{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/251fj2bv2d/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Kirsten Freni, April 4, 2024"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/255/original/Aviary_TRL_Header.png?1704389184","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eKirsten Freni grew up in a tight-knit Italian American family transplanted from the North and West End of Boston to Revere, MA. Her father was a decorated World War II veteran who worked in the produce industry. Her mother was a stay at home mom and later became a beloved cafeteria mom in the school system. As a fierce advocate and fighter, Kirsten gravitated to her older sister, who became an aesthetician on Newbury Street in Boston in the 1980s and introduced her to a community of gay men she describes as “amazing, beautiful, and gifted souls.” Freni is a 1986 Revere High School graduate with a Travel Management degree from Newbury College. She worked in the travel industry for many years, but her passion has been in health care and LGBTQ+ advocacy, working with Prism GLBT Health, the Northshore Alliance of LGBTQ Youth, and AIDS awareness.   Kirsten’s other roles have included: President of NAGLY; original board member of NS Pride; Certified HIV Outreach Counselor/Tester; Co-Chair for the Boston HIV Vaccine Community Advisory Board; past MA Commissioner of LGBTQ Youth;  and original member of Lynn’s World AIDS Day Events Committee. She started attending Fran’s in the 1990s and resided in Lynn from 2008 to 2018 . Kirsten is part of the founding group for United Lynn Pride and was one of the original flag raisers at City Hall. She discusses the special challenges for LGBTQ+, technological change, and doing outreach during the pandemic. \u003c/p\u003e"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eKirsten Freni grew up in a tight-knit Italian American family transplanted from the North and West End of Boston to Revere, MA. Her father was a decorated World War II veteran who worked in the produce industry. Her mother was a stay at home mom and later became a beloved cafeteria mom in the school system. As a fierce advocate and fighter, Kirsten gravitated to her older sister, who became an aesthetician on Newbury Street in Boston in the 1980s and introduced her to a community of gay men she describes as \u0026ldquo;amazing, beautiful, and gifted souls.\u0026rdquo; Freni is a 1986 Revere High School graduate with a Travel Management degree from Newbury College. She worked in the travel industry for many years, but her passion has been in health care and LGBTQ+ advocacy, working with Prism GLBT Health, the Northshore Alliance of LGBTQ Youth, and AIDS awareness. \u0026nbsp; Kirsten\u0026rsquo;s other roles have included: President of NAGLY; original board member of NS Pride; Certified HIV Outreach Counselor/Tester; Co-Chair for the Boston HIV Vaccine Community Advisory Board; past MA Commissioner of LGBTQ Youth; \u0026nbsp;and original member of Lynn\u0026rsquo;s World AIDS Day Events Committee. She started attending Fran\u0026rsquo;s in the 1990s and resided in Lynn from 2008 to 2018 . Kirsten is part of the founding group for United Lynn Pride and was one of the original flag raisers at City Hall. She discusses the special challenges for LGBTQ+, technological change, and doing outreach during the pandemic.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"]},"provider":[{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Through A Rainbow Lens"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Through A Rainbow Lens"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/255/original/Aviary_TRL_Header.png?1704389184","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/239/394/small/open-uri20240415-1402612-p6vnue_1713199499.jpg?1713185103","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - open-uri20240415-1402612-p6vnue.mp4"]},"duration":3357.41867,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/239/394/small/open-uri20240415-1402612-p6vnue_1713199499.jpg?1713185103","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-unitedlynnpride.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/239/394/original/open-uri20240415-1402612-p6vnue.mp4?1713185060","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":3357.41867,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Kirsten Freni transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nToday's date is April 1st, 2024. My name is Drew Darien. I'm a Professor of History at Salem State University. I'm conducting this interview as part of the Mass Humanities-funded project \"Through a Rainbow Lens: A Reflection on Lynn's LGBTQ+ History.\" I have the honor of being joined today by Kirsten Freni, a wellness advocate, a long time member and president of the North Shore Alliance of LGBTQ Youth, and in many ways, the source of inspiration for this project. Thank you for being here! I'd just like to begin by confirming that I have your permission to interview [you], and record this conversation?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=0.0,43.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nYes, you do.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=43.0,45.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nSo, you were born in Boston and grew up in Revere. Can you tell me a little bit about your family and the community that you grew up in?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=45.0,56.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nI can. My history of family goes back to the North End and West End. My parents were a lot older, Italian nationality. In Revere, we lived in [what] was pretty much a hodgepodge, in a beautiful, diverse neighborhood. We had all nationalities that lived around [us], and it was pretty much very tight knit neighborhoods. Everybody watched out for each other. My mom was pretty much a homemaker her entire life, and went to work in the school systems, probably when I was in about high school. My dad worked in the produce industry— my whole family did that. He started off at, like, eight years old doing pushcarts down in the North End and the West End. But Revere..... it was just a very robust [city]. Everybody knew everybody. Even though the city was big, it was definitely very diverse. So for me, I had friends of all walks. It was...... I would try to say, when I think of looking back at my fellow LGBT friends back in the day, I came out a little bit later in life. But I remember how difficult it was for a lot of my friends who knew who they were very young. But again, back in those days, in the seventies and the eighties, it was pretty much the same everywhere. People stuck together and protected each other. At that time, as I said, I was more of an ally. I didn't know really about who I was until much later on in life. But looking back, I was always a fierce advocate and fighter for anybody that was marginalized.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=56.0,169.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nYou mentioned that you had an older sister. Was that your only sibling?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=169.0,175.