The Outwords Archive (OUTWORDS)

OUTWORDS is the first archival project to travel America recording the stories of LGBTQIA2S+ elders: the people who witnessed our history, and made it happen. A nonprofit organization, OUTWORDS was founded by Mason Funk who was inspired by the Shoah Foundations Visual History Archive of interviews with Holocaust witnesses and survivors. Half-day interviews are conducted on high-definition digital video by film crews, primarily in the homes of interview subjects. Interviewees include lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex individuals, as well as representatives of various sub-communities of the LGBTQ community including drag queens, leather daddies, lesbian separatists, and allies. Most interviewees are over 60 years old. In May 2018, OUTWORDS received a Creator Award in the Community Giver category from the co-working company WeWork. In May 2019, the first compilation of OUTWORDS interviews, entitled THE BOOK OF PRIDE, was published by HarperCollins, to help commemorate ...