The Stories Project

Before they were hate crime victims, they were human beings. The Stories Project is a place for them and their loved ones to tell their own stories in their own words.

It’s hardly a surprise that when it comes to the ways we discuss violence perpetrated against LGBT people, we have a tendency to become fixated on the graphic details of the murders. With hate crimes, the details are often horrific and we’re right to be horrified by them. In doing this, however, we can lose sight of the fact that the victims were more than what happened to them. This is despite the fact that, in the end, it isn’t typically the statistics or even the details of the murders that force us to care and take action – it’s the stories of the lives that were lived and the stories of the people who loved them.

The Stories Project, founded in 2012, exists to spotlight the human element of anti-LGBT violence through speaking with the families and friends of hate crime victims (as well as victims themselves and those connected to LGBT people whose murders are unsolved) and asking them to share their stories – whatever it is they want to say about the person they knew or what they went through.

As of 2013, the Stories Project is additionally open to any LGBT person who wishes to talk about their experiences with marginalization and violence, though our primary focus remains on those who have lost someone to anti-LGBT violence.

If you’d like to know more, check out this list of our most frequently-asked questions, and if this is something you may be interested in participating in, drop us a line at the.stories.project.lgbt@gmail.com.