War Vets John (WWII) and Jerry (Vietnam) on Love and Their Marriage
John Banvard, 100, and Jerry Nadeau, 72, are military veterans, and served in World War II and Vietnam, respectively.
When they met in 1993, they were “sort of in the closet.” John’s wife of over 35 years had died nearly a decade prior and he had never been in a serious relationship with a man. Neither had Jerry.
At first, the two seemed worlds apart. John was a lover of art and theater, while Jerry was an outdoorsman. But they hit it off and soon became inseparable.
Today, they live together in a senior home for veterans in Chula Vista, California — just a few miles south of San Diego, where they were married in 2013.
Top photo: John Banvard (L) and Jerry Nadeau at their home in Chula Vista, CA.
Bottom photo: Jerry Nadeau (L) with John Banvard outside their home in Chula Vista, CA.
Originally aired February 09, 2018 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Chris López and Gabe López
Chris López always knew there was something different about her youngest child, Gabe. Assigned female at birth, Gabe felt like he was a boy.
Gabe was always more comfortable in clothing traditionally worn by little boys — cargo pants and superhero shirts — but switched back and forth between these outfits and those often worn by little girls. Just after his seventh birthday, he convinced his parents to let him cut off his long hair and get a mohawk — a haircut he had been wanting for years. Around this time period, Gabe started dressing only as a boy and answering exclusively to “he”.
At first, Chris was concerned that Gabe, being so young, might change his mind. She was scared of how people would treat him as he transitioned. But after seeing how Gabe responded to the changes in his hair and clothing, she felt confident that he had made the right decision.
Gabe, who’s nine years old now, has been attending the same school since kindergarten. In the fall of 2016, when he started third grade, he began having others refer to him by his preferred gender pronouns —”he” and “him” — for the first time.
In 2015, the López family attended a camp for transgender, gender creative, and gender non-conforming youth in Tucson, Arizona.
Gabe and his mother came to the StoryCorps MobileBooth to talk about how that camp transformed his life.
A version of this broadcast aired May 1, 2016, on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday, and was rebroadcast on March 3, 2017, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Middle photo: Gabe López. Courtesy of Chris López.
Bottom photo: The López family.
Drew Cortez and Danny Cortez
Danny Cortez was the founder and pastor of the New Heart Community Southern Baptist Church in La Mirada, California, in 2014 when his 16-year-old son, Drew, told him that he was gay. Up until that time, Danny’s church would either recommend celibacy or reparative therapy—a widely discredited form of treatment that identifies homosexuality as a mental disorder with the goal of converting people to heterosexuality—to congregants who identified themselves as gay or lesbian.
Even before Drew’s coming out, Danny had slowly begun to reevaluate his views on homosexuality and whether he was doing more harm than good. When his neighbor invited him to visit the HIV clinic where he worked, Danny was introduced to a community of people he had not previously known much about. This began, for him, a gradual change of heart.
Years later, as he was driving Drew to school, “Same Love” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis came on the radio. Danny liked it a lot but didn’t understand that it was a celebration of LGBT love. Drew, encouraged by his father’s affection for the song, then revealed to him that he was gay.
Realizing that they could no longer keep this secret from those they love, Drew posted a video online, and a week later, Danny delivered a sermon to his congregation about his changing views on homosexuality. As a result of the sermon, the Southern Baptist Convention cut ties with Danny’s church and his congregation split leading he and other members to form a separate LGBT inclusive, non-denominational church.
Danny and Drew came to StoryCorps to remember the sermon that changed their lives.
Originally aired on August 28, 2016, on NPR’s Weekend Edition
Rev. Troy Perry
On June 24, 1973, a fire tore through the Upstairs Lounge, a gay bar in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Thirty-two people were killed in the blaze and many more injured. To this day, it remains the deadliest fire in New Orleans history and until the killings on June 12 at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, this act of arson was believed to be the largest single mass killing of gay people in U.S. history.
