HONOREE
WES ENOS
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE GENERATIONS PROJECT
Wes Enos was raised by a history teacher father and an English teacher mother on the Oregon Coast, so it may not seem surprising
that in 2015 he founded The Generations Project, a non-profi t that connects LGBTQ people of different ages in life storytelling events
where the community can share and celebrate its collective history.
But, as Wes told Gay City News’ David Kennerley last year, there was a time in his life when history became a painful topic. His
father’s 10th grade history class was famous in his high school — other students often told him that his Dad made “history come alive”
for them. But when Wes himself reached 10th grade, he lost his father to pancreatic cancer.
“I grew to hate history,” he told Kennerley. “I didn’t want anything to do with it.”
In time he came around, earning his bachelor’s degree from San Francisco State University in history. And it was in San Francisco
that he came appreiciate the LGBTQ community’s history. Working as a waiter in the Castro, Wes noticed older gay men who were
regular customers, and from a fellow waiter heard stories of how those men had lost so many friends to AIDS in the 1980s and ‘90s.
While in San Francisco, Wes volunteered at the city’s GLBT Historical Society and also worked for the Human Rights Campaign.
After earning his degree in 2005, he moved to Buenos Aires, where he developed and led English language workshops.
Wes arrive in New York a few years later armed with his appreciation for LGBTQ history’s importance — though he conceded
that Stonewall was an event he had only a vague understanding of. Many of his peers here, meanwhile, were largely clueless about
queer history. Overhearing a 21-year-old gay man at a party say that anyone over 40 should be banned from the bars, Wes vowed
to fi gure out a way to educate young folks like himself about the community’s history while bringing people of different ages together.
“History has a history of being forgotten,” Wes told Kennerley last year, adding, “There’s so much rich history in the LGBTQ
community. As a young gay person new to the scene, where do you start?”
After conversations with older people about queer life it struck him — intergenerational storytelling. The Generations Project was
born.
“The best way to build our community is to share our history and make sure our stories are passed to the next generation,” Wes
explained.
The Generations Project consists of workshops and shows, where stories are presented in front of a live audience and recorded.
“Now we have an archive of experienced storytellers,” Wes said. “When we create themed shows we can pull storytellers from
past workshops, mix them with others in our network, and build an eager community to support them… Some of the participants
never thought they would share their story in front of an audience.”
Gay City News Impact Awards 2020 17