Coretta Scott King at the Human Rights Campaign in 1986, where she officially linked civil rights and the fight for gay and lesbian rights. Photo: Center for Civil and Human Rights.
What was it like to live in a world that separated people by color?
What is it like to live in a world that separates LGBT people from their fundamental civil and human rights?
These two questions open up a world of issues and ideas. Luckily, there is a place to explore the past, present, and future of equality for all—Atlanta’s Center for Civil and Human Rights.
The Center has launched the LGBT Institute to support civil and human rights for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transsexual people throughout the world, in the United States, and in southern states that have been particularly resistant to full inclusion of LGBT residents. Recognizing the on-going struggle for LGBT rights is an important part of the Center’s global civil and human rights platform.
The Center was established in 2007 and is located in a 43,000 square foot facility in Atlanta, GA. It was developed by civil rights leaders Evelyn Lowery and former UN Ambassador Andrew Young and offers visitors the opportunity to develop an understand of the fundamental rights of all human beings.
The Center provides an experience where visitors are able to form their own understanding of human rights and leave inspired and ready to continue the discussion in their own community.
The LGBT Institute’s shares a similar mission and is designed to provide a platform and space for thoughtful dialogue about civil and human rights for LGBT people and their communities.
Programming featuring issues related to civil and human rights for the LGBT community will be an important part of the Institute’s mission and available for visitors to experience. Emory University’s Women’s and Sexuality Studies Department will partner with the Institute to further advance its mission, research, and annual symposium.
The Georgia LGBTQ Archive Project will partner with the Institute to collect the documents, ephemera, and memories of LGBT people and create a visual archive that will be available online.
Explore additional media coverage of the LGBT Institute launch here.