by Sam Gindin

Music, Pride, and Perseverance: Leading a Queer Marching Band During the AIDS Epidemic

 Hi, my name is Sam Gindin and I’m from Brooklyn.  One of the memories I have, which definitely turned my life around, was when I went to a local party. And I went there The best time that we could make possibly during these tragic days was that we could still keep marching and keeping the band together. We had already lost several members of the ...

by Jendi Reiter

Adoption, Transition, and Becoming Whole

 I’m Jendi Reiter and I’m from New York City.  I grew up in the lower East side of Manhattan in the 1970s with two moms. My biological mom was very femme and kind oIn 2016, there was the Pulse nightclub shooting, the hate crime against the queer folks in the nightclub. There are a lot of people who are coming out in solidarity or putting stu...

by Larry Picard

He Went to a Rally… and Met His Future Husband

 My name is Larry Picard. I’m from Holyoke, Massachusetts.  So I met my first, well, my only girlfriend when I was 19 years old, and I was a singing waiter and she was a And there was a band there. It was the Lesbian Gay Big Apple Corps. We all rallied down to Battery Park. But my boyfriend at the time wasn’t there. He was up at a party with...

by Peggy Gillespie

School District Tried to Erase LGBTQIA+ Families–And Failed

 So I’m Peggy Gillespie and I’m living in North Hampton, Massachusetts.  Back in 1993, I was a mom of a three-year-old multiracial child. In preschool, my kid was gNow I’ll go back to the sex thing, because in one classroom, one kid said, “How did two women have a baby?” Just like Gus, the superintendent had feared. And another kid...

by Criss Christoff Smith

Trans Man Thought He Had It All—Until He Found His True Self

 I am Criss Christoff Smith. I grew up on a farm in Jamaica.  When I was about six years old, I was on my grandmother’s farm playing with my older brother. My grandmotherAfter I migrated to the United States, I lived in Brooklyn, New York with my mother, and my mother was very, very strict with us. Living in Jamaica, I was so free. I had so much f...

by Bernie Wagenblast

The Trans Woman Behind the NYC Subway Announcements

My name is Bernie Wagenblast. I’m from Cranford, New Jersey.  I was four years old. I recall being at my grandmother’s house, sitting in front of her vanity, putting And one of the things that I had come across online was a new app that had come out called Face App. You could upload a photo of yourself and you would be able to see how you look...

by Jane Fleishman

Northampton—“Lesbianville, USA”—Faces Protest, Fear, and Flying Eggs at Its First Pride

 I’m Jane Fleishman. I’m from Long Beach, New York and social justice is baked into my genes.  I wanna tell you a story about how I got involved in the first Pride The day of the march was kind of a cloudy day, and it was a little scary. And I remember walking down Main Street and feeling like, Holy crap, we are really doing this. And when t...

by Aria Renee Curameng

“Um, But…Why?” Nonbinary Person Navigates Questions After Coming Out

 I’m Aria Renee Curameng and I’m from Fort Washington, Maryland.  Back in, I want to say 2021, I went out with a friend of mine and we constantly went to piano barsAnd it’s 2023, and it’s just rehearsals in January. One day we… we’re on break, and we’re having lunch. There’s about four of us in the ensemble, s...

by Sasha Buchert

“That’s My Daughter”: Construction Dad Doesn’t Hesitate to Support Trans Woman

My name is Sasha Buchert and I’m from Portland, Oregon.  When I was younger, Iike a lot of people, I didn’t have the greatest relationship with my dad. We just weren&And it just made me see that, my dad loved me and saw me and supported me. Even at the risk of social cost. I know that this person obviously knew that I was transgender. But my d...