Overview
The LGBTQ Religious Archives Network (LGBTQ-RAN) is an innovative venture in preserving history and encouraging scholarly study of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) religious movements around the world. LGBTQ-RAN has a two-fold basic purpose.
- First it assists LGBT religious leaders and groups in determining how best to preserve their records and papers in appropriate repositories.
- Secondly, LGBTQ-RAN provides an electronic information clearinghouse for these archival collections and other historical data about LGBT religious history for the use of historians, researchers and other interested persons.
LGBTQ-RAN can best be understood as a "virtual" archive. It is not a physical repository that collects and preserves papers and records. Instead, LGBTQ-RAN is a resource center that enables the preservation of history and makes historical information easily accessible through this web site. Initiated in 2001 as a project of the Chicago Theological Seminary, LGBTQ-RAN has been a program of the Center for LGBTQ & Gender Studies in Religion in Berkeley, California, since 2008
Recognizing that history is written from the perspective of those who preserve their records, LGBTQ-RAN's overarching purpose is to ensure the preservation and accessibility of the voices and experiences of a great diversity of LGBT religious leaders and groups.