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nYes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=175.0,177.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nAnd what did your father do? Was he always in the produce business?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=177.0,182.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nHe was. It's a big family business.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=182.0,185.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nMhmm. Was your family very religious?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=185.0,188.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nNo. No. My parents, my mom— it wasn't..... we were born and raised Catholic. However, both my parents —and they were much older. I was a very 'late in life' baby. My dad just died a couple of years ago at ninety nine, but he was also a World War II, decorated veteran. And for whatever [reason], their own experiences......they had some bad run-ins with the Catholic church, per se. So, as far as being raised in that church environment, we weren't. We have family members that did, and my parents were very staunch in [their] belief systems and spirituality, and wanting to pray and the being a good person piece of it. But, yeah. Not going to church: weddings and funerals, yhose are the big things.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=188.0,239.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nDid your father ever talk about his war experience?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=239.0,243.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nYes. He did. A big huge portion of my life with my dad, since there was such a big age difference— he was forty four when I was born, so I was always intrigued. I was like the son he never had. [I] played all the sports, got into the fights, did all that great stuff back then. But yes, we spent many hours watching war movies, and him sharing experiences. And me being that young, [I was] not really understanding the magnitude of what the war was. Right? You watch movies and it seems so [abstract.] It's on TV and it appears..... sort of looking for......just....you can't imagine what's on TV really happening in real life. I would ask my dad different things, and he would share everything, but there were things that he used to hold back at. Especially asking, \"Did you ever kill anybody?\" You know, when you're young, you don't really understand that. You just wanna know because you're learning it history and [at] elementary school in sixth grade. You're just learning about the wars. And my father, all he used to say to me was at that point, he goes, \"All I will tell you is that, we were given rations. And the rations we were given, we were told, take prisoners at your own choice but you need to share your rations.\" And that was kind of where he ended it. He was a paratrooper and a glider— they don't have those anymore. He was very proud of his time. Being eighteen years old, I can't imagine they were all men back then. But that was such huge impactful part of his life, and it became huge for us, as well.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=243.0,347.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nHow do you think that shaped his character, and in turn influenced how he influenced you and your family?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=347.0,356.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nWell, he's Sicilian, and back in those days, PTSD, trauma....nobody really dealt with it. It was like: you don't say anything, you keep everything inside. And so my dad, he was very hard in a lot of ways, in the sense where he wasn't able to truly show emotion. Easily, I...... —I learned at a very young age, my father would nap because of the produce market hours. You know? You would get up at three o'clock in the morning to be in the market, and you basically worked until about one o'clock in the afternoon. So when he would come home, [at] twelve, one o'clock afternoon, he'd take a nap until dinner was ready at five. And my mother would always say, \"Don't go near your father. When he's sleeping, don't go near your father. You have to yell to wake him up.\" And I remember one time being very young, I was playing and my mother's like, \"Go wake your father up.\" And, I went to go and shake him, not realizing I brought him into a memory. I remember he woke up and [in an] instant [he] went a kick his leg, and I was right at the bottom of his leg —not that it was hurt —but he kicked me across the room. I was just more stunned than anything. It was like when he woke up, just......I can't imagine that what he went through. I mean, we would find him sometimes if he had any of his terrors on the floor, as if he was in a a foxhole. Sleeping on [floor], all curled up. It was tough.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=356.0,462.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nWhether it was through your dad or your mom, or anything else, do you think there are certain values that you grew up with?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=462.0,470.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nMost definitely. Family. Family was always the most important thing. My father always believed, \"you work.\" He had the opportunity. He came back, as I said, with [a] purple heart and everything else, but refused to take any, what he thought back then, was anything free. Right? Even though he didn't understand the pension that came along, and all of those things, my father was always about working. You just go to work, you don't take nothing for nothing. [My parents also taught me] to always look out for those around, and always stand up for those that can't stand up themselves. It's definitely something I took from my dad, and my mom.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=470.0,515.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nHow do you think they would have described you as a child?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=515.0,519.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nVery precocious. I was the kid that was welcoming everyone in the neighborhood, and inviting them over my house when everybody moved in. I knew everything and everyone. I had a nickname as a little kid: \"Eyewitnessed Kirsten\": on the spot, reporting, knowing anything and everything that was happening in the neighborhood, to make sure I could offer a hand some way.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=519.0,541.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nAnd what were you like at school among your friends?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=541.0,548.