Oral History with Libby Ward and Hannah Tuntsall (2021)

Consuelo, Interviewer:

All right. Today's date is December 1st, 2021. The time is 7:01 P.M. My name's Consuelo Perez. I'm speaking with Libby Ward and Hannah Tunstall who are newly weds, congratulations.

Libby:

Thank you.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

How is that? How is newly wed life?

Libby:

Probably the same as it's been for the past, what? Three years?

Hannah:

Well yeah, we've lived together, it'll be two years in March.

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

It's pretty much the same as it's been since we've moved in together but [inaudible 00:00:33]

Libby:

It's life changing.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

How did you all meet?

Libby:

Sorry I got-

Hannah:

We met on Bumble. I'm sorry, our dog came in.

Libby:

Hey Toby. This is Toby he wants to be involved.

Hannah:

He doesn't understand why we're doing this.

Libby:

We never sit on the floor like this.

Hannah:

[inaudible 00:00:51] Toby.

Libby:

This is so embarrassing.

Hannah:

Here, I'm just going to hold him.

Libby:

We met on Bumble actually, kind of embarrassing. This is so ironic, I saw Hannah's profile on the way to Alabama at that oral history archive conference we went to a couple years ago. We were passing through Georgia. And I think the distance was just close enough that I happened to see Hannah's profile and it's kind of crazy that I probably would've never seen her profile if I would-

Hannah:

Didn't you drive through South Carolina a little bit?

Libby:

Yeah. It was South Carolina, Georgia. Maybe he'll just lay down. I'm sorry.

Hannah:

I don't know why he's being like this.

Libby:

He's never like this.

Hannah:

He was literally just asleep.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

That's fine. So, I was wondering, how would you two describe each other?

Libby:

Each other? Hannah is very smart. She thinks things through. She's very thorough. She's very kind. She's sweet, and my bestie.

Hannah:

Libby's dependable. Everybody always knows they can rely on Libby not just me. All her friends and her people in her life know they can count on her. She's funny, she's smart, she's sensitive.

Libby:

No, I'm not.

Hannah:

Yes. Yeah I think those are the most [inaudible 00:02:43] that come to mind. You're my best-

Consuelo, Interviewer:

[crosstalk 00:02:47] your wedding vows right now?

Libby:

Yeah.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

So where did both of you grow up? I know Libby you moved to Asheboro sometime in middle school.

Libby:

Yeah. Well, I actually lived in Greensboro the whole time I went to Asheboro High School. My dad was a teacher at NAMS, the middle school. So, I was allowed to go there because he was a teacher there. So, I didn't start going to Asheboro till middle school. But I'm from Greensboro, North Carolina.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

And Hannah?

Hannah:

I'm from Clemson, South Carolina.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

And how was it growing up where you all grew up? How would you describe it, the scene?

Hannah:

I went to a very conservative high school. Well, I grew up in Clemson and then for high school, it was kind of the same as Libby. My mom's a principal and so we would drive 30, 40 minutes from Clemson to Powdersville. I went Wren High School. And that population's predominantly very wealthy and very conservative, not a lot of diversity at all. And I think that ... I ended up also going to a Christian university. But I think that's why just because I grew up in such a conservative Christian environment.

Libby:

Yeah, I feel like Hannah wasn't allowed to be herself.

Hannah:

Yeah.

Libby:

You kind of had to fit this mold. I guess I would say it's a similar thing to Asheboro High School. Everyone kind of fit the same Southern mold. What I mean Southern, I mean conservative, preppy mold. That was very similar to Hannah's upbringing. Is our washer making a lot of noise? Can you hear it?

Consuelo, Interviewer:

I don't even hear it.

Libby:

Okay. I've done interviews before and there's a lot of background noise [inaudible 00:05:05] it'd be crazy for you.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

I was wondering if there was any role models in your communities that you would look up to?

Hannah:

Role models?

Consuelo, Interviewer:

I know that's the downside [inaudible 00:05:14]

Hannah:

Yeah, like currently or when we were in high school?

Consuelo, Interviewer:

When you were growing up.

Hannah:

I, really loved my English teacher in high school.

Libby:

I feel like that's a gay thing.

Hannah:

It is. Yeah.

Libby:

Such a gay thing to like your English teacher.

Hannah:

Her name. I can't talk her name's [Miss Grice 00:05:36] she was the only main teacher I really bonded with in high school. She was young. She was 26, which I'm 26 now. So you know, it wasn't like, she was that much older than us. So she seemed cool and fun and she was also a really good teacher and I follow her on Instagram. Now she is a professor at a university now.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Nice. How about you Libby?

Libby:

I think a role model, I had a hard time with people I was interacting in real life with growing up. I always felt off compared to them. I grew up very religious actually. I grew up Mormon. So, that was a whole thing because even though I could be close to one of the leaders at church, it still was kind of off putting to me because I knew they wouldn't fully accept a 100% everything about me. Actually like role models, I probably took more to like celebrities and YouTubers and influencers at the time more than I did people in my real life.

