Mason Funk
Stories That Must Be Told with Mason Funk
In this episode, we're joined by Mason Funk, founder of The Outwords Archive, whose mission captures the wisdom and struggles of LGBTQ+ elders before their stories are lost to time. Mason shares his own path through silence, faith, family, and identity to becoming a documentarian of queer history, preserving voices that have shaped the fight for equality. As the conversation unfolds, Mason offers powerful reflections on resilience, joy, and the vital importance of bridge-building across divides in a time of renewed cultural backlash. This is an episode about memory, courage, and the ongoing work to ensure no voice is left unheard.
In this episode, we're joined by Mason Funk, founder of The Outwords Archive, whose mission captures the wisdom and struggles of LGBTQ+ elders before their stories are lost to time. Mason shares his own path through silence, faith, family, and identity to becoming a documentarian of queer history, preserving voices that have shaped the fight for equality. As the conversation unfolds, Mason offers powerful reflections on resilience, joy, and the vital importance of bridge-building across divides in a time of renewed cultural backlash. This is an episode about memory, courage, and the ongoing work to ensure no voice is left unheard.
|
Highlights
|
|
|
Guest Biography
Mason Funk was born and raised in Los Angeles, and graduated from Stanford University (BA English, 1980). For the next 15 years, Mason taught English, worked a wide variety of odd jobs including waiting tables, picking apples, and birthing sheep. He lived for seven years in Lisbon, Portugal, where he started writing for film and television. Moving back to Los Angeles at 35, Mason began an award-winning career in non-fiction TV and film, writing and producing programs and documentaries on topics ranging from social issues to sports to science, and earning two Emmy nominations. In 2014, Mason realized that the people who launched the modern-day LGBTQ+ civil rights movement in the 1960s and ‘70s – one of the most remarkable social change movements in U.S. history – were becoming elders. It was imperative that their life stories, wisdom and practical strategies for social change be recorded, preserved, and shared. Fueled by this vision, Mason founded The Outwords Archive (OUTWORDS) in 2016. To date, OUTWORDS has captured nearly 300 interviews with LGBTQ+ pioneers and elders in 38 states. In June 2019, OUTWORDS’ first interview anthology, entitled The Book of Pride, was published by Harper Collins. Further info is available at theoutwordsarchive.org. Mason lives in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles with his husband, psychotherapist Jay Edwards, and their French bulldog Henri. |
Show Notes
Season 3, Episode11 Credits
Guest: Mason Funk Host: Liz Cavallaro Host: Bree Fram Audio: Frieda Garcia Show Notes: Alexa Goodrich-Houska |