Details
The annual Ernest and Esther Weed Memorial lecture, endowed in honor of longtime BHFH Directors Ernest and Esther Weed, features a prominent interpreter of Quakerism speaking on a topic of interest to Friends in New England and beyond.
For 2024, the speaker is Brian Blackmore, with the lecture: "Quakers and the Gay Rights Movement." Brian Blackmore holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Temple University, with extensive academic research and published writings examining the role that Quakers played in gay rights movements and the inclusion of gay and lesbian people in the Quaker tradition during the mid-twentieth century. He is a Quaker educator and community builder whose career has focused on religion, social justice, and peacemaking.
Come learn about gay rights activists in the 1960s and 1970s who were trained by Quakers in nonviolent resistance, the influential gay rights leaders who were Quakers themselves, and the gay rights organizations that operated out of Quaker-owned properties. This lecture will also describe the presence of Quakers at the Stonewall riots and Quaker participation in the first gay pride parade.
This is a hybrid event.