LGBTQI+ Elders of the Central Coast
(2019-2021)
Narratives of queer history tend to privilege communities in major metropolitan centers, while construing rural and semi-rural locales as generally devoid of queer and trans life. As a consequence, the stories of those living outside the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco have failed to work their way into either traditional institutions of public memory or those alternative institutions tasked with documenting the life of LGQTQ+ peoples.
This project begins to remedy that erasure with high-quality video interviews that recover the complex experiences and histories of LGBTQI+ elders living on the California Central Coast. These stories are not representative of the queer and trans lives of our region, but they do provide some insight into their rich history. This project was completed with the support in part of the California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
In the grid below, you’ll find a sample selection of clips from our interviews. You can find their full-length versions as well as other interviews here: LGBTQI+ Elders of the Central Coast.
The Vintage GALA Interviews
(2006, 2018-2020)
In 2006, members of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance of the Central Coast (since renamed the GALA Pride and Diversity Center) conducted interviews with a number of LGBTQ+ elders living in the area. These video interviews were then shelved. In 2019, the CCQAP obtained rights to the interviews and has since been working to make them available to public.