OUTWORDS records, preserves, and shares the stories of LGBTQ+ elders, to build community and catalyze social change. With support from California State Library, we proudly present Dare to Be Powerful: How LGBTQ+ Elders Transformed California Politics Forever. 

This multi-media initiative explores the state’s political past, present, and future, through the eyes of the elders that have shaped it along the way — people like Sheila Kuehl, the first openly LGBTQ+ person elected to the California State Legislature, and Cecilia Chung, the first transgender woman and first person living openly with HIV to lead the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. Whether organizing mutual aid efforts, gathering at tenants union meetings, or holding office, these individuals have fundamentally altered our state and created new and ever-evolving definitions of justice. 

In looking at the progress California has made, we center those marginalized groups and individuals whose fight for justice has led us here. For many, California has served as a beacon in the quest for political representation and rights. When California has faltered in this role, political change agents have stepped up their demands to make the Golden State all that it can be. At OUTWORDS, we uplift those who have dedicated their lives to the everyday struggles that define neighborhoods and policy. 

Two years in the making, Dare to Be Powerful considered many factors in bringing together this group of changemakers, seeking out leaders whose work stretches across California, as well as across race, gender, branches of government, methodologies, and areas of expertise. We hope this showcase both informs and inspires you.

As we take steps to transform the violent systems that stand in our way, we can look to our elders, who have taken these steps before. With rapid changes in our natural environment mirroring the volatile shifts in our political landscape, we can face this moment with grounding in our past and a vision for our future. 

Let’s keep California dreamin’ together.