In November I was really honored to have my voice included in the nationally airing on PBS series In The Life which spotlights the experiences of LGBTQ people across the country. In November the entire episode titled “Finding Home” focused on the epidemic of LGBTQ youth homelessness. In one of the many apartments I crashed in as a queer teenager there was a TV. It didn’t have cable, and barely picked anything up, but late at night sometimes my local PBS station would play this show called ‘In The Life’ and I would sit transfixed. I don’t remember the content of any episode really connecting to me or my life, the power of it came from just seeing LGBTQ people on TV. Before that I’d only seen my people occasionally on the news as the victims of hate crimes. It was this memory that in part, made the experience of being part of the show so special for me.
Over the month of November when the show was regularly airing I was routinely stopped by folks at queer events and even several times on the street because they recognized me from television and in some way connected personally with the stories I told, and what I had to say. This is a story that touches peoples lives, connecting them to an aspect of their own experience they may hold deep shame around, or a population of our community they may know nothing about. I’m so grateful that ‘In The Life’ gave me the opportunity to share my story and Kicked Out anthology with viewers this year, and am THRILLED to announce that “Finding Home” the November episode of In The Life, has been nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Journalism – News Magazine!!!!
If you missed seeing the episode on PBS during the month of November, it can be streamed online here