AMPLIFYing LGBTQ History Month: Q&A with David DeAngelo

To date, the AMPLIFY project has published over 270 Q&A’s from the Western Pennsylvania region. These stories capture important moments in LGBTQ History, from the current day and extending as far back as the Kennedy Administration in terms of lived experiences of LGBTQ people.

I’ve asked some folks to weigh in on the impact of this project on their own lives and the larger community to help put the project in the proper context for LGBTQ History Month this October. We will publish as we receive the responses. If you would like to share your thoughts, please email us pghlesbian at gmail dot com.

These folks are both LGBTQ and allies. If they took the time to share, it is because they genuinely care about the project and the people who invest their everyday lives into the Q&A’s.

Be sure to check out David’s blog 2 Political Junkies

Your Name: David DeAngelo

Your Age: 54

Your Pronouns: He

How do you describe your identity? Straight, white, middle-aged cis-gendered male

Please tell us about the first LGBTQ person you met and what impact they had on your life? I think I answered this in another of your questionnaires – Emmett McCarthy (he was on one of the early seasons of Project Runway). He and I were in the same graduating class in High School and went to the same Arts magnet school in New Haven, Ct. I was in music and he was in art. He was always very tall.

How does the AMPLIFY project resonates with you? I am forever overwhelmed about what a great idea it is. Simple and profound at the same time. The title sums up its function. Brilliant.

What moments or pieces of LGBTQ history from Western Pennsylvania do you think are overlooked, forgotten, or misunderstood? I don’t know.

There are an estimated 80,000-2000,000 LGBTQ residents of Western Pennsylvania per the 2010 Census. 270 have completed the Q&A. Whose voices are missing or underrepresented or simply not (yet) in this archive? How do we reach those people to invite them to contribute their stories? I am not sure what can be done other than (pardon the pun) amplifying the news around AMPLIFY. The more people that know about it the more people will respond I suppose.

What has #AMPLIFY taught you about the region’s LGBTQ community and our history? That its far wider than I’d thought.

Finally, during LGBT History Month in October, what one concrete action will you pledge to take to amplify our history? I’m not sure. But it’ll be something good, I promise.