The Elders of “So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color”

By: Laura Moreno

Drawing from hundreds of hours of interviews with 20 LGBT elders of color, Caro De Robertis has created a groundbreaking and deeply moving oral history in “So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color” (Algonquin Books, May 2025).

The book is a deeply moving oral history that offers an candid look at how these individuals navigated acceptance of their identities, often in very difficult circumstances. Each interviewee’s own words are raw and unfiltered, revealing many disparate experiences from childhood into old age.

Some of the most compelling stories focus on growing up without the language to describe their gender identities, enduring rejection or misunderstanding from family and community, and eventually finding solidarity within queer and trans movements.

The book is organized into thematic sections. “What It Was Like” explores early experiences of difference, coming out, and prejudice. “Finding Each Other” centers on chosen family and community, “Being the Change” focuses on activism and resistance and “Growing Older” and “Our Ancestors” emphasize continuity across generations.

Many of the elders in the book had an active hand in shaping LGBT history, including the AIDS crisis, the fight for marriage equality, and ongoing struggles for trans rights. Their stories demonstrate that today’s movements are built on decades of work that often goes unrecognized.

Author Caro De Robertis has written numerous books, including the international bestseller “The Invisible Mountain.” Uruguayan in origin, they have been awarded the Stonewall Book Award, John Dos Passos Prize for Literature and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts among others. De Robertis is co-curating the upcoming exhibition Conjuring Power at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts this spring, and teaches at San Francisco State University.

Resonant voices
As a prominent Two-Spirit artist from the Opaskwayak Cree Nation in Manitoba, Joan Benoit is a butch lesbian artist, songwriter, and performer who hopes to pass wisdom on to younger generations. Benoit is best known for the beautiful song they wrote “So Many Stars.” In addition to becoming the title of this book, it became an anthem of remembrance for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people in Canada in 2019. The stars represent the spirits of those lost to violence, watching over loved ones from the night sky as grief is transformed. As a Two-Spirit person (often abbreviated as 2S), Benoit feels a spiritual connection to their ancestors.

The term, a direct translation, was coined in 1990 at an intertribal conference in Winnipeg by a Cree elder to indicates a sacred dimension involving both masculine and feminine “sights,” countering the misconception that gender diversity is a recent phenomenon. Two-Spirits hold a special place in the tribe as either healer, shaman, visionary, peacemaker, advisor, storyteller, or community caregiver.

But with colonization and forced assimilation in residential schools, these traditions were lost. Today, the Two-Spirit resurgence is part of decolonization and cultural revitalization efforts in many indigenous communities.

Another compelling interviewee is Nelson D’Alerta Pérez, an artist, cosmetologist, and transgender woman who left high school in Cuba at 17 and began hosting drag shows. Pérez recounts her arrival in the United States, where she faced interrogation and discrimination at the border. At the time, U.S. law barred entry to those labeled homosexual; she recalls an immigration officer shouting, “There’s a homosexual here!” and marking her file. As a result, the immigration process took far longer than usual.

Ultimately, this important book demonstrates that contemporary conversations about gender have roots that extend deep into the past. It is a powerful volume that honors LGBT lives and captures the hidden history of LGBT people of color that have long been sidelined or ignored. “So Many Stars” ensures these stories are preserved to guide future generations.