Meghan McDonough

Filmmaker, journalist, and herstory enthusiast Meghan McDonough is passionate about telling stories that center queer and lesbian history. “One of my main goals with Old Lesbians was to bridge the age gaps that exist in the lesbian/queer community,” she says of her documentary short, which uses animation to make Arden Eversmeyer’s “Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project” accessible to younger audiences. The film made the 2024 IDA Documentary Awards Best Short Documentary Shortlist, was commissioned by The Guardian, and has screened at venues around the world. “After releasing the film, I was amazed by all the intergenerational connections I witnessed in person at screenings—older and younger members of our community sharing and learning from each other at LGBTQ centers, universities, and film festivals. There is so much desire on both sides to connect, but not many spaces to do so.” Inspired by the powerful friendships she formed with film participants, McDonough launched an intergenerational pen pal exchange in early 2026 in collaboration with the American LGBTQ+ Museum, which also screened Old Lesbians. McDonough is currently in production on a documentary project about Lesbian Connection, the longest-running continuously published lesbian periodical. She is also co-developing a documentary about queer archives around the world with German-Vietnamese writer/director Hồng Anh Nguyễn. “I firmly believe that we can’t be what we can’t see, and in that sense, the queer archivists I’m focused on are doing life-or-death work. We have always existed, and we will always be worth saving.” –MH