New York Stories: A blind leap

MANHATTAN – When Hueytown native and former downtown Birmingham resident Jordan Reeves decided in 2010 to move to New York — a city he had never visited — he faced doubts from loved ones.

“It truly was a blind leap and one I think my family and friends were betting against,” he said. “Nobody thought I was going to last.”

Reeves admits they had valid reasons.

“I didn’t stick with piano lessons, the Boy Scouts or the Walt Disney College Program,” he said. “New York City should be no different.”

But it was. 

In fact, New York is now home for Reeves, who graduated from UAB in 2009 in theater and was encouraged to give the big city a try by some of his college friends who had moved there.

In New York, Reeves worked for the nonprofit group TED, producers of the TED Talks, and co-founded their TED-Ed education initiative. And he’s now founded a nonprofit, VideoOut, which seeks to amplify LGBTQ voices by building the world’s largest online video library of coming-out stories.

Iron City Ink met Reeves in New York this summer — at Madison Square Park in Manhattan and at Brooklyn Brewery, where VideoOut co-sponsored an event, SpeakOut: Stories of Pride.

Reeves told us that the big, bad city of New York has welcomed and nurtured him. He has savored the city’s culture and built a large network of friends and contacts. Best of all, he’s able do what he believes is important work — using the power of story to help provide support and a sense of community for gay people in America and around the world.

SpeakOut, held on a warm summer night in the trendy Williamsburg neighborhood, featured powerful coming-out stories from author Eric Marcus, trans activist Melissa Sklarz, AIDS activist Michelle Lopez and attorney Cesar Francia.

The experiences they shared “spoke to the courage and persistence of the continual fight for equality,” said emcee Laura Goehrke, a Brooklyn storyteller and producer

And the roughly 200 stories from around the world collected so far by VideoOut help advance that effort, according to Reeves.

“We’re dismantling misconceptions,” he said. “When you hear someone, see their face and hear their story, you can’t help but empathize with them.”

Not only is Reeves passionate about VideoOut, he loves New York.

“The culture, the diversity of people and the overwhelming sense of opportunity is what keeps me here,” Reeves said. 

However, despite the city’s diversity, Reeves — even coming from the Deep South — learned an important lesson. “Prejudice exists everywhere,” he said.

He referred to the fact that he has faced more overt anti-gay prejudice in New York than in Birmingham.

“I was never harassed, accosted physically or verbally abused in Birmingham,” he said. “I moved to New York, and the first week I was here, someone called me a [anti-gay slur] on the street.”

Reeves said that he wants to make Video-Out “a global phenomenon” that allows gay people — no matter where they live — to both share their own stories and find the inspiration they need from others.

“I think the biggest thing, especially coming from Hueytown, is that when you are not part of a large community, and you don’t recognize that there are many voices around you that are like your own, you can feel isolated and feel that you are fighting a battle on your own,” Reeves said.

Storytelling is the one universal art form, according to Reeves. 

“Everybody can tell a story,” he said. “Stories have this power to bring us together and make us relate to one another.”

Despite his love for New York, Reeves also expresses affection for Birmingham, which he said was “a great place” for him to come out.

“That’s surprising to many people, but I found a strong, close-knit community of friends and chosen family in Birmingham that I could count on,” he said.

He also misses a lot of things about home. 

“The food,” he said. “The hospitality. The open spaces. The trees. The smiles. The slower pace. Most of all, my family.”

However, Reeves said, New York is home now. “New York can seem scary, but if you set your mind to it, you can do it,” he said. “I have had amazing experiences, and it has allowed me to grow into the kind of adult I’m proud to be.”

Reeves has a cool apartment in Williamsburg with his partner, Joshua Holden, an award-winning puppeteer and producer.

He enjoys what he called “an incredible group of friends and chosen family.”

He loves Broadway plays — especially musicals — and has seen about 70 of them, including Bette Midler in “Hello Dolly.”

In fact, Reeves may be a New York “lifer.”

“No matter where I go, NYC will always have an undeniable magnetism,” he said. “I was born to live here.”