“They hadn’t been opened for a long time. That’s when he stumbled upon a bunch of dusty unopened boxes. While at that LGBTQ history museum, he was hoping to find traditional documents to reference and perhaps start putting together a gay history exhibit of his own. “I actually found my way to the Chris Gonzales Library and Archives in Indianapolis.” “I didn’t know where to start,” Gonzaba said. Gonzaba’s project began while he was an undergraduate at school. So, what this project has taught me is how dynamic the community is and how diverse it is.” And he goes, ‘Well, queer history didn’t happen there.’ It kind of infuriated me. I was talking about it to someone who was there, an older gentleman, and I said I’d like to focus on queer history in the heartland. “I come from a small town in the Midwest and the idea for this project came from the idea that there are gay people from Indiana and elsewhere,” Gonzaba said.
That’s why in college he began what would become the internationally-known Wearing Gay History T-shirt archive project. That negative view of his homeland is exactly what Eric Gonzaba refused to believe when he was looking for a way to understand the Midwest’s historical impact on the nation.
And while it is true that many of the most notable LGBTQ-related events seemed to favor larger, more coastal cities across the U.S., there is certainly a wealth of history that can be found locally. There is a perception by some that LGBTQ history didn’t happen in the Midwest. Wearing Gay History Archive Showcases Thousands of Historical Shirts