ATLANTA--The LGBTQ Institute’s Mike Maloney Collection of “OutTV Atlanta” video recordings https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/outtv has been made available online by the Georgia State University Library.
The recordings provide a glimpse into the life and times of LGBTQ people and organizations at the turn of the century in the American South.
The Mike Maloney Collection of “OutTV Atlanta” video recordings are part of the LGBTQ Institute's Archives at Georgia State Library’s Special Collections and Archives. They are housed in the university’s growing Gender and Sexuality Collection and managed by archivist Morna Gerrard.
The digital collection contains 228 digitized tapes of raw footage created in the process of making the show. It is available thanks in part to the Digital Library of Georgia's Competitive Digitization grant program.
“OutTV Atlanta,” which ran from 1999-2001, was a half-hour weekly news and entertainment show for LGBTQ communities that aired in Atlanta and Savannah, Ga. As producer of the show, Maloney saw most press coverage of LGBTQ life involved nightclubs and drag queens. He sought to widen media focus on “ordinary” gay people who were social workers, attorneys and members of the community. Nightclubs and drag queens are also represented in the collection, including such luminaries as the Lady Chablis, RuPaul and local legend Charlie Brown.
The collection includes coverage of multiple nonprofits, including AID Atlanta, the Atlanta Lesbian Cancer Initiative, PALS (Pets Are Loving Support), GLAAD, Youth Pride and more. Footage filmed in the months leading up to the 2000 presidential election features representatives of the Stonewall Democrats, Log Cabin Republicans and interviews with gay voters. The footage contains coverage of diverse artistic events, including performances by the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus, gay stand-up comedy nights, the Queerstock music festival, and art exhibitions and author readings at the now-defunct Outwrite Bookstore.
Pride events are well-documented, including the 2000 and 2001 Atlanta Pride Festivals, and the first Pride festival in Savannah. The collection also documents such varied events as gay rodeos hosted by the Southeastern Gay Rodeo Association, Elton John promoting a charity tennis tournament, an onstage conversation and interview with Eve Ensler, profiles of gay-owned and gay-friendly businesses, and interviews with lesbian Paralympic fencer Lisa Lanier.
Several full episodes are included in the collection, but the majority of the videos contain raw footage, providing full access to events such as interviews and performances that only appear in highly edited form in final episodes.
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Georgia State University Library’s Special Collections and Archives
Located on the Atlanta campus, Georgia State University Library’s Special Collections and Archives collects and preserves unique and rare historical materials in selected subject areas. The Gender & Sexuality Collections were established in 2011 to document the LGBT+ communities in Georgia and the Southeast. They comprise personal papers, records of organizations, photographs, textiles, artifacts, video and sound recordings, publications and oral histories. The Special Collections Department promotes the use of these materials by the Georgia State University community, scholars and the public. Its goal is to advance scholarship and to further the educational, research and service missions of the university.