{"id":25761,"date":"2023-06-16T05:49:11","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T05:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/?p=25761"},"modified":"2023-06-16T05:49:12","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T05:49:12","slug":"alabama-department-of-archives-and-history-under-fire-for-promoting-a-liberal-lgbtq-political-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/?p=25761","title":{"rendered":"Alabama Department of Archives and History under fire for promoting a &#8216;liberal LGBTQ political agenda&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"OQTVNOJVDVEULDRZOQ32JI4QKM\">A nonprofit organization dedicated to chronicling the history of the LGBTQ movement in the Deep South said it was &#8220;appalling&#8221; that two Republican state lawmakers criticized the group&#8217;s presentation Thursday hosted by the Alabama Department of Archives and History as a promoter of the &#8220;liberal LGBTQ political agenda&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"KD3VY33AIBFBTBJXNSTABRPBOU\">&#8220;I don&#8217;t think they know what &#8216;politicize&#8217; means,&#8221; said Maigen Sullivan, co-founder of the Birmingham-based company. <a href=\"https:\/\/invisiblehistory.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Invisible Histories Project<\/a>who gave the lecture organized by ADAH entitled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlabamaArchives\/videos\/927253315051670\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;Invisible No More: Alabama&#8217;s LGBTQ+ Story&#8221;<\/a> Thursday in Montgomery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"UBO2DLE64ZBPJPNOKADGH2RMOM\">1819 News, a website that <a href=\"https:\/\/1819news.com\/news\/item\/1819-news-launched-as-a-separate-entity-by-the-alabama-policy-institute\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">It was owned by the Alabama Policy Institute<\/a>published in <a href=\"https:\/\/1819news.com\/news\/item\/alabama-department-of-archives-and-history-hosting-alabamas-lgbtq-history-event-invisible-no-more\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">event preview<\/a> Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?height=314&#038;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FAlabamaArchives%2Fvideos%2F927253315051670%2F&#038;show_text=false&#038;width=560&#038;t=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"I3RSOBPEAVACPBZBB4BYZ3HP5Q\">Preview followed <a href=\"https:\/\/1819news.com\/news\/item\/house-majority-leader-stadthagen-dept-of-archives-and-historys-ltbtq-event-alarming-and-disappointing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">for a story<\/a> citing Alabama House Majority Leader Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, and state Rep. Jamie Kiel, R-Russellville.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"N7VKTT22SBDFXDSFDP4IPBFDZE\">\u201cThe fact that state money, buildings and resources are being used to promote a liberal LGBTQ political agenda flies in the face of our state&#8217;s values.  If this is what they are doing with the tax payer money being sent to them, maybe we should re-evaluate [the ADAH\u2019s] allocation in the next budget,\u201d Statdthagen said, according to 1819 News.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"FLAC3LVSWVF6TC6OMYVKXLJFY4\">Kiel said the event was an example of the &#8220;woke liberal agenda &#8230; invading our culture.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"UXRHI5HXP5H4JCR4SYGFPPWBIQ\">&#8220;I can&#8217;t stand to spend Alabamians&#8217; tax dollars on something that the vast majority of the state can&#8217;t stand,&#8221; he said, according to 1819 News.  &#8220;This also highlights the need to expose state spending on other DEI programs there may be. It&#8217;s sad that state resources are being used to politicize the out-of-touch views of the left&#8221; .<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"3G3H2AVMMNHMJBAWPFW5E2HSJY\">An ADAH spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment on the lawmakers&#8217; response.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"D4S4ASKIPFEVXGOAWLDB3WPBVI\">But Sullivan said the presentation, which touched on Alabama&#8217;s first Pride march, the struggles of LGBTQ student organizations at Auburn University and the University of Alabama and the state&#8217;s first LGBTQ center, It wasn&#8217;t politics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"5HLN6O7UOZE5XD5PARRMEAZQFY\">&#8220;I really just went over things that are pretty black and white,&#8221; he said.  &#8220;It&#8217;s just a record of history and so I find it mind-boggling that someone would interpret the facts as a political agenda.