While October may be LGBTQ History Month, have you ever stopped to think about who exactly is preserving it? That's a question filmmaker Mason Funk had, and in 2014, the thought jolted him out of his sleep and inspired him to make it his personal mission to document the remarkable changes he's witnessed for LGBTQ people by recording conversations with the people who witnessed it and made it happen.

"I had a flashback to my teen years, growing up a conservative Christian kid and being terrified I was gay," Funk told NewNowNext in an interview. "I thought to myself, 'how did my life move from that place of terror to this place of joy?'"

Funk, an LA-based documentary producer, and son of a journalist and a historian, always loved "crazy road trips" and interviewing people, so he decided to combine these two loves and run around the country and find the people who sparked change and revolution and record their stories.

And Outwords was born.

Outwords is the first-ever national project to document the evolution of the LGBTQ community over the past several decades. Funk and his team travel all over America and capture interviews at the homes of people who lived through the earliest days of the civil rights movement. By the end of 2019, Outwards hopes to have captured 500 interviews in all 50 states. Its book by Harpers Collins and searchable online platform will premiere in June 2019 in time for the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.

NewNowNext caught up with Funk to learn more about Outwords and his quest for capturing and archiving stories of LGBTQ pioneers in America.

How do you find people to interview?

It's been a mix of approaches—word of mouth, internet digging, and referrals. As we interview people, they connect us. When we started filming in 2016, we began with a former President Obama staffer, Gautam Raghavan. Raghavan served as the Outreach Lead for the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" Working Group and he wrote a book. That really got the ball rolling.

What stories have surprised or shocked you?

I wasn't aware that in the late 60s and early 70s, the women's movement didn't welcome lesbians. Many lesbian separatists bought land so they could live separately from men and straight women because many lesbians didn't believe mainstream society or even the LGBTQ movement had anything to offer them. I found stories by these women who lived through that time, built their own houses in the Ozark mountains away from men and society to be compelling. They struggled on so many different fronts. We were honored Lamar Van Dyke, Seattle LGBTQ pioneer, and Diana Rivers in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas even agreed let us interview them because they chose to live separately from men for years.

How is Outwords different from other LGBTQ archives?

It's our mission to capture diverse and inclusive portraits across America, and we emphasize stories not told such as those by intersex people. We're also going into small towns, rural places outside of the major cities, and talking to people often forgotten.

Where do you see Outwords in 10 years?

In time for the 50th anniversary of Stonewall, there will be a book and online, searchable digital platforms. That's phase one. In phase two, there will be educational curricula for schools around LGBTQ history, displays for museums, and regional roundtables to connect pioneers and elders with young activists—queer or not—to learn how to be an activist, how to build bridges, and how to avoid burnout. And in phase three, there will be a center to study social change and how change happens over a long span of time that's enduring.

How can people get involved?

People can suggest interviews in their local communities. We are focused on people who were around in the 50s and 60s. People can volunteer to transcribe interviews. We're always looking for video editors. People can get involved. They can suggest interviewees. We are exclusively focused on people who were around in the 1950s and 60s. People can volunteer to transcribe interviews. Video editors are certainly helpful. The cost of each interview—research, equipment, crew, and travel to transcription, storage, and distribution—is $1,300. So, donations are always appreciated.

Speaking of funding, weren't you recently recognized by WeWork?

As we grew, my husband told me I needed an office. I found out about WeWork and have been working out of their beautiful Downtown Los Angeles location. In addition to being a great space to work out of, it's also great to be around other creators who I learn from. WeWork is also dedicated to supporting nonprofits, entrepreneurs, and startups grow their projects. We were honored to be recognized this year at their Creator Awards where we received $36,000 in funding from their CEO, Adam Neumann. The validation is a gust of wind to carry us through the next months and help us create the digital platform for these stories.

What more can you say about the upcoming book?

It will be a coffee table book with up to 75 stories, spreads with personal photographs, portraits, and excerpts from interviews. There will be touching stories, but also light-hearted funny ones as well. I hope it will inspire people and we also learn to embrace one another within the LGBTQ community. Our community is far more diverse, rich, and layered than most people think, and we are stronger when we open our arms wide to one another. I hope we'll guard and protect the wisdom, lessons, and stories shared with us so this information can be shared for generations to come.