Play all audios:
When Eric Marcus first started interviewing LGBTQ older adults for his book _Making Gay History,_ many of the people he spoke to had never been asked to share their stories. Talking to these
individuals, the aspect of the experience that struck him the most was the catharsis he could see in his subjects when they were storytelling. Ray Gibson shares his experiences about
discovering his gender identity on his YouTube channel. Caleb Hiers, Blacshiep Photography “For those people, it really opened things up,” says Marcus. “It brought them back in time. And it
was an opportunity for them to revisit memories, some of which were wonderful and some of which were extremely painful. I found at the end of many of the interviews that people didn't
want to let me go.” Marcus, 64, conducted more than 100 interviews with LGBTQ elders for _Making Gay History_, and the interview archives are now collected as a podcast. He spoke to
champions, heroes and witnesses to history about the LGBTQ civil rights movement in the United States, creating an oral archive that allows people to tell stories in their own words. As
LGBTQ adults age, the need for them to tell their stories – and for the next generation to hear them – grows, Marcus says. Whether the audience is other older adults who can relate to the
experiences of their peers, or a younger generation of LGBTQ Americans gleaning insight from history, storytelling can be a powerful experience for both the storyteller and the listener, and
new technology has made recording the stories of LGBTQ elders more accessible than ever. THE IMPACT OF STORYTELLING Ray Gibson, a 65-year-old Air Force veteran and son of Baseball Hall of
Fame pitcher Bob Gibson, realized he was transgender in 2015. Gibson never saw trans representation in the media growing up and didn’t know of anyone who was trans, which led to challenges
understanding his gender identity without knowing what he was feeling and why. Now, Gibson tells his story through media interviews and by publishing videos on a YouTube channel, sharing his
experience discovering his gender identity and coming out in the hopes that others, especially older LGBTQ people who may be realizing their identity later in life, will hear his story and
feel less alone. “Thinking about it, in order not to feel alone, that’s why these stories are important,” Gibson says. “When you’re by yourself, you can say ‘Oh man, look at all these other
people out here, I’m not alone. I’m not a freak.’” Just like Gibson, Marcus also has seen benefits from storytelling not only for those recording their stories for the first time, but also
for those hearing them. Fighting back against discrimination starts with changing hearts and attitudes through storytelling on various scales, from media interviews to kitchen table
conversations, he says. “I hear from people who were deeply affected by the stories they read; they were inspired by them. They were outraged by them,” Marcus says. “They were encouraged …
by the fact that these people had fought for the world in which we live today, to make it possible for gay people, LGBTQ people to have full lives.”