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Sierra Kondos

Special to the News

A Lamar University history professor has created a website to document and preserve the experience of the LGBTQIA+ community in Southeast Texas. The project is open to the public and submissions to the portal are welcome.

“The Love in Lavender project was initiated by a fellowship from the Center for History and Culture of Southeast Texas and the Upper Gulf Coast to document the queer community’s history in the area,” Cassandre Broussard, instructor of history said. “Which is largely absent from historic records.”

The project focuses on oral histories to provide a centralized, open resource for young people struggling with coming out, offering a sense of community and support.

“The reason that I decided to go with oral history was so that it could be an open resource,” she said. “The number of young people who struggle when they’re coming out now have the ability to have a centralized place where they can go and hear other people’s stories. They can hear what others have been through because not everyone is accepted by their family or by their friends or their community, this way, they won’t feel alone. This is why I created a public website instead of having it closed off behind academic doors.”

Broussard said the project aims to preserve the history of their community, noting changes and continuities, such as the surprising support from local churches and the decline in severe violence, while acknowledging ongoing challenges like the vilification of the trans community and the persistence of outdated laws.

“During my research, I have discovered things that have changed and what has stayed the same,” she said. “What has stayed the same is the pockets of rejection but things that changed is the support of the churches. In the aftermath of the Stonewall riots in 1969, churches were very much a part of the mission to spread awareness, spread acceptance. The Unitarian Church was one of the churches that participated, and in fact, I think they were part of the board that formed the local PLAG chapter here. I think even St. Mark’s hosted a seminar on better understanding the gay community and trying to get rid of the misinformation that was surrounding them. So, that was something that I was really kind of glad to see. It is often that religion is associated with being very anti-gay, but there were churches in this area that were very much supportive of it.

The website, loveandlavender.com, currently hosts eight to nine oral histories, with more in the pipeline. The project also offers an anonymous submission option.

“I wanted to make sure that there was an anonymous option available for people who wanted to share their story, but maybe aren’t in a place where they feel comfortable attaching that to their identity, or if they feel like it could be a threat to their life, but they still want to share their experience,” she said. “I wanted to make sure that that was a possibility as well. So, we do have the option for anonymous submission, just writing the responses up and sending them to us so that anyone who wants to participate can, even if they need to protect their identity. The can interview can either be on the phone or in person, or if the place that, if the person doesn’t want to share their voice, it can be done in writing as well.”