History Commons^™

Burdin, Johannah, Samantha Rouillard

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Johannah Burdin shares her story as a lesbian/queer woman experiencing southern Maine in the 1990s. Her story touches on topics involving coming out, relationships, a traumatic incident that left her disabled, activism, and much more. She was active in her youth in spreading awareness on the AIDS/HIV crisis, education on safe sex, and spent her evenings at popular Portland gay bars, like Sister’s Bar and Limelight/The Underground. Although she is not much into drinking, she recognized these were some of the few spots queer people could go to make community and relationships. Johannah also shares her story of becoming a …

Michaud, Jim, Angelli Bishop

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Jim Michaud, (he/him), was born in 1964. Jim is a local Mainer, born and raised in Lewiston, Maine. He was born into a middle-class family with his siblings, was raised Catholic, and even attended Catholic school in his earlier years. Since the late eighties, Jim has identified as a gay man. He is a USM alumnus and attended the USM Gay Men's Alliance, which was his first ever encounter participating in an LGBTQ-organized environment. Being proactive in his political activism, Jim annually attends the Pride Parades in Boston, New York, and Maine. He stresses the importance of creating open space …

Nero, Dr. Charles, Hana Elabe

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Charles Nero was born in Decatur, Alabama and was raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. He discusses discovering at a young age that he was not heterosexual but not acting on that until college. Nero also talks about the challenges he faced when he came out to his parents. During his time at college, he made decisions that led him away from organized Christianity. He discusses the HIV/AIDS epidemic and his work with the Ithaca NY AIDS Taskforce. He also discusses some of the challenges presented by racism and homophobia. He and his husband have adopted two children and he talks …

Keppel, Bobbi, Megan Mcknight, Janine Rynkowski

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Bobbi Keppel is an 87-year old bisexual activist. Her father was a civil rights activist and union organizer; in part because of this, she felt she was a born “disruptor.” As a child, Bobbi Keppel was ill and struggled with being a “sickly kid.” She later married and had two children. During her marriage, she came out as bisexual with the support of her husband. She is a contributor to the classic anthology “By Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out” (edited by Loraine Hutchins and Lani Ka'ahumanu). For many decades, Keppel has been an educator on issues of bisexual …

Interview No. 1718, Alicia Sarmiento Ramirez

Combined Interviews

Alicia Sarmiento Ramirez was born in El Paso Texas, on May 11, 1946, and she recently applied for the renewal of her passport and her birth certificate said that she was born in Smelter Town, Texas because at that time it used to be separate from El Paso it was like a separate county. Her father used to be a supervisor on an American Melter called ASARCO, and her mother was a housekeeper and she had 3 sisters and her mom took care of them. Her dad worked since 1945 at ASARCO as a supervisor, he got the position because …

Interview No. 1720, Ismael Ortega

Combined Interviews

His name is Ismael Ortega he was born on July 7, 1946, and raised in El Paso where he attended school, he went to El Paso High for High School. His mother was a servant for George Dickenson and lived at his house where she worked. He started working in ASARCO when he was 25 years old in the year 1974 on the month of July. He worked at the plant because he wanted to have a good future for his family, and they had good benefits, so he decided to work there. His first job at ASARCO was at …

Interview No. 1716, Anastacio Zavala

Combined Interviews

Anastacio Zavala was born in El Paso Texas, he used to live in an area called Francis. His father was a liver and he used to have a horse and they used to ride it. He started working at ASARCO on June 30, 1965, at the age of mid-30s, he started working because of the death of his neighbor, and they called him and he needed to have a high school diploma and he was able to work there. His first job was in the department and he was going to be transferred but someone had an accident and he …

Interview No. 1712, Jaime Archuleta

Combined Interviews

Jaime Archuleta was born in the lower valley in El Paso (Ysleta), but he grew up in Sunland Park, New Mexico. His mom used to stay home and take care of them, while his dad worked as a carpenter all over the southwest.

Jaime started working at Asarco in 1993 when he was about 38 years old. He wanted to work in Asarco because he left a job in Arizona where he worked on a copper smelter so his experiences helped him to get into Asarco. When he first started there he worked as a maintenance mechanic. He worked there …

Interview No. 1715, Frank Gallardo

Combined Interviews

Frank Gallardo was born and raised in El Paso, he started working at ASARCO because he had 3 uncles that used to work in there, he started working at ASARCO on August 26, 1972. His first shift on ASARCO began at 3 o'clock in the evening, he would go every Monday to see if there were any open positions for a job but for 3 years he didn’t get the chance, so one Wednesday he received a call from the industry to tell him that he was hired. He needed to meet some expectations such as the weight, that for …

Interview No. 1719, Gilbert Limon

Combined Interviews

His Name is Gilbert Limon “Wally” he was born in El Paso, Texas on August 29, 1957, he grew up in Canutillo that used to be a small town at the exit of El Paso, he graduated from high school in 1976 and then he started working at ASARCO when he was 19 years old from 1977-1999. He was amazed when he first started working there because there were a lot of people working there and, they will work like 40-60 hours a week. He first started as a minimum wage employee with 7 dollars an hour and then they …

Waitzkin, Rich, Kristen Cates, Emma Donnelly

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Rich Waitzkin is a 69-year-old social worker originally from Akron, Ohio residing in Portland, ME. Waitzkin came out as a gay man in his late twenties after moving to Maine. He holds two Masters degrees in both education and social work. Waitzkin has years of experience working both in administration and in the home health care field providing therapy to the LGBTQ community. During the AIDS epidemic, Waitzkin worked as a social worker helping to guide clients on resources and even preparing some for death. Waitzkin also helped establish Portland’s first LGBTQ community center known as the Equality Community Center. …

Leonard Bagalwa, Leonard Bagalwa, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Leonard was forced to join the military at the age of 17 in his home country of the Congo. A Catholic priest smuggled me out of the country and I lived in refugee camps in several different countries until 2004 when he came to the United States.

In 2005, a couple came to Leonard when he was homeless in the Provo library. They found out that he needed help and offered to let me live with them. They ended up paying my tuition for my education and I went to college for five years.

Leonard uses his experiences to teach …