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nWhen I look back as a kid, a very young kid, I had......different medical challenges that ran in my family. We had some things that had to do with kidney issues. So as a little kid, I couldn't really go out and and do all the sleepovers and all of those things because I had a couple of different surgeries very young. It was kind of a bummer not to do that. Being young, it was was kind of hard. Because it was..... little kids don't understand, right? If you can't do something, then there's something wrong with you. There was a little bit of a a separation in......uhm..... I don't even know how to describe it..... I had my friends. It wasn't that, but there was always just something different, because I was different to them in a way. I don't know if that makes sense. But as I grew up, I still have my core closest friends, and my friends from kindergarten. It's hard to imagine, but from, yeah, my closest friends [are] still from kindergarten. Middle school, growing up by......it was probably, as I said, because I had those things that happened as a little kid, [I] was a little different being of pointed out or— I don't want to say bullied because they would say cool things, but as I grew up, I grew with thicker skin. And, as I said, I was the son my father never had. When I would be confronted with certain things, it would take an awful lot [to get me going]. But in most cases, I would fight my way out of things. I always won, my father would always say. That's the one thing he was proud of! Not that he ever encouraged anything, but he was proud back in the day when I was able to stand my own ground if somebody tried to take advantage of me.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=548.0,672.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nDo you remember your first crush?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=672.0,677.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nAh....my first crush, yes. It was actually a boy. My mother's best friend, they were bowling buddies, her son's name was John. And we used to spend an awful lot of time together because they were so close. That was being really little.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=677.0,702.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nDid you always have crushes on boys, or did that change?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=702.0,706.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nNo. It changed. I think, for me, I remember having questions when I was probably in elementary school. There was one girl that I was.... I was in the 27th Lancers [Junior Drum Corps], I was a rifle, and one of the girls that lived in the neighborhood, her and I were in the 27th Lancers. I remember being at her house one time, and playing a Debbie Boone on the radio: \"You Light Up My Life,\" and I remember she kissed me. It was because we were young trying to be like, \"What was it like?\" It was just a simple little kiss, but I remember that was kind of the first time I was like, \"Oh, what's that?\" But then that kinda subsided. It was, I think.....in my house, even though— it's funny, my parents was so accepting of everybody: I mean, everybody. [It] didn't matter [your] walk of life, what your nationality [was], your background, the color of your skin: everyone was welcomed in my home. But my father was always in that mindset that, and I think it went back to being in the service [with] his band of brothers, everybody was there protecting each other. It was more or less that you can have all of these friends, but you always stay with your own, in one way. So, the whole thought about [being] married, [having] kids and everything was in this trajectory, not that it ever happened, but it was kind of the trajectory that went on.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=706.0,804.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nWhen we were talking earlier, you mentioned visiting your older sister where she was working on Newberry Street, and you were introduced to a series of gay men—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=804.0,815.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nYes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=815.0,816.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\n—and you were quite drawn to them. Did that give you a different model of family or friendship, or adulthood?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=816.0,824.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nOh my god, yes! Because so many of them had been rejected by their own families for their lifestyle and who they were. To see people that came together, that truly just......—the joyous connection. Don't get me wrong! I mean, I can tell you some of the the yelling! So much that went on behind the scenes at the hairdressers with some of those amazing men! But it was a different camaraderie; it was a family. It was the chosen family. I remember hearing stories. One person who really touched my heart was John. He was [a] very flamboyant gay man and, obviously, a hairdresser. He'd share stories, like when he was younger in high school and how he got the crap kicked out of him daily, daily. I mean, thrown over a banister. Broken bones. It was horrific, horrific when I think of the stories he shared about what it was like growing up. And.......And as the years went on, in the AIDS epidemic, [it] was impacting everybody around us. He had become HIV positive, and back in the South End in Boston, back in those days, there were so many gay bashings, and so many people that got hurt and got killed. And I remember the time that He— he'd been beaten so many times, and this time he was HIV infected, and he actually had medications [on him], and he had his needles that had his medications in them. One of the times that he actually survived one of his attacks, he pulled out his needles and told his attackers that he had HIV, and if they came near him that he would stab them with his needle, and he got away.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=824.0,949.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nAnd was it with John, in particular, that you first learned of the AIDS crisis, or is that something you remember learning about earlier?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=949.0,960.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nWell, the whole time was interactive—being immersed with these amazing, beautiful, talented gifted souls. As I said, I was in my teens. The AIDS epidemic really started coming to the forefront in the mid-eighties, whe[n] it really started being talked about, just around [when] I was graduating high school. One of the women that worked with my sister, Paige, was a huge, huge— she was an aesthetician, a young [aesthetician]. I think she was probably one of my favorite people when I look at [that was] young [and] that was a real advocate on the front lines. I love my sister, but she was the princess. My father used to [say] we always were the two: \"She was the princess, and I was like Page Boy.\" We were the two opposite[s]. So, though she loved and knew all of these people, it was a different viewpoint of activism and commitment. Paige really was the one that influenced, and taught me, about advocacy. When I was gonna be going to the Caribbean, she [was] the one that would be giving me all the condoms to be like: \"If you're gonna go down with all your friends, or with whomever,\" —everything around understanding safe sex, and sexual health, and yeah. That's really where my baseline of inspiration, and passion for being involved in the HIV field started. It was in my late teens.