LGBTQ+ Manuscript Collections
The Library’s LGBTQ+ archives collections are formally known as the “AIDS and Same Gender Marriage in Hawai‘i Papers.” A relatively new focus area for the Manuscript Collections, these materials document Hawai‘i’s LGBTQ+ communities, especially in the 1980s-1990s as they responded to the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and found themselves at the forefront of the U.S. struggle for same sex marriage.
Selected LGBTQ+ Collections
David McEwan, M.D. AIDS and Same Sex Marriage in Hawaiʻi papers
David McEwan papers – ArchivesSpace catalog record
When HIV/AIDS came to Hawai‘i in the early 1980s, Dr. David McEwan was one of the physicians most involved in treating the disease and advocating for patients. He was a founder of the non-profit Life Foundation (now renamed the Hawai‘i Health and Harm Reduction Center) and served or consulted with numerous task forces and other medical and social service groups working on improving Hawai‘i’s response to the disease. In the 1990s, Dr. McEwan expanded his activism to the struggle for same sex marriage, becoming a co-founder or early board member of groups such as the Hawai‘i Equal Rights Marriage Project (later renamed Marriage Project Hawai‘i), Equality Hawai‘i, and Protect Our Constitution.
Major series in Dr. McEwan’s papers include subject files on AIDS and on same sex marriage, records from the Life Foundation, personal papers, VHS video tapes, books from his library, and artifacts/ephemera. Nearly all of the materials relate to McEwan’s interests in gay rights, HIV/AIDS, or same sex marriage, and they document the political, cultural, and social aspects of these topics on local, national, and global scales.
Steven DeMaggio collection
Steven DeMaggio collection – ArchivesSpace catalog record
During the years of Hawaiʻi’s AIDS crisis, Steven DeMaggio created several panels for the memorial NAMES Project AIDS Quilt honoring friends and acquaintances who had passed due to the disease. DeMaggio’s collection contains clippings, medical literature, other documents, and photographs from this era of his life. Materials relate to AIDS, especially in Hawaiʻi; the Names Project AIDS Quilt in general; and several individual Quilt panels that DeMaggio created in particular.
Paul W. Gracie papers
Paul Gracie papers – ArchivesSpace catalog record
Paul W. Gracie is a Honolulu-based activist who advocates for religious tolerance and LGBTQ+ rights. Gracie’s collection consists of two t-shirts, one book, one resource packet, and various clippings. Materials pertain to HIV/AIDS, gay clergy, appropriation of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday by the religious right, and same sex marriage, especially in Hawaiʻi.
Justice Steven H. Levinson papers on same-sex marriage in Hawaiʻi
Steven Levinson papers – ArchivesSpace catalog record
Steven H. Levinson had a long legal career in Hawaiʻi, including a (nearly) 17-year stint as an Associate Justice of the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court from April 1992- December 2008. In 1993, Levinson wrote the opinion in the State Supreme Court case Baehr v. Lewin (later Baehr v. Miike), which opened the path for the ultimate legalization of same sex marriage in the state twenty years later, in 2013. After his judicial career, Levinson served as a member of the boards of directors of various Honolulu area non-profits, including Hawaiʻi United for Marriage, Equality Hawaiʻi, and the ACLU of Hawaiʻi. Levinson’s collection includes five folders of materials pertaining to same-sex marriage in Hawaiʻi and in the U.S., particularly in regards to Levinson’s service on the State Supreme Court case Baehr v. Lewin / Baehr v. Miike.
Rev. Curtis Metzger papers
Curtis Metzger papers – ArchivesSpace catalog record
Reverend Curtis Metzger served on the Board of Directors of two non-profit organizations advocating for same sex marriage in Hawaiʻi during the mid-to-late 1990s, Marriage Project Hawaiʻi (earlier named the Hawaiʻi Equal Rights Marriage Project) and Protect Our Constitution. His papers consist of records, ephemera, and artifacts that document these organizations and his involvement with them.
