The 2022 HistoryMaker Awards
The History Project, Boston's LGBTQ archives, is pleased to announce Arline Isaacson as our 2022 HistoryMaker Awards honoree. Since 2009, the HistoryMaker Awards recognize community members and organizations who make history every day.
Arline Isaacson is a familiar figure on Beacon Hill. As Co-Chair of the Massachusetts GLBTQ Political Caucus (formerly the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus), she has lobbied every major LGBTQ+ issue in Massachusetts. She advocated for the groundbreaking 1989 gay and lesbian civil rights bill and domestic-partnership benefits for Massachusetts public employees.
Her fights have included LGBTQ+ parental rights, anti-bullying bills, hate crimes bills, transgender rights, HIV/AIDS legislation, and banning conversion therapy for minors. Arline also led the legislative battle for marriage equality, making Massachusetts the first state in the nation to defeat a marriage equality ban.
"Arline's work to support equal rights for all is inspiring. We look to the past to inform our future, and we must learn from LGBTQ+ leaders like Arline how to continue the fight," says Executive Director Joan Ilacqua. "Our community has fought against attacks on protections and rights for LGBTQ+ people, and we've won. We'll continue to fight to protect the families, health, wellbeing, and bodily autonomy of all people."
The History Project is pleased to announce K.J. Rawson as our 2022 Lavender Rhino Award honoree. Named after one of the early symbols of the Gay Liberation movement, the Lavender Rhino Award is presented to an activist or organization whose current efforts are making history for the LGBTQ+ community.
K.J. Rawson is the Director and Founder of the Digital Transgender Archive (DTA). The DTA, launched in 2016, virtually merges disparate transgender history archives collections, digital materials, and independent projects and makes these rich primary source materials available to researchers and LGBTQ+ community members worldwide. We recognize and celebrate K.J.'s tireless efforts to share transgender history and collections.
K.J. also serves as Chair of the editorial board of Homosaurus, an international LGBTQ+ linked data vocabulary. He is an Associate Professor of English and Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies at Northeastern University, and Co-Director of NULab for Texts, Maps, and Networks.
The History Project will celebrate the 2022 honorees with an early evening reception at the St. Botolph Club, featuring cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, on September 8, 2022.
More information can be found at historyproject.org