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=960.0,1057.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nAnd at what point did you transition from just thinking of yourself, who is very drawn to these interesting, unique people, [to] somebody who was supportive, and an ally, to a realization that some of that attraction was because of your own sexuality?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=1057.0,1080.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nWell, I think about...... as I said, when I worked for American Express, I used to be on the committee for doing our pride floats. I mean, I was in the committees doing everything. In the travel office I worked at [at] the time, they were three gay men. We would do a lot of fam trips together, and I'll never forget being in Philadelphia. I remember I was actually in a relationship with a man whose sister was gay, [and] who I used to go to gay bars with all the time. And she used to— but I remember having the first conversation with them about being 'out' at a bar with my boyfriend's— we were engaged at one point — sister, talking actually: having the honest conversation. [It was w]hen I was out at bars with her that I actually felt more comfortable and attracted. We'd hang out and people would come up to me. She'd be like, \"Oh,\" you know? \"This is my brother's girlfriend! Don't even think about it, don't even look! And it would be like..... I remember being there and just saying, \"Oh my gosh. This is where I feel so comfortable,\" and finding the attraction to women, it was like : \"Is there something wrong,\" at one point. Even though I would be advocating for so many people, having the own feelings for myself was where it became a little bit challenging.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=1080.0,1170.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nDo you wanna say a little bit about why?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=1170.0,1174.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nWell, it was a few things. I wasn't sure how my closest friends were gonna [react.] I just [didn't] even know because I had—..... well, let me go back to being honest, my......uhm......Now, you talk about my first girl crush. So my sister had a short relationship, or somewhat [of a] relationship, with a woman. Before I even knew that she was going to be with a woman, the woman she had a relationship with, when I was younger, I had the biggest crush on. And I didn't know why. I was like sixteen. That when I was like....I really thought to myself. \"Wow. Why do I—\" It was hard to think I had a crush [on a woman] because I didn't know how to even quantify it. Right? Because all of my girlfriends, all had boyfriends. We were are all doing the right things, and doing all this, and having this crush and wanting to go and see, and hang with this person all the time, and run and do errands, and be like that: \"Whatever you need me to do, I'll be here!\" And, like, you know: \"I'll help you!\"—the doting little puppy dog that will run and do whatever I could to be around her. And then I found out that her and my sister were together. I remember being so hurt, so angry. I kinda severed that piece for a little bit. It was just..... I kinda went completely with my friends, like,— it was not long, [not] many years after [that] when I got involved with the long term relationship, where I thought it was gonna be engaged and stuff. I kinda shifted, because [it] felt like a little bit of a betrayal, if that makes sense? Even though it had nothing: it was all internal. It was a personal thing. My sister was in that relationship for a while, and then that ended. But yeah, it was a hard feeling.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=1174.0,1294.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nAnd when did you first come start coming to Lynn?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=1294.0,1298.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nOh, I came to Lynn with friends for Fran's. Like my gay friends, way back, my sister, and my girlfriend— when I was younger —they would go Fran's. There would be a whole group of people, so I would kinda always be around them. When you're talking back in the....god, early nineties? So I was around Fran's way back when! Back when the fabulous drag shows were just top notch. You know? Melinda and Tish were in their prime. Back then though, it was funny, the gay men [had] hardly ever seen any fights, but the back bar, with all the lesbians, you knew there was always gonna be a hoe-down going down in the back! So, I was in back, but not on a consistent basis. So, how it all ended up happening [was]: I said I was in relationship for quite some time, and that relationship with the person I was with— whose sister happens to be gay —he's family. He'll always be my family. We were engaged. [I] love him to pieces. And, I ended up having a tenant that moved in, and she was a radio personality. Her and I became very close, and she basically had all these cool gigs. Like, you know? If me and Bill wanted to go make some extra money [and] go into these bars and clubs in Boston, it was like all this cool stuff. Billie and I, at that point, our relationship was really....we were just kinda just family; there was nothing. It had been a few years, but I don't know.....our families were so intertwined that [it was] just family. So this one night, she says, \"Look, there's a new gay bar opening up on the Lynnway.\" She's like, \"I would love for you to come and be my Julie McCoy,\" —because what they were doing: it was George's Bar. At the time, it was Club Central. They were looking at trying to do all of these really cool, fun....what's the word? My god, my brain! —Contests. I can't even think, I can't even tell you the contest. Like: \"the dating game,\" \"sexy body parts,\" \"strip limbo,\" —all of these things. I got to be the, you know, Coco......—It's actually where I ended up meeting Coco and Sunil, was when that bar first open[ed]— and Peter. I mean, it's where we all converged. So, Coco and I......I used to be the person that would go get everybody in. I'd also help emceee, and then Coco took over. And it was at that bar that I met my first girlfriend. I remember being hit on so many times. And at the time, I was involved in it, I would be like, \"You know, I'm straight, but not narrow. I thank you,\" you know? \"I'm flattered.\" And then I remember going to the bar and working, and I met this one person, and we were chitchating, and I remember being really taken aback because I was like, \"Why do I feel— it's the first time I'm actually feeling something, [and I] just... I don't even know how to describe it,\" so [the] friendship went on. The big joke, all the boys— because I became very, very close with all the boys instantaneously and started sharing with them how I felt or, what was going on —and Bill and I had technically broke up. We were still underneath the same roof, but doing separate things. And I remember meeting the person andconnecting with this person; this first kiss or whatever. And [with] Coco husband's Peter, it was the big joke. He's like, \"You know, Kirsten. Go to the barbershop long enough, you're gonna get a haircut.