Downers Grove library hosts LGBTQ+ Legacy Wall months after drag show controversy

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. (WLS) -- The Downers Grove Public Library, which was once at the center of a drag show controversy, now hosts the traveling Legacy Wall highlighting LGBTQ+ figures through history.

"I'm grateful to be so surprised by how welcoming it has been here," said Victor Salvo of The Legacy Project Chicago.

"Hopefully this helps heal some of those wounds," said Andi Voinovich, who was vising the exhibit.

The wall features historic LGBTQ+ figures throughout four millennia, from Alexander the Great to James Baldwin. There are more than 125 mini-biographies to view.

"There's famous people like Alan Turing, who created computing possibility. We probably wouldn't even have cell phones if it weren't for Alan Turing," said Kathryn Deiss, co-chair of Equality Downers Grove.

The display arrives months after the library was forced to cancel a drag show bingo event in September, following a sudden backlash and protest.

"The fact that the library, so soon after going through an experience where their own staff were getting death threats, to be willing to welcome an installation like this is profoundly courageous," said Salvo.

"The people who were opposed to it said that they will be more happy with an educational experience, so hopefully we'll see that they're true to their word and they're okay with our community having the experience to connect with our history," said Voinovich.

The Legacy Wall will be in the library for the duration of Pride Month, and organizers hope it will leave some knowledge behind to hopefully spread beyond the library walls.

"The wall is international and multicultural. Anybody who's anybody, regardless of their sexual orientation, is going to see somebody on the wall that is like them," Salvo said.