Libby:

Like I love Rose and Rosie, there are these British lesbian YouTubers. They actually just had a baby, but I don't know. That was always my, no one ever knew about that in high school, because I couldn't just go tell everyone. So, I think role model wise is the probably like YouTubers and people online that I had no interaction with, like whatsoever. Yeah, I'd say that for sure.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

And is there something you would want people to know about your lives?

Libby:

About our lives?

Hannah:

I don't know.

Libby:

I don't know. Like growing up or our lives now?

Consuelo, Interviewer:

In general, just something that you feel people should know in your journey.

Libby:

In my journey. I don't know. What do you think?

Hannah:

I don't know. I'm trying to think. People should know.

Libby:

I think just in general that I've realized lately that time just takes time and it's a very simple, kind of annoying statement, but it does in anything I'm going through sad, happy, whatever time just takes time. And I didn't realize this fully until recently because I always thought, I would know who I was the second I graduated college or the second I started college, I was like, I know what I want to do, I know what I want to be, but I didn't, I didn't know any of those things. And it only took, the four years I was there and the time to kind of like mold into who I am but-

Hannah:

I think that's for you, I think that's growing up as religious as you did. I don't think you were given that opportunity.

Libby:

[inaudible 00:09:11]

Hannah:

I think you were so-

Libby:

Lay it all out.

Hannah:

I don't know you just-

Libby:

She's exposing my dirty laundry, but it's fine.

Hannah:

No, you grew up very religious in the Mormon church feel like that kind of hinders self expression in a way.

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

So, that's all.

Libby:

Yeah. I realized what I was trying to say that statement about time takes time, but I don't know it just takes a long time to kind of become yourself and understand things and it's okay that you're not the person you thought you were going to be five years ago. And I don't know, I think time takes time and kind of take it one day at a time. I don't know if that makes any sense.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

No, that makes sense. Like, I feel that right now.

Libby:

Yeah.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

I've been here like four or five years. I took two years off for school. No for COVID and came back to school. I get that completely.

Libby:

Yeah. It does. It's a pain in the ass because I can be patient with certain aspects of my life, but other times I'm very impatient. And especially when it comes to myself and trying to reach certain goals, like personal goals or relationship goals or work goals, anything like that time just takes time and that's okay. It's okay. Where it's not a race. I know that's so clich. It just takes time and that's okay.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

What was each of you all first visit to like an LGBTQ open space? Like a safe space?

Hannah:

Mine was probably with you.

Libby:

Yeah. We went to pride together.

Hannah:

Went to pride together.

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

Yeah.

Libby:

Are you sure you can't hear our washer?

Consuelo, Interviewer:

I'm good really.

Libby:

Okay. Because, it's so loud. I'm sorry. The first space. Yeah, probably orientation freshman year at UNC Asheville. I mean, it seemed like everyone there was in the LGBT community and that was polar opposite to how I grew up. It was polar opposite. And I didn't even realize at the time that I was gay actually. So it was a weird dynamic because it was like everyone is welcome, no matter what I thought I was straight but not because time took time maybe. But yeah I'd probably say orientation because being at a conservative high school and growing up in that environment, that dynamic being in a polar opposite position was kind of like jarring.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Are there any other there gathering spaces you visit now? Like you frequent now just to be with other people?

Libby:

We usually go, well, we try to go to pride in Greenville, South Carolina. Sorry, you'll probably see like 10 different animals at some point.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

That's awesome. I love cats.

Libby:

Yeah, we've got a lot of animals.

Hannah:

I mean I feel like your work is a pretty safe space.

Libby:

Yeah, definitely. I think Asheville in general is pretty safe.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Oh yeah.

Libby:

We went to Denver a couple weeks ago to elope and the honeymoon kind of thing. And I definitely felt like that was a safe space, no matter where we went.

Hannah:

Yeah.

Libby:

Mostly because it was just like a liberal vibe the whole time.

Hannah:

Here is not.

Libby:

Yeah, no. We live right outside Greenville, South Carolina and-

Hannah:

There's Trump flags, our neighbors.

Libby:

Yeah [inaudible 00:13:38] Trump flag.

Hannah:

It's like.

Libby:

So we live outside Greenville and we live in this little city called Wellford and it's the size of UNC Asheville, it's so little. And it's like if Asheboro was in mason jar and shook. It's so condensed and so intense, but it's fine. It's great.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

How do you all feel when you go back to your hometowns? Do you feel like you can't be as out as you normally are?

Libby:

Maybe Hannah?

Hannah:

Yeah. I mean, everyone in my hometown, I think knows they know that's relevant.

Libby:

They don't know.

Hannah:

Yeah. I mean, sometimes it is hard. Like one of my friends, who I went to high school with her birthday is next week. And a bunch of other girls that we went to high school with who I wasn't really friends with, they were just mutual friends, hers and are all going out to dinner next week. And I'm like, I don't really want to go because I want to hang out with all these homophobic people. My other friend too who usually goes, isn't going to go. And I'm like, I mean, I want to go for my friend's birthday, but I really don't want to see these people.

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

I know they're going to be judgy.