\" That was like the big joke of how I finally came out. I was in my early thirties. And, Yeah. Our crew kinda really stuck together, and I had been doing volunteer work at that time as well: not only doing stuff at the radio station, but Coco had also started working at what, at the time, was called the Gay/Bi Men's Health Program. He was doing a lot of different work and ended up landing there. Well, he hadn't really landed there yet. Brian and Ken, who both worked at the program, used to come down to the club and they would hand out [stuff], do[ing] some outreach. We all connected and then Coco ended up getting the job there. And, I ended up just tagging along with them. At the time, I was working was working as a office manager for a large.....it was a startup— it was an RFID [company]. They had just broke through with RFID technology. And, so we were just get ready— but.... was it a year or so after [I joined], we had just got VC [Venture Capital] money. And we all know what happens with VC: You start off— I was like employee number twelve. We grew this company out to everything. The VC's come in, and that's it. Everybody was the last manager to get let go within the year. But in that year, I had been doing all this volunteer [work]. Coco got involved with NAGLY [Northshore Alliance for GLBT Youth]. I had gone and started getting involved in volunteering with NAGLY. Coco got recruited out from the Gay/Bi Men's Health Program to Fenway Health. And I had been doing tons of work with him, but when he left, Brian had said to him— and at this point, now I'm pretty much out. I've got my girlfriend: not fully out at home yet. I was kind of walking even though like half the family knew. It was still kind of walking that path of not wanting to hurt and upset my parents, because the person I had been with was —and you had asked me.... you know, I'm sorry. You had asked me about siblings. My parents, though, their first born was a stillborn. I'll go back real quick, but the doctor had done something just weeks before my mother was due to deliver, a month before, and dislodged the umbilical cord. And my mom ended up having to deliver a son a month later. Okay, so how my family would take the news, is that— that's where I was going with [it], sorry. Bill was like the son that my parents lost. They became very attached to him. You would have thought he was the son, I was the girlfriend. No kidding! So now, I'm like walking [a line]. Half my family knows, half my family is still in the closet. But when Coco got recruited out, Brian's like, \"You can't leave until you find us somebody\" —because as you can tell, when you met him, [he is] incredibly charismatic, and so gifted in the community, and doing the work that we do. Coco had said to Brian, \"Well, what about Kirsten?\" Let's hire [her.] Brian was like, \"Oh my god, the Gay/Bi Men's Health Program has always been just men. There's no woman that's ever worked here.\" Myself, and my girlfriend at the time, were the first females to ever go through to become 'certified males' when we were volunteering for the HIV education piece. Brian took a shot, and he hired me. It was, I would like to think, really an incredibly positive impact, because we— within a year —went from the Gay/Bi Men's Health Program, to Prism LGBT Health. With me coming on board as a woman, all of the outreach work that I did: all of the parties, the public sex environments. I've made a lot relationships with local police stations so that if they came by.....—it was a lot more difficult for the male outreach workers to be in the public sex environment trying to educate, do counseling, testing, providing any of that, because the cops would come by and they would see gay men. Again, we had a lot of discrimination and a lot of things that were just horrible back then. But, you see a woman with men [now]. I was like the perfect decoy [i]n so many so many of those public sex environments. That was such a joy because we were able to infiltrate in a positive way, in a much deeper level because there was never any attraction. I mean, even though you [were doing] outreach work, nobody wanted me; I don't want them. I was able to really....—I'd like to still believe, be able to, impact lives in a deeper, positive way. From there, being Prism LGBT Health Center, we created different programs. We had an 'all inclusive' [program:] all age[s], [at] night [where] everyone would come in, and we'd have discussions and games and movies. I started a lesbian spirituality chat that lasted several+ years there, which was really impactful for the community. There was so much good work that we were doing at the time. We created a coalition amongst other organizations that worked with folks, and [figured out] how we could cross-reference our resources to help our own clientele out: making sure that everybody was on board. Whether it was housing or fuel, or food, health: we were all kind of connected there. And through being at Prism, is how I really ended up joining the board of NAGLY. It's how I became one of the original board members for Northshore Pride. It's how I got involved with the HIV vaccine trial network that I'm part of—which is a collaboration with Fenway [Health], Brigham Women, Mass General. At one point Harvard was part of us, as well. That's kind of like my background.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=1298.0,1921.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nWhat what can you tell us about the origins of Northshore Pride?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=1921.0,1926.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nThe origins of Northshore pride.... well, I mean, it was.....a lot of people, for a long time, were looking and hoping to have [somewhere] to gather. I know in Lynn, we used to have our pride days here and there. There was no real organization, and the woman who is the president along with the.......she had done the real footwork in order to get all of the accreditations in the different pieces. But, there were a lot of people that had held that vision for quite some time. That was back in 2012, [that ] was our first.....yeah, 2012. Yeah. My mom died in 2013, so she was alive for our first [one]. Actually, she was alive for the second one as well. But that was part of.... a lot of people on the coalition I was talking to you about, prior to that, really always wanted to talk about: how do we really bring information into the communities around [us]? How do we get people together that may not [be able to], right? —Because not everybody goes to a bar. You know what I mean? There's just you......gay people, they wanna go bowling or they're [at] home enjoy[ing] reading or whatever it is: not everybody does the same thing. People think the community itself is a bunch of......—in the— in the old days, [people were] thinking like, [gay people were] promiscuous; only in the clubs wanting to hook up and do this, and do that. No. The gay community is just like any other community, heterosexual or not. You have a beautiful diversity of all kinds of people with all kinds of likes, dislikes, and hobbies.