The Ask Any Buddy Transition Fund

Update 3/31/23: Hey everyone, I started this way back at the beginning of my transition near the end of 2021. The ~$7000 raised from it helped me to afford a year of laser, therapy, and a number of other transition-related expenses. But now that I’m doing electrolysis to remove the last parts of my facial hair (and still have a ways to go) and am beginning to save up so I can move out of Texas, I could use some more help. Thanks so much — it really means a lot to me.

Liz

Hey there,

I’m Elizabeth Purchell. I’m a queer film historian, archivist, filmmaker, programmer, writer, and podcast host (phew).

If you’re reading this, you might know me from my work with Ask Any Buddy, a multimedia project I started a few years back that explores the history of the gay adult film industry and its role in the development of gay male culture.

What started as simply an urge to help get this long-buried imagery back out into the world through Instagram has since become a mashup film that had a strong queer film festival run last year, an ongoing podcast, and now film preservation and home video work. Just this year alone I was able to help find two significant lost gay films: an all-male take on The Exorcist by a male stripper named Jimminy Cricket called Sex Demon, and the second feature effort by gay pioneer Fred Halsted, Truck It, and that’s only just part of it.

But none of this success has ever really translated into financial gain (nor has that ever been the motivating factor for my work). It's actually been the opposite — I've spent large amounts of my own money on things like rescuing and digitizing film prints and VHS tapes; acquiring archival research materials like magazines and newspapers; and paying for things like web hosting and festival submissions. Which is why I could really use some help with my next project, which is maybe the biggest one yet: transitioning.

I’ve never really been all that great at asking people for help, but between my usual living expenses, my continued research work, some very long overdue dental work looming on the horizon, and now the assorted costs of beginning this, I’m stretched pretty thin.

While I'm not currently looking into surgeries, any money that's raised through this will go towards things like really needed laser hair removal / electrolysis, vocal training, a wardrobe refresh, and that aforementioned dental work. If you've ever liked my Instagram posts, were moved by the Ask Any Buddy movie, or learned something about gay history from the podcast, any bit of help would mean the world to me.

Thanks so much!