JM Sorrell Interviewed by Ray Stevens March 20, 2020 via Zoom from Haydenville, MA and North Bennington, VT.

Narrator:
JM Sorrell was born in 1960 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and adopted at the age of nine months from a foster home. Sorrell has been living in western Massachusetts since 1982, minus three years when she lived in San Francisco in the 1990s. During this time, she has worked in public health, human services, social justice advocacy, tennis coaching, and nonprofit development. She became the first openly lesbian Justice of the Peace to be appointed in 2004, shortly before Massachusetts became the first state in the US to legalize same-sex marriage, and has married nearly 800 couples since.

Sorrell has worked with Noho Pride, under its various titles, since 1983, and was the march’s official spokesperson from 2011 to 2019. Currently, Sorrell lives with her partner of 15+ years, Jane, and their two dogs Lu and Guillaume.

Abstract
In this interview, Sorrell reflects on her life as a lesbian feminist. Sorrell discusses her experiences living in Northampton, MA from 1982 to the present, and her work as a justice of the peace from 2004 onward, as well as some of her work as a former organizer and spokesperson for the annual Northampton pride march.

Interviewer:
Ray Stevens is a student in the Simmons University Library and Information Science program, intended graduation 2021. She lives in North Bennington, Vermont.

Please note: this interview mentions homophobic violence and alcohol use.