Executive Director
Mark Bowman (he/him, mark@lgbtqreligiousarchives.org) has been involved in the development of LGBTQ-RAN since its founding in 2001. He earned a Master of Divinity degree from Boston University School of Theology. He first became active in Affirmation: United Methodists for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns in the late 1970s. He was instrumental in the formation of the Reconciling Congregation Program (United Methodist) and the magazine Open Hands and headed these programs for fifteen years. He played a key leadership role in initiating several cooperative ventures in the ecumenical "Welcoming Church" Movement, including the historic, massive Witness Our Welcome (WOW) Conference in 2000.
Archivist
Doris Malkmus (she/her, doris@lgbtqreligiousarchives.org) served as LGBTQ-RAN catalog collection archivist and oral historian from 2002 until 2005. She earned a Ph.D. in history at the University of Iowa and an M.S. in Archival Science from the University of Michigan. Doris also conducted oral history projects at the Iowa Women's Archives and the Sisters of Loretto in Kentucky. She recently retired as archivist at Penn State and now directs the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum in Duluth, Minnesota. Returning to LGBTQ-RAN gratifies her passion for helping individuals contribute their personal narratives to a broader social history.
Communications Coordinator
AhSa-Ti Tyehimba-Ford (she/her/they/them, ahsati@lgbtqreligiousarchives.org) is an internationally known multi-disciplinary artist, sound engineer, producer and activist. AhSa-Ti Nu’s work centers on the integrity and social context of communities of color, showing how music, poetry and activism can act as modes of resistance and empowerment for the marginalized. Her work seeks to provide a platform for underrepresented communities and to create a space for voices and experiences to be heard and seen.
Communications Assistant
Riot Mueller (any pronoun with a positive intention, riot@lgbtqreligiousarchives.org) is a M. Div. student studying theology and pastoral ministry at Union Theological Seminary and a candidate for ministry in the United Methodist Church. Before returning to this call, Riot hosted The Moth Story Slam in New Orleans and currently performs with LAVA Brooklyn (a feminist acrobatic dance company), creating images with other queer feminist bodies. Riot’s joy and work centers on site-specific ensemble theater productions and liturgy production.
BIPOC Trans-Spiritual Project Content Manager
Enoch H. Page, Ph.D. (enoch@lgbtqreligiousarchives.org) served as tenured Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst for twenty years until his retirement in 2012. His current areas of research include the emerging primacy of consciousness, the impact of climate change on the structures and practices of racism/whiteness, and the opportunities and constraints surrounding elder transgender wellness and end-of-life issues. He runs the Wishing Well Writing and Editing Company and for LGBT-RAN, he is creating a material culture archive and conducting interviews to formulate a multi-media digital history of BIPOC Trans-spirituality.
Research Assistants
Kimberly Villafuerte Barzola (she/her, kim@lgbtqreligiousarchives.org) is a visual artist and archivist. She is a graduate of Simmons University’s School of Library and Information Science Masters program with a focus on archival management and oral history methodology and practice. In addition to supporting the work of LGBTQ-RAN, you can find her contributing to community-based archival projects or working on a new relief print highlighting Latin American social movements.
Dorya Mason (she/her, dorya@lgbtqreligousarchives.org) currently serves as one of the interns for Summer 2023. She is a rising senior at Morgan State University, majoring in English with a minor in History. She hopes to go on to telling the stories and preserving the histories of underrepresented communities.
Jamie Myre (she/her/they/them, jamie@lgbtqreligiousarchives.org) is an incoming graduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing dual master's degrees in History and Library & Information Science. After earning her bachelor's degree in Women's & Gender Studies with a focus in religion, Jamie followed her interest in queer and critical pedagogies into a position as a high school history teacher in Washington, D.C. It is here that Jamie discovered the passion for teaching with diverse, empowering, and underrepresented narratives that now inspires them to build primary source lesson plans for local teachers.
Thomas Schwartz (he/him, thomas@lgbtqreligiousarchivesnetwork.org) received a Master of Arts in History from Yale University where he specialized in researching social movements during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. His experiences as a middle school educator and a collaborator on public history projects has inspired him to continue formulating accessible histories for varied audiences. His research interests include queer history, U.S. empire and activism in the mid to late-twentieth century.
Visiting Scholar
Michelle Mueller, Ph.D. (she/her) is a scholar of gender and sexuality in U.S. new religious movements. She is the author of New Religions and the Mediation of Non-Monogamy: Polyamory, Polygamy, and Reality Television (Routledge, 2021), and several articles on contemporary Paganism, Mormon fundamentalism, media, and gender/sexuality. She is conducting oral history interviews with LGBTQ Pagan leaders for a community-engaged oral history project, in conjunction with the Sankofa CPE Center curriculum.
Website
A web developer by day and a musician by night, Carl Foote (he/him, carl@lgbtqreligiousarchives.org) has been with LGBTQ-RAN since the beginning. Carl has created websites and data-driven software for a wide range of clients, from corporations and national non-profits to neighborhood businesses and independent artists.
Financial Assistant
Penny Junco (she/her, penny@lgbtqreligiousarchives.org) spent 40-plus years as a degreed accountant in the corporate worlds of the banking, food, gas & oil, and allied packaging industries. Her career success came from being able to work with all levels of a business, from President to CFO to Accounting Clerk, to help develop financial information that they understand and educates and links everyone in the importance of their performance to the financial success of the business. During what spare time she had in her career work and in retirement, she has shared her business and accounting knowledge and business system savvy with non/not-for-profit organizations, helping educate them on their financial structure and reporting to enhance decisions-making that favorably impacts their operations and finances.