LGBT Oral History

Ray Davis was born on April 30th, 1954 in Bethlehem, PA. After attending Catholic school, Ray went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in ornamental horticulture from Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, PA. After moving to Harrisburg in 1986, Ray acquired his real estate license, serving a variety of clientele including many from the gay community. In this interview, Ray discusses the consequences of coming out to his Catholic parents, the success of his real estate business, and social life in Harrisburg during the late 1980s. He also explains his involvement in the economic development of Harrisburg and briefly about his personal relationships as well as the changes he has witnessed in the Central PA gay community over the years. Ray comments on the different experiences of gay youth today in comparison to his own and others’ experience in the 1970s. Additionally, Ray touches on his perception of the 1990s AIDS Crisis and fondly remembers volunteering as a buddy for the South Central AIDS Assistance Network [SCAAN]. Ray credits the support of the LGBT community as well as the strength of his personal network in Harrisburg for the success of his business.

Bobbi Carmitchell was born in Willow Street, Pennsylvania.  She spent most of her professional career as a full-time musician, but currently has added contracting work in stained glass and woodworking art. Bobbi describes her journey in the musical world – from the Wood and Wind trio, to playing with her sister, and then onto to a solo career – and how that journey has shaped her identity as a lesbian.  She details how her early years with Wind and Wood, and the influence of women musicians enabled by Olivia Records, helped her to come out.  She expresses amazement at how coming out today has become a non-issue for so many women.  She describes several stories over the years that demonstrate her difficulty in balancing a life as an out lesbian with the desire to appeal to a broader audience, including how she is currently choosing to frame a novel she hopes to finish soon.  Bobbi emphasizes that her parents were fully supportive of her, and yet relates stories of their difficulties with her sexuality.  She details her involvement with the Central Pennsylvania Women’s Music Festival and Women’s Circle which highlight tensions within the LGBT community.  A strong feminist identity and involvement in women’s issues has powerfully shaped who Bobbi is.

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 Seminary in Alabama. Barry, Richard, and Steven also discuss Jerry’s charitable works, including being a founding member of Gay Community Services, Gay Switchboard, and finally in the local Dignity chapter. The men attempt to nail down Jerry’s personal life, from childhood to adulthood, although since he rarely talked about it they are only able to piece together clues from the time they knew him. They also discuss Jerry’s social activism and involvement in both the Black Civil Rights Movement and the local gay community. Barry, Richard, and Steven go off on a pleasant tangent discussing comedians and speakers that Jerry had come to Harrisburg. The men finish reminiscing about Jerry by discussing what little they knew about his love life.

James “Jim” Bortzfield was born in Lancaster, PA in 1934. He received his undergraduate degree from Elizabethtown College as a business major. Upon graduation, Jim moved to Harrisburg to work as a buyer for Pomeroy’s, but after several years he switched careers and purchased a beer distribution facility in Hershey, PA. After this successful business endeavor, Jim was searching for a new opportunity and decided to purchase The Neptune Bar, a local gay bar in Harrisburg. In this interview, Jim talks about his upbringing, especially talking about his knowledge of being gay at a very young age, but still being able to find companionship among his peers. Jim states that for him it wasn’t too difficult for him to be out. Jim also discusses his two earlier careers paths and why he made those career shifts. On discussing his last major business endeavor, owning The Neptune Bar, Jim recounts anecdotes of being the bar owner and his overall experience. Since selling the bar in 1984/85, Jim discusses his retirement life and having moved to Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Nancy Datres was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania in 1948 and first moved to Harrisburg to pursue computer science after becoming blacklisted by the Altoona Police Department when she was just 27 years old. Thereafter, Nancy moved through several careers, holding positions such as a community college professor, journalist, legal writer, and lawyer. In her interview, Nancy discusses the incredible impact of her sexuality on the course of her academic and professional lives, which required her to change schools and even careers whenever an environment became too unsafe for her to stay. She illustrates several examples of harassment and discrimination in her life, as well as the inefficiency of local law enforcement, educational institutions, and court systems to help alleviate these injustices. Additionally, Nancy remarks on her difficult financial situation and her 20-year relationship and engagement with another woman. Since her first interview with the LGBT History Project, Nancy has become at peace with her sexuality, saying that after everything she’s been through, she does not care who knows she is gay.

