Interview of Eliot Duncan for the NYC Trans Oral History Project

Interview of Alexandra Burris and Emmy Pritykin for the NYC Trans Oral History Project

Interview of Dee Holtsclaw for the NYC Trans Oral History Project

Interview of Callan Molinari for the NYC Trans Oral History Project

Interview of Saoirse Sawyer Eason for the NYC Trans Oral History Project

Interview of Julia Salgado for the NYC Trans Oral History Project

Interview of Cristy Road Carrera for the NYC Trans Oral History Project

Interview of Bernie Wagenblast for the NYC Trans Oral History Project

Interview of Nathan Levitt for the NYC Trans Oral History Project

Interview of K. Kerimian for the NYC Trans Oral History Project

Interview of Simo for the NYC Trans Oral History Project

Interview of Siobhan Meow for the NYC Trans Oral History Project

Sean Ebony Coleman is the founder of Destination Tomorrow, a LGBTQ+ center in the Bronx that provides services like job readiness, HIV testing, and emergency housing. In this interview, he describes growing up in Brooklyn with his grandmother and brother. At a young age, he became involved in the ballroom scene, a community which still provides most of his close relationships. Sean also discusses his spiritual identity, the changing landscape of hormone access, erasure of Black trans masculinity, and his start with grassroots organizing for the Bronx trans community in the early 2000s.

Image Object was raised in an inclusive and accepting environment. Object underwent many queer expressions, each expanding his identity politics and teaching him more about who Object is. The nightlife scene in NYC gave Object room to grow and play and push through the boundaries of gender. Object discusses NYC nightlife centers, parties and bars, including Merrie Cherry's, Sugarland, DAGnet, and Starr Bar.

Interview of Lix Z for the NYC Trans Oral History Project

Macy Rodman was born in Juneau, Alaska. During her early life she describes visits to the local sex shop where she learned about gay life, including NYC’s glam scene which featured images of modified and expansive versions of femininity including Amanda Lepore. She explored making music with her sister which grew into her own project with her move to NYC. She also helps produce the podcast Nymphowars which was first imagined as a place to speak about dating as a trans woman, but morphed into fully developed radio plays of absurdist comedy. Since living in Brooklyn for the last 11 years, Macy gravitated towards groups invested in working for their communities, admiring projects like Discwoman, Decolonize this Place, and Boiling Point NYC. Since quarantine she’s returned to the sounds of Basement Jaxx, Fatboy Slim and Chemical Brothers reminding her of a time before the club scene where dance music was listened to at home.

(Entrevista en español/Interview in Spanish) En esta entrevista, ChiChi describe su niñez como joven gay en Lima, Perú y su inmigración a Nueva York sola a los veinte años mientras experimentaba la homofobia y ocultaba quién era. Habla de la comunidad de mujeres trans que encontraba en Nueva York y sus experiencias con la transición, las inyecciones, el trabajo sexual y la policía. Además, habla de su lucha larga por obtener sus papeles y cómo ha cambiado la relación con su familia. Termina con el trabajo comunitario y activista de la organización Make the Road.  In this interview, ChiChi describes growing up gay in Lima, Perú, before immigrating to New York alone at twenty years old while experiencing homophobia and hiding who she was. She talks about the community of trans women she found in New York and their experiences with transition, injections, sex work, and the police, as well as her relationship with her family and her years-long struggle to get her papers. She ends with the community and activist work of the organization Make the Road. (Summary by Steven Saada.)

Josephine Perez is a trans* advocate who emphasizes a need for better law enforcement protections for transgender women. Josephine experienced sexual violence on multiple occasions and became a sex worker at an early age. She hopes that her work advocating for the trans* community will help to prevent others from similar experiences in the future.

Angal Field shares his experience of being a writer, filmmaker and photographer in today’s media landscape and discusses the trappings of trans visibility. Using the medium of film to “speak back” he personally explores queer family stories and complex subject hoods. Angal speaks of the highs and lows of medically transitioning and the experience of dating in a new body and new gender. Born in Portland Oregon, he describes the limitations of his liberal upbringing and what it means to understand systemic issues that affect marginalized communities in which trans-potential will always be linked to abolition.

Ric explores the complexity of language in the trans community, and her experiences interviewing trans elders for the NYC Trans Oral History Project. Ric also reflects on drug use and how it is not necessarily a form of escapism, but a way to view things differently.