The NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project learned earlier this month that a promised $32,000 federal grant was gone.
The money was meant to document and nominate the home of Bayard Rustin, the man who organized the March on Washington, as a National Historic Landmark.
What You Need To Know
The NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project learned earlier this month a promised $32,000 federal grant was taken back by the federal government
The money was meant to document and nominate the home of Bayard Rustin, the man who organized the March on Washington, as a National Historic Landmark
Despite losing the grant, they turned their 10 year anniversary party into a fundraiser, beating their goal before the night even began
“Bayard Rustin contributed so much to this country, and recognizing his residence is an important element in the full American story,” co-founder Ken Lustbader said.
The work takes months of research, mapping, photography and interviews. It’s a painstaking process of preserving a story that history once ignored.
“We like to say we’re making an invisible history visible,” Lustbader said.
Lustbader and his co-founders, all preservation experts, started this project 10 0years ago to prove queer history didn’t begin or end at Stonewall.
“We wanted to show that gay and lesbian and trans and queer people were a part of the history of New York and of America,” co-founder Andrew Dolkart said.
Their research connects past to present, and despite losing the grant, they beat their fundraising goal before the night even began.
“You can never erase LGBTQ lives,” Lustbader said.
With the money in hand to do the research to nominate Rustin, they wonder whether the federal government will give his home landmark status because of his identity.
NY1 reached out to the National Park Service, which gave the grant.
In an email, the department replied that, due to the federal government shutdown, they would “respond to non-shutdown related queries once appropriations have been enacted.”