Spadafore, Sampson

Interviewer

Benjamin LaChapelle

Files

Description

Sampson Spadafore is a 27-year-old queer, transmasculine person who currently lives in Westbrook, Maine. They are originally from Syracuse, New York, and attended Nazareth College in Rochester, New York. They graduated with a degree in musical theater. Spadafore discusses shifts in their gender self-presentation and gender fluidity as well as media erasure of trans men. They then moved to Portland, Maine, to work for Maine Boys to Men and have also worked with Speak About It; Maine Renters United; and Democratic Socialists of America. A political current focus is using social media and art to raise awareness about Palestine. Writing poetry, making music, and doing movement-based performance art are all important to Spadafore as ways to bring community together. Spadafore discuses serving on the Board of Maine TransNet and talks about what they see to be the difference between nonprofit work and activism. They also talk about relationships and sex prior to and after their gender transition, including the importance of “T for T” (trans for trans) dating and issues with dating apps. Spadafore shares some insights about neurodivergence and the overlap with trans identities.

Please cite as: Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer+ Collection, Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine, University of Southern Maine Libraries. For more information about the Querying the Past: Maine LGBTQ Oral History Project, please contact Dr. Wendy Chapkis.

Publication Date

11-20-2023

Publisher

USM Special Collections

City

Portland, Maine

Keywords

Trans, Queer, Maine, Family, Maine Transnet, Maya Williams, Maine Renters United, Speak About It, Maine Boys to Men, Democratic Socialists of America, Coming Out, Non-Binary, Gender Fluidity, Gender Expression, T for T (trans for trans) Dating, Dating Apps, Organizing and Activism, Syracuse, NY, Neurodivergence, Artistic Expression, Poetry, Music, Dance, Neurodivergence.

Disciplines

History of Gender | Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies | Oral History | Women's Studies

Recommended Citation

LaChapelle, Benjamin, "Spadafore, Sampson" (2023). Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection. 101.
https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/querying_ohproject/101

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.