The OUTWORDS Archive
The OUTWORDS Archive is a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles. It records and archives on-camera interviews with pioneers, activists, and elders from the LGBTQ community throughout the United States.[1] [2]
History
Inspired by the Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive of interviews with Holocaust witnesses and survivors, documentary TV and film producer Mason Funk established OUTWORDS in 2016. Half-day interviews are conducted on high-definition digital video by film crews, primarily in the homes of interview subjects.[3] Interviewees have included lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex individuals, as well as representatives of various sub-communities of the LGBTQ community including drag queens, leather daddies, lesbian separatists, and allies. Most interviewees are over 70 years old.[4]
In May 2018, OUTWORDS received a Creator Award in the Community Giver category from the co-working company WeWork.[5] In May 2019, HarperCollins published the first compilation of OUTWORDS interviews, entitled The Book of Pride, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.[6][7] At the same time, OUTWORDS released a searchable digital platform which makes video interviews and historical photos freely available to the public.[8]
Interviews
As of February 2018, OUTWORDS had recorded 131 interviews with LGBTQ pioneers in 26 states and Washington, DC. Interviewees have included:[9]
- Dick Leitsch – former president of the Mattachine Society
- Kay Lahusen – pioneering photojournalist
- Grethe Cammermeyer – retired colonel, DADT activist
- Karla Jay – author, activist
- Evan Wolfson – marriage equality activist
- Miss Major Griffin-Gracy – transgender activist
- Jewel Thais-Williams – LA nightclub owner
- Alan M. Steinman – retired admiral, DADT activist
- Lani Ka'ahumanu – bisexual pioneer and author
- Robyn Ochs – bisexual pioneer and educator
- Jim Toy – college campus activist
- Troy Perry – founder, Metropolitan Community Church
- Phyllis Randolph Frye – first openly transgender judge in US
- Donna Sachet – drag performer, activist
- Jamison Green – former president, WPATH
- Ray Hill – organizer, radio host
- Mark Segal – journalist
- Don Bachardy – artist
- Mia Yamamoto – attorney, transgender activist
- Jewelle Gomez – author, former president San Francisco Library Commission
- Karen Clark – politician
- Dean Hamer – geneticist, ‘gay gene’ researcher
- Diana Nyad – open ocean swimmer
Publications
- The Book of Pride: LGBTQ Heroes Who Changed the World, (HarperCollins, May 2019), ISBN 978-0-0625-7170-0
See also
- LGBT History
- Mattachine Society
- ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives
- Lesbian Herstory Archives
- Tretter Archives
- Transgender Oral History Project
References
- ^ "OUTWORDS Archives". Faces of Freedom. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
- ^ "OUTWORDS: The National Interview Archive of the LGBTQ Experience". International Documentary Association. 2015-10-26. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
- ^ "Book captures stories of LGBT trailblazers". The Bay Area Reporter / B.A.R. Inc. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
- ^ "This Filmmaker Is on a Quest to Capture the Stories of LGBTQ Pioneers All Over America | NewNowNext". www.newnownext.com. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
- ^ "Uncovering LGBT stories that were hidden from history". Ideas. 2018-05-13. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
- ^ "Meet the LGBTQ+ Elders Who Rioted, Organized and Lobbied to Change History". KQED. 2019-06-10. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
- ^ "'The Book of Pride' Celebrates LGBTQ+ Trailblazers". www.out.com. 2019-05-23. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
- ^ "At WeWork's SF Creator Awards, Big Ideas Deserve Big Celebrations". 7x7 Bay Area. 2018-05-14. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
- ^ "Lavender Legacies Guide: United States: California | Society of American Archivists". www2.archivists.org. Retrieved 2019-06-21.