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Lambda Archives Of San Diego

@lambdaarchives

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Our mission is to collect, preserve, and share the history of LGBTQ+ people in San Diego, Northern Baja CA, and Imperial County region.

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📣 Big news from Lambda Archives!

We’re so excited to welcome Jen LaBarbera back home as our Interim Executive Director!

Jen isn’t new to Lambda; they served as our Head Archivist before going on to lead at San Diego Pride and Creating Change/National LGBTQ Task Force. Now, they’re back to help guide us through this transition with the steady hand and deep community roots we know and trust.

Paraphrasing Jen’s words: “At the risk of sounding overly sentimental, returning to Lambda Archives really does feel like coming home.”

Join us in welcoming Jen back!

🔗 See the full announcement and message from Jen at the link in our bio. by @lambdaarchives

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Join us in celebrating Gabrielle Garcia (they/he/she), Lambda’s Head Archivist, as they head out for the next chapter on their archival journey. Gabby has been with Lambda Archives on and off since 2019, first as a volunteer, then as a project assistant, and then as Head Archivist after finishing their MLIS in 2024. They’ve been an incredible asset to the Archives and an excellent supervisor to over 25 volunteers and interns during their time with us, and will be deeply missed. We’re so excited for their next chapter as they move up to the Bay Area, where they’ll be starting a position as the Assistant Director of the Digital Transgender Archive ( @digitaltransarc )- still part of the LGBTQIA+ archives world! Good luck, Gabrielle, and thank you for everything! 💜✨

Read Gabrielle’s parting words as our Head Archivist at the link in our bio! by @lambdaarchives

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I recently visited Lambda Archives, which is doing amazing and necessary work to collect, preserve, and share the history of our local LGBTQ+ community. It was so inspiring to see and I encourage everyone to go!

#lgbtqhistory #queerhistory #sandiego #pride by @lambdaarchives

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2 months ago

Our July newsletter just dropped, and it’s a big one. 📬✨

We’re celebrating the completion of our California State Library-funded project: 773 items digitized, all centering Trans + BIPOC history across San Diego and Tijuana. 🏳️‍⚧️✊🏾 Photographs, protest signs, zines, oral histories, periodicals like Bandera Gay, Frontera Gay, and Habari, pulled from across our collections and made freely searchable for the first time. 📂🔍

This is what Pride actually looks like to us: not just a parade, but a paper trail. Proof that we were here. 🗂️💜

And speaking of the parade 👀 we want YOU marching with us. Join the Lambda Archives contingent at San Diego Pride this year, no experience needed, just bring yourself and your pride. 🌈🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️

The Larry T. Baza Memorial Scholarship event and Pride kick-off is in LESS THAN ONE WEEK! RSVP at the link in our bio! 💰 🏫

Full newsletter + parade sign-up link in bio. 🔗

#SanDiegoPride #QueerHistory #TransHistory #BIPOCHistory #LambdaArchives by @lambdaarchives

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3 months ago

🌈 We’re heading to the library tomorrow!

Join Lambda Archives at the Annual Rainbow Revolution, hosted by @sandiegopubliclibrary, as we celebrate Pride at the library. We’ll be sharing Pride history and the stories that make our community’s past worth preserving, because knowing where we’ve been is how we keep moving forward.

📅 Tuesday, June 30
🕔 5:00 PM
📍 215 W. Washington St., San Diego

Free and open to all ages, no registration required. Come say hi, meet community partners, catch pop-up drag performances, and celebrate Pride the nerdy way: with queer history. ✊🏽📚

#LambdaArchives #RainbowRevolution #QueerHistory #PrideHistory by @lambdaarchives

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Yesterday, Tijuana celebrated Pride 🏳️‍🌈🇲🇽

Frontera Gay was a queer binational publication that launched in 1990, connecting activists and community members on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Founded by activist Max Mejía, it was one of the only outlets documenting LGBTQ+ life in the Tijuana-San Diego region at a time when that documentation was urgently needed. The publication covered local community life, reported on police violence and harassment, and helped expose the cover-up of AIDS-related deaths in Tijuana during one of the most critical periods in our region’s history.

This is exactly the kind of record that doesn’t survive without intentional preservation work. Through our Intersectional Archives: Trans & BIPOC Foundations digitization project, the majority of Frontera Gay issues are now digitized and available for free public viewing.

Check out the full issues at the link in our bio! (Best viewed on desktop)

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Ayer, Tijuana celebró el Orgullo 🏳️‍🌈🇲🇽

Frontera Gay fue una publicación queer binacional que surgió en 1990, conectando a activistas y miembros de la comunidad a ambos lados de la frontera entre México y Estados Unidos. Fundada por el activista Max Mejía, fue uno de los pocos espacios que documentaron la vida LGBTQ+ en la región Tijuana-San Diego en un momento en que esa documentación era urgentemente necesaria. La publicación cubría la vida comunitaria local, reportaba sobre la violencia policial y el hostigamiento, y ayudó a exponer el encubrimiento de muertes relacionadas con el SIDA en Tijuana durante uno de los períodos más críticos de la historia de nuestra región.

