The Ohio History Connection and GOHI are dedicated to preserving stories from all Ohioans. As a part of that mission, these oral histories were collected from LGBTQ+ Ohioans who impact and improve their communities. In addition to the video interviews, there are audio-only oral histories in the GOHI collection that we are working to digitize and make available online. Some of these are available now at the bottom of this page. If you would like to hear others, you can make a request at the Archives Library on the third floor of the Ohio History Center. Do you know an LGBTQ+ Ohioan with a story to tell? Email us your idea at [email protected]!

You can browse these oral histories by name, decade, city and subject on our LGBTQ+ research guide.

Petie Brown, CJ Curtis & Judy Long - Summit Station

Petie Brown was the owner of the Summit Station bar, formerly known as Jack's A Go-Go. Brown started working at the bar in 1971 as a bartender when all she knew how to do was...

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Deborah Kuzawa – Summit Station

Deborah Kuzawa was born in Garfield Heights, Ohio in 1979. She attended college at Ohio University before moving to Columbus in 2002 to get her graduate degree from The Ohio...

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Randy Cordle

Barbara Cordle (née Wolcott) was born on October 1, 1939 in Akron, Ohio. The oldest of five children, growing up she helped her single mother take care of her brothers and...

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Doug Pratt

Doug Pratt was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1956. In his interview he talks about growing up gay, though he didn't identify as gay until he was 22, was like in his community. He...

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Darryl Fore

Darryl Fore was born in 1959 and grew up in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood near Cleveland, OH. In his interview he talked about growing up in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood...

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Alvin Taylor

Alvin Taylor was born in Sanford, Florida in 1952. He came to Ohio in the 1970s as a ballroom dance instructor. In his interview he talks about growing up in Sanford, discoverin...

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Robert Toth

Robert Toth was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1958. He's a HIV long-term survivor and HIV/AIDS activist that fought for compassionate care and equal rights. Toth volunteered with...

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Kevin Borowiak

Kevin Borowiak was born in 1956 in St. Louis, Missouri. He moved to Ohio in 1981 while working for General Electric and has been here ever since. In his interview he talks about...

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Eleanor Louise Warfield

Eleanor Warfield was born in January of 1921 in Columbus, Ohio. Her parents were Clarence and Margaret Jacobs, née Johnson. Her father started Jacobs and Son Transfer...

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Mark Matson – Shepherd Initiative

Mark Matson was born in Colorado where he was raised in the Roman Catholic tradition. After years of searching for direction Matson felt a calling to enter the priesthood...

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Julia Applegate

Julia Applegate directs the Institute for LGBTQ Health Equity at Equitas Health where she leads LGBTQ health education, research and community engagement efforts. Prior to...

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Phebe Beiser & Victoria Ramstetter - Ohio Lesbian Archives

In 1989, Phebe Beiser and Victoria Ramstetter turned leftover collections from Dinah, a monthly newsletter vital in connecting the local lesbian community, into the Ohio Lesbian...

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Luster Singleton

Luster is a native of Zanesville, Ohio. Luster is a trans-masculine activist, a TedX speaker, and a Drag King performer who founded a Drag King show and community experience...

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Robert "Bob" Bucklew - Veteran's Oral History

Bob Bucklew was born in Alliance, Ohio in 1958. He works as an outreach coordinator for the Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals clinical trials unit, which...

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Joshua Hoffman - Veteran's Oral History

Joshua Jacob Hoffman was born in 1963 in Columbus, Ohio. Hoffman joined the United States Air Force in 1984 after two years as a Mormon missionary in Los Angeles. In his...

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Rupert “Twink” Starr - Veteran's Oral History

Rupert "Twink" Starr was born in 1923 in Mt. Sterling, Ohio, and enlisted in the Army while he was still a student at Ohio University. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge...

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Jennifer Isenstadt – Veteran’s Oral History

Jennifer Serene Isenstadt enlisted in the Navy in 2005 as an Information Systems Technician. Isenstadt talks about growing up in a Navy family that moved often, her father’s...

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Stephen Snyder-Hill - Veteran's Oral History

Stephen Snyder-Hill was born October 21, 1970. He was a soldier in the United States Army, and is currently an author, lecturer, and LGBT rights activist. He served under the...

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Viola Pagliaro & Nick Stellanova

Viola Pagliaro & Nick Stellanova are member of the LGBTQ+ community who share with us their experiences of coming out and finding a home together in Columbus, Ohio. Viola...

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Charmaine McGuffey

Charmaine McGuffey was born and raised in Cincinnati. She and her two sisters grew up with a single mother who worked long hours to support her family. She attended Western Hill...

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James "Jim" L. Giles

James "Jim" Giles was born Chillicothe, Ohio in 1939. He grew up with his mother's family in Chillicothe, and his father in New York City. After graduating from the Ohio State...

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Christinia Goddard-Graves

Christina Goddard-Graves was born in 1977 in Louisville, Kentucky. Her dad was career Army which inspired her to join the military. Christina enlisted in the Air Force in 1999...

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Audio-only LGBTQ+ Oral Histories

These audio-only oral histories were recorded between the 1980s and the early 2000s. As a recent digitization effort, they are now available for online listening. We continue to work on digitizing the early oral histories in the GOHI collection and will publish additional audio-only oral histories as they become available.

The Audio-Video LGBTQ+ History Vault

The videos in this playlist include panels, roundtables, presentations, and documentaries on LGBTQ+ history in Ohio. Many focus on LGBTQ+ life in Columbus and Central Ohio between the 1970s and the early 2000s. Together, these videos showcases Ohio's rich history of LGBTQ+ life and activism through the decades.