Libby:

Oh my God.

Hannah:

I'm sorry. Our cats were having a dispute anyway.

Libby:

Anyway. Oh my God this is so embarrassing.

Hannah:

[inaudible 00:15:16]

Libby:

Cut this out of the interview. We lost internet connection for five minutes. I don't know if I feel any different going out in my hometown one. One, okay so I grew up in Greensboro, but I don't know anything about Greensboro because I was in Asheboro the whole time. And the only thing I know in Greensboro is the Mormon church there pretty much, and I would never take Hannah there, like hard pass. Yeah, no. But I mean, in public, I don't really have a problem. Hannah and I aren't very PDA either.

Hannah:

Yeah.

Libby:

So, it's not like anybody else would know that we're married.

Hannah:

I don't think people assume that we're a couple, when we're out in public together, most of the time.

Libby:

People here, we've noticed in South Carolina, like they're so like unaware of everything that like-

Hannah:

You have to spell it out for them.

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

They do not assume that, they really don't.

Libby:

No, they'd be like, they're kind of close friends, it's kind of weird.

Hannah:

Yeah.

Libby:

Like that's how I would describe that. Yeah.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Do you have like a support network down there or it is just like out here, out there everywhere?

Hannah:

I mean we have friends.

Libby:

Yeah our friends we love our friends.

Hannah:

Yeah. We have friends and my family's close by.

Libby:

Hannah's family lives 20 minutes down the street.

Hannah:

Yeah.

Libby:

They're our support system. They really are. They're very sweet.

Hannah:

Yeah. We keep close in contact with Libby's family too. It feels like we see them more than we actually do because we talk to them a lot.

Libby:

Yeah. We live what? Three hours away? Three and a half almost four?

Hannah:

Yeah.

Libby:

So I can't see them as often as I would like, but you know, it's okay.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Could you tell me more about your coming out journey? I know you said you didn't know before you came to Asheville, but like how'd you find out?

Libby:

Consuelo. I'm going to let Hannah take the wheel on this one first.

Hannah:

No, I think you do.

Libby:

No I think you should go.

Hannah:

Why? Because mine is worse?

Libby:

Yeah we should just get yours over with.

Hannah:

All right. I don't really know how to, I don't know. It wasn't like a big thing. I never made an Instagram post and told everyone at once. It was kind of like I slowly told people over time.

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

So I don't really know if it was ... I don't really have a specific time where it's like, I came out on this day, now.

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

So, it's kind of hard.

Libby:

But how did you know you were gay? We're unpacking it.

Hannah:

Anyway, I'm not going to talk about that. Anyway, what was I going to say? Well my mom-

Libby:

How did you know you were gay?

Hannah:

No. My mom, one time I was talking to some of my friends. I had told some of my friends about it and come out to them.

Libby:

Like your college friends.

Hannah:

Yeah. And I was texting them and I was home from college for the summer, which I didn't go home every summer. But that summer I was just home. I think I was 20, I was 19 or 20. And my mom went through my phone at 19 or 20 and read all these text messages and kind of like blew up at me for not telling her. And that she feels like she doesn't know me and just all kinds of stuff. So, that's how she found out. So I'd never even really told her.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

I think she knows now though.

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

And she wasn't mad, but she was like weird. I don't know how to explain it. And then-

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Do you think it was just like, she just didn't know and then she felt upset at herself and she was taking it out on you or?

Hannah:

No, I think she was being judgy. The first friend I told was my friend Madison. And then I don't know who else. See, I don't even remember, honestly. My roommate, Megan, we lived together for four years. She just kind of knew. And it was like, I knew she knew, but she knew, but we didn't talk about it because she knew I wasn't really ready to talk about it. We just know each other really well since she just somehow picked up on it. And then I told her about it now it's in the, you know?

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

But like I said, I don't really have like a big coming out story because it was a bunch of separate at little things, I guess.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Did you feel any relief being out like, I don't need to worry about it?

Hannah:

Not really. I don't know. I think where I grew up, it kind of made things work.

Libby:

Yeah, it wasn't like an exclusion per se. I guess, but it was definitely it seemed like it was odd. It kind of put an off tone to the group it was like oh.

Hannah:

Yeah.

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

Yeah.

Libby:

Yeah, you could say that.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Do you feel a lot of relationships were affected by it?

Hannah:

Kind of. It's hard to explain. I mean yes and no. I don't know.

Libby:

Like with your parents, do you think it was-

Hannah:

No, not really.

Libby:

If anything, I think your closer your mom now, right?

Hannah:

Yeah. Probably. Well, that's awesome because we don't live together anymore.

Libby:

Yeah.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

How about you Libby did it change anything for you?

Libby:

Let me think. So I had suspicions that I was gay my freshman year of college. Well, let me backtrack a little bit, because that sounds weird. Growing up in a very religious environment my grandparents are Mormon, my parents were Mormon, my aunt's and uncles, everyone in my family's Mormon. The Mormon church kind of teaches young women who they are rather than asking them who they are and celebrating differences. So, whenever I'd go to church they'd always be like women have integrity, they're beautiful, they're mothers, they're wives, they're obedient. They listen to their husbands, that sort of thing. Not joking like that's the doctrine you were taught at a very young age. Starting at 12.