Growing up in the conservative Lebanon County of central PA, Barbara Darkes attended grade school through the beginning of her pre-law college career without experiencing any attraction to women. It was at her summer job at the local YMCA during college that Barbara met and eventually fell in love with her long-term partner, Kathy. This same-sex relationship was the first for both of them, for neither woman had previously identified as a lesbian. Due to the conservative environment of central PA, the two women kept their relationship secret for years, which proved emotionally exhausting for both of them. Fortunately for Barbara, her work environment at McNees Wallace & Nurick, LLC, proved to be accepting and embracing of her intimacy with Kathy, and it became the site of the beginning of their coming out experiences in 2012. Although Barbara and Kathy encountered some painful disapproval during their coming out process, they also found spaces of acceptance that embraced them. The two married privately in Maryland in 2013, and they continue to have a healthy and loving relationship with each other and with Kathy’s kids. Barbara uses her position as a community organizer and as president of the LGBT Center to work towards generating a more accepting environment for LGBT people in the larger central Pennsylvania community.

Joe Christ was born in 1927 with Klinefelter syndrome and assigned male at birth. The seventh of eight children, Christ was placed into an orphanage during the Great Depression where they stayed until age 18. Two weeks later, Christ was drafted into the Army and fast-tracked to work as a stool pigeon in a secret German Prisoner of War camp in Richmond, Virginia due to their fluency in German, Pennsylvania Dutch, and English. Following World War II, Christ got their degree in education from Moravian College, going on to teach English, German, and Social Studies while building and driving racecars, motorcycles, and flying planes as a hobby. In 1974, Christ went to Germany to teach American English on a Fulbright fellowship, where they met their second wife, Liz, a Fulbright scholar who was in Germany teaching British English. While working there, Christ helped improve the English skills of a German cytogeneticist to allow her to participate in the World Health Organization, and it was through this connection that Christ discovered they have XXY chromosomes. Christ had occasionally started presenting as a woman before learning they were intersex following the end of their first marriage in 1973, but never formally came out, electing to present as masculine or feminine selectively. Christ expresses comfort in being able to present as either/or, while not particularly identifying with the LGBT community.

Joanne Carroll was born in Alberta, Canada in 1940 as John Carroll. She spent the first 60 years of her life as a man, marrying twice and having two children. She worked a number of jobs throughout the country, primarily in the Air Force but also in hotel management and security. She transitioned in the 90s at around 60 years old, moved with her mother to Lancaster, and got heavily involved in trans advocacy throughout all of Pennsylvania as the president of TransCentral PA. In this interview, Joanne discusses a number of subjects relating to her experiences as a trans woman, including mental health, the transition process, and her experiences in coming out as trans to her family and friends. She also discusses issues of race, politics, white and male privilege, the current political climate (as of November 2016), and the importance of faith in her life.

John Barns was born in Perry County, Pennsylvania. He comes from a family of farmers and is Pennsylvania Dutch. He grew up on a farm, joined the military during Vietnam, and then worked for the Pennsylvania government for 30 years. He discusses his experience of being gay in a small farm community and the conflicts that arose within his family because of his sexuality. He discusses the gay community in Perry County, Lancaster, and Harrisburg, as well as relationships that developed in each. The most prominent relationship that he discusses is his relationship with Walter Lear, the Regional Health Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Department of Health. He also talks about Dignity, a Roman Catholic organization that was a refuge for gay Catholics and/or gays of any religious background in the Harrisburg area. He discusses the impact that Dignity had on the gay community in Harrisburg and as well as on him. Also, he touches on certain people in his life that helped him come to terms with his sexuality.

