Wendell Sayers was born in western Kansas on April 29, 1904, and died on March 27, 1998. I hope that revealing Wendell’s true identity is the decision he would have made for himself if he were still alive and that by doing so 18 years after his death I’m not causing any harm. There’s also a part of me that feels the world should know who Wendell was, without the scrim of anonymity, because he was such an extraordinary person. To honor his wish, I used the name “Paul Phillips.” So why reveal his true identity now? The world has changed so dramatically since the late 1980s for LGBTQ people that I like to think Wendell’s feelings about remaining hidden would have evolved, too, and that he’d have taken pride in who he was, what he risked, and what he accomplished without feeling the need to hide behind a pseudonym. Note from Eric Marcus: In my introduction to the episode, I explain that Wendell Sayers asked me not to use his real name in my book, Making Gay History.
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