Janet Cooper (left) and Sam Deetz (right) - circa 1976

Date
circa 1976

Janet Cooper (left) and Sam Deetz (right), members of the PA Rural Gay Caucus, in  late 1975 or early 1976.

Organizations
General Subjects
Year
Time Period
Format
Origin
Gift of Sam Deetz
Collection
Location
LGBT-011 Sam Deetz Collection

State Employment Committee Meeting Minutes - May 7, 1976

Number of Pages
4
Date
May 7, 1976

The Pennsylvania Governor’s Council for Sexual Minorites was an officially appointed advisory committee created by Governor Milton J. Shapp in 1976. Governor Shapp, by executive order, declared that all executive branch offices and services were to end discriminatory practices and policies against all LGBTQ+ employees, clients, and program of state services. The proposed council was his instrument guaranteeing the implementation of his decree throughout the Executive Branch of state government.

Minutes from the State Employment Subcommittee of the Governor's Council for Sexual Minorities. Minutes include: 

  • Managament Procedures for Affirmative Action
  • Should the State Employment Committee seek to become an in-house committee of the office of administration?
People
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Collection
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection

Governor's Council for Sexual Minorities Press Release - circa 1977

Number of Pages
2
Date
circa 1977

The Pennsylvania Governor’s Council for Sexual Minorites was an officially appointed advisory committee created by Governor Milton J. Shapp in 1976. Governor Shapp, by executive order, declared that all executive branch offices and services were to end discriminatory practices and policies against all LGBTQ+ employees, clients, and program of state services. The proposed council was his instrument guaranteeing the implementation of his decree throughout the Executive Branch of state government.

Press release announcing the establishment of the Gay Youth Committee headed by Janet Cooper.

People
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Collection
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection

Governor's Council for Sexual Minorities Meeting Minutes - May 4, 1977

Number of Pages
8
Date
May 4, 1977

The Pennsylvania Governor’s Council for Sexual Minorites was an officially appointed advisory committee created by Governor Milton J. Shapp in 1976. Governor Shapp, by executive order, declared that all executive branch offices and services were to end discriminatory practices and policies against all LGBTQ+ employees, clients, and program of state services. The proposed council was his instrument guaranteeing the implementation of his decree throughout the Executive Branch of state government.

Minutes for the May 4, 1977 meeting. Minutes include:

  • summary of presentation by Don Borbe on ''Inclusive Ministiries - Disabled Gays, Alcoholic Gays, and Older Gays"
  • annoucements
  • Employment Committe Report
  • Lesgilations Committee Report
  • Summary of Reorganization of Committees
  • Attendence policy 
  • updates on specific members
  • future progroms discussion
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Collection
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection

Gay Coordinating Society of Berks County, Reading (GCS Berks) Newsletter - November 1975

Number of Pages
9
Date
November 1975

Founded in December of 1974, the Gay Coordinating Society of Berks County, Reading, PA (GCS Berks) was a LGBTQ+ activist organization in the Berks County area and a fundamental part of the Pennsylvania Rural Gay Caucus. The newsletter was a way to inform members and community members about LGBTQ+ issues.

Noteworthy in this issue:

  • GCS Berks Art Alliance establishes National Gay Art Alliance and plans National Gay Art Show (p. 7)
People
Year
Time Period
Format
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Collection
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection

PA Rural Gay Caucus Report - March 1976

Number of Pages
4
Date
March 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.” The newsletter was used as outreach to the Central PA LGBTQ community. Highlights of this report include:

  • Plans for Gay Lobby Day
  • Dyketactics group protests film "The Snuff"
  • Efforts to pass Human Relations Act in Reading, PA
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Places
Events
Year
Time Period
Format
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Collection
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection

PA Rural Gay Caucus Report - January 1976

Number of Pages
4
Date
January 1976
The Pennsylvania Rural Gay Caucus is an association of interested individuals and groups, formed with the objective of promulgating the concerns and freedoms of gay people and all sexual minorities. The report/newsletter was used as outreach to the Central PA LGBTQ community. In this report, the PA Rural Gay Caucus provides meeting minutes from the December meeting where they discussed the monthly newsletter, political tactics against Senate Bills 196 and 743, expansion of the Pittsburg Gay News to Philadelphia, and the expansion of the Northeast Metropolitan Community Church.
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People
Year
Time Period
Format
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Collection
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection

