Stonewall National Museum plans major expansion as LGBTQ+ history collection grows

The Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library in Fort Lauderdale is preparing a significant expansion as its vast LGBTQ+ collections outgrow their current home, at the same time that federal and state funding for equity-focused institutions comes under political fire.

CEO Robert Kesten says the archive has reached capacity, with shelving squeezed into every office and surplus materials pushed into off-site storage units across South Florida. Boxes of periodicals, posters and artwork now compete with staff workspaces, complicating basic tasks such as preparing exhibitions and research access. In response, the museum has launched a $40 million capital campaign to secure a larger facility with substantially increased storage and exhibition space.

The search for a new location unfolds amid financial strain linked to Republican-led efforts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The museum has lost up to $125,000 in expected federal and Florida state grants, according to The New York Times, as part of former President Donald Trump’s push to strip funding from institutions labeled as DEI-related. Rising operating costs and expansion plans have made this politicization of culture funding especially acute for an archive that serves LGBTQ+ communities nationwide, Advocate reports.

Against that backdrop, the museum received an unexpected boost from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which approved a grant for a historic exhibition to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States. The project centers on Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, the Prussian military strategist who helped organize the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and who many historians believe was gay. The Stonewall exhibition traces von Steuben’s journey from an immigrant arriving with limited resources and English skills to a key architect of American military success, while also addressing the ongoing speculation about his sexuality.

Kesten says von Steuben’s life offers a powerful example of how people from diverse backgrounds and identities have helped build the United States, directly countering attempts to minimize LGBTQ+ contributions to national history. As the museum works to secure a new space and protect its collections, it aims to make stories like his more visible to future generations.

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