Fall Achievement Benefit (FAB)

The Pride Festival of Central PA is an annual event celebrating the LGBTQ+ community in the Central Pennsylvania region. Founded in 1992, the festival takes place every year on the last Saturday of July in the city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Each July, approximately 5,000 individuals travel to downtown Harrisburg and attend the Pride Festival. It is the largest Pride celebration between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

The Pride Guide was the offical guide of all activities and events of Central PA Pride Festival (PrideFest) held at South RiverFront Park in Harrisburg, PA on July 27, 2002. 

Crossroads Magazine was a bi-monthly local LGBTQ+ magazine created, edited, and published by Dr. Eric Selvey. The goal of Crossroads was to bring together the LGBTQ+ community of Central Pennsylvania by creating a space to showcase the efforts and talents of local LGBTQ+ organizations, people, and events, with all articles being voluntary contributions. Crossroads was published from June 1996 – October 1997.

In this Education & Gay/Lesbian Issues Issues:

• Gay Dollars! A look at this Summer's Gay and Lesbian Entrepreneurial Spirit
• Lynn Lavner Interview

Crossroads Magazine was a bi-monthly local LGBTQ+ magazine created, edited, and published by Dr. Eric Selvey. The goal of Crossroads was to bring together the LGBTQ+ community of Central Pennsylvania by creating a space to showcase the efforts and talents of local LGBTQ+ organizations, people, and events, with all articles being voluntary contributions. Crossroads was published from June 1996 – October 1997.

In this Issue: 

• A Look Back at the 1970s
• The Way We Were...And How We Came to Be
• Kate Clinton - An Exclusive Interview

Crossroads Magazine was a bi-monthly local LGBTQ+ magazine created, edited, and published by Dr. Eric Selvey. The goal of Crossroads was to bring together the LGBTQ+ community of Central Pennsylvania by creating a space to showcase the efforts and talents of local LGBTQ+ organizations, people, and events, with all articles being voluntary contributions. Crossroads was published from June 1996 – October 1997.

In this Love & Romance Issue: 

• The Pennsmen and All Things Leather
• Moving to and from Harrisburg
• Streisand's Mirrored Talesman
• Gathering What Was Once Theirs
• Photo Essay - FAB '96

The LGBT Center of Central PA, housed in Harrisburg, PA, provides services, programs, and community space for the LGBT community in the region. These materials represent these initiatives, including the Common Roads program for youth and young adults, its predecessor BiGLYAH, and FAB (Fall Achievement Benefit). This collection also contains materials regarding the founding of the Center, publications produced by the Center and other regional LGBT initiatives (such as Central Alternative, Out and About in Central PA, and the @ The Center newsletter), news clippings regarding local LGBT issues, and other documentation of LGBT organizations and programming in Central PA.

This collection contains material related to the establishment of the LGBT Center of Central PA and the activities of the AIDS Community Alliance. It also includes a 1995-1996 Gay and Lesbian Switchboard of Harrisburg directory, a flyer for the FAB Fall Achievement Benefit in 1996, documents from a 1999 LGBT rights program, and three matchbooks from gay bars once in Harrisburg, PA.

This collection contains documents from the Gay and Lesbian Switchboard of Harrisburg (GLSH). Items include a Fall Achievement Benefit Program, information on the Alternative Central (a LGBTQ+ positive publication published by the GLSH), GLSH organizational maps and website information, a program and fundraiser letter for Pride 2005, and a series of Central PA Gay and Lesbian FilmFest posters. Digital copies of these items are held on the thumb drive in this collection.

Dr. Eric Selvey was born and raised in Harrisburg, PA. He attended optometry school in Philadelphia, but returned to the Harrisburg area after graduating. In his interview he discusses his relationship with his mother and grandmother — and coming out to them in his younger days. He goes on to discuss his prolific activist work including his involvement with Lily White and Company, which raised thousands of dollars for local AIDS related organizations including SCAAN and other gay causes. Dr. Selvey worked on the Harrisburg Human Relations Commission, which fostered community relationships between the diverse Harrisburg populations. He was an active member of SCAAN, and also worked to create the local LGBT publication Crossroads. Dr. Selvey explains that he is most proud of his work on developing Harrisburg’s Pride Festival, and his instrumental role in organizing the first Fall Achievement Benefit (FAB) in Harrisburg. The interview concludes with a discussion of changes the LGBT community has encountered and what challenges they continue to face.

Sharon Mahar Potter was born in Buffalo, New York and raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania, commuting to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for the first time when she was offered a position to build the early intervention system for disabled children in the city. Profoundly moved by a young gay man’s speech in a meeting of the House Education Committee, Sharon established the Bi, Gay, Lesbian Youth Association of Harrisburg [BGLYA], later going on to receive a Master’s degree in Human Sexuality, working as the sexuality consultant for the Office of Developmental Programs of Pennsylvania, and then finally moving to California, where she resides today. In this interview, she recalls many successes and triumphs with her students in BGLYA that include issues such as gay marriage, suicide, HIV/AIDS, and homelessness. She won the Fall Achievement Benefit [FAB] award for her work in the gay community and established a scholarship with Melinda Eash for LGBT graduating high school seniors. Sharon emphasizes the variety of support options for the LGBT community today compared to those available in the past, praising the work of the Center in its development and efforts.

Pink Triangle Coalition (PTC) was created in 1991 as a non-religious, LGBTQ+ civil rights advocacy and social organization in the City of Lancaster. The Coalition was instrumental in getting sexual orientation non-discrimination protection added to the human relations ordinance in 1991, and in creating a new city Human Relations Commission to enforce the ordinance in 2001. The Coalition dissolved shortly thereafter.

The Lancaster Inqueery was the PTC newsletter. Notable articles in this issue are: 

• ''Have a FABulous Night and Help Benefit Local Lesbigay Groups''
• ''Millenium March for Equality is Sure to Be a Historic Event''

Pink Triangle Coalition (PTC) was created in 1991 as a non-religious, LGBTQ+ civil rights advocacy and social organization in the City of Lancaster. The Coalition was instrumental in getting sexual orientation non-discrimination protection added to the human relations ordinance in 1991, and in creating a new city Human Relations Commission to enforce the ordinance in 2001. The Coalition dissolved shortly thereafter.

The Lancaster Inqueery was the PTC newsletter.

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.

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.

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.

This issue has an transcription of an interview with Suzanne Westenhoefer.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Dan Miller was born in 1956 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He earned his BA in Accounting from Elizabethtown College, later going on to get his MA in Finance from Penn State University. In October of 1990, after working for Donald L. DeMuth Professional Management Consultants as an accountant, Dan was fired for being gay. After the trial process, which Miller did not win, he continued to be an activist within the LGBT Community of Central PA. Miller ran for mayor of Harrisburg, PA in 2013. While he was not successful in that election, he has held numerous positions of leadership through the LGBT Community of Central PA.

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.

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.

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.

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.