Share your story with the Queer Wisconsin Storybook Project

The Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project is proud to partner with the Queer Wisconsin Storybook Project, a statewide storytelling initiative documenting contemporary queer life across all 72 counties of Wisconsin. 

Led by Dr. Benjamin Rieth, this project will feature 72 queer Wisconsinites—one from each county—each sharing their lived experience, paired with a professional portrait taken in a place that feels like home. Together, these stories form a powerful snapshot of queer Wisconsin today, ensuring that rural, small-town, and historically underrepresented voices are included in our collective record. 

While Wisconsin is home to more than 172,000 LGBTQ people, many stories—especially outside urban areas—remain unheard. This project centers those voices, honoring the truth that queer life exists everywhere. 

Participation is free, and all contributors will have the opportunity to review their story prior to publication. 

Photography for the project is led by Tyler Wychesit, a queer Wisconsin-based photographer whose work emphasizes authenticity, place, and connection. 

Who can participate? 

We are seeking LGBTQ Wisconsinites who: 

• Are 18 years or older 
• Currently live in Wisconsin
• Have lived in their county for at least five years 
• Identify as queer in any way that feels true to them
• Are open to an interview and portrait 

Get involved!

If you’re interested in participating—or know someone who should—please complete the online submission form.

You may also contact Dr. Rieth directly at benjamin.c.rieth@gmail.com or 920-639-3609

Wisconsin is queer. Wisconsin is beautiful. These stories deserve to be told. 

About the project leader

Dr. Benjamin “Benny” Rieth (he/him) is the creator of the Queer Wisconsin Storybook Project and the founder of BelongingU: Rieth Strategy Solutions. 

A Wisconsin native, Dr. Benny is a scholar-practitioner, queer Indigenous keynote storyteller, trainer, and facilitator who partners with campuses, organizations, and communities to cultivate real, meaningful belonging. 

Rooted in Indigenous ways of being and a framework he developed—the Five Rs of student sense of belonging—his work invites communities to center relational responsibility, reconnect with joy, and see their work, and one another, more fully. Through keynotes, storytelling, workshops, assessment, and the redesign of programs such as first-year experience, Dr. Benny supports higher education institutions, K–12 schools, and nonprofit organizations seeking more human-centered, values-driven approaches to leadership, learning, and community building. 

Dr. Benny has spent his career in higher education leadership, supporting students, building inclusive campus environments, and advancing equity-centered practices grounded in care, relationship, and shared responsibility. His scholarship, teaching, and public work focus on student belonging, Indigenous paradigms, and the power of story as a tool for connection, healing, and change.  As a queer, Anishinaabe educator, Dr. Benny brings both lived experience and professional expertise to the Queer Wisconsin Storybook Project. 

This initiative reflects Dr. Benny's deep belief that queer people live, love, and thrive in every corner of Wisconsin—and that these stories deserve to be seen, honored, and remembered.  Through this project, Dr. Benny hopes to create a lasting record of queer life across all 72 Wisconsin counties, amplifying voices often left out of dominant narratives and inviting future generations to see themselves reflected in the places they call home.

Questions? Contact us!