Libby:

Who tells a 12 year old? Anyway, that's a whole other thing. But it was hard on me because I was told who I was rather and kind of figuring that out for myself. Just being told who you are from a very young age does kind of a lot of damage because you're like, I have integrity and I'm smart and I'm beautiful and whatever and I'm going to be a good wife to a man one day. That's all I pretty much was taught and that's kind of what was just constantly played in my head over and over again. So, then when I went to college, I chose not to go to a Mormon college. I could have gone to BYU in Utah, which is this huge Mormon university. For some reason I just decided I didn't want to go and I didn't go.

Libby:

But when I started at Asheville, there was no one 10 me who I was. So there was no one saying, you're obedient, you have integrity, you're you know what I mean? I had to kind of think about myself on my own. And once I started interacting with more people and I started meeting more gay people and knowing them and loving them and being friends with them, the more I kind of ... I never really understood why I felt more connected to gay people growing up. With those YouTubers I was talking about, I always found the gay ones. I never sought that out because I didn't, I don't know, I just felt more comfortable with that when I was younger and I never really understood why.

Libby:

Yeah, starting at college, it was a whole kind of new world that opened for me. And I was like, well, I'm going to kind of figure out who I am, that this is a time to do it, I'm going to make friends, whatever. Just the more I interacted with people, I kind of realized more things about myself than I didn't know that I liked women. I had no idea. And it was kind of like a shock to me at first. This probably sounds weird, but I don't know, I just didn't know and I didn't know until I knew kind of thing. But once I knew I kept that in for a while and I don't know if I was ashamed of it because I knew all my friends were gay and I knew it wouldn't have been a big deal.

Libby:

But I think just thinking about how I was raised and who I was told I was really impacted that because I was like, well they never said I was a lesbian when I was 12. And if I told everyone I was a lesbian, no one would talk to me ever again. Or I don't know how my family would react. I was very nervous to kind of put that out there. I'm normally the kind of person that would tell anyone, anything about me, if I really sat down and had a cup of coffee with them. Won't you say?

Hannah:

Yeah.

Libby:

I feel like I'm a fairly open book, but, but for things like that, it was absolutely like, no I continued to date men, even though I knew I didn't like them and that made me sad. But one pivotal thing I do remember from coming out though, is I was in Highsmith. Is it still called Highsmith?

Hannah:

Yeah.

Libby:

I was in Highsmith and I was with my friend and we were just eating lunch. We were reading books studying and I look up. So I was at the bottom where they do ... So there's that little grill and then there's that weird cave room, you know what I'm talking about?

Hannah:

Yeah.

Libby:

We were kind of in between that area and I looked up, up at the stairs on the wall and I saw Mormon missionaries. Mormon missionaries it's a very universal out uniform. Anyone knows what a more of a missionary looks like. You've got the short white collared shirt, tuck black slacks, and you've got that black name tag that says your name on it. And I knew that immediately because we always had missionaries over, growing up we always cooked them dinner and stuff and they would give a devotional. So I knew exactly. I knew who those men were.

Libby:

I looked up and I was like, oh my God, why are more mid missionaries here? That's so weird, it's a liberal campus. You would think that someone would say something to them or whatever. It's like, whatever. And I noticed they were going table the table and just kind of like ... It was a very short conversation each time they interacted with someone. And they finally reached me and my friends sitting there and they were like, "Do you know Libby Ward?"

Hannah:

What? Oh my God.

Libby:

And I was sitting there and I was like, I don't know who the hell these men are. You know what I mean? I knew they're more of a missionary, but I'm not going to be like, it's me, I'm here. That's not what I'm going to do right now. And they looked me dead in the eyes and they were like, "Do you know who Libby ward is?" And I was like, "No, what does she look like?" They were like, "We have no idea., we don't know." And I was like, "Yeah, I'm sorry, man. I can't help you."

Libby:

My friend who was sitting beside me was like, what the fuck? She was like, "Who are they? What's going on?" And I was like, "I have no idea. That's so weird." And I was texting my mom and I was like, "Hey, these Mormon missionaries came up to all these people asking if they knew who Libby Ward was. And then they came up and asked me, and I told them, I didn't know." And she was like, "Oh my God, the state president tried to call me about them, finding you and all this." And I was like, "What?"

Libby:

And yeah and my mom is very protective. She's not going to be like Libby Ward lives in this hall. And you can find her here, here and here. My mom is not going to do that. And so I was very grateful. My mom wasn't like, here's a photo of my daughters, go find her, you know? So we're talking about this and I was like, "Well, just tell them that I'm gay and they'll leave me alone. They'll leave you alone, they'll leave me alone." And she was like, "Ha ha, that's crazy." And in the text, I was like, I literally just came out to my mom and I didn't mean to, I didn't realize it. And I was like, oh ah! She was like, "What?" And I was like, "Yeah, just tell them I'm gay." And she was like, "Well, are you?" And this is all just like a text thread. I didn't mean to come out to my mom via iMessage. But that happened because Mormon missionaries were stalking me what the hell.

