LGBTIQ activism and "insider" interviewing: reflecting on oral histories from the campaign for Australian marriage equality

This chapter draws on original oral history interviews conducted by the author in the immediate aftermath of Australia achieving marriage equality. The author, an activist for marriage equality in Australia, as well as an oral historian, uses this is a means of analysing the role of the “insider” interviewer in queer oral histories. The chapter argues that “insider” subject positioning can provide the benefit of strengthening trust, knowledge, and empathy between interviewer and interviewee. Further, the chapter deploys the term “queer transference” to analyse the emotional dynamics that are present between queer interviewers and interviewees. It argues that transference and counter-transference play an important role in such interviews and that consideration of these dynamics allows for a fuller interrogation of the emotional subjectivities that are existent in queer oral history interviews.