Dublin Core
Title
Denis Gerdes Oral History
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Date Created
2017
Subject
Oral History
Description
Denis Gerdes’s oral history traces his life from St. Louis to Colorado Springs and Denver, centered on family responsibility, Catholicism, gender expression, trauma, art, skating, and queer self-understanding. He discusses growing up as a feminine boy in a large military family, feeling responsible for siblings, complicated relationships with parents, early loss, abuse, and the need for safe spaces for LGBTQ youth. Gerdes reflects on figure skating, music, art, Manitou and Catholic schools, Colorado Springs bars, AIDS-era fear, and later self-direction through college. His story highlights resilience, creativity, vulnerability, survival, and the long process of reclaiming agency.
Type
Sound
Is Part Of
Colorado LGBTQ History Project
Format
audio/mp3