Hannah:

That's crazy.

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

[inaudible 00:30:41] so scared.

Libby:

Yeah it was freaky, but [inaudible 00:30:45]

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Are you safe now? Are you safe?

Libby:

I'm good.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Okay.

Libby:

Yeah. I had to leave the state.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Are you being for real.

Libby:

No I'm kidding.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Oh my God, okay.

Libby:

I'm kidding, I'm good. But no, yeah I'm fine. Yeah that was a really weird experience because of course Mormon missionaries had to be a part of me coming out to my mom and whatever, it's fine, whatever. So yeah, [inaudible 00:31:13] that was I guess how I came out to my mom and that was the first time I really came out to anyone.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

How about your dad, how did you come out to him?

Libby:

I still haven't told him to this day that I'm gay. We've never sat and had a conversation about it. I mean he cooked the dinner at our reception a couple weeks ago.

Hannah:

I mean, he doesn't care.

Libby:

No, my dad-

Hannah:

He's chill. He's so chill.

Libby:

Yeah. That's all I'll say about my dad. Yeah he's great.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

How about you, Hannah? I know you said your mom read your texts, but how about your dad?

Hannah:

Well, my dad is-

Libby:

It's funny you ask this question.

Hannah:

My dad and stepmom are very conservative, especially my stepmom. So, I didn't come out to him for a long time, but I think he kind of knew for a while. I don't know. I feel like a lot of people in my life knew and they just were kind of waiting on me to talk about it. And I didn't know if he was going to be mad because my dad's very conservative, but he's also very practical.

Libby:

Your dad is also a brick wall.

Hannah:

Yeah. I don't know.

Libby:

So yeah I could say that.

Hannah:

He was very nice about it, he really was. He was a lot sweeter than what I expected.

Libby:

I love that-

Hannah:

But my step ... He was like, "I'm going to talk to Laura." which is my stepmom. He was like, "Just give her time and she'll come around." So Libby's briefly met my dad.

Libby:

Yeah. He showed up to our house one day and gave Hannah all of her childhood toys and plates from when her parents were married 20 years ago.

Hannah:

Plates that they got off their wedding registry.

Libby:

Yeah. He just brought them.

Hannah:

But that's when they met. So they've met briefly and you actually briefly met my stepmom too.

Libby:

I did that.

Hannah:

That was by accident.

Libby:

That was a journey.

Hannah:

We just ran into her in public one day.

Libby:

We ran into her and I was like, "I'm going to go run this way." And she was like, "Yeah, go run."

Hannah:

But I think we will probably go over there for Christmas this year.

Libby:

You know, the vibes.

Hannah:

And Libby will really get to know them then. So yeah that'll be interesting.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

How did it make you feel when your dad brought you your childhood toys and [inaudible 00:34:02]

Hannah:

Well, both my parents are remarried. They got divorced when I was 10. So my mom actually did the same thing. Like not long before that.

Libby:

Yeah. They decided everything.

Hannah:

They just didn't want to keep anything that had to do with me. Libby and I were looking through some of the boxes my mom brought over and it's baby pictures.

Libby:

And baby clothes, embroidered baby clothes.

Hannah:

Things you would think that your mom would want to keep and it's like no.

Libby:

We're talking hospital pictures of Hannah when she was born. They're like do you want these? Because it's taking up space. Okay.

Hannah:

He gave me all the furniture that was in my bedroom at his house. That shelf over there was in my bedroom-

Libby:

Trauma.

Hannah:

... in his house.

Libby:

There's trauma all over this house. [inaudible 00:35:01]

Hannah:

I used to have American Girl books and toys on it, now it has our home decor.

Libby:

Now it has a book that says Men Explain Things To Me, it's really great.

Hannah:

Yeah. No, it's fine, I guess. I don't want to get into all that.

Libby:

We don't have time to unpack it.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

So you all have been at western North Carolina for like four years, five years?

Libby:

Yeah. I mean I started college 2016 out there and I work in Asheville every day. So I'm there, I'm in Asheville every single day.

Hannah:

Yeah. And we go out of Asheville a lot on the weekends too with friends.

Libby:

We're planning on buying a house up there probably in the next couple of years.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Nice.

Libby:

Yeah. We actually bought this-

Hannah:

We're this closer.

Libby:

Yeah, we bought this house last September, right? September.

Hannah:

Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Libby:

And we like it. But at the time we didn't realize that, well, not that we didn't realize, but I had a different job that was based in Spartanburg, South Carolina. So, it just made sense for us to move of closer to Greenville because Hannah's job is also located here. I'm sorry. Yeah, so now that I have a new job in Asheville, we're looking to move to somewhere a bit closer.

Hannah:

She got a promotion.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Nice.

Libby:

You don't need to tell everybody.

Hannah:

That's a big deal.

Libby:

No, it's fine.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

So other than the LGBTQ scene here in Asheville, what is prompting you to stay here so long? Like you love it, obviously.

