The Astro Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf (ARAD) was a chapter of the Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf based out of Houston, Texas. It was formed on December 7th, 1979. Bruce Herman was its first president.
ARAD hosted the Deaf Gays and Lesbians of the West (GLOW) conference in 1994 and was an active member of the Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf, sending delegates to their conventions. It functioned primarily as a social club, hosting events for the local Deaf LGBT community. Over time, ARAD began to lose members, and it officially closed down in 2009. Upon closure, the records of ARAD were split between the Gallaudet University Archives and the Gulf Coast Archive and Museum of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender History.
The Astro Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf Records cover the span of time from 1979 to the donation of the collection to the Gallaudet University Archives in 2010. This collection is the digitized version of the records. The finding aid for the collection can be found here. Please note that the physical collection includes some artifacts that were not digitized.
