The Origins of the LGBT Timeline
The idea of the LGBT Timeline first emerged out of an appendix inserted into a co-edited volume by Timeline Director Javier Corrales and Mario Pecheny entitled The Politics of Sexuality in Latin America (University of Pittsburgh Press. 2010). The endeavor was one of the first published works in English that focused on the comparative politics of LGBT issues in Latin America. As a part of that project, Corrales and Pecheny began to compile a working catalog of important LGBT events in Latin America. They organized these events temporally, and began to assemble an exclusively LGBT “timeline”. The pair found that when aggregated into a time sensitive data set, it became easy to visualize trends within activist movements. Enthused by the potential scope of such a analytical tool, Corrales quickly assembled a team and by 2012 had begun work on conceptualizing a larger, more comprehensive online timeline tool.
Applications of the Timeline
We envision the Timeline as a tool for educators, academics, activists and students from a variety of background disciplines.
The Timeline captures the most important political events in the history of LGBT rights in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its guiding principle is to make openly available standardized event data about the region’s LGBT activism. It includes, to the extent possible, primary source material and digital media documenting each entry.
Naturally, the Timeline cannot be fully comprehensive. Difficult decisions need to be made about which events to include or not to include. We give priority to events that have the potential of impacting public political life. We probably miss important events. If you feel that an important event is missing, and would like to suggest adding an entry, please feel free to let us know.
This is a digital scholarship project. We invite collaboration and dialogue among colleges, researchers, students and colleges.
Whether you are just beginning a study on LGBT rights, or have been doing so for years, the LGBT Timeline offers a unique resource for gathering, comparing, and visualizing event data on the history of LGBT rights in Latin America and the Caribbean.
