The University of Arizona's Institute for LGBT Studies, for instance, offers access to a sampling of its Queer Archives online, but not all. At ASU, it took more than 10 years to process 151 boxes donated by the Valley of the Sun Gay and Lesbian Center, according to librarian Nancy Godoy-Powell. Here’s why | 9 Arizona LGBT bills that don't have a chance Obstacles ahead RELATED: What is 'deadnaming' and why does it matter? | Anti-LGBT legislation gets the cold shoulder with the Arizona Legislature. 'This project is about documenting how we got to this point so future generations can look back and understand.' 'There are a lot of (milestones) people never thought would get here, and now they're here,' Shore said. The group will partner with Phoenix Pride and Arizona State University Libraries to collect and preserve materials that chronicle the 'seismic shifts' in gay rights over the years, as well as narratives detailing daily life as an LGBT person in Arizona. Shore, Lazos-Ferns and other community leaders recently formed the Arizona LGBT+ History Project to reverse the trend. Though gay history has been well-preserved in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, it has been largely ignored in the Southwest, he said. Other LGBT-community icons in Arizona could easily meet the same fate, Shore said.
