User:YoninaB/Queer community archives

Article body
Since queer community archives were created from the commitment of many volunteers, activists, and archivists in order to collect and protect materials that were unwanted by university, public, and government archives, those responsible for maintaining community archives tend to mistrust mainstream archives. Mainstream archives often use language and terminology that does not reflect the way queer people and communities refer to themselves, and queer community archives also give queer people a way to control the language used to describe them in archives. The desire for autonomy and independence comes with obstacles. Primarily, due to a lack of funding, there is a dependence on significant personal sacrifice, be that financial, physical or mental on behalf of key activists and a network of volunteers whose commitments arise from great emotional and political investment in queer community archives and their impact.