Digital Transgender Archive

Kristen Lovell Oral History

Download the full-sized image of Kristen Lovell Oral History

Kristen Lovell discusses her time working "the stroll," in the West Village in the late 1990s and early 2000s. She recounts the community, conflict and challenges faced by fellow sex workers, including access to street hormones, discrimination from local businesses, and strategies for avoiding police arrest. She discusses the changes in police policy following the September 11 terrorist attacks, and the gentrification of the area. Lovell reflects on the role of various community organizing and social service agencies that worked with the area's young trans sex workers, including the Covenant House Rites of Passage, New Neutral Zone, and Sylvia's Place. In recent years, Lovell has been living in a collective home and working as an actor.

Item Information: