August Bernadicou
LGBTQ Archivist I Historian I Author I Podcaster
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August Bernadicou, President of the nonprofit LGBTQ History Project Inc, is a 26-year-old interviewer and archivist for unknown and untold stories about LGBTQ liberation and civil rights.
In 2008, when August was 14 years old, he started recording interviews with LGBTQ activists from the 1950s through the AIDS Crisis. In 2019, August founded the LGBTQ History Project. To date, August has done over 500 interviews. In 2020, August launched the QueerCore Podcast. |
One day you will wake up, and your youth will be behind you even though you are still young at heart. When you are young, do not let anyone try to change you; often, they are wrong. Follow your inner light even when your nearest sight is dark.
My work as a gay historian started when I was 14 years old. I began writing and interviewing LGBTQ activists for online and in print magazines, and, through my work, I met the people who came before me and paved the path that many of us are fortunate enough to walk down. Around my eighteenth birthday, I knew it was time for me to extend my interviews with activists in a typical teenage-know-it-all way. I began publishing my own “zines,” 90 pages of question and answer interviews. These publications, aptly titled Teenage News, sold quickly. With persistent marketing, I was able to get them in stores and archives throughout the world. Fast forward, and I realized that my work needed to have a broader impact. I was ready. In 2019, at 24 years old, I founded the LGBTQ History Project, which celebrates my archival interviews about unknown and untold LGBTQ liberation and civil rights histories. Pre-pandemic, I hosted “Intergeneration Dialogues,” which were “Gay Elders” in conversations with me, and in 2020, launched a podcast called The QueerCore Podcast. 
In the end, no one can do everything themself, and to create the change you want to see, you must not only live it but receive it. Everything I have done has been facilitated, supported, and nurtured by many.
My world has changed over the past twelve years. I have changed. However, one thing remains true: I will never forget my roots, my method, and will forever be fueled by my teenage determination. My “DIY” approach shined through in my podcast, and I am always happy when reviewers call it “punk.” If I could give one bit of advice, it is to remember the West African saying, “If elders are lost, adults will be lost. If adults are lost, youth will be lost." |
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