ENBY SPOKEN HISTORIES

Recording Sessions in Los Angeles

October 27, 2019 - November 15, 2019

If you live in the Los Angeles area, we will be doing at-home interviews until November 15th. Please reach out to us to set up an appointment. Our email is enbyhistories@gmail.com!

TGNC Picnic - Chicago, IL

September 1, 2019

Recording Session #6

August 30, 2019 at the StoryCorps Recording Booth at the Cultural Center in Chicago, IL.

Photographs by Carter Schneider

Recording Session #5

August 30, 2019 at the StoryCorps Recording Booth at the Cultural Center in Chicago, IL.

Photographs by Carter Schneider

Recording Session #4

August 29, 2019 at Humboldt’s Used Books in Chicago, IL.

Celebrating Queer Excellence Through Storytelling

June 27, 2019 at the Bureau of General Services; Queer Division. NY, NY.

Photographs by Dana Lovasz

June 27th was bright and vibrant with a room full of queer folks reminding us of the importance of storytelling when fighting for social change. We invited people of all identities— past participants, family members, strangers, passersby— to join us in honoring the stories that we recorded for Enby Spoken Histories between March 9th and June 2nd. We gathered to celebrate our queer narratives finally becoming a permanent part of American history at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress after a long fight of being denied the space. It is our aim to continue building safer spaces for the TGNC community to thrive.

Our community came together at the end of pride month and reminded each other that pride shouldn’t be a month-long, branded holiday, but an ongoing celebration of our queer resilience, all year round. Speakers discussed the importance of recording our own histories as we fight against our community’s erasure. They effortlessly demonstrated a variety of ways that oral history can be used to educate and normalize our humanity and our existence. Although we don’t have a livestream, you can refer to our Instagram highlights for short clips.

By having our stories in a federal archive, we are more likely to be seen by doctors, academics, policymakers, etc. They cannot run away from us, they cannot pretend we don’t exist. Enby Spoken Histories has been in partnership with StoryCorps since September 2018. They have been providing us with the space, platform, and accessibility for TGNC folks to tell our stories and have them be archived and well-preserved. We are also in collaboration with Stonewall OutLoud, encouraging individuals to join the movement by recording stories on their own and urging other members of the community to do so as well. If you are interested in being a part of the Enby Spoken Histories archive by recording through your smartphone, please contact us at enbyhistories@gmail.com.