Dear OUTWORDS Friends, Happy 2020!
Dear OUTWORDS friends,
Happy 2020! We hope this year and decade will be filled with love, purpose, and peace.
To be sure, these are complex times we live in; but the mission of OUTWORDS remains clear: to record, preserve and disseminate the invaluable stories of LGBTQ+ pioneers and elders, while we still have time. These stories are both deeply inspiring, and an essential bulwark against any attempt to erase our history. We are so grateful for your support for this work!
BOOK OF PRIDE UPDATES
As you know, our first interview anthology, THE BOOK OF PRIDE, was published in June 2019 by Harper Collins. To celebrate, OUTWORDS partnered with Microsoft to host a night of LGBTQ+ storytelling at Microsoft’s flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York. You can watch compilations of two powerful panel discussions by clicking here and scrolling down.
On January 30, I’ll make a quick trip to Walnut Creek, California (just east of San Francisco) to present THE BOOK OF PRIDE at a stellar event called Books on Review. The event is open to the public — click here for more info and to register.
Lastly, we are thrilled to announce that in 2020, THE BOOK OF PRIDE will be published in French, with the addition of ten brand-new interviews with French LGBTQ+ pioneers and elders. The preface to the French edition will be written by Didier Lestrade, founder of ACT-UP Paris and TETU, France’s iconic gay magazine. We are very proud to be partnering with our French activist brothers and sisters on our first global initiative!
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
As mentioned above, the heart and soul of OUTWORDS’ mission is capturing new life stories of LGBTQ+ pioneers and elders. So I am super excited to be traveling to New York this month to record five new interviews. Among our subjects are Michela Griffo, an original member of the Gay Liberation Front who famously created a poster for the first Gay Pride march (1970) that said, “I am your worst fear, I am your best fantasy”; Cassandra Grant, one of the original members of the pioneering black lesbian collective Salsa Soul Sisters; and legendary activist David Mixner, who has been organizing for peace and labor, and against war, AIDS, and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell since 1966. Stay tuned for highlights from these compelling testimonies of courage and pride.
OUTWORDS INTERVIEWEES IN THE NEWS
It is always exciting to see OUTWORDS’ interviewees in the news, and to see how their courageous actions continue to ripple outwards (no pun intended!). In Iowa, OUTWORDS interviewee Matt Russell has met with several Democratic presidential hopefuls, including Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, to talk about sustainable agriculture. Click here for one terrific video profile featuring Matt and his husband Pat. In Michigan, there’s a 2020 statewide ballot measure to outlaw discrimination against LGBTQ people. This measure is arguably a direct outgrowth of OUTWORDS interviewee Jim Toy’s successful campaigns to convince the University of Michigan and the city of Ann Arbor to enshrine LGBTQ protections into law. Lastly, we came across this very cool article about how the Stonewall riots changed the world of art forever, featuring OUTWORDS interviewee Martha Shelley.
To all our esteemed OUTWORDS interviewees, please send us info about your ongoing work and activism — we’d love to share it with the OUTWORDS community. Many thanks to all for your ongoing support for OUTWORDS. If you love what OUTWORDS stands for, please consider donating. As a special incentive, we are offering signed copies of THE BOOK OF PRIDE to any new donor who contributes $100 by January 31st. Donate $200 and you’ll receive two copies so you can give one to a friend, or perhaps donate it to your local library!
With best wishes and great gratitude,
Mason Funk Executive Director, OUTWORDS
555 W. 5th St., FL 35 Los Angeles, CA 90013-1010