This episode is the first in a series of conversations that I've been recording with queer elders. In my research as a doctoral student, I work to reconstruct Black feminist landscapes between the 1970s and the 1990s. These interviews build upon my research by allowing actual queer people to narrate the story of queer life during the latter half of the twentieth century.
This week, I had a conversation with two of my dear friends, Shepherd Tsosie and Libby Coyner. Libby Coyner (she/they/theme) is a queer, disabled, cancer-surviving Leo/Leo/Libra who works as an archivist in a mid-sized private university in North Carolina. She lives with her spouse Shepherd Tsosie with many cats and books, and they talk a lot about ethics of story-keeping and how we remember together. Shepherd Tsosie (Soh-see) is a fourth-gendered Diné (Di-neh) person from Arizona, they are an unaffiliated researcher and writer and they live with their wife and cats in North Carolina. Both of them have been so integral in helping me form my identity as a queer person of color, and I’m grateful we had the chance to chat. In this episode, we cover a variety of topics, including the Navajo gender system, what it means to be a queer elder, the late-90s queer punk scene, and the story of how they met and fell in love.
If you are a queer elder who would like to share your story, email us at defineandempowercollective@gmail.com.
You can also follow us on Instagram and TikTok at defineandempower.co.
Thank you to Mia Miranda for editing the audio for this episode.
If you would like me or one of our other facilitators to give a lecture or lead a workshop at your school or workplace, you can either DM us on our social media platforms or email us at defineandempowercollective@gmail.com.
Resources mentioned during the interview:
Making Gay History podcast by Eric Marcus
People in Search of Safe and Accessible Restrooms by Simone Chess, Alison Kafer, Jessi Quizar, and Mattie Udora Richardson
REFUGE Restrooms
Queering the Map
The Lesbian South: Southern Feminists, the Women in Print Movement, and the Queer Literary Canon by Jaime Harker
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