Madison, Wisconsin: University Archives and Records Management Services
Summary
In their oral history interview with Chloe Foor, Katie White talks about their experience coming out to their family, being a queer person in engineering, and distancing themself from religion. Katie was raised in a small South Dakotan town and moved to Milwaukee as a preteen. They come from a very religious family and were raised in Evangelical Lutheranism. They went to a Lutheran high school and attended UW-Madison for college where they are currently pursuing a degree in chemical engineering. In high school, they realized that they were queer, and found that they were able to express their true self a lot more in college. During that time, they also came out to their family who reacted poorly. They helped to found the organization Queer and Trans Engineers, where they found a great support system. During the Covid pandemic, they started identifying as genderqueer. Pursuing a religious studies certificate helped them explore different religions, and they currently identify as Buddhist. In the future, they hope to work in food science and would possibly want to act as a mentor to queer youth. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the Women@UW Oral History Project for the UW-Madison Archives & Records Management oral history collection.