scheduled to be displayed at Gerber/Hart Archives in September/October.
Gian, 18, recently graduated from Oak Forest High School and will be a freshman at Northwestern University this fall. He’s being honored for his research project on Frank Kameny, a 1970s gay rights activist who successfully pressured the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from the list of mental disorders. Through this project, Gian was able to interview Dr. Kameny himself, John D’Emilio (a prominent LGBT history author), numerous activists, medical professionals, and professors. He extended the scope of his research to include an analysis on how the present-day use of science (“gay gene” theory, etc.) has impacted and can impact the gay rights movement in helpful or dangerous ways. He submitted his project to a competition called National History Day (sponsored by The History Channel), for which he competed at regional, city, and state levels. At state, his project was chosen as one of two projects in his category to represent Illinois at the national competition. At nationals, his project placed 5th out of 105 projects from 49 states, DC, American Samoa, Guam, and Department of Defense Schools–Europe. He wishes to thank the Chicago Metro History Education Center, Gerber/Hart Archives (which gave him a special cash prize in honor of John D’Emilio), and National History Day for being supportive and for giving him the chance to do this kind of project. He says that this project has helped him come into terms with his identity and has given him the courage to launch his activism career. Gian hopes that youth would find similar ways to make the “coming out” process less stressful, more interesting, and more fun.