Destiny Sturdivant

In September 2018, Destiny Sturdivant was interviewed by Luke Wegener, UNO Libraries Oral History Associate, for LGBTQ+ Voices: The Queer Omaha Archives Oral History Project. The interview is over 2 hours in length.

Ms. Destiny Sturdivant, Omaha comedian and LGBTQ+ advocate, was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Sturdivant had crushes on girls as early as second grade, but didn’t realize being gay was an option until she saw a gay person on MTV’s The Real World at age 13. By the time she was in 8th grade, Sturdivant was out as bisexual to most of her school friends. She remained closeted to her family as they had homophobic views. Sturdivant attended Omaha North High School from 2000-2004, and began connecting online with other LGBTQ+ people through websites like Ourchart (now Autostraddle) and Livejournal. Sturdivant began performing at various local shows along with OK Party Comedy, and became a regular fixture on the Omaha comedy scene. As a queer, disabled woman of color within a scene of mostly straight white men, Sturdivant’s clever, subversive humor challenged the status quo of Omaha comedy. Sturdivant discussed topics like feminism, racism, misogyny, life, death, and the absurdity of being alive. In 2012, Sturdivant joined together with Rhea Dowhower to form the Badland Girls, one-part “junk culture” podcast, one-part “whimsical, comedic acoustic pop duo,” as described by Hear Nebraska. In their podcast the Badland Girls tackle challenging social issues and deconstruct pop culture, while their musical performances include feminist, irreverently filthy songs inspired by queer icons like John Waters. Sturdivant lives in Papillion-La Vista with her partner, Em.

All of this and more was covered in the interview. Sturdivant's interview is available through the Queer Omaha Archives website or in UNO Libraries' Archives and Special Collections.

This post is part of a series sharing the new oral history interviews gathered as part of LGBTQ+ Voices: The Queer Omaha Archives Oral History Project.