Interview of Jamie Bauer

Jamie Bauer recounts their childhood and adolescence growing up in New York City’s Stuyvesant Town, resisting family pressure to conform to normative gender expressions and discovering butch femme culture in the Village. They discuss finding political and social community as a college student in Boston engaged in gay rights organizing, and, later, as part of Women’s Pentagon Action in New York City. They chronicle their involvement in ACT UP, describing the groups culture and interpersonal dynamics, memorable direct actions, and shifts in its strategies and goals, as well as the broader political climate of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Jamie also details the evolution of their own non-binary transmasculine identity alongside the increased visibility of the transgender movement, and the complexities of negotiating their relationship with their longtime partner, choices related to their transition, and their queer identity.

Date of Interview:

June 5, 2017

Location of Interview:

NYU Department of Sociology

Place of birth:

New York City

Pronouns:

They

Interviewed by

Michelle Esther O’Brien

Summary by

Justine Ambrose