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=1926.0,2037.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nWere you the first flag raiser for United Lynn Pride?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=2037.0,2042.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nYes. Myself, Tish. We worked diligently. Coco. There was only about three or four of us that really initiated, and thanks to the Mayor, at the time, Judy [Flanagan]. She was supportive. It was so funny when I think back, we laugh all the time. We got the flag. So, if you go in front of City Hall in Lynn: you have city hall, a big city hall, and there's this little patch right across that connects the two streets. We were able to get the flag raised that little patch of land in the very beginning for one day. It was like that pushing [of] the envelope of at least getting it for one day. And then progressively, obviously, the attention in the local organizations came together in overtime. We now actually have the big flag right in front, connected to it. We have a— it's pretty much almost the whole month. [We have] an incredible amount of different events that have been attached to that. That has really brought such amazing unity to the community.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=2042.0,2114.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nAnd, from all the years that you've been working with NAGLY [North Shore Alliance of GBLTQ Youth], what do you see as the particular needs of LGBTQ youth and how has that changed over time?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=2114.0,2128.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nI haven't went [to] NAGLY now [in] almost twenty years, which— when I loo,— when I first came on board, we had just passed gay marriage here. Now you're looking at— we're at that sweet spot where people were now being accepted in certain ways, and not all. Because NAGLY had first started off as a uhm....... it was all about anonymity. You could only find out about NAGLY through word-of-mouth. From there, as time progressed, when I started with it —and Coco and I were there —we were in this small room at a church. There were like ten, maybe twelve, youths in this little room, little couches. I went there. The first time I went there, Coco invited me to sit on a career night board. And I was so nervous. I'm going, \"I just came out not long earlier.\" Right? I'm thinking it would be in front of all of these kids. I walked in, and it was the most amazing experience. I knew I was never gonna leave there, is where I was going with this. Because the youth at that time, which are now some of our— they've been, stayed on as mentors and staff, and all of that, over the years. There was a group of incredible, magical, amazing young adults at that point that were so fired up, and so passionate, about wanting to storm the halls at the state house for change, for acceptance. At that point, we were just now rolling in to understanding, and pushing for the transgender bill. So I look at that youth back then, in 2004 going forward, and they were much stronger, and much more resilient. When you're talking about— there was still the clubs, right? But it's like crossing the threshold, right? The rites of passage that we all have: straight or gay, that's just what you do. And for so long, those youth had that access to community, to clubs. 'Cause the LGBT community back in the day, prior to being accepted, the only thing that they had— the only thing that we had —and I say 'they', because I came after in the point where.......back then I was an ally. By the time I really came out, it was much more accepted, even though I could tell you some pretty hard stories. But the kids had somewhere to go, right? They had those older influences to see, to understand, to go into a club, to know what it was like. These kids now.....—it kind of breaks my heart, because there's not that same [feeling] between technology, social media, all the gaming, all of the craziness that's hitting everybody. They don't have the same place to go and walk through the fire of just understanding what gay life is, if that makes sense. It's just different now. The youth now, are much more...—although this round, because we've gone from.....NAGLY, my god, we now serve small children. We have our \"Rainbow Fish\" kids, all the way up to the allies, and helping people know how to adult, to having programs for parents that come, and have support for for themselves. Yeah. There was a huge chunk —and still, to this day, that my heart breaks that they don't really have that same understanding. There's not the same resilience. And I think we talk about........growing up in the gay community, there was a lot of violence that you could be subjected to. We already spoke about gay bashing, and huge lesbian brawls, and just the whole piece of that inability of just trying to release whatever energies that you had all pent up inside, that you couldn't put anywhere else. The kids today, even though we have dances —and it....it's different. I don't know. It's just.....my heart kinda breaks that there's not that same kind of passage to understand what the community, and all that it had gone through.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=2128.0,2408.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nDo you think that some of the community and refuge that youth used to find in physical spaces, now takes place in digital spaces?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=2408.0,2422.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nMost definitely. Although, I have to say I'm really.....—I can't really express the excitement in how over-the-moon I am for what NAGLY was able to achieve, especially through the pandemic. The staff that we have— and I gotta give total props to Tony Leoni, he is our program manager. When the pandemic happened, everybody was closing. I mean, it was a scary time. Everybody's going in: closing doors, no way to have any real physical communication with people. So kids, we looked at how the mental health crisis quadrupled during that time for lack of really being connected. And Tony, based on finding the certain lists or.... like, what he was able to achieve during those times was unbelievable, because he created this ability to be online: where we were reaching kids that were down in Brazil, like, all over the world. When we got together, and they all got together during the pandemic, were able to really help support a trans youth in Brazil through transitioning. So, yes....I say all the time, sadly, digital and social media can be such a hard point in life in general, but it was lifesaving during those times. For NAGLY, we literally bloomed and we grew, and we developed more programming that was powerful. So, once we did come back into space, there was already that platform that was already set up. But in general, the GRINDR's and the Plenty-o'- Fish and..... —","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=2422.0,2540.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nIs NAGLY currently all in person, or hybrid?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=2540.0,2543.