Jenn Steinfeld interview

Interview with Jenn Steinfeld. Jenn is an activist and was the founder and first director of the RI Campaign for Marriage Equality and is currently the Director of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development for the National League of Cities. She/they identifies as a queer Jew, dyke, non-binary, organizer, strategist, gardener, knitter and cat steward. Topics in order of discussion include: growing up in Pittsburgh and coming out, youth volunteerism in a teenage hotline and early activism for HIV / AIDS with ACT UP, moving to Rhode Island to attend Brown University, involvement in AIDS Project RI and Youth Pride and their Street Health Initative, involvement in civil rights policy advocacy to add gender identity added to the civil rights law in Rhode Island, transition to working for a national organization, bearing witness to trauma that LGBTQ people experience, activism at the State House for marriage equality, strategies for community organizing, impact of COVID-19 on policy advocacy and racial advocacy, balancing activism with personal life for sustainability. This interview was created as part of the Queer Stories Project - an oral history project developed by Dr. Virginia Thomas to train LGBTQIA young adults to conduct oral history interviews with LGBTQIA adults in Rhode Island. Management of the project was transferred to PPL in 2021. Queer Stories Project was funded by Rhode Island Council for the Humanities.