Picturing equality: the Lambda Network at Kodak

The Lambda Network at Kodak was the LGBTQ employee resource group that formed at the company’s Rochester headquarters in the early 1990s, when most queer workers were still closeted. Using never-before-shared archival documents, newspapers and magazines, photographs, video footage, and oral history interviews, Picturing equality: the Lambda Network at Kodak explores how Lambda members changed Kodak’s corporate culture and benefit policies to be more LGBTQ inclusive. By sharing their first-person stories of the difficulties of remaining closeted in the workplace, Lambda members promoted understanding of the importance of LGBTQ rights. Annual educational events for leadership, as well as photobooths and portrait photography, also led to specific action that increased inclusion for LGBTQ employees. By centering photography in their activities, Lambda members closely tied their own organizational goals and identity to that of the Kodak brand. Lambda’s influence extended well beyond Rochester, helping position Kodak as a national leader in LGBTQ workplace equality. With strong support from senior leadership, the group advanced inclusive policies, shaped public advocacy, and challenged corporate norms through both internal change and outward-facing representation. Its legacy endures in lasting institutional impact and in the continued human rights work of its members. This exhibition is the result of the Remembering the Lambda Network at Kodak project, that, since 2021, has been documenting Lambda’s history and influence and the stories of its members. Begun by Lambda members Dan Sapper and Emily Jones in collaboration with Tamar Carroll of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) College of Liberal Arts.