Hannah:

I think it's that? I think it's-

Libby:

Oh my God. This is our foster kitty Phoebe.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Hey.

Libby:

She's a little nut.

Hannah:

I think it's the welcoming environment and it's pretty close to both of our families.

Libby:

It's fun. I love Asheville. I love the weather. I love-

Hannah:

You like the mountains.

Libby:

I love the mountains. Hannah loves all major things.

Hannah:

I like the moons.

Libby:

I like beer and wine, I love that.

Hannah:

I think if we ever did decide to have kids, it would probably be a pretty welcoming place-

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

... to have kids and still be close to my family and your family.

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

We've talked about [inaudible 00:37:40]

Libby:

Yeah. We would want our kids raised-

Hannah:

Around-

Libby:

... in an open environment that was welcoming and not limited to any sort of upbringing.

Hannah:

And where they could go to school and there might be other kids that have two moms or two dads, you know?

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

In Asheville there probably are multiple families like that-

Libby:

Yeah, for sure.

Hannah:

... in classrooms, so yeah.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

What are some goals you all have together for the future?

Libby:

Goals?

Hannah:

I think, I mean, we want to buy a bigger house. We own this house. We like it, we love it. It's just small. So we want to buy a bigger house somewhere close to Asheville or in Asheville we'll see. We maybe want kids, but if we do, it's not for a long time, we've decided-

Libby:

Hell no, it's a hard no.

Hannah:

We have animals. Those are our kids for a while.

Libby:

We have four dogs, okay? I do not have time.

Hannah:

And cats.

Libby:

I do not have time to nurse a baby no, hell no.

Hannah:

Those are our kids right now. We don't really want.

Libby:

And they're already a pain in the ass. It's sort of like they're so difficult sometimes, we talk about that. The dogs will get into something and we're like, I couldn't even imagine having a toddler right now. But yeah I guess kids would be a big one, to travel more.

Hannah:

Yeah. We love to travel.

Libby:

We love traveling. We've been to a bunch of different places this year actually. We're trying to think about it. We've been to a lot.

Hannah:

We've been to New York, and Savannah, Georgia and Denver and-

Libby:

Pennsylvania,

Hannah:

Pennsylvania and Poconos.

Libby:

Yeah. We try to travel a lot when we can.

Hannah:

We went to New York twice this year.

Libby:

Did we?

Hannah:

February, and then we went in September.

Libby:

Yeah, we did. Yeah we'd love to travel more.

Hannah:

We kind of went to Charleston [inaudible 00:39:48]

Libby:

Yeah. I guess probably kids eventually, traveling.

Hannah:

Traveling, bigger house and then kids.

Libby:

Yeah we-

Hannah:

I think is probably the order.

Libby:

It's probably the most generic answer you could probably get. But I'm content with a quiet life. I'm very content with it.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

I was wondering what's something you all would want to say for the future selves, if you maybe saw this in 20 years, what's something you want to say to you?

Libby:

I'm tired for you. I'm sure [inaudible 00:40:29] exhausted. Oh my God.

Hannah:

I really don't know.

Libby:

I'm not convinced I'm going to live another 20 years.

Hannah:

Don't say that?

Libby:

I think about that, I'm like, God, how? Like how?

Hannah:

You would only be 43, that's not even old.

Libby:

This is going to be my prime.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Libby you're my age.

Libby:

I know. I know. I don't what do you want to say to our future selves? I don't know, that's a hard question.

Hannah:

I really don't know. I hope you're okay.

Libby:

How many animals do we have?

Hannah:

Yeah.

Libby:

Who died first?

Hannah:

No.

Libby:

[inaudible 00:41:21]

Hannah:

No.

Libby:

I'm sure there's going to be some sprinkle of trauma [inaudible 00:41:25]

Hannah:

[inaudible 00:41:25] to be implied.

Libby:

Okay, well we have this one cat that Hannah chose from the store. I want it to be on record that Hannah chose this cat.

Hannah:

He's very sweet.

Libby:

He is a pain in the ass.

Hannah:

He is a pain, but he's very sweet.

Libby:

He's so annoying and have you seen the Office? You watch the office.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Yes.

Libby:

He's like the Dwight Schrute of the family where it's like God, really? He's everywhere. We always have this ... It's so stupid. We have a running joke that Sebastian is in every photo.

Hannah:

Somehow no matter what he is in the background of a photo [inaudible 00:42:13]

Libby:

You can open any door in this house and he runs out of the room. He's just that kind of cat where it's just weird. This is probably so I don't know, stereotypical lesbian that we're talking about one of our cats right now. But I want to know if his ass is still alive in 20 years because I bet he will be, because he's-

Hannah:

Because he's only two.

Libby:

Because of course he would be.

Hannah:

He's the youngest one.

Libby:

Yeah. He's weird. We don't really talk about Sebastian.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Why all the pets? I know some of them you own and some of them you foster?

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

So we have Gus, Freud, Zora, Toby.

Libby:

Those are our dogs.