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nFor the most part, it's all in person. There are some abilities to do hybrid, but we're pretty much back [to the] full gamut: all of our programming. We have an amazing, amazing staff that's there. If you've not been to the to the center, I highly, highly recommend that you come. As I said, we were in a small tiny, little roman church with ten to twelve youth, and we blew up when we started doing this outreach, and went into the basement where we shared it with the food pantry. We are now in a 5200 square foot center: one of the largest LGBTQ centers in New England. We have this incredible high-tech library with all computers that the kids can come in. Over twenty five hundred titles. They come in do homework, they come in and do job searches. We have an amazing youth lounge that has anything and everything, you could ever, ever want —that, you know, as a teenager, to have your own lounge that, for the most part, us adults are really unallowed into it. From games to music and.....We have the meeting room, which is multiplied with different, uses. We have a general meetings in there. But in there, we also have our annual dinners. I had started, many years ago, \"Gaysgiving\" because our meetings used to be every Tuesday, just once a month, and there were a lot of youth that never had a real Thanksgiving. We had started our annual Gaysgiving. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we have a big, beautiful, incredible Thanksgiving dinner. Everybody's invited. We have music in there. We have different instruments, and they'll do open mic night. I can't even just articulate how incredible [it is]. We have a— Oh my god, we changed the name of it, but it used to be the closet. It's now where people would just donate. So, our young trans youth that would come in that could not really, present as themselves in the world would come, and it started off with just little clothes in the back. Now we have this huge space where we have tons of clothes that get donated, where the youth can come in and do shopping. They bring in people from the street that they know, that maybe couchsurfing [or are] homeless, will come in and be able to get clothes and toiletries and access to all different types of anything that they need, for the most part. We have in-house service providers. We have HAWC [Healing Abuse, Working for Change], was coming in. We have HAWC. We have different therapeutic folks that are in. We do counseling and testing with Healthy Street, which is another organization that I used to sister with when I was at Prism. But it's incredible. I get over-the-moon because, just, the sky is the limit; the things that we're able to to do. Especially what we've been able to do with our trans youth at NAGLY, and in such a supportive way to kinda be a forefront trailblazer. When Mass General was starting their trans department, [I] can't even think of the word, but now they have a whole clinic, right? But they used us. They had us come down, and kinda give them an overview as they were planning, many years ago, of how they wanted the clinic to look and what it would be like.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=2543.0,2752.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nWhat I'm hearing certainly tracks with a lot of national trends in which there's both greater acceptance of, and services on, behalf of LGBTQ+ people. And yet at the same time, in the last five to ten years or so, we've witnessed quite a backlash against them. So, I'm wondering, how do you make sense of that? Why do you think that's happening? And are you generally optimistic?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=2752.0,2788.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nIt's staggering and it's not about wanting to go into politics; but I'm sorry, I'm gonna go there. Based on coming out of an administration that embodied, acceptance and diversity. —I was also a commissioner on the Mass Commission of LGBT Youth for a few years under Deval Patrick. And one of my co-commissioners, Raffi, —I can....I never....I wanna say her name, but— but ended up going, both herself and Diego— both amazing, trans brother and sister of mine — got to go down to D.C. and do some incredible work. And Raffi was appointed under the Obama Administration, and he had a whole division dedicated to Diversity and Inclusion. Things were changing. When you are a gay person and you see the White House lit up with rainbows— not the San Francisco one, our White House —is lit up, there was joy across the country: a unity of being seen, having people being appointed, being recognized and included at the table, right? Because how can you try to create programming, funding, or understand anything, if you don't have somebody at the table that's gonna be able to tell you, and express based on their personal opinions and the opinions [of others] that they're gonna be bringing of those around them. How do you do it? Yeah. Once the Trump Administration got in, the first thing they did was wipe out the whole LGBT division. And so what you're doing now is: we're looking at playing people against each other again. There's this place: \"of ignorance is bliss,\" right? You have somebody that is out there preaching one thing, and doing something completely different. Yet, the way that they're spreading inaccuracies are really putting so many people at risk. And, as we know, once that administration took seat, a lot of violence started erupting again against, I mean, not just the LGBT community: [but]everybody. The LGBT community really was starting to get impacted quite heavily. Right now, I mean, it just goes back to the whole—where I keep thinking of Harvey Milk: \"You have to—\" \"You always say everybody come out,\" \"You have to come out of your clay, you have to come out to everybody knows who you are.\" It's really now about, for me, is creating that connection in the community again. People really have to find the— We were all really close at one point, and then as we got accepted, or as technology took over and the bars started closing down, everybody kind of went into their own ways, and their little pods, and doing whatever. Right now, I just feel like it so incredibly important that everybody starts banding together again. I mean, it's the only way. It's the education. It is the standing up. It's the visibility. Yeah. I get so frustrated and so angry, because it's like all of the steps forward and all of the amazing progress that we have done over the last twenty years. And to think that we've gone back almost feels like, in some ways, halfway back is disheartening. It goes back to the HIV as well. Back when HIV funding got cut dramatically, [it] was because our funding in the HIV pool got pulled, in order to go down to the [Mexican] border so that they create whatever they needed to create to keep people [from crossing the border] So, yeah..... I get a little bit bitter.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=2788.0,3047.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nTwo steps forward, maybe one step back? Where do you think we're going?