by Troy Williams
I’m in the new issue of Interview Magazine!
Big thanks to Dustin Lance Black, photographer Dave Mushegain and the staff at Interview. I’m honored to be featured in the story with Lance, Cleve Jones, Pam Spaulding and the many other grassroots trouble-makers. I’m really, absolutely thrilled. And Madonna is even on the back cover!
Troy Williams, Executive Radio Producer and Activist
Growing up Mormon in Eugene, Oregon, Troy Williams led what he calls a “turbo righteous” existence. “I sublimated my sexuality into right-wing politics. I thought that God would somehow straighten me out,” says the 40-year-old Salt Lake City resident. “Thankfully, he ignored every single one of my prayers.” Today, Williams leads an equally active life on the opposite side of the political spectrum. He is the public affair director of station KRCL, which takes a very vocal role in Utah’s LGBT community, particularly the hour-long evening show that Williams executively produces, RadioActive, “which is dedicated to the ideal of ‘full spectrum social justice.’ ” He also organizes numerous LGBT rights events—such as February 2009’s Buttarspalooza, a celebratory protest/party that brought some much needed heat on Utah Republican state senator Chris Buttars after his now infamous gay–Muslim terrorist comparison. Williams’s approach to activism is multifaceted, and, as he’s happy to admit, “all over the map.” But if there’s one thing that ties Williams’s many actions together, it’s his militant commitment to ground-up activism: Williams embraces the idea of being a radical. “The goal with my RadioActive team is to inspire grassroots engagement within the community,” he says. As for Williams’s take on today’s national movement, “It’s bottom-up trajectories we need,” he says. “The radical in me isn’t satisfied with just access to marriage and military service. I want to see extraordinary social eruptions. I want to be the big, dangerous, scary queer the Christian right has been warning you about!” —AS
