Swarthmore residents conducting business in the borough’s government building next month will get a dose of LGBT education.
“Love Makes a Family,” a traveling LGBT photo exhibit, will be on display in Swarthmore Borough Hall April 1-24.
The exhibit, which was created by Family Diversity Projects in Massachusetts, includes photos and bios of LGBT-headed families of all walks of life.
Along with the display will be a copy of the borough’s LGBT nondiscrimination ordinance, passed in 2006 to protect residents from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing, employment and public accommodations.
Swarthmore LGBT/Straight Network conceived of presenting the exhibit along with the local angle.
“We want to make sure that the people of Swarthmore know that there’s this human-rights ordinance because we realized a lot of folks in the area weren’t aware that these protections exist,” said Deb Dunbar, a member of the organization. “Borough Hall has a regularly scheduled rotation of art exhibits so we thought it’d be a great way to get people’s attention, by featuring all of these photos along with a framed copy of the ordinance.”
The exhibit’s location is ideal, Dunbar noted, as it is connected to an annex of the borough’s library and sees a fair amount of foot traffic on a daily basis.
Dunbar said Swarthmore officials were very supportive of the initiative, which is being cosponsored by Swarthmore Friends of the Arts and Swarthmore United Methodist Church.
As a lesbian mother, Dunbar said the exhibit has personal significance for a number of reasons — including as a tribute to her daughter’s donor, Alan Barman, who passed away in 2010 and who was one of the activists who led the fight to pass the Swarthmore ordinance.
“It means so much for me to see this because if he were alive, he would be so happy to see that the ordinance will be out there getting attention and educating people,” she said.
Its relevance extends to all residents of the borough, however, she noted.
“We want everyone who comes through the building, who has business in Borough Hall, to stop and have a look,” she said. “This targets all Swarthmorians. If anyone is discriminated against, it affects everyone else, and the people in Swarthmore do live by that belief.”
Organizers will host an opening reception from 5-7 p.m. April 13 at Borough Hall, 121 Park Ave., during Swarthmore’s Gallery Night.
For more information, contact Dunbar at [email protected] or exhibit chair Michele Southworth at [email protected] or 610-543-1108.