Gay Era (Lancaster, PA) - May 1977

Number of Pages
31
Date
May 1977

The Gay Era was a newspaper that reported news of interest from around the United States, with a specific focus on the news surrounding the gay community in Central PA, and provided a central forum for gay communities that were spread out across Central PA. Noteworthy news in this issues:

  • "What is Obscenity?" (p. 3)
  • "Gay Rights Ordinance Attempted in Allentown ("p. 5)
  • "Lobbyist Kohn Denies Charges "(p. 6)
  • "PA Rural Gay Resource List" (p. 12)
  • We Are Not the Criminals: Support Human Rights Day (p. 13)
  • "Dyke Cooper" (p. 15)
  • "Gay Awareness at MSC" (p. 19)
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Year
Time Period
Format
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Periodicals Collection

Gay Era (Lancaster, PA) - February 1977

Number of Pages
25
Date
February 1977

The Gay Era was a newspaper that reported news of interest from around the United States, with a specific focus on the news surrounding the gay community in Central PA, and provided a central forum for gay communities that were spread out across Central PA. Noteworthy news in this issues:

  • "State Council for Sexual Minorities Establishes Complaint Center" (p. 2)
  • "Equality for Gays Voted at West Chester State" (p. 2)
  • "Rural Caucus Meets in State College" (p. 7)
  • "Villanova University's Gays Still Deep in Closet" (p. 7)
  • "So There Are No Sexual Minority Materials in Textbooks" (p. 10)
  • "Reasons for Repeal of Pennsylvania's Voluntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse (Sodomy) Statute" (p. 15)
  • H.O.W. [Homophiles of Williamsport] (p. 17)
  • " 'Prissy' Off-Stage in Marietta" (p. 22)
  • "Rural Gay Resource List" (p. 23)
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People
Year
Time Period
Format
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Periodicals Collection

Gay Era (Lancaster. PA) - November 1976

Number of Pages
17
Date
November 1976

The Gay Era was a newspaper that reported news of interest from around the United States, with a specific focus on the news surrounding the gay community in Central PA, and provided a central forum for gay communities that were spread out across Central PA. Noteworthy news in this issues:

  • "Rural Caucus" (p. 2)
  • "Coming Out" (p. 5)
  • "Dyke Cooper" (p. 6)
  • "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (p. 8)
  • "Rural Gay Resource List" (p. 15)
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Year
Time Period
Format
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Location
LGBT-001 Josephy W. Burns Periodicals Collection

Gay Era (Lancaster, PA) - October 1976

Number of Pages
17
Date
October 1976

The Gay Era was a newspaper that reported news of interest from around the United States, with a specific focus on the news surrounding the gay community in Central PA, and provided a central forum for gay communities that were spread out across Central PA. Notable news in this issues:

  • "Trouble in New Hope" (p. 2)
  • "Bar Brawls" (p. 4)
  • "Coming Out" (p. 6)
  • "Gay R.A. Fired" (p. 9)
  • "Sodomy Repeals" (p. 11)
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Topics
People
Year
Time Period
Format
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Periodicals Collection

Gay Era (Lancaster, PA) - July 1976

Number of Pages
17
Date
July 1976

The Gay Era was a newspaper that reported news of interest from around the United States, with a specific focus on the news surrounding the gay community in Central PA, and provided a central forum for gay communities that were spread out across Central PA. Noteworthy news in this issues:


  • "Pennsylvania Gay Pride Week: Legislators Freak Out" (p.3)
  • "Dyke Cooper" (p.6)
  • "Gay Pride Seventy-Six" (p.8)
  • "Rural Caucus Report" (p.10)

 

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Year
Time Period
Format
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Periodicals Collection

