Everything Under The Sun: There's An App For LGBTQ History!

Friday, January 22, 2016

There's An App For LGBTQ History!

Sarah Prager holding an academic journal in which she was published.

One of the tasks of adolescence is coming to establish your identity. Some things that help in the quest are family history, thoughts about a career, national history, your own interests and passions. But for some individuals, there are unknowns or blank spaces that may actually leave holes in your development of identity. That is something that happens in marginalized communities, where individuals note a lack - a lack of others from similar backgrounds having any influence in the larger culture.

SARAH PRAGER is a young woman, who came out at the age of 14. She credits her knowledge of the stories of others in the LGBTQ community with helping her with a sense of validation and inspiration. Could some of the same type of knowledge help others within this community?

In order to bring the knowledge of community into everyday lives, she developed a free mobile app, QUIST, which is available for both iOS and Android devices. The app details the historical background of those who have identified throughout time as LGBTQ. Each day the app displays what happened on that day in history regarding both the LGBTQ community and HIV/AIDS history. There are more than 900 historical events documented in the app. If you read all of the events, you would find a history of the struggles, treatment, alliances, major figures, and barriers. It is all done in a manner that is attractive to youth.

The Quist app started distribution in July 2013; just six months later, there had been 15,000 downloads, covering 90 different countries. There are currently more than 30,000 followers from 100 different nations. The outreach represented by this app is even larger.

Because of the community that has developed around the app, awareness of LGBTQ history is spreading through social media campaigns, workshops, online talks, a video series, and in-person lectures. All of this enables those who download the app to have interactivity with a wider community. The website is simply packed with information. Participants are encouraged to add information when they notice something that was left out of the app and can even book the founder or the app staff as a speaker for a school appearance or public event.

Sylvia Rivera was 17 years old at the time of the Stonewall Riots.

If you know a young person who is struggling with issues of sexual/gender identity, this would be an ideal way to help. Just knowing that there is a community of other individuals who have gone through the same struggles and issues can reduce a youth's isolation and help him/her figure out his/her own identity.