The International Council on Archives’ Working Group on Sex-Affective and Gender Diversity Archives & Archivists (SAGDAA-WG), has released a Declaration on LGBTQI+ and Sex-Affective and Gender Diversity (SAGD) Archives and Archivists. This declaration sets out a clear vision for how the archival profession must evolve to ensure that LGBTQI+ histories, identities, and communities are fully recognized, protected, and represented.
At its core, the Declaration highlights the essential role archives play in safeguarding human rights and preserving diverse narratives. It emphasises that LGBTQI+ individuals and communities have long faced discrimination, erasure, and misrepresentation in public records, and that archival institutions have a responsibility to reverse these patterns and build a more inclusive documentary heritage.
What the Declaration Advocates For
The declaration emphasises the need for LGBTQI+ individuals and communities to be accurately and respectfully represented in archival description systems and vocabularies, recognising them as co-authors of their own histories. It calls on public archives to actively preserve materials documenting LGBTQI+ lives, especially those created by LGBTQI+ people themselves, in order to counter longstanding patterns of silence, destruction, and stigma.
It also affirms the essential role of community-run LGBTQI+ archives, which have safeguarded stories often absent from institutional holdings, and encourages closer collaboration between these archives and traditional institutions. Moreover, the declaration proposes developing tools and methodologies such as oral history initiatives, research into community archival practices, global guidelines for processing LGBTQI+ collections, and the creation of a digital platform for resource-sharing. Finally, it reiterates that archives must be ethical and welcoming spaces where LGBTQI+ people can engage, as users, donors, and professionals, without discrimination.
A Moment of Collective Support at ICA Barcelona 2025
The declaration was publicly voiced during the ICA Barcelona 2025 Congress on 30 October, in the session “Archives, Guardians of Identities”, where participants explored how archives can honour and protect LGBTQI+ narratives. At the end of the session, speakers and attendees collectively read and signed the declaration, a moving gesture of solidarity that underscored the commitment behind its principles.
Looking Ahead
The ICA encourages archival institutions, professionals, and communities worldwide to engage with the Declaration and integrate its principles into their practices. Preserving LGBTQI+ histories is not only a matter of documentation, it is a matter of rights, dignity, and the integrity of our shared memory.
