The Yiddish Book Center's

Wexler Oral History Project

A growing collection of in-depth interviews with people of all ages and backgrounds, whose stories about the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture offer a rich and complex chronicle of Jewish identity.

Half of My Generation of Gay Men Died from the AIDS Epidemic: Gay Liberation and Health Crisis in the 1980s

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Marshall Forstein, psychiatrist, describes his time living in San Francisco and then Boston as a psychiatrist and gay man during the 1980s.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Marshall Forstein.

This excerpt is in English.

Other video highlights from this oral history

"I Didn't Have the Language to Explain to Him What I Was Going Through": Abandoning My Path toward Becoming a Rabbi

3 min 54 sec

I Saw Yiddish as Just Another Heritage Language in a Multicultural Context

4 min 33 sec

Each Immigrant Community Handled the Fear of Discrimination Differently

1 min 34 sec

Adopting as a Gay Couple in the 1980s: Politics and Tribulations

6 min 40 sec

How Yiddish Helped My Gay Partner Connect with My Jewish Family

2 min 31 sec

Doing Good and Other Jewish Values

3 min 9 sec

“Do the Right Thing and the World Will Get Better”: Borrowing Life Advice from Spike Lee

2 min 24 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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