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Griffith, Kirsten, Beth Gibson

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Kirsten Griffith is a thirty-six year old woman living in Portland Maine. In this interview, she discusses her life from her early childhood up to the present day. Kirsten is part of the LGBTQ community and identifies as a femme lesbian. She is active in Portland Maine’s LGBTQ community and works with Pride Portland, the Equality Community Center and Maine Trans-net. Kirsten is a full-time student at Mount Holyoke and is the primary caregiver of her younger brother. Kirsten discusses living in California, learning about her sexuality, and her involvement in community projects through this interview.

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Robinson, Richard, Jessica Toomey, Billale Fulli

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Richard Robinson is a sixty-seven-year-old gay man from Bangor, Maine. Rich knew from the moment he was born, he says, that he was gay. However, in order to avoid the consequences of coming out -- discrimination he could encounter from the Catholic church and the homophobic society at large -- Rich hid his sexuality for a large portion of his life. Rich was married to a woman for eighteen years. At the age of forty-one, he finally came out to his wife and to the rest of his family -- including his twin brother, John, who was also gay. After …

Drew, Lala, Erika Chadbourne, Kate Brezak

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

LaLa Drew is a Black, queer, Georgia born, Maine native. Drew was raised in Gray, Maine with their adoptive family. Drew is a writer, poet, activist, performer, artist, teacher, and inspirational catalyst for change. Much of Drew’s community engagement focuses on raising awareness about the black identity and embodiment. They teach an after-school program in Lewiston, Maine where they help students learn about climate change, capitalism, and racism. Drew is also known for their work as a writer. Their work has been published in Ms. Magazine, The Maine Sunday Telegram, The Deepwater Column, and the Portland Phoenix. They write about …

Robedee, Matthew, Hannah Gorham, Jason White

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Matthew (Mat) Robedee is a 35-year-old gay man who lives in Portland, Maine. For seven years, he was a health and outreach worker and former prevention programs manager for the Frannie Peabody Center, in Portland. He has also worked with organizations such as Portland Pride and Equality Maine and is currently a real estate agent.

Mat grew up in Buxton, Maine. In elementary school, he revealed to a friend that he thought he was gay. His friend reprimanded him, telling him never to tell anyone about his secret. That event set the tone for years to come, and Mat hid …

Maxwell, Daralyn, Susam Cousins, Kelly Dyer

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Daralyn Maxwell, Dal for short, is a 67 year old transgender woman. Dal lives in Freeport Maine but has moved around the northeast throughout her life. In this interview Dal covers experiences she has had throughout her life. Dal came out as a trans woman later in her life and she values her experiences that brought her to where she is today. Dal covers her experience working in bars and restaurants as a male presenting person where she helped women escape domestic violence. Dal also covers her coming out story, from being outed to her boss, to coming out to …

Encouraging Self-Esteem, Wilde Stein: Queer Straight Alliance

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Signs, hand painted by members of the Wilde Stein Club, promoting messages of self-esteem including, "You are worth it. You are valid;" "You are Worthy;" and "You ARE Enough."

Queer Otherwise: Embodying A Queer Identity In Cape Town, Teak Emanuel Hodge

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research responds to the following question: how do LGBTQ South Africans in Cape Town come to understand and embody their queerness? Drawing on ideas of the body as a sense making agent (Meyburgh 2006) and site of socio-political contestation (Foucault 1975) this research adapts body-mapping methodologies (de Jager, Tewson, Ludlow, Boydell 2016) to excavate the ways in which LGBT South Africans negotiate their queerness. Through centering the experiences of three LGBTQ identified South African’s in conversation with the experiences of the researcher, this paper delves into how queer people make sense of and understand themselves in relation to their …

The Gay Commute: On The Development Of Queer Community And Identity In The Windsor-Detroit Borderlands, 1945-1980, Graeme Sylvio Sylvestre

Major Papers

The development of queer community and identity has always necessitated the delineation of queer-friendly spaces as a locus for socialisation, sexual expression, and freedom from animosity and hostility towards queer sexuality. Within the urban area of post-war Windsor-Detroit, the threat of exposure and possible arrest affected the everyday lives of queer individuals, which necessitated a quest for private locales that were amenable to the expression of queer sexuality and gender identity. What is here referred to as “the gay commute” was a defining characteristic of the lived experiences of the white middle-class gay residents in the Windsor-Detroit borderlands through the …

Sage, Johnna Ossie

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Sage explored her highly religious upbringing and relationship with her family. She is of Greek descent and her Greek-American culture played a large role in shaping her identity. Her parents rejected her during her young adulthood due to her sexuality and Sage discussed the impact that the ostracization had on her development. Her positive experience with being a part of a long-term, loving lesbian relationship was one that she frequently came back to during the course of the interview. On top of relationships and religion, Sage also examined her experiences undergoing workplace harassment and feeling unwelcome and unsafe in many …