Latest Stories
Music to His Ears: Competitive Karaoke Helps Gay Man Find the Confidence to Come Out & Help Others
My name is Vu Doan. I am from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Grew up in a very conservative Vietnamese, Buddhist household. So I had girlfriends and was very much focused on school as ...
Why Getting a Short Haircut & Tattoos After Breakup Felt “Like a Second Coming Out” For Lesbian
My name is Sarah Rahl, and I’m from Kennebunk, Maine. When I went to school in Virginia, I went to college, I was on the lacrosse team. I was so closeted at that point. I k...
A Lesson, Then a Plan: How a Sixth Grade Student Changed a Trans Teacher’s Life
I identified as a girl for most of my life, but in 5th grade I started getting a lot of anxiety around school. And it wasn’t until I realized that clothing and the way people...
About I’m From Driftwood
Adding your story to the I’m From Driftwood archive adds one more tile to the vast mosaic that makes up the LGBTQIA+ community. Your story can save someone’s life by letting them know they aren’t alone, inspire others to live openly and honestly, or simply make someone smile. This is your chance to share your own experiences, in your own words, to a global audience.
Are you in a Pride group at your school? Part of your company’s Diversity & Equity? Or are you a Family Counselor or Therapist with LGBTQIA+ clients? Learn how you can work with I’m From Driftwood and use our stories as tools.
From number crunchers, to Diversity & Equity experts, to programming specialists, meet members of our staff and all-volunteer board who work tirelessly to keep I’m From Driftwood at its best.
Explore the Archive
Watch Video Stories
Browse our archive of professionally-produced Video Stories featuring topics from love, coming out, and workplace discrimination, to gender identity, race, and activism. Transcripts included.
WATCH OUR STORIES
Listen to the Podcast
Each episode of the IFD Podcast features audio from our stories plus conversations about the featured topic by our hosts Alex and Phil. You’ll also hear from special guests like drag queens, elected officials, and celebrities.
Listen to our Podcast
Read Written Stories
User-submitted written stories by LGBTQIA+ people from the smallest towns to the biggest cities all around the world.
Read Our Stories
Our Commitment To Story Equity
I’m From Driftwood believes that a queer and trans story archive should represent the entire spectrum of our community’s identities. In 2022, the I’m From Driftwood board of directors formally adopted a “Story Equity” policy to ensure we are amplifying the stories of groups that have been historically underrepresented in traditional media.
The IFD Story Equity policy is upheld by three pillars: Amplification, Accessibility, and Transparency.
We will amplify marginalized voices by ensuring that (1) the majority of our storytellers belong to the BIPOC community and (2) the majority of our storytellers belong to communities other than cisgender men.
Our stories will continue to feature diverse topics and themes, ranging from religion, mental health, and people with disabilities to immigration, love, and aging.
We will assign all our stories to sexual orientation and gender identity expressions (SOGIE) categories, allowing users to browse stories they more closely identify with and – in the process – feel less alone.
We will work to make our organization accessible across the board by conducting routine web accessibility evaluations.
Every Video Story will feature options for captions, and we will provide image descriptions on all social media platforms.
A transcript will be available for every story on the website, allowing visitors to more easily translate the stories into any language, as well as making them available to users with limited Internet access or are living in places with YouTube bans.
Each year, I’m From Driftwood will publicly share the breakdown of our storyteller demographics, including race and gender, as well as a list of story topics so we, and the public, can see where we need to focus our efforts.