Hannah:

Those are the dogs. Sophie Nugget and Sebastian.

Libby:

Yeah. And Phoebe's our little foster kitty right now, which we'll probably end up keeping, because she's so sweet. But we just like fostering animals. We adopted the majority of our animals from shelters. We actually found little Toby ass. So there's a gas station down the street.

Hannah:

Literally I could throw a rock and hit it from our house.

Libby:

We were unloading furniture in what? Was it February or March?

Hannah:

It was late February.

Libby:

So, we're unloading all this furniture and we hear this God awful screen. It's ear piercing and it's the worst noise you've ever heard and it's an animal. And we're like what the freak is that? What is that? Hannah and I being Hannah and I, we go over across the street and we see this little dog tied up to a dumpster. We were talking to the guy at the desk wherever, and we're like the desk, the cashier. I like, "Hey, there's a dog screaming outside." He's like, "Yeah, I know someone tied him up and left him. And he's been there for six hours." And I was like, well okay are you going to call anyone? What do we do? He was like, "Well, you probably may as well take him because I don't think any shelter's open." So, we took his little as in and he's been little Toby.

Hannah:

That was the dog [inaudible 00:44:45]

Libby:

Yeah, that was the dog that was showing ass five seconds ago. Him and Sebastian, same energy, weird animals.

Hannah:

But only until recently. I don't know.

Libby:

I don't know. We, just love fostering animals and-

Hannah:

We love all of our animals. They're like our kids.

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

Even Sebastian.

Libby:

Animals are, I don't know. I just have a, I don't know, I think it's just a soft spot or like a sweet spot for them because they don't understand the world they're in, like in the slightest. They don't understand what a job is. They don't know that I'm gone nine hours a day because I need to take care of them. They don't understand any of that. There's something sweet about it. They're-

Hannah:

They're just babies.

Libby:

They're a part of the world, but they have nothing to do with the world at the same time and I think that's really cool and really fun. And we just want to take care of them, they're all babies yeah. We just love you helping animals that are in need and giving them good homes and they can't help the situation and the circumstances they're brought into, so we help them out.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

That's really Sweet. Are there any other causes as close to your heart like that?

Hannah:

I think that's probably the biggest one.

Libby:

That's probably the biggest one for us. Like obviously LGBT rights.

Hannah:

Yeah.

Libby:

Women's rights and anything-

Hannah:

That's probably the biggest one.

Libby:

... human rights, healthcare, we're very political people and we always try to support different causes.

Hannah:

Yeah. That's probably the one we're most involved in though. We could do foster and do things and we adapt.

Libby:

Yeah. It's fun finding homes for different animals. It's really fun.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

What do you do-

Libby:

We-

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Sorry.

Libby:

[inaudible 00:46:50]

Consuelo, Interviewer:

I was going to say, what do you think about the progress that have been the now for like LGBTQ rights and women's rights? What do you think we are now what we could do in the future?

Libby:

Hannah what do you think?

Hannah:

For LGBTQ and women's rights?

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

I mean, I think we have made a lot of progress. I think there's always room to grow. I know a lot of people have been upset about the abortion laws for women's rights. So, that's kind of, I guess, a setback. I don't know. I'm not really good at talking about this kind of stuff.

Libby:

Well, gay marriage has been legal six years now.

Hannah:

Six years.

Libby:

I think that's ridiculous that it took that long.

Hannah:

Yeah. That's true.

Libby:

It's so absurd that that took so long and I'm very grateful that it's legal now. I'm not trying to say that I'm not. Obviously, I got to marry Hannah and it's seen in the eyes of law, like valid. I'm grateful for that, I really am, but it makes me sad for older generations who didn't get to experience that. That just makes me sad because I can't imagine not being able to marry you. That it's just so sad to me [inaudible 00:48:36]

Hannah:

We have come a long way though, we really have.

Libby:

Yeah no, we definitely have. It just makes me sad for older generations who didn't get to experience that, but I'm grateful and I'm excited to see, future generations get to not only experience that, but change and grow for the better, if that makes sense. I don't know if that makes sense, but yeah.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

What, what do you think has brought you the greatest satisfaction in your life? I know you said a lot about helping animals. You think that might be it or something more?

Hannah:

That's one of them.

Libby:

Honestly like the greatest satisfaction for me personally is not marrying a man. I know that sounds terrible. That sounds really terrible, but the whole time I grew up, I was like, I don't want to marry a man. I didn't understand why I felt that resentment towards that. Now I'm like [inaudible 00:49:44] with me boys like you can't touch me. I'm sorry, probably cut that last part.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

I like it, I like it. [inaudible 00:49:52]

Libby:

[inaudible 00:49:52] is really embarrassed of me.

Hannah:

Also we bought a house that was a pretty big-

Libby:

That was a big deal. Oh my God.

Hannah:

... deal.

Libby:

During a pandemic too.

Hannah:

Yeah.

Libby:

That's a whole other thing. The fact that Hannah and I are sitting in the same room talking about our relationship after COVID-19 hit-

Hannah:

In this house.

