Queer History

By Us, For Us

Why We’re Here

The Queer Culture Club aims to provide a space for intergenerational queer community to preserve our stories and create paths to new futures. A bridge between the dead, the living, and the yet unborn. We are someone’s ancestors, and some of our ancestors yet live. We are unique among cultures, unrelated by birth, but appearing all over the world.

We want to ensure that our Queer stories will always be remembered, by living descendants.

While a decade ago this could have been a website with an e-mailing list, the information superhighway is rapidly being privatized. The wild west days of the internet are over, and we are observed, censored, and ejected as sexual content when we publish. Therefore, the Club focuses on creating actual books, and teaching the art of replication. A book cannot be burned so long as another copy exists.

[IMG of Nazi’s burning queer sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld’s books at the dawn of WWII]

We learn from our ancestors.

We do not forget.

Conservation

Craft

Community

Here is how we do it.

We seek out queer elders with untold stories to fill in the historical gaps with personal experiences. While we may be written out of historical textbooks, we can create our own physical collections and reproduce them. That means real books, invisible to search engines but easy to read.

We also seek artifacts: leather titles, certificates, out-of-print articles, journals… email us to submit potential donations.

Although the library is a big part of our work at the society, we also know it takes more than words alone to keep culture alive. From zines to memes and fashion to folk punk, Queer history has often been preserved through more unorthodox forms of expression, and we want to honor that, too.

In addition to our conservation efforts, we also work with local Queer artisans to host workshops in crafts like leatherwork, chainmail, and bookbinding. This way, no matter what form you use to express yourself, we’ll always have something for you.

The QCPS library is more than just a collection of books and resources, however, it’s also a gathering place where Queer folks of all ages can turn to whenever they need a friend. A place where you can gather, create, and commune, like a medieval guild hall or a masonic lodge—only way gayer.

This all started with the desire to put together collections of stories from older LGBTQ+ people to help young people understand that they are not alone, no matter how wild their own lives are. Ultimately, whether we make it into the governmental record or not, our stories are worth keeping, worth telling, and worth living.

Becoming a member is easy:

Contact us to sign up!

Here’s what you’ll be able to do:

  • on things like storytelling or zine making

  • -Hear audio and video interviews from local elders

  • -Look through old books, magazines, and newspapers related to our community

  • -Utilize our shared artist’s workshop, which specializes in bookmaking and leather working.

“The only way to keep our stories intact is to keep them ourselves.”

— Q.C.C. Founder