The Gulf Coast LGBT Radio and Television Digitization Project: Providing Equitable Access to Houston’s LGBTQ Broadcast History

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies Volume 12 Article 3 2025 The Gulf Coast LGBT Radio and Television Digitization Project: Providing Equitable Access to Houston’s LGBTQ Broadcast History Emily Vinson University of Houston (former), Bethany Scott Yale University, Follow this and additional works at: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas Part of the Archival Science Commons Recommended Citation Vinson, Emily and Scott, Bethany (2025) "The Gulf Coast LGBT Radio and Television Digitization Project: Providing Equitable Access to Houston’s LGBTQ Broadcast History," Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies: Vol. 12, Article 3. Available at: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas/vol12/iss1/3 This Case Study is brought to you for free and open access by EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies by an authorized editor of EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. For more information, please contact . The Gulf Coast LGBT Radio and Television Digitization Project: Providing Equitable Access to Houston’s LGBTQ Broadcast History Cover Page Footnote Acknowledgements The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the individuals that made this project possible. We extend our thanks to the student project employees, Nicholas Goodwin, Andrea Hoang, and Isha Merchant, for their dedicated work editing audio and correcting transcripts. We also wish to acknowledge the members of the Resource Management & Metadata department, including Susan Hoover, Laura Ramirez, and Christin Zepeda, for their descriptive expertise throughout the project. Our appreciation also goes to the administration team: Beryl Sang, Santi Thompson, Yesenia Umana, Devianee Vasanjee, and Annie Wu, for their diligence and guidance. Finally, we are grateful to Junior Fernandez for his vision and dedication, which were brought the online exhibit of these programs to life. This case study is available in Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas/ vol12/iss1/3 Vinson and Scott: The Gulf Coast LGBT Radio and Television Digitization Project THE GULF COAST LGBT RADIO AND TELEVISION DIGITIZATION PROJECT: PROVIDING EQUITABLE ACCESS TO HOUSTON’S LGBTQ BROADCAST HISTORY Note from the Authors This article describes a project about media produced by members of the LGBTQ+ community, many of whom also represented other marginalized identities. These individuals created and preserved these recordings despite facing great adversity and at times direct threats. The authors of this article believe, therefore, that it is important to acknowledge our positions of privilege as straight, cisgender, white women, and how we have benefited from the labor and expertise of the LGBTQ+ community throughout this project. We are forever grateful for the efforts of the LGBTQ+ community in creating and preserving these historical records. We hope our collective efforts in the archival environment and beyond will help to create more equitable and inclusive historical documentation. Regarding the language used in this paper and project, the grant’s title uses the term “LGBT,” which was intended to align with the University of Houston Libraries’ LGBT History Research Collection curatorial area when the grant was written in 2019. Over the course of our work on this project, through review of relevant standards such as the Homosaurus controlled vocabulary and consultation with colleagues and community members, our language evolved. We now use the more inclusive term “LGBTQ+.” Introduction In 2020, the University of Houston Libraries (UHL) launched an ambitious endeavor to preserve and make accessible thousands of hours of Houston’s LGBTQ+ broadcast history with the Gulf Coast LGBT Radio and Television Digitization Project. Supported by a multiyear grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Preservation and Access, Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Program, the significance of this undertaking lies not only in preserving cultural heritage but also in providing equitable access to a marginalized community’s narratives. Radio and television programming have long served as crucial—and ephemeral—mediums for documenting the LGBTQ+ experience. In the Houston area, LGBTQ+ radio and television producers created programming to engage and inform listeners and build community over the airwaves. The programs selected for inclusion in this project spanned four decades and covered a wide range of topics, including community news, local and national politics, mental health, HIV/AIDS awareness, theater, music, LGBTQ+ identities and subcultures, and much more. These recordings encapsulate the richness and complexity of the LGBTQ+ community in the Houston area over time. The significance of these materials is profound. While much historical research on the LGBTQ+ rights movement in the United States has centered on cities like New York, San Francisco, and Published by EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale, 2025 1 Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies, Vol. 12 [2025], Art. 3 Los Angeles, Houston also played a pivotal role in advancing acceptance and legal protections for LGBTQ+ individuals. For example, in 1967, two years before the Stonewall Riots, activist Rita Wanstrom spearheaded the resistance against anti-crossdressing ordinances used by the police to conduct raids and harass patrons of her lesbian bar, the Roaring 60s. In 1975, Houston became the home of the first LGBTQ+ civil rights organization in the South, the Houston Gay Political Caucus. Two years later, on June 16, 1977, over two thousand Houstonians organized to demonstrate against Anita Bryant, a vocal anti-LGBTQ+ rights activist and the face of the “Save Our Children” campaign, which fought against antidiscrimination laws across the nation, including in Houston.1 These events, among others, served as catalysts for the Houston LGBTQ+ community, galvanizing a commitment to activism and helping to create a more inclusive and accepting city. Beyond the immediate preservation efforts, the Gulf Coast LGBT Radio and Television Digitization Project holds immense promise as a historical resource for researchers and community members alike. By safeguarding these materials, the project ensures that future generations can explore and understand the LGBTQ+ experience in the region from the 1970s through the early 2000s, enriching scholarly inquiry and fostering a deeper appreciation for LGBTQ+ history. In addition to their value as historical documents, the recordings included in this project powerfully document the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ+ rights, especially in the face of the alarming rise in anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes and legislation. In 2023, the Human Rights Campaign took the unprecedented step of declaring a state of emergency in the United S (...truncated)