The Outwords Archive (OUTWORDS) is a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles. It records and archives on-camera interviews with elders from the LGBTQ+ community throughout the United States.
History
Inspired by the Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive of interviews with Holocaust witnesses and survivors, documentary TV and film producer Mason Funk established OUTWORDS in 2016. Half-day interviews are conducted on high-definition digital video by film crews, primarily in the homes of interview subjects. Interviewees have included 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 70 years old.
In May 2018, OUTWORDS received a Creator Award in the Community Giver category from the co-working company WeWork. In May 2019, HarperCollins published the first compilation of OUTWORDS interviews, entitled The Book of Pride, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. At the same time, OUTWORDS released a searchable digital platform which makes video interviews and historical photos freely available to the public.
Interviews
As of August 2023, OUTWORDS had recorded on-camera oral histories with over 300 LGBTQIA2S+ elders in 40 states. Interviewees have included:
Publications
The Book of Pride: LGBTQ Heroes Who Changed the World, (HarperCollins, May 2019),