Hale, Destiny (Interview transcript)
Abstract
Description
Interview conducted as part of HST372 Queer Public Histories (Professor Tivia Collins). This oral history features Destiny Hale (she/they), a Black bisexual student and organizer based in Winston-Salem. Over the course of an extensive, candid conversation, Destiny reflects on her evolving relationship to gender, sexuality, and queerness�particularly as shaped by growing up in Georgia, attending boarding school in North Carolina, and navigating predominantly white institutional spaces like Wake Forest University. The interview covers wide-ranging themes, including the distinction between �gay� and �queer� cultural politics, the role of protest in forging intimacy, experiences with racialized queerness in the South, and the importance of video games and digital spaces (like Discord) in forming alternative queer kinships. She also offers sharp critiques of the whiteness of institutional queer spaces, and shares personal stories that reveal the emotional and political labor of coming into queer identity while negotiating safety, visibility, and joy. Her reflections, grounded in organizing work and personal experiences, challenge liberal understandings of LGBTQ inclusion, instead foregrounding queer of color worldmaking and survival.
Keywords
Wake Forest University -- History, Queer Public Histories, Expanded Wake Voices, LGBTQ+, Sexual minorities, Oral history