LGBT History Project

About LGBT History Project Resources

The LGBT Center of Central PA and the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections have partnered to document the stories and history of LGBT life and activism in the greater Central Pennsylvania region. This site contains oral histories that have been recorded for the LGBT History Project, as well as fully accessible digital versions of documents, images, and artifacts that have been donated to the project.

This is a quickly growing collection, and not all items are available through this website. Please contact Malinda Triller-Doran at archives@dickinson.edu for information about how to access all of the resources of the LGBT History Project, as well as how to donate additional materials.

Generous support to make these unique resources accessible has been provided by the Schlegel Deibler Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

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PA Rural Gay Caucus Feedback Form - August 11, 1976

Date: August 11, 1976

The Pennsylvania Rural Gay Caucus was “an association of interested individuals and groups, formed with the objective of promulgating the concerns and freedoms of gay people and all sexual minorities.”

Feedback form created to get community members' opinions on certain issues and involvement opportunities.

Collection: LGBT-001 - Burns

Topics:

Organizations: PA Rural Gay Caucus

View Item: PA Rural Gay Caucus Feedback Form - August 11, 1976

PA Rural Gay Caucus Event Flyer: Picnic and Garage Sale - April 11, 1976

Date: April 11, 1976

This is an event flyer promoting a Picnic and Garage Sale hosted by the Gay Switchboard of Lancaster.

Collection: LGBT-001 - Burns

Topics:

Organizations: Gay Switchboard of Lancaster, PA Rural Gay Caucus

View Item: PA Rural Gay Caucus Event Flyer: Picnic and Garage Sale - April 11, 1976

PA Rural Gay Caucus Legislator Visit Evaluation Sheet - 1976

Date: 1976

This a form used to evaluate Legislators.

Collection: LGBT-001 - Burns

Topics:

Organizations: PA Rural Gay Caucus

View Item: PA Rural Gay Caucus Legislator Visit Evaluation Sheet - 1976

PA Rural Gay Caucus Chart - 1976

Date: 1976

Flow chart of how information spreads for each Legislative Committee section of the PA Rural Gay Caucus.

Collection: LGBT-001 - Burns

Topics:

Organizations: PA Rural Gay Caucus

View Item: PA Rural Gay Caucus Chart - 1976

PA Rural Gay Caucus Legislative Committee and Governor’s Council on Sexual Minorities Joint Meeting Minutes - June 12, 1976

Date: June 12, 1976

In this report, the PA Rural Gay Caucus Legislative Committee and the Governor's Council on Sexual Minorities discus:

The Telephone Tree
Updates on the Sodomy Law Repeal
Fundraising for campaigns of State Legislators
Newspaper Clippings discuss the House Resolution againts Governor Shapp's Gay Pride Week Proclomation

Collection: LGBT-001 - Burns

Topics: Sodomy Repeal Bill

Organizations:

View Item: PA Rural Gay Caucus Legislative Committee and Governor’s Council on Sexual Minorities Joint Meeting Minutes - June 12, 1976

PA Rural Gay Caucus Education Committee Minutes - March 31, circa 1976

Date: March 31, circa 1976

In these meeting minutes, the Education Committee discusses Sam Edmiston's discrimination experience at Bloomsburg University, which then leads the committee to gather information to help change policies pertaining to discrimination against gays on college campuses.

Collection: LGBT-001 - Burns

Topics:

Organizations:

View Item: PA Rural Gay Caucus Education Committee Minutes - March 31, circa 1976

LGBT History Project: LGBT-003 John Campbell Collection

Date: 2011

This collection contains a campaign poster from John Campbell’s run for Harrisburg City (PA) treasurer as an openly gay candidate in 2011-2012.

Collection: LGBT-003 - Campbell

Topics:

Organizations:

View Item: LGBT History Project: LGBT-003 John Campbell Collection

LGBT History Project: LGBT-074 Anthony Silvestre Collection

Date: 1973 - 1985

Anthony Silvestre was born in 1946 in the Bronx in New York. He finished his final year of college at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, PA, and then attended Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) as a graduate student.

