Charlie Ferrusi grew up in Taghkanic, New York and currently lives in Brooklyn. He is a public health professional, political organizer, and social justice activist who serves as a board member for several Hudson-area organizations including OutHudson, Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood, and Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center. 

In this interview, Charlie describes some of his childhood memories, including playing with his brothers and cheerleading. Though he grew up outside of Hudson, he mentions the Hudson mayoral race of his grandfather, Dick Tracy, and his high school job at Lick Ice Cream on Warren Street as ways he furthered involvement in the city in the 2000s and 2010s. During his senior year at Hudson High School, in 2010, Charlie was voted prom king as part of the first recognized male prom king/queen pair, and was grand marshal of the first Hudson Pride Parade. Charlie discusses the significance of these concurrent events, particularly for the queer elders in his community, and talks about intergenerational friendships in queer organizing spaces. He also talks about the importance of the Hudson Pride Parade particularly for queer people who come from surrounding rural areas. 

Charlie discusses the influence of tourism on Hudson’s queer community since the 2010s and the need to center the involvement and benefit of local residents in LGBTQ programming. He describes his journey to his career in health equity, noting the stories and lived experiences of his elders in Hudson living with HIV/AIDS as a contributing factor. Charlie concludes his interview with a question about and hope for the ways Hudson organizations can each contribute to meaningful and lasting LGBTQ programming. 

This interview may be of interest to those researching or wishing to learn more about LGBTQ communities in Hudson during the 2010s and 2020s, the history of the Hudson Pride Parade, the formation of OutHudson, and intergenerational collaboration in queer organizing spaces.

This interview was recorded for the Hudson Area Library's LGBTQ+ Collection in collaboration with Outhudson and with support from The Spark of Hudson.