the contributions of its LGBT citizens both to the city as a whole and the LGBT community. Several years later Chicago once again chose to celebrate LGBT people by installing the first-of-its-kind "Rainbow Pylon" streetscape on North Halsted Street. The combination of Chicago's annual Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame inductions and the 1998 dedication of the "Northalsted Corridor" as the nexus of the LGBT Community helped to crystallize the concept of The Legacy Walk; for finally there existed a place where the contributions of LGBT people from all over the world could be put on public display in the heart of an international city that had opened its arms to its LGBT sons and daughters.
At that same March LGBT persons celebrated the first "National Coming-Out Day" -- October 11, 1987.
In 1991, the City of Chicago instituted the only Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in the world to recognize the contributions of its LGBT citizens both to the city as a whole and the LGBT community. Several years later Chicago once again chose to celebrate LGBT people by installing the first-of-its-kind "Rainbow Pylon" streetscape on North Halsted Street. The combination of Chicago's annual Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame inductions and the 1998 dedication of the "Northalsted Corridor" as the nexus of the LGBT Community helped to crystallize the concept of The Legacy Walk; for finally there existed a place where the contributions of LGBT people from all over the world could be put on public display in the heart of an international city that had opened its arms to its LGBT sons and daughters.
At that same March LGBT persons celebrated the first "National Coming-Out Day" -- October 11, 1987.
In 1991, the City of Chicago instituted the only Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in the world to recognize the contributions of its LGBT citizens both to the city as a whole and the LGBT community. Several years later Chicago once again chose to celebrate LGBT people by installing the first-of-its-kind "Rainbow Pylon" streetscape on North Halsted Street. The combination of Chicago's annual Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame inductions and the 1998 dedication of the "Northalsted Corridor" as the nexus of the LGBT Community helped to crystallize the concept of The Legacy Walk; for finally there existed a place where the contributions of LGBT people from all over the world could be put on public display in the heart of an international city that had opened its arms to its LGBT sons and daughters.
At that same March LGBT persons celebrated the first "National Coming-Out Day" -- October 11, 1987.
In 1991, the City of Chicago instituted the only Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in the world to recognize the contributions of its LGBT citizens both to the city as a whole and the LGBT community. Several years later Chicago once again chose to celebrate LGBT people by installing the first-of-its-kind "Rainbow Pylon" streetscape on North Halsted Street. The combination of Chicago's annual Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame inductions and the 1998 dedication of the "Northalsted Corridor" as the nexus of the LGBT Community helped to crystallize the concept of The Legacy Walk; for finally there existed a place where the contributions of LGBT people from all over the world could be put on public display in the heart of an international city that had opened its arms to its LGBT sons and daughters.
At that same March LGBT persons celebrated the first "National Coming-Out Day" -- October 11, 1987.
In 1991, the City of Chicago instituted the only Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in the world to recognize the contributions of its LGBT citizens both to the city as a whole and the LGBT community. Several years later Chicago once again chose to celebrate LGBT people by installing the first-of-its-kind "Rainbow Pylon" streetscape on North Halsted Street. The combination of Chicago's annual Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame inductions and the 1998 dedication of the "Northalsted Corridor" as the nexus of the LGBT Community helped to crystallize the concept of The Legacy Walk; for finally there existed a place where the contributions of LGBT people from all over the world could be put on public display in the heart of an international city that had opened its arms to its LGBT sons and daughters.
At that same March LGBT persons celebrated the first "National Coming-Out Day" -- October 11, 1987.
In 1991, the City of Chicago instituted the only Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in the world to recognize the contributions of its LGBT citizens both to the city as a whole and the LGBT community. Several years later Chicago once again chose to celebrate LGBT people by installing the first-of-its-kind "Rainbow Pylon" streetscape on North Halsted Street. The combination of Chicago's annual Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame inductions and the 1998 dedication of the "Northalsted Corridor" as the nexus of the LGBT Community helped to crystallize the concept of The Legacy Walk; for finally there existed a place where the contributions of LGBT people from all over the world could be put on public display in the heart of an international city that had opened its arms to its LGBT sons and daughters.
The Legacy Wall will move to Illinois State University's Milner Library from February 15 through 28.
At that same March LGBT persons celebrated the first "National Coming-Out Day" -- October 11, 1987.
In 1991, the City of Chicago instituted the only Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in the world to recognize the contributions of its LGBT citizens both to the city as a whole and the LGBT community. Several years later Chicago once again chose to celebrate LGBT people by installing the first-of-its-kind "Rainbow Pylon" streetscape on North Halsted Street. The combination of Chicago's annual Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame inductions and the 1998 dedication of the "Northalsted Corridor" as the nexus of the LGBT Community helped to crystallize the concept of The Legacy Walk; for finally there existed a place where the contributions of LGBT people from all over the world could be put on public display in the heart of an international city that had opened its arms to its LGBT sons and daughters.