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Husbands Jeff Terry and Travis Griffin live in Jefferson City. They spoke about their long and sometimes complicated relationships with God and about the joys of finding a supportive faith community. -
Sophie Freeman is a queer woman who grew up in a very small, rural conservative town in the Missouri Bootheel who spoke about how she's found a supportive family of her own since coming out. -
May Hall and Perrin Dowse are a polyamorous couple. They're both transgender lesbians in their 20s. They spoke about how being successfully polyamorous is built on intentional communication and trust. -
Wives Rosie Geiser and Dottie Mathews are in both in their 70s and have been together since the 1990s. They spoke about the importance of faith in their lives and in their relationship. -
Jane Lavender and Hudson Giles-Lavender have been together for decades and were legally married in 2015. They spoke about how they find joy and happiness – even in the face of negativity and political uncertainty. -
Kat and Aly Wright are a queer married couple in Columbia. Kat is queer and nonbinary, and Aly is a bisexual transgender woman. They spoke about their different – yet overlapping – journeys with gender and how they’ve supported each other along the way. -
![Willow Wilson sits on a chair in her living room on Friday, April 5, 2024, at her apartment in Columbia. When Wilson was selecting her name, she said she originally had nearly 100 names to choose from on a Word document. For a while, Wilson said she almost committed to the name “Rumor” because it had a “cool, sultry” and “femme fatale” feel. “But I eventually settled on the Willow just because I think Willow Wilson is such a distinctive name,” Wilson said. “It's kind of like [a] Peter Parker, Clark Kent kind of vibe. … Not to sound too egotistical, but that is a very main character name, and I kind of liked that. And I liked that it was very earthy and crunchy and kind of, you know, hippie, a little bit. So, I think Willow was kind of like, where I was like, ‘Yeah, I like that: Willow Wilson.’ That definitely sounds like a lady who's about town and making the most of her life.”](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/a50fa5a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1750x975+0+0/resize/280x156!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F41%2F05%2F730cbb9e4211a4e6e37f185c7caf%2F20240405-bas-queer-joy-willow-wilson-0019.jpg)
Willow Wilson is a transgender woman in her mid-20s. She spoke about the role that Dungeons & Dragons has played in her transition. -
Dani Emma Devine and Cheryl Barbero are girlfriends in their mid-60s. Dani is a transgender lesbian and Cheryl is pansexual. They spoke about Dani deciding to take action and transition later in life. -
Sherrill is a bisexual, non-binary young adult living in Columbia who grew up in a conservative part of the state. They spoke about the relentless bullying they experienced in high school all while trying to figure out who they were for themself – they have since found a supportive community in Columbia. -
![May Hall sits on her motorcycle on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, at David R. Francis Quadrangle in Columbia. “For me, gender euphoria is kind of a nebulous thing to pin down because it's the sort of thing where it's like, I will occasionally look in the mirror and be like, ‘Wow, I look really cute. Wow, I look really girly,’ etc, etc. But it's less of like a, ‘Oh my God, yay,’ joyous moment, and more of like a, ‘Oh my God, finally. I've been waiting on this.’ It's more of like a, ‘There we go. That's kind of what I've been aiming for this whole time,’” Hall said. “It is just those moments where I'm more passively just pleased with where I'm at. There are times where I'll be laying with my head on [my partner’s] chest, and it's like, ‘That just feels really nice.’ I feel, I don't know if it's feminine, but it's definitely, like, at peace. And, at this point in life, I'm less chasing the euphoria of like, ‘Oh my God. Gender,’ because I don't even know what I'm aiming for, and more aiming for the, like, ‘I would like to feel broadly satisfied in my life.’”](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/5a8af8d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1750x975+0+0/resize/280x156!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F95%2F25%2Fa58d4aec4668be6e25abc498c907%2F20250401-bas-queer-joy-may-hall-0200.jpg)
May Hall is a lesbian in their mid-20s who defines their gender as “it’s complicated.” They spoke about how their gender – and their definition of gender euphoria – has changed over time.
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![Willow Wilson sits on a chair in her living room on Friday, April 5, 2024, at her apartment in Columbia. When Wilson was selecting her name, she said she originally had nearly 100 names to choose from on a Word document. For a while, Wilson said she almost committed to the name “Rumor” because it had a “cool, sultry” and “femme fatale” feel. “But I eventually settled on the Willow just because I think Willow Wilson is such a distinctive name,” Wilson said. “It's kind of like [a] Peter Parker, Clark Kent kind of vibe. … Not to sound too egotistical, but that is a very main character name, and I kind of liked that. And I liked that it was very earthy and crunchy and kind of, you know, hippie, a little bit. So, I think Willow was kind of like, where I was like, ‘Yeah, I like that: Willow Wilson.’ That definitely sounds like a lady who's about town and making the most of her life.”](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/bcc3008/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1750x975+0+0/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F41%2F05%2F730cbb9e4211a4e6e37f185c7caf%2F20240405-bas-queer-joy-willow-wilson-0019.jpg)
![May Hall sits on her motorcycle on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, at David R. Francis Quadrangle in Columbia. “For me, gender euphoria is kind of a nebulous thing to pin down because it's the sort of thing where it's like, I will occasionally look in the mirror and be like, ‘Wow, I look really cute. Wow, I look really girly,’ etc, etc. But it's less of like a, ‘Oh my God, yay,’ joyous moment, and more of like a, ‘Oh my God, finally. I've been waiting on this.’ It's more of like a, ‘There we go. That's kind of what I've been aiming for this whole time,’” Hall said. “It is just those moments where I'm more passively just pleased with where I'm at. There are times where I'll be laying with my head on [my partner’s] chest, and it's like, ‘That just feels really nice.’ I feel, I don't know if it's feminine, but it's definitely, like, at peace. And, at this point in life, I'm less chasing the euphoria of like, ‘Oh my God. Gender,’ because I don't even know what I'm aiming for, and more aiming for the, like, ‘I would like to feel broadly satisfied in my life.’”](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ee19eab/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1750x975+0+0/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F95%2F25%2Fa58d4aec4668be6e25abc498c907%2F20250401-bas-queer-joy-may-hall-0200.jpg)