Thank you, Deb Fuller -- I support and agree with your response.   It is
not the role of a federal museum to validate bigotry.  And it is our role
to hold all our institutions, our profession and ourselves accountable.  At
this moment in time when civil rights have been so grievously challenged,
with #BlackLivesMatter gaining global support, when Indigenous nations
rightfully demand that Canadians reexamine our fundamental stories and
myths of national identity, during Pride month and every month, museums
really DO need to have a backbone, ethics, courage.  We need to believe in
our staff, our own exhibits and programs, and the capacity of our visitors
to learn and grow.

Surprise -- some seniors are also LGBTQ2S and/or queer.  Fancy that.

On Fri, Jun 26, 2020 at 7:27 PM Deb Fuller <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Wait, stop right here. From
> https://miscellaneousmuseology.wordpress.com/2020/06/25/visitor-centredness-considerations-cmhr-lgbtq2-exhibits-visitor-preference-controversy/
>
> "Would anyone want museums to force arachnophobes to tour or risk seeing
> into a spider exhibit? I hope not."
>
> That is not equivalent. Arachnophobes might actually have legit PTSD or
> other triggering conditions to spiders that make it painful, distressful,
> or outright impossible to view those exhibits. Religious groups object
> based on personal belief. Cutting exhibits for time is also not equivalent.
> Neither is saying, "We have 10 exhibits but you only have time for a guided
> tour of 6. Which ones do you want to see?" In those cases, you aren't
> deliberately censoring content.
>
> It is not a museum's job to shield people from content. This isn't a case
> about catering to interests of visitors but catering to people who activity
> go against the mission of the museum. People who don't want to see exhibits
> on LGBTQ2+ are from groups who deny LGBTQ2+ their rights and ultimately
> their existence. Letting them skip over those exhibits on a guided tour
> goes against promoting human rights. Likewise, science museums who cater to
> creationist groups do the same thing when they don't mention evolution or
> allow creationist teachers take over for part of the tour. Museums need to
> have a backbone when it comes to their education and outreach programs and
> say no to censoring their own content to appease groups that do not believe
> in that content. Let those groups do their own tours if they don't want to
> see an exhibit or don't want certain things mentioned.
>
> Deb Fuller
>
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