Silvestre was introduced to gay rights while at Penn State. While there, he became active in an organization called the Homophiles of Penn State (HOPS). He became president of HOPS and subsequently met many of Pennsylvania’s leading activists. He was appointed Chair of the Pennsylvania Council for Sexual Minorities and became a leader in the Pennsylvania Rural Gay Caucus, which provided a forum for collaboration among numerous groups outside of the cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Collection: LGBT-074 - Silvestre

Topics:

Organizations: PA Rural Gay Caucus, PA Governor's Council for Sexual Minorities, Homophiles of Penn State (HOPS)

View Item: LGBT History Project: LGBT-074 Anthony Silvestre Collection

LGBT Oral History 107: Anthony Silvestre

Date: September 21, 2016

Anthony Silvestre was born in 1946 in the Bronx in New York. He grew up in a working-class, Italian neighborhood and is familiar with stigma. He began identifying as gay in the sixth grade, but went through school still in the closet. After high school, he entered a Catholic religious group in the Boston area called the Holy Cross Brothers. He left after three years due to his disillusionment with the church, not his sexual orientation. He finished his final year at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, PA, and then attended Penn State as a graduate student.

Silvestre was introduced to LGBT rights while at Penn State, where he remained as student for five or six years. While there, he became active in an organization called the Homophiles of Penn State [HOPS], and, as president, met many of Pennsylvania’s leading activists. He was appointed Chair of the Pennsylvania Council on Sexual Minorities and became a leader in the Pennsylvania Rural Gay Caucus, which supported numerous groups across Pennsylvania. He was appointed Chair of the Pennsylvania State Council and supervised all of the subcommittees, one of which worked with the State Department of Education to create a gay high school in Philadelphia for the young gay kids from the Cuban Mariel Boatlift.

Silvestre worked with the department of Children and Youth Services to ensure that non-straight populations were not short-changed in the bureaucracy. He became executive administrator of the Eromin Center. Eromin [Ero: erotic, and min: minorities] is a center established to provide culturally competent mental health services.

Silvestre discusses how the State Office of Administration during the 80s effectively handled issues related to the AIDs epidemic, including writing policies and conducting sensitivity training around gay issues in various agencies such as the State Police. He interacted with the Governor and made policy with the governor’s aides, adding LGBT language into contracts and policies and requiring reports be generated concerning their efficacy, especially in regard to complaints that were made. He helped establish a community advisory board, probably one of the first in the country dealing with HIV.

Silvestre was hired at the University of Pittsburgh at the Pitt Men’s Study program to supervise their six-month grant sponsored by the NIH—and he still works there, thirty-plus years later. He is now working on non-discrimination policy and education for HIV individuals in nursing homes and home health care.

Silvestre is married and a practicing Buddhist. He has created a group for young LGBT Buddhists, and has organized HIV services through the Ball community by supporting SILK, which is a group for African American young, MSM and trans kids who are members of the Ball community.

Collection: LGBT Oral History

Topics: HIV/AIDs

Organizations: Homophiles of Penn State (HOPS), PA Governor's Council for Sexual Minorities, PA Rural Gay Caucus, Eromin Center (Philadelphia)

View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 107: Anthony Silvestre

Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - December 1995

Date: December 1995

Created by Lorraine Kujawa, Cindy Mitzel, Mary Nancarrow, and several others in 1983, the Lavender Letter Newsletter was a calendar of events for, by, and about lesbian women to create community in the Central Pennsylvania area. The newsletter was distributed monthly until the mid-2000s.

Collection: LGBT-009 - Lavender Letter

Topics: HIV/AIDs, AIDS Memorial Quilt

Organizations: The Names Project, York Area LAMBDA

View Item: Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - December 1995