Libby:

In this house. The shit we went through to get this house.

Hannah:

It was just very stressful time.

Libby:

It was very, very stressful and I think the fact that we're getting married is pretty awesome. Because COVID was hard.

Hannah:

It was hard and-

Libby:

It's still hard. COVID is still, there's a new variant out now, but we have the booster and we have vaccines and stuff. But during that time it was so difficult because I was still in college and I graduated, but there wasn't any sort of graduation. Like there was no ... Which I didn't really care for anyway, I'm not the kind of person who likes to walk across the stage and shake an old lady's hand.

Hannah:

But it didn't feel like you graduated [inaudible 00:51:09] anything.

Libby:

No it didn't feel like ... Yeah I feel like I didn't get any closure from college.

Hannah:

It just kind of ended.

Libby:

It suddenly ended with Hannah coming up to Asheville and loading up her car with all my crap. And we drove to south of Carolina. Yeah so that was a really rough time because we didn't know what the world was going to look like at the end of the year or two months from then, a week from then, like we had no idea.

Hannah:

I was also looking for ... We had planned for a while for me to get a new job, so I was teaching at the time and school was closed so I wasn't teaching.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Yeah.

Hannah:

And Libby was graduating and doing online classes and it was really hard to find a job-

Libby:

That was really-

Hannah:

... in 2020.

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

I found a new job. I'm a social worker now. And Libby actually worked for this car loan company.

Libby:

We don't talk about that.

Hannah:

Because that was the only job she could find.

Libby:

It's actually everything you're hearing is a lie. I was unemployed until December of last year.

Hannah:

No, that would've been worse.

Libby:

Yeah.

Hannah:

So Libby worked at this, like she was a customer service person.

Libby:

It was hell. And if you work in customer service, you deserve the world on a silver platter because the amount of just dumb asses that walk this earth and like talk to people the way they talk to people who are just paid to sit and listen to these problems, it's horrible. Oh my God, if you work customer service I wish I could give you a million dollars.

Hannah:

So she did that for five or six months. And then she got offered this job in Asheville, which is much better.

Libby:

Yeah.

Consuelo, Interviewer:

Were you working as an essential worker?

Libby:

No, I was not an essential worker. I was an online chat agent for a car finance company.

Hannah:

A car loaning company.

Libby:

And it was awful and oh my gosh. The worst part about it was that the apartment Hannah had the AC broke and the way the windows were in the living room, you couldn't open the windows. The internet router was in the living room, excuse me, so I had to sit in this hot ass sweaty apartment. It's August.

Hannah:

We had a-

Libby:

It is hot.

Hannah:

We got a unit for my room so it was cold in there so we could sleep and stuff. It was so hot.

Libby:

But going through COVID, going through quarantine together, that was really difficult because it was a lot of pressure. We're in the same room, literally the same room at all times because there was no AC in the apartment. And the only peace you would get is on this queen size bed, and suddenly there was nine animals there too.

Hannah:

Yeah we didn't have all the animals we had-

Libby:

We had a puppy at the time.

Hannah:

But we had some of them and so they were all in that room with us too because it was so hot.

Libby:

They were all like, we're not sleeping in the living room. It's hot.

Hannah:

Then our house kept getting delayed closing.

Libby:

We were buying a house at the same time too so, that's what she means by that. It was such a stressful process. One, it's hot.

Hannah:

COVID.

Libby:

Yeah number one is COVID and you're quarantining.

Hannah:

Trying to find [inaudible 00:55:00]

Libby:

Number two, it's 98 degrees in South Carolina and you can't open the effing window for air and then you have this terrible job, like all these-

Hannah:

Finding a job was a part of that first one.

Libby:

Finding a job, keeping the job I had and then buying a house on top of it where the guy was like, well, I'm going to take a two week vacation in the middle of this whole contract thing. Even though I've been the one delaying this whole process and you guys are just going to be homeless for two weeks, if that's cool. So, Hannah and I were basically homeless for two weeks and well that's why we went up to the Poconos.

Hannah:

Our friends took our animals.

Libby:

Our animals were in different states.

Hannah:

There's different friends who agreed to take one or two.

Libby:

Yeah and Hannah and I packed our car with all the crap from the apartment. We put everything in storage units. We took our one dog with us because he has so many issues that-

Hannah:

We didn't want to leave him.

Libby:

... we couldn't possibly leave him with anyone.

Hannah:

But not for that long at least.

Libby:

Yeah and we stayed up with our friends in the Poconos, up in Pennsylvania for two whole weeks. It was almost three weeks, we were homeless. We slept in their guest room and yeah, that was-

Hannah:

Freud.

Libby:

I always say it was homophobic that BB and T did that to us, but I don't think it was homophobic. I think it was just-

Hannah:

Yeah, I don't think it was [inaudible 00:56:30]

Libby:

I'm not going to say his name, but fuck that guy.

Hannah:

It was just a bad situation.

Libby:

It was bad. I know that probably wasn't your question.

Hannah:

Well we got a house, so it's okay.

Libby:

But you got us talking now so you know.