Gay Era (Lancaster, PA) - June 1976

Number of Pages
16
Date
June 1976

The Gay Era was a newspaper that reported news of interest from around the United States, with a specific focus on the news surrounding the gay community in Central PA, and provided a central forum for gay communities that were spread out across Central PA. Notable news in this issues:

  • In the News (p.3)
  • Rural Caucus Report (p.6)
  • "James Dean: Was He or Wasn't He?" (p.5)
  • Stonewall Remembered (p.10)
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Year
Time Period
Format
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns Periodicals Collection
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Periodicals Collection

Gay Era (Lancaster, PA) - March 1976

Number of Pages
13
Date
March 1976

The Gay Era was a newspaper that reported news of interest from around the United States, with a specific focus on the news surrounding the gay community in Central PA, and provided a central forum for gay communities that were spread out across Central PA. This is an anniversary issue. Noteworthy news in this issue includes:

  • "State Hiring Regulations" (p.3)
  • "Dyke Cooper" (p. 5)
  • Rural Caucus Report (p. 7)
  • "Shapp and Shrinks" (p. 9)
  • "Reading (PA) Items" (p. 9) 
  • "Council on Sexual Minorities" (p. 10)
  • "Lebanon Items [Gay League of Lebanon]" (p. 11)
  • "Pennsylvania Gays - It's Time" (p. 12)
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Places
Year
Time Period
Format
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Location
LGBT - 001 Joseph W. Burns Periodicals Collection

Gay Era (Lancaster, PA) - May 1976

Number of Pages
16
Date
May 1976

The Gay Era was a newspaper that reported news of interest from around the United States, with a specific focus on the news surrounding the gay community in Central PA, and provided a central forum for gay communities that were spread out across Central PA. Notable news in this issues:

 

  • "Wheatland Zapped" (p. 4)
  • "Rural Caucus Report" (p. 5)
  • "State College [PA]" (p. 5)
  • "Reading [PA]" (p. 5)
  • "A Personal Expression of Gay Oppression from Lancaster, PA" (p. 12)
  • "Northumberland [PA]" (p. 13)

 

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Year
Time Period
Format
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Location
LGBT - 001 Joseph W. Burns Periodicals Collection

Gay Era (Lancaster, PA) - February 1975

Number of Pages
25
Date
February 1975

The Gay Era was a newspaper that reported news of interest from around the United States, with a specific focus on the news surrounding the gay community in Central PA, and provided a central forum for gay communities that were spread out across Central PA. Notable news in this issues:

  • Gay Health Column (p.5)
  • After a Year of Activism (p.6)
  • Rural Caucus Meeting (p.7)
  • Philadelphia Bill Defeated (p.7)
  • Phila. Gay News Begins Publishing (p.7)
  • GUL Holds Election of Officers (p.8)
  • GUL Co-Sponsors Phila. Conference (p.8)
  • Date Set For Gay Lobby Day (p.8)
  • Dyke Cooper Comes to Town (p.9)
  • Of Interest to Gay Women (W.O.W.) (p.9)
  • Plant-Nite at Marietta Avenue (p.19)
  • State Police Investigating Blackmail Racket (p.20)
  • New Peer Counseling Program Begins (p.20)
  • Constructing Gay Pride or Bari's Five Steps to Sainthood (p.23)
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Year
Time Period
Format
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Location
LGBT - 001 Joseph W. Burns Periodicals Collection

Gay Era (Lancaster, PA) - April 1976

Number of Pages
13
Date
April 1976

The Gay Era was a newspaper that reported news of interest from around the United States, with a specific focus on the news surrounding the gay community in Central PA, and provided a central forum for gay communities that were spread out across Central PA.

This issue was labeled incorrectly, and should be April 1976. Noteworthy news in this issue: 

  • "Supreme Court Says 'Nay' on Gay" (p. 1)
  • "Rural Caucus Report" (p. 5)
  • "Governor's Council on Sexual Minorities" (p. 8)
  • "Gay Education Day" (p. 12)
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Year
Time Period
Format
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Location
LGBT - 001 Joseph W. Burns Periodicals Collection