Este es exactamente el tipo de registro que no sobrevive sin un trabajo intencional de preservación. A través de nuestro proyecto de digitalización Intersectional Archives: Trans & BIPOC Foundations, la mayoría de los números de Frontera Gay están ahora digitalizados y disponibles para consulta pública y gratuita.

¡Consulta los números completos en el enlace de nuestra bio! by @lambdaarchives

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Lambda’s Head Archivist, Gabrielle, (they/he/she) is in Chicago this week representing Lambda Archives at the ALA 2026 Annual Conference & Exhibition. Their poster, “Reinvigorating a LGBTQ Community Archives’ Library in Times of Censorship: Programming and Systems Upgrades,” is being presented today at the Diversity Fair Poster Session.

In a year when queer history is under active threat, bans on books and bodies are multiplying, and the word “diversity” has become a target, our work showing up on a national stage feels more urgent than ever. What we do at Lambda isn’t archival for archival’s sake. It’s proof that our communities existed, organized, loved, and fought back, and that we WILL keep doing all of those things.

ALA turns 150 this year. We’re honored to bring San Diego’s story, and the San Diego-Tijuana region’s story, into this space! by @lambdaarchives

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Don’t forget to join us! Tomorrow Thursday June 25th • 5:00pm-7:00pm • The Front Gallery

🏳️‍🌈Pride in our Neighborhoods🏳️‍🌈

Join us as we host ARTS for their panel discussion and art-making activity with transborder LGBTQ+ artists, activists, and experts, including:
Liliana Hueso @liliana_hueso_photographer
Nicole Verdés @lambdaarchives
Nicolasa C @archivalavanda
Oscar Soto Marbán @sotomarban

Register and save your spot for the art making activity: www.givebutter.com/pride-in-our-neighborhoods taken in The FRONT Arte Cultura by @lambdaarchives

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Join us in sending Lambda’s Executive Director, Nicole Verdés (they/she), well wishes as they step into their next chapter after eleven incredible years of service to Lambda Archives. Nicole’s last day is June 30th, and we want to make sure they feel the love from this community before they go.

Under Nicole’s leadership, Lambda has grown in ways that have made us more rooted, more resourced, and more connected to the communities we serve. But more than any of that — Nicole fought for this work. They believed in it when it was hard, championed it when resources were scarce, and poured themselves into ensuring that LGBTQ+ San Diego history is preserved, accessible, and celebrated for generations to come.

We are beyond grateful. Thank you, Nicole. 💜🫶

Read Nicole’s full farewell statement at the link in our bio. by @lambdaarchives

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4 months ago

Pride season in San Diego is ALMOST HERE and Lambda Archives needs volunteers at our Pride booth! 🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

We’ll be tabling at the San Diego Pride Festival on Saturday, July 18 and Sunday, July 19 (10 am – 4 pm both days), and we’re looking for folks to join us for 3-hour shifts.

Whether you’ve volunteered with us before or you’re just getting to know us — come represent decades years of LGBTQ+ history with us.

Link in bio to sign up. 👆

#SanDiegoPride #LambdaArchives #Volunteer #Pride by @lambdaarchives

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4 months ago

On June 4th, we had the privilege of attending this beautiful event at the Owen Clinic honoring the 45th anniversary of the HIV epidemic and recognizing the lives, resilience, and advocacy of those impacted by HIV.

It was inspiring to see community members, healthcare providers, advocates, and community partners come together in remembrance, reflection, and celebration. The HIV Memorial Quilt serves as a powerful reminder of the lives touched by HIV, the progress we have made, and the work that still lies ahead to end stigma and ensure access to care for all.

Thank you to everyone who continues to advocate, educate, and support our communities. Together, we honor those we have lost, celebrate those living with HIV, and reaffirm our commitment to a future free of stigma.

🧡 #HIVMemorialQuilt #LongTermSurvivorsAwarenessDay #EndHIVStigma #HIVAwareness #PrideMonth UCSDHIV taken in UCSD Owens Clinic by @lambdaarchives

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You’ve probably passed by this beauty a dozen times without noticing, but in honor of Pride Month, we’re shining a light on this powerful work of art in University Heights! 🏳️‍🌈

The sculpture is called “Emerge” and the name says everything. Located at the corner of Florida Street and El Cajon Blvd in University Heights, this sits on the very site where Bernie Michels and Thom Carey once gathered a small group of lesbian and gay activists in their breakfast nook in the 1970s. This is where the vision for The Center SD was born.

Back then, being out was brave and risky. Community happened in hushed corners- bars, bathhouses, private homes. But from that little breakfast nook, something much bigger began to take shape.

This Pride Month, we celebrate the courage of those who came before us and the beautiful art that keeps their legacy alive on the very ground where it all started. Now it stands in concrete and bronze on the sidewalk for everyone to see. No more hiding. Just emerging.

@lgbtcenter
@lambdaarchives
@taproombeerco

#pridemonth #pride2026 #universityheights_sd #sandiego #publicart taken in University Heights, San Diego by @lambdaarchives

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