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=3047.0,3055.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nWell, It's hard. This year is going to be a \"tell all\" year. The end of this year, where we go, is gonna really speak volumes to— where the decision is, is gonna speak volumes to what's gonna happen [in the future]. I think we still have a lot of fighters, but one of the things that makes it difficult is a lot of the strong, really strong, voiced advocates that have been an activist, that have been in this work for many years, are either very old, or have passed on. The one thing that we have not really, really emphasized, or really taught in a way that I think is so important, is activism. We need another voice, another wave of bringing in folks that really know how to stand and take on those banners, in a way that is united, and in a way that is educated enough. I mean, that's where I feel. It's like— it's gotta be back to activism, getting the voice and just standing. It's, like, everybody holding their arms together walking a bridge. It's what we have to go back to do.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=3055.0,3131.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nYou're kind of bringing me neatly to my— [video glitches]","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=3131.0,3134.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/52","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\n—generation is just so accepting of each other on so many levels. There's this place that they, for the most part, don't see. Excuse me. They don't see those differences. Their ability to be fluid in who they choose to be with, or whoever anybody is is different. There's the difference. There's something that's really beautiful on one one hand. The other piece that becomes very challenging is.... in that, sometimes, there's this illusion that everything is just going to be okay. I don't know. It's just sometimes I don't think they understand the full value of what all of those [that] came before them had to go through. That's why, at NAGLY, we continue to teach [a] number of time[s] per year going over, and over again about Stonewall, and about Harvey milk, and about the ball community: all of these different things that were formed and created, and happened, that really brought safety and peace of mind to [the]community. [On] the one hand, there's a much more acceptance. [It] doesn't matter if you're gay, you're straight, you're pansexual, you're demisexual, if you're white, black, purple, green: there tends to be this beautiful ability for the younger generation to just accept who people are. But in the same token, we just have to really emphasize that understanding history, understanding everything that came before you that allowed [us] to be where we are today, is critical. [We need] to find the way, to find those leaders— the leaders that are gonna stand out, because they always grow. Those seeds are always planted. There's always gonna be the leaders, but we just gotta find them. [We need to] find the good mentors so that we can march forward, because we have no clue after this yearn what's gonna happen. We have to be prepared. In a way is like— It's like when we think about anybody that goes into the military, right? They have to go through boot camp to understand what the wars are like. All of us marginalized communities kinda have to do our own little bootcamp to understand how we protect ourselves, and really know what we're up against.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=3134.0,3300.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/53","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andrew Darien\n\nWell, as the daughter of a World War II veteran, I think it's very fitting that we end with boot camp. [I] wanna thank you for that, and thank you for giving us your time today.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=3300.0,3312.0"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/transcript/68890/annotation/54","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kirsten Freni\n\nThank you. My pleasure!","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=3312.0,3357.41867"}]},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/index/83141","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Kirsten Freni index [Index]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/index/83141/annotation/55","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I lived in a tight knit diverse 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work.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=1832.115,1926.8501"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/index/83141/annotation/70","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"The origins of Northshore pride.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=1926.8501,2037.9401"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/index/83141/annotation/71","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"The first Pride flag raising in Lynn.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=2037.9401,2128.6401"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/index/83141/annotation/72","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"NAGLY was incredible, magical, amazing young adults.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=2128.6401,2230.995"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/index/83141/annotation/73","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Kids today don't have the community of clubs.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=2230.995,2423.045"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/index/83141/annotation/74","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"NAGLY went online during the pandemic.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=2423.045,2554.5"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/index/83141/annotation/75","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"What NAGLY offers is amazing!","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=2554.5,2835.71"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/index/83141/annotation/76","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Trump wiped out the whole LGBT division.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=2835.71,2963.75"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/index/83141/annotation/77","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"We need to start banding together again.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=2963.75,3071.55"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/index/83141/annotation/78","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"We need more activism.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=3071.55,3134.3599"},{"id":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394/index/83141/annotation/79","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Understanding LGBT history is essential.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://througharainbowlens.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2385/collection_resources/127536/file/239394#t=3134.3599,3357.41867"}]}]}]}