October 11 is known as National Coming Out Day, a celebration of coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer. To honor the awareness day this year, a Central Coast group unveiled an effort a long time in the making: the Central Coast Queer Archive Project (CCQAP).
The CCQAP has been collecting video stories of queer history. The project's coordinators debuted two restored oral histories with members of the LGBTQ community that provide a window into queer life on the Central Coast more than 20 years ago.
The CCQAP is a volunteer effort that includes members of academic and student communities at Cal Poly and Cuesta, local advocates and professionals.
KCBX's Tyler Pratt recently sat down with community activist David Weisman, Cuesta College history professor Zachary McKiernan and Cal Poly student Michael Morris to learn more about the project's intergenerational and interactive approach to storytelling. Click the listen button above to hear the interview. Below is a video clip from the CCQAP, featuring an interview with the former owner and manager of San Luis Obispo's sole openly-gay bar in the 1990s.
https://vimeo.com/364529111">The Queer Social Space Project, Lisa Dean on Breezes, May 19, 2019 from https://vimeo.com/sloqueerarchive">SLO Queer Archive on Vimeo.
