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My story in many ways mirrors the lives of my peers. Our early life framed by World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War and growing up under the fear fueled by McCarthyism and the threat of atom and hydrogen bombs. Our lives spanned a period of uprisings that revolutionized this country, Civil Rights, Black Power, the Chicano Movement, American Indian Movement (AIM), and Women's Liberation. Until Gay Liberation, however, we often participated in these movements in our LGBT closets. Shame molded our formative years as we realized our sexual identity. Society defined us by our sexuality and condemned us for our sexuality. In 1964, as a 23-year-old, closeted schoolteacher in Louisville, Kentucky, I was diagnosed ?paranoid schizophrenic? by an incompetent, straight, white, male psychiatrist who recommended commitment to a mental institution in Chicago. I sat alone in his office and fell into internalized homophobia. It would be another decade before the American Psychiatric Association (APA) took homosexuality off its list of mental disorders. Not until nearly three decades into my life could I begin living as a complete self. My journey out of those early years from shame into pride and defiance evolved the way people often come into our own, through movements for social change. Our personal histories and lessons linked to the present connect youth and elders, might encourage, inspire, and expand activism in our communities. Personal journeys told through the voices of activists who witnessed the cultural, social, and political changes of the time, make history alive and relevant for youth to today.