In 2019, Memphis native Brandon Allen, a White Station High School student, won the brand new distinction of homecoming royalty while wearing a sparkly gold dress. While assigned male at birth, Allen is gender-nonconforming and uses they/them pronouns. 

But, because of Allen, the student body of White Station High School decided to eliminate the titles of homecoming king and queen.

Allen made national news because of the change; they are also featured in “Memphis Proud: The Resilience of a Southern LGBTQ+ Community,” a new exhibit at the Memphis Museum of Science and History (MoSH). The exhibit, running alongside “Rise Up: Stonewall and the LGBTQ Rights Movement,” a traveling exhibition created by the Newseum in Washington, D.C., is MoSH’s first LGBTQ exhibit. 

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“Part of our mission as a rebranded museum is to honestly tell the stories of Memphis, create spaces that resonate deeply with our community, reveal untold histories and develop shared spaces,” said Raka Nandi, MoSH’s director of exhibits and collection. 

During the early hours of June 28, 1969, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. The incident led to a six-day protest and sparked a new age of the LGBTQ movement all over the United States.

With the traveling Newseum exhibit, the MoSH staff felt they had the perfect opportunity to feature local history, as well. 

“We tell the story of not only the national trend but also the local stories. We made it for the community and about the community,” said MoSH’s executive director Kevin Thompson. 

The Memphis-centered exhibit, “Memphis Proud,” includes a collection of local photographs and artifacts. It also educates museum visitors on community organizations such as OUTMemphis and Tri-State Black Pride and presents a new generation of leaders.

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“In a city that prides itself on community engagement, this exhibit spotlights the ways in which LGBTQ+ Memphians engaged in local community building, from finding support in open and affirming faith-based institutions to building formal community centers to creating informal gathering places in bars, bookstores, house parties, and restaurants,” Nandi said. 

“As straight people, we take certain rights for granted: the right to work, the right to serve in the armed forces, and the right to be affectionate in public spaces. The right to hold political office and not be questioned for our sexual orientation. LGBTQ+ people have had to fight for these rights.” 

Both exhibits allow community members to reflect on the past and consider next steps.

The creators of “Memphis Proud” formed a committee of about 25 people who met monthly to compile stories about the Memphis LGBTQ movement. The committee included Vanessa Rodley of Mid-South Pride, Kayla Gore of My Sistah’s House, civil rights activist Joe Calhoun, students from the University of Memphis gay-straight alliance and others. MoSH also consulted many primary sources for the exhibit.

“We were very intentional to make sure that we worked with younger people and also people who are rooted in the LGBTQ+ community of Memphis,” Nandi said. 

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Magical Miss Mothie, a local drag artist, activist and one of the exhibit curators, helped obtain the drag costumes on display.

“Drag is a very complex and layered art form, but for outsiders, it can also appear to be an insular community,” Nandi said. “A local drag artist was part of our curatorial team, and they helped us build trust with the drag community. Subsequently, we were able to borrow these amazing costumes that you see on display today.” 

Nandi also worked with three interns on the exhibit, including Olivia Roman.

“I hope it gives everyone, both gay and straight, a greater appreciation of the hard work that the Memphis gay community put in its earlier years to make today, our community events and our friendships possible,” Roman said.

The Museum of Science and History is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The cost of admission is $18 for adults, $17 for seniors, and $13 for youth ages 3-12. An oral history project will be presented during the Tri-State Black Pride festival on Sunday, June 19, and at Studio on the Square Tuesday, June 21; the project features the stories of longtime LGBTQ leaders in Memphis. “Rise Up: Stonewall and the LGBTQ Rights Movement” and “Memphis Proud: The Resilience of a Southern LGBTQ+ Community” will be on display through September 26.