Making Gay History | LGBTQ Oral Histories from the Archive

The Queens of Welfare Island: Episode 1: Island of Misfits

It was called the Fag Ward: a separate wing of the men’s penitentiary on NYC’s Welfare Island where gay inmates were kept in the 1920s and ’30s. Eric digs into the histor

The Queens of Welfare Island: Preview

A century ago, at a notorious men’s penitentiary in New York City, gay inmates managed to find joy and community through their annual Christmas show, the “Fag Follies.” T

Season 15: Episode 7: Lou Sullivan

When Lou Sullivan sought gender-affirming care in the 1970s, he was turned down. The reason? Lou identified as a gay man at a time when all trans people were assumed to b

Season 15: Episode 6: Barney Frank

“Are you gay?” a reporter asked U.S. Representative Barney Frank in 1987. “Yes, so what?” With that, Frank became the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as

Season 15: Episode 5: Nancy May

Nancy May’s allyship was as personal as it was political. After all, she was married to a gay man. In 1965, her involvement in San Francisco’s homophile movement placed h

Season 15: Episode 4: Jim Kepner

Raised in a religious home in 1920s and ’30s Texas, Jim Kepner pieced together a sense of his identity where he could—a homoerotic suggestion read between the lines here,

Season 15: Episode 3: Pat Bond

Pat Bond joined the Women’s Army Corps in 1945, driven by patriotism and a desire to be among lesbians. The war required bodies, so the U.S. military turned a blind eye t

Season 15: Episode 2: Mabel Hampton

Mabel Hampton was a performer and domestic worker who lived as an out lesbian in New York City from 1920 until her death in 1989. Her recorded oral histories offer a rare

Season 15: Episode 1: Christine Jorgensen

When news broke in 1952 that Christine Jorgensen, an ex-GI from the Bronx, had undergone gender-affirming surgery, she became a global sensation. In this 1957 interview,

Season 15: Preview

MGH is back for another dive into the archives! Drawing from Eric’s own collection of rare interviews and other repositories of LGBTQ history, we’ll bring you the voices

Stonewall National Monument on “Endangered” List

Today, the National Trust for Historic Preservation designated the Stonewall National Monument in NYC as one of America’s "11 Most Endangered Historic Places." As an anti

The Nazi Era: Episode 12: Epilogue

In this final episode, we reflect on why there are so few testimonies from LGBTQ people who survived the Nazi era and on the responsibility we have to honor the testimoni

The Nazi Era: Episode 11: Fredy Hirsch

Charismatic German Jewish athlete Fredy Hirsch dedicated himself to inspiring and protecting children imprisoned by the Nazis. In this episode, survivors of Theresienstad

The Nazi Era: Episode 10: Kenneth Roman

Kenneth Roman was 15 when the Nazis rolled into his Polish hometown. After they liquidated the Jewish ghetto to which he and his family had been confined, he was sent to

The Nazi Era: Episode 9: Margot Heuman

German Jewish survivor Margot Heuman attributed her survival of the Nazi concentration camps to her friendship with another teenage girl. It wasn’t until the end of her l

The Nazi Era: Episode 8: Lucy Salani

Lucy Salani was assigned male at birth, so when she came of age she was conscripted into the Italian army. She soon deserted—the first of several daring escapes that even

The Nazi Era: Episode 7: Gad Beck

After the 1942 deportation of his boyfriend, 19-year-old Jewish Berliner Gad Beck vowed to help others escape the same fate. He became a prominent resistance member and u

The Nazi Era: Episode 6: Frieda Belinfante

When the Nazis invaded the Netherlands in 1940, 36-year-old conductor Frieda Belinfante disbanded her orchestra and dedicated herself to helping others. She forged IDs to

The Nazi Era: Episode 5: Pierre Seel

In 1939, French teenager Pierre Seel had his watch stolen at a cruising spot in his hometown. When he reported the crime to the police, he was placed on a list of suspect

The Nazi Era: Episode 4: Stefan Kosinski

Polish teenager Stefan Kosinski was beaten, tortured, and sent to prison. His crime? He fell in love with a Viennese soldier serving in the German army. When the soldier