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"XGPMC5BC3VFXHD3BPW56VB7LNE\">The Alabama office of the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ rights group, said the Republican lawmakers&#8217; comments were &#8220;not surprising, but troubling all the same.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"GIPIB2S3CJGMRAFCBKZDELJ5VM\">&#8220;Alabama has a long history of trying to erase the stories of marginalized individuals, so the latest statements from certain lawmakers are not surprising but equally troubling. As the nation&#8217;s oldest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, we stand strongly with the &#8216;ADAH in its commitment to preserve the history of ALL Alabamians,&#8221; the organization said in a statement sent to AL.com Thursday night.  &#8220;We&#8217;ve already lost countless historical accounts and stories through past attempts to erase history. Events like these are what really seem to preserve history.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"VQWIKJRQ5RF5ZC5U5QLAJRIYE4\">Sullivan said he finds it &#8220;horrifying as an individual taxpayer that our legislature is trying to deny a full and honest look at our own histories, to eradicate history in this way seems counterintuitive to who we say we are as a country.&#8221; .<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"GZ3KOGTT7ZFRBKTXICJII4SZWI\">The comments by Stadthagen and Kiehl, Sullivan said, sound \u201clike rhetoric they are making up to politicize their own agenda.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"253PKP6INJDSFGLSYKKWET3YLQ\">&#8220;I think this is the last gasp of bigotry because they wanted a culture war and they&#8217;re losing,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"A2AZZ6CMBBCPLNW77IR4KHCGAA\">The event also wasn&#8217;t paid for with state money, Sullivan said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"I6HWZ7Y6C5BL5ISON33F6L4HFQ\">&#8220;This was not tax-funded, it came from a grant program from the Alabama Humanities Alliance,&#8221; he said, referring to <a href=\"https:\/\/archives.alabama.gov\/about\/press-releases\/news-detail.aspx?ID=16035\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ADAH&#8217;s food for thought<\/a> cycle of conferences and presentations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"YHOMJ6D2BVGTTHS53UUCJW53FA\">Sullivan noted that in the early 1990s, when there were attempts to shut down the Auburn Gay Lesbian Alliance, the university&#8217;s president at the time said the constitutional right to assemble was granted to all organizations and not only those with which the majority agreed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"3R4VBLTJJZDVBNTRAMQPHIVLXI\">&#8220;As Americans, we have a right to assemble, we have a right to free speech,&#8221; he said.  \u201cAnd to come and attack this [event] \u2026 it&#8217;s a violation of free speech and people&#8217;s ability to gather and learn things.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"QCSE46MPFNBP7BJ2FQWQIOLAZY\">&#8220;Honestly, it&#8217;s an eradication of open knowledge and conversation, and these things lead to fascism,&#8221; he continued.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"F56MPM4DRBA7NOYCSM2HMONEKI\">He said the organization thanked ADAH for being open to their conversation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"LN5YCQMZVRESXH7PBTEGDDYIYY\">&#8220;It&#8217;s important right now that these institutions are advocates for honest and accurate truth telling,&#8221; Sullivan said.<\/p>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.al.com\/news\/2023\/06\/alabama-department-of-archives-and-history-under-fire-for-promoting-liberal-political-lgbtq-agenda.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A nonprofit organization dedicated to chronicling the history of the LGBTQ movement in the Deep South said it was &#8220;appalling&#8221; that two Republican state lawmakers criticized the group&#8217;s presentation Thursday hosted by the Alabama Department of Archives and History as a promoter of the &#8220;liberal LGBTQ political agenda&#8221;. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think they know what &#8216;politicize&#8217; means,&#8221; said Maigen Sullivan, co-founder of the Birmingham-based company. Invisible Histories Projectwho gave the lecture organized by ADAH entitled &#8220;Invisible No More: Alabama&#8217;s LGBTQ+ Story&#8221; Thursday in Montgomery. 1819 News, a website that It was owned by the Alabama Policy Institutepublished in event preview Wednesday&#8230;. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":25762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-videos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25761"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25763,"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25761\/revisions\/25763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}