University of Southern Maine

News Releases

Charlie Howard Exhibit Comes to USM's Gorham Library

March 4, 2005

USM's Gorham Library presents "Charlie Howard 20 Years Later: How Far Has Maine Come. Anti-Gay Discrimination and Violence in Maine 1984-2004," in the Gorham Library located in Bailey Hall, Wednesday, March 16 through Tuesday, May 31. The exhibit can be viewed during regular library hours. For information, please call 780-4269.

The traveling exhibit was currated by Howard Solomon, scholar-in-residence of USM's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Collection, part of the Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine, which is housed in USM's Glickman Family Library, Portland.

The exhibit marks the 20th anniversary in 2004 of the murder of Charlie Howard, a young man who was thrown to his death into the Kenduskeag Stream in Bangor because he was gay. The exhibit examines the events surrounding his death and its impact on the history of human rights in Maine. The display was developed in conjunction with a series of mini-conferences and curricular materials for use in middle and high school classrooms.

A joint project of the University of Southern Maine's Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity and Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence, the exhibit strives to increase public awareness and discussion around the prejudice and violence directed at the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community.

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