From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Best Library To Buck the System

September 21 2005

Stonewall Library and Archives
1717 N. Andrews Ave, Fort Lauderdale, 954/763-8565, www.stonewall-library.org

Created in 1973 and officially opened in 1985, the Stonewall Library provides an alternative history for gays and lesbians with its collection of more than 15,000 books and archival documents. As the culture war over the rights, or lack thereof, of homosexuals rages on in this country, so does the Stonewall's mission to document and humanize the lives of people who have been victimized for being gay or triumphed in spite of it. Located in the Gay and Lesbian Community Center, the almost-all-volunteer-run center marked its 20th year as a public institution in April by presenting the exhibition Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-45 at the Broward County Main Library. The touring show featured more than 250 photos and archival materials that showed how Hitler's goons had tried to eradicate homosexuality through re-education programs and even castration. Fortunately, in a country as enlightened as ours, we haven't gone so far as cutting anyone's testicles off in an attempt to make him straight. How progressive of us.