Unlike in Orlando where there has been an outpouring of support for the victims, following the Upstairs Lounge fire, there was overwhelming silence from politicians, religious leaders, and the local community. 
And while police conducted an investigation, no one was ever arrested for the murders.
After hearing about the tragedy, Rev. Troy Perry (pictured at left with his partner Phillip “Buddy” De Blieck in June 1970, at the first LGBT Pride Parade in Los Angeles), founder of the Metropolitan Community Church, a national Christian denomination dedicated to serving gays and lesbians, flew from his home in California to New Orleans to provide support.
Offering comfort and assistance to the victims in hospitals, Rev. Perry recalls speaking with one badly burned man who told him that the school he taught at had fired him after learning that he was present at the Upstairs Lounge. That man died the next day.
Not wanting to return home until he held a service, Rev. Perry remembers the difficult time he had finding a church willing to act as a host. Eventually, the St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in the French Quarter opened its doors and mourners came to fill it. When the service ended, cameras outside confronted attendees and Rev. Perry offered them a way out the back. But in a show of strength, pride, and courage, “Nobody left by the backdoor. And that’s the legacy. We never ran away.”
The initial reaction to the fire is something that New Orleans has had to come to terms with in the ensuing years. In 1998, a plaque was placed on the spot where the Upstairs Lounge once stood to mark 25 years since the fire, and in a Time Magazine piece on the 40th anniversary of the blaze, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans apologized for its silence.
Rev. Perry came to StoryCorps to recall what he saw upon his arrival in New Orleans.
Originally aired June 24, 2016, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Top Photo: Inside of the Upstairs Lounge on June 25, 1973. Associated Press/Jack Thornell.
Photo of Phillip “Buddy” De Blieck and Rev. Troy Perry courtesy of Rev. Troy Perry.
Joel Tucker and Gordon Blake
UPDATE: Joel and Gordon’s story aired June 26, 2016, on NPR’s Weekend Edition.
The shooting at the Orlando, Florida, nightclub Pulse on June 12, that left 49 dead and 53 wounded, while unprecedented in scale, is certainly not the first time a killer has chosen to target the LGBTQ community. Anti-LGBTQ violence has a long history in the United States, and in this special StoryCorps production (excerpted from our latest podcast, StoryCorps 473: Upstairs, Backstreet, Pulse), we look back at another high-profile incident.
On September 22, 2000, 53-year-old Ronald Gay entered the Backstreet Café, a gay-friendly bar in Roanoke, Virginia. According to police accounts, Gay had set out that evening in search of gay people to kill, and after seeing two men inside the Backstreet Café embrace, he pulled out a 9mm gun and began firing. Gay ended up killing Danny Overstreet and wounding six others.
One of those shot was Danny’s friend Joel Tucker who was there with his partner and friends drinking beer and playing pool. At the time, Joel was not out as a gay man and recalls in a StoryCorps interview that he regrets telling a newspaper reporter that he was at the café at the time with his girlfriend. While initially not realizing what was going on, Joel remembers seeing fire come out of the gun, and when it dawned on him that there was a man shooting at people, he screamed for everybody to get down. “It was just like seven shots, seven people. Then he just walked out the door.”
Joel (above left) came to StoryCorps with his long-time friend Gordon Blake (above right) in Hollywood, Florida, days after the Orlando massacre to share some of the emotions that flooded back to him after learning about the killings at Pulse. Gordon, who was supposed to meet up with Joel and their friends at the Backstreet Café that evening in 2000 but did not make it, joins with Joel in offering advice to the survivors:
“You have got to be strong. Don’t let something like this ruin your life because it could’ve ruined mine…This was one person who hated and I have seen hundreds of people who love. And I think love wins.”
This story is excerpted from a special StoryCorps podcast featuring another previously unheard piece from a witness to the devastation that followed the June 24, 1973, fire at the Upstairs Lounge in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Until the killings at Pulse, this blaze, which took 32 lives, was believed to be the largest single mass killing of gay people in U.S. history.
