Alder Chu Oral History Interview

Alder begins by sharing that their pronouns are he/they and that they identify as trans, non-binary, and genderqueer. They share that they started questioning their gender in the sixth grade, where they joined a GSA group at their school and were able to connect with other queer students. They also connected with other queer individuals online, but shared how those spaces often made them feel constrained in what was expected from trans people with their transitions. Having grown from that experience, they then shared how they like to have fun with their gender and include color and their outfits and life. They started presenting this way when they moved to OSU for college, where they lived on the Pride floor of the dorms. They brought an object of blue trans tape, which they shared represented both the masculine appearance they find euphoric, but also the fun color, compared to beige color they used to buy.

Alder Chu was born in 2005 in Burlington, Vermont. They are a first-year oceanography major and have been exploring their gender identity for the better part of the last seven years. At the time of the interview, they identified as trans, non-binary, and genderqueer.

This interview was conducted in support of interviewer Jozie Billings' honors thesis project titled, "Beyond the Binary: Multimodal Oral Histories of Navigating Gender and Finding Identity from Gender-Diverse and Cisgender Students." More information about that project is available in the finding aid for the OSU Queer Archives Oral History Collection (OH 34).