Joshua Burford, Assistant Director of the Multicultural Resources Center at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, recalls his life growing up in Alabama and his passion for collecting queer history. He discusses the reasons for and process of coming out to his family, the tight community and family of LGBTQ people he had in his youth, and the experience of being queer in the South. Mr. Burford notes how growing up during a time when homophobia and "gay bashing" was at its height impacted him as a person and shaped who he is now. He also discusses his motivations, hopes and vision for his current work and projects, including the collection of history for a local LGBTQ history timeline, and continuing to collect materials for the King Henry Brockington LBGTQ+ Archive at UNC Charlotte.