Click here to listen to StoryCorps 473: Upstairs, Backstreet, Pulse.
Top Photo: A vigil outside the Backstreet Café in Roanoke, Virginia, September 2000. Copyright, The Roanoke Times, republished by permission.
Scott Goodling and Andy Goodling
Six years ago, Andy Goodling was in college when he met his boyfriend, Bryan. They began dating, but since neither of them had come out as openly gay, they both went to great lengths to hide their relationship from their friends and family.
About two years ago, they secretly took a vacation together to Florida. While there they decided the time was right to begin telling their families about their sexuality and their relationship. Just days after their trip together ended, Bryan was hospitalized with a sudden illness and died shortly after.
Devastated, Andy decided it was time to start coming out to his loved ones so that he could openly mourn the loss of the man he loved.
At StoryCorps, Andy talked to his father, Scott, about his relationship with Bryan, and why he chose to keep it hidden for so long.
Originally aired January 29, 2016, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Jeff Dupre and David Phillips
In September 1975, Air Force Tech. Sgt. Leonard Matlovich was featured on the cover of Time magazine under the headline, “I Am a Homosexual.”
It was the first time an openly gay man appeared on the cover of a national news magazine.
In March of that year, Matlovich—who served three tours in Vietnam and received both a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart—delivered a letter to his commanding officer stating that he was gay and that he intended to continue his military career. Read it here.
Leonard Matlovitch was challenging the military ban on gay service members.
Soon after the issue of Time hit newsstands, Matlovich was discharged from the Air Force for his admission. For the next five years, the decorated veteran fought his dismissal in Federal court and was eventually reinstated. While he never returned to active duty, he did receive a monetary settlement from the military that included back pay.
Tech. Sgt. Leonard Matlovich died on June 22, 1988.
Jeff Dupre (above left) knew Leonard Matlovich in the 1970s. He came to StoryCorps with his husband, David Phillips, to record Jeff’s memories of the man who started the legal battle for military acceptance of LGBTQ people.
Originally aired October 30, 2015, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Grave photo courtesy of leonardmatlovich.com.
Letter courtesy of Leonard Matlovich Papers, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Historical Society.
Angela Stowe and Glenda Elliott
Glenda Elliott grew up in Mayfield, Georgia during the 1940s. Long before the Stonewall Riots launched the modern gay rights movement, she met the love of her life — a woman named Lauree.
When Glenda sat down with her friend, Angela Stowe, she told the story of her lifelong love that never had the chance to blossom.
Glenda Elliott is a retired Associate Professor of Counselor Education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she co-founded Alabama’s Association for LGBT Issues in Counseling. She told her story as part of StoryCorps OutLoud.
Originally aired September 18, 2015, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Ericka Naegle and Walter Naegle
On the heels of a historic Supreme Court ruling that upholds the right of LGBTQ people to marry, we look to the late 1970s—a time where this week’s ruling on marriage equality was unimaginable.
Back then, the iconic civil rights leader Bayard Rustin (left) and his partner, Walter Naegle (right), a man decades his junior, fell in love. They were together for many years.
As Bayard was getting older, they decided to formalize their relationship in the only way that was possible for gay people at the time–Rustin adopted Walter Naegle.
Here, Walter tells his niece, Ericka (pictured above, left), what it was like to fall in love with Bayard, and the unconventional decision they made to protect their union.
Originally aired June 28, 2015, on NPR’s Weekend Edition.
Photo courtesy of Walter Naegle.
Patrick Kreifels and Michelle Kreifels
Michelle Kreifels was born with an intellectual disability. She grew up on a farm in rural Nebraska, the fifth of seven children, and her family treated her the same as everyone else.
Her youngest brother, Patrick, brought Michelle to StoryCorps to talk about their relationship and how their differences have brought them together.
Originally aired June 7, 2015, on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday.