Social Reform and Advocacy

LGBT History Project Logo
January 19, 2017

This is an interview with Steven Leshner of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He conveys his struggles of coming out in the 1970s and being a gay man in central PA through a series of anecdotes. Steven also talks extensively about his work at Dignity and...

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January 30, 2017

Gary Hufford (born 1952) and George Centini (born March 11, 1937) are a married couple living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In this interview, George and Gary recount their time in the gay bar and restaurant business. Both grew up in the restaurant...

Colin Kreitzer
February 16, 2017

Colin Kreitzer was born in 1947 in Enola, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Wormleysburg, Pennsylvania with his parents and his younger sister. He attended West Chester College and moved to Harrisburg in 1977, where he began getting involved in the...

Patricia ''Pat'' Saunders
March 5, 2017

Patricia ''Pat'' Mastandrea Sanders was a hair stylist in Boston before moving up to advertising and marketing for 300 salons across the country. One fateful day she slipped on an ice cube and hit her head. Her life changed forever. Unable to...

LGBT History Project Logo
March 8, 2017

This is a story circle with Barry Loveland, Richard Hause, and Steven Leshner discussing the life and work of Jerry Brennan. They begin with the discussion of Jerry’s childhood religion and his attendance of St. Bernard’s...

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March 12, 2017

Frederick (Rick) Schulze was born in Delaware in the 60s and spent his childhood and adolescence in the 70s in the Harrisburg area. He first talks about his complicated relationship with his family and his gay identity, mentioning his mother’s...

Debra Fulham-Winston
March 19, 2017

Deb Fulham-Winston was born in 1952 in Boston, Massachusetts. She grew up in an Irish-Catholic family with eight siblings, and spent the first half of her schooling in Catholic school. Early on, she had a strong conviction for feminism and social...

James Tompkins
March 26, 2017

James Tompkins was born and grew up in Southern Pennsylvania, where he lived on a farm with his one brother, three half siblings, and parents. In this interview, James discusses his experiences coming out to his family, his art, and various bars...

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April 25, 2017

Kerry Wiessman was born on October 26, 1954 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. She grew up in Wayne, New Jersey in a lake community. Kerry discusses her upbringing in a large family and her relationship with her mother. Kerry also discusses her career in...

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May 15, 2017

Melinda Eash, child psychologist and LBGT rights ally, discusses her upbringing near the New York Metropolitan Area and the influence of the church. As a young adult she attended Susquehanna University, where she made friends with a gay student...

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June 1, 2017

David Leas was born in 1955 in Columbia, Pennsylvania. He comes from a working class family and described the sense of independence he got from his first job as busboy for the Accomac Inn. This job lead to a foray into the restaurant business,...

Marty Tornblom
June 9, 2017

Marty Tornblom was born in Utah and was raised in the greater Salt Lake City area, as a member of the Mormon Church. She decided to get a degree in education which lead her to teaching. Following her marriage, she converted to Presbyterianism and...

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July 29, 2017

Robert Sevensky was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1948. Despite having an unpleasant experience in early education and having financial issues, Robert persevered and ended up pursuing an academic career in college. After two years at the...

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August 6, 2017

Harry Long was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania in 1951 and attended Lebanon High School. After attending Millersville State College, now Millersville University, and becoming involved with an underground newspaper, Harry began his career of working...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

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View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 069: Harry Long

Amanda Porter (now known as Amanda Hecker)
August 16, 2017

Amanda Porter [now known as Amanda Hecker] was born in 1950 in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. Amanda is a trans woman and transgender rights educator and activist. In this interview, Amanda repeats her goal of wanting to make transgender people visible...

Heidi Notario
August 18, 2017

Heidi Notario was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1973, where she was attending college for biology before moving to the United States in 1995. Heidi discusses her disillusion with the ideals of communism as a factor contributing to her desire to go...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

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View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 087: Heidi Notario

LGBT History Project Logo
August 23, 2017

For more than a decade, Jeanine Ruhsam was an advocate in Central Pennsylvania’s transgender community. With the primary goal of providing support and resources for transgender people and their loved ones, she spearheaded the Trans Central...

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September 16, 2017

The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Center of Central PA (Harrisburg) began to form in the late 90s. To receive fundraising though the National Lesbian and Gay Community Funding Partnership of New York, the founding group was led...

Alex Reber
October 4, 2017

Barry Loveland interviews Alex Reber, now 32, who relates fascinating stories of what it was like growing up as an only child of an Evangelical Christian family raised on a farm in Bethel, a rural town between Harrisburg and Allentown and...

LGBT History Project Logo
January 4, 2018

Steve Glassman was born on September 20, 1954 in Chicago. He was fortunate enough to grow up in a rather liberal household with accepting parents who were involved in political activism and social justice during the Civil Rights era. Glassman’s...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

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View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 041: Steve Glassman

Cecelia Wambach
July 30, 2018

Cecelia Wambach was born on May 26th, 1942 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Cecelia begins the interview by talking about her family life, the dynamics of her relationship with her parents and religion, and how those facets shaped her adult identity...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

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Organizations:

View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 131: Cecelia Wambach

Buttons from LGBT-050 Marlene Kanuck Collection
1970s to present

These images represent a cross section of the types of materials included in the LGBT Center of Central PA's History Project, which is housed in the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections....

LGBT History Project Logo
January 14, 2020

Marie DiFava was born in Lebanon County in 1953 and grew up in a troubled Italian home. She graduated from high school and attended nursing school, but after burning out from her job and schooling, she dropped out, married, and had three children...

York Hospice House Flyer
1991-1995

Joy (Ufema) Counsel was raised in Altoona, Pennsylvania. After completing high school, (Ufema) Counsel began studying to become a nurse at the Altoona Hospital, and later completed a nursing program at Harrisburg Area Community College....

Lebanon County Lesbians Newsletters
1987-2019

Maria DiFava was born in Lebanon County, PA in 1953. She graduated from high school and attended nursing school and ultimately became an EMT volunteer. She later worked as a mail carrier for the US Postal Service. Marie married and had three...

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