Tell Us Your Story

There is only so much that we can discover about the forgotten past of Northern Colorado’s LGBTQ+ community in existing archives or old newspapers. So much of this history happened behind closed doors and out of sight, visible only to those who lived it. These memories and stories are vital to record for future generations and most at risk of being lost. That’s why we need your help.

How do I help?

Telling us your story is an essential way to help preserve Northern Colorado’s queer past. What does telling us your story look like? Making this gift to future LGBTQ+ people can take many forms, including:

• Donating documents, pictures, newsletters, fliers, or memorabilia for inclusion in the Online Archive
• Sitting for an oral history interview where you tell us about your experiences
• Describing events or interactions that are not likely to have been recorded or written down
• Helping us identify names and places that were meaningful to our region
• Offering comments on research projects that you have first hand knowledge about
• Pointing to other resources and sites that might have more to tell us about the region’s LGBTQ+ past

In addition, one of our best sources of information in this project is when community members refer their LGBTQ+ friends and allies to us and encourage them to share their own stories. This is an essential part of how we grow our shared story.

So, how do we start the process?

Simply send an e-mail to Tom Dunn, the Director of the Queer Memory Project of Northern Colorado, at tom.dunn@qmpnoco.org and we can talk you through the next steps. Don’t worry at this stage if your story or document is “what we’re looking for”; we’ll happily talk to you to see if what you have might be a good fit!

Hot tip?

Alternately, if you don’t feel comfortable sharing your name and story with us just yet, but you want to share a tip on a key name, place, event, or resource that might help us in our research, you can submit that tip to us anonymously below.