In 2018, I started giving LGBTQ+ walking tours in NYC. What began as a Facebook post and a free Eventbrite listing eventually turned into Christopher Street Tours. When I first started, it was just me – a solo tour guide with a binder full of photos, sharing stories I’d collected from books, podcasts, and deep dives into the archives. Today, years later, Christopher Street Tours is an award-winning company, with an incredible team of tour guides and an ever-growing collection of stories. What I love most about where we are now, compared to 2018, is perhaps something unexpected: the stories we’ve collected from folks who interrupt us on tour.
I know most tour guides aren’t thrilled by outside interruptions. They have a script, a schedule, and a route to stick to. But when people stop and wish to share something, it’s always meaningful. Most likely, people will hear us talking about the Village back in the 70s or 80s, or maybe hear us talking about ACT UP at the NYC AIDS Memorial. I’ll see them out of the corner of my eye, lingering respectfully while they wait for me to finish my story. As I pause for breath before moving to the next stop, they step forward and say something like, “You know, I was there.” Or sometimes they’ll say, “Thank you for sharing these stories,” with a spark in their eye that tells me they know these stories firsthand.
Our mission at Christopher Street Tours is to share stories and uplift voices of those who paved the way before us. I coined this phrase after becoming involved with ACT UP in 2016, shortly after I moved to New York City and began to learn about this era in history. What felt so monumental to me was learning about the countless lives, almost an entire generation, of those that were lost far too soon. The unspoken implication of our mission is that we share stories because so many no longer can. But over time, I’ve come to realize something really powerful. As we keep giving tours, we continue to meet people who are still here – people who have lived through this history, and who are willing to share their memories with me. And I consider it to be a profound gift. I am deeply honored that someone would trust me with their memories, and more importantly, to continue to share their story.
Today, I say that half of the stories we share on our tours come from research – books, articles, podcasts, and more. But the other half is from the people who stop us mid-tour. The people who are brave enough to interrupt and share their stories. These stories, from real New Yorkers who have experienced this history, are genuinely what makes our tour so special and so unique. These stories directly impact the work we do and the tours we give. This is living history, passed from one generation to the next, as we trace the literal footsteps of those who came before us.
So if you ever see us on tour, and you have a story to share, please stop us. We’d love to hear it!