In this oral history, Anonymous_001 starts off discussing his family life. He states that his family life was not the best but not the worst, however after his mother left and his father developed borderline personality disorder, he decided to find ways to escape reality. He then goes on to say how his sexuality and sex cannot be disconnected from his life. After being exposed to pornography at a young age, he struggled with porn addiction throughout his adolescent and adult life. Porn introduced him to different types of sexuality and it was through porn that he discovered that he is bisexual. He discusses how his struggle with pornography led to misconceptions of what a healthy relationship looked like, as well as what a healthy sexual relationship looked like, with either a man or a woman. Consequently, his porn addiction led him to child pornography when he was 12 years old. His addiction, specifically to child pornography, continued until he was arrested in 2010 for the consumption of child pornography. After being arrested, he was admitted to a center for sexual compulsion and trauma and it was there he was told and accepted that he was addicted to sex. After his rehab was over, he was sentenced to prison for up to five years. He only served 3 ½ years, but it was during his incarceration that he had his first “real” homosexual relationship. He mentions that before this relationship, even though his friends knew he was bisexual, he had been dating a women and only acted on his homosexual desires behind closed doors in secret and through cybersex. This relationship showed him that he could have a healthy homosexual relationship if he wanted to, and that his homosexual urges did not have to be expressed only in secret. Now he is discovering himself again and discovering other people. He warns the younger generation to be careful with what they do on the internet, because the internet is not reality and will never be reality. Reality is trusting people, loving people, and accepting yourself for who you are. He also warns the younger generation that “Living alone is not a way to live and there is no reason for it.” The world is full of good people that will love you and help you, all you have to do is ask.

Peggy Allan grew up in Oregon, where she attended Northwest Christian College for a year before marrying and having two sons with her first husband, Gary, a pastor. After 10 years of marriage, while the two were living together in Northern California, Gary came out as a gay man, and the two divorced. Peggy then married her second and current husband, Don, whom she has been with for 40 years and with whom she has another son. In this interview, Peggy discusses the initial struggles she and her sons faced in their relationship with Gary after his coming out, and then the later friendship that she and Don developed with Gary and his partner, Hal, and the family unit that they all came to form, including Peggy’s children. She describes how her lifelong friendship with Gary and Hal brought her to understand and become a great supporter of the LGBT community in Northern California, especially in trying to help foster open and affirming faith communities there, and how she and Don have continued to support the LGBT movement since their retirement and move to Lancaster in 2007.

Arlene Ackerman was born in San Francisco, California, then adopted and raised in Lodi, California. Jacquie Bogle Ackerman was born and raised in northern Minnesota. Arlene became licensed as clergy with the Metropolitan Community Church in 1977, and Jacquie has supported Arlene by traveling with her when needed, performing odd jobs such as office work and driving buses in order to help financially. In this interview, the couple discusses their long journey in adopting a child as a lesbian couple while living in Minnesota together. They faced discrimination from their adoption agency, but after approximately nine months, they were finally able to adopt a baby girl named Amanda, and shortly after, moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Arlene and Jacquie explain the challenges of gaining parental rights for both of them and with raising Amanda as an adopted, biracial child of two LGBT parents. Despite that they became married for primarily legal reasons, the couple also discusses the emotional significance of their recent state-recognized marriage in June of 2014. Lastly, Arlene and Jacquie reflect on the gay rights movement and agree that they never thought that gay marriage would have been possible in their lifetimes, but they are grateful to see it happening today.

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.

Joy (Ufema) Counsel was raised in Altoona, Pennsylvania. After completing high school, Joy began studies to become a nurse at the Altoona Hospital, and later completed a nursing program at Harrisburg Area Community College. Joy worked in numerous hospitals and medical facilities in New York, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Throughout her career as a nurse, Joy developed an affinity for caring for patients who were terminally ill. Her work in the area of death and dying received considerable media attention.

As a result, she was interviewed on 60 Minutes, a TV movie titled A Matter of Life and Death (1981) was made about her work, she authored numerous publications, and she participated in many speaking engagements across the country. In her interview, Joy discusses her work and experiences during the height of her recognition. She goes on to discuss the AIDS hospice she operated in York, Pennsylvania — elaborating on some of her most memorable patients and her experiences running a non-profit. Joy talks about her family’s reaction to her homosexuality, and her experiences as a lesbian in Central Pennsylvania. In the interview Joy goes on to discuss both challenges and the progress she sees as being significant to the LGBT community. Finally, Joy discusses the role of spirituality in her life.