Gittings, Barbara

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 April 17, 1979 meeting. Minutes include

• Update on attendance policy
• Status of the Council
• Update on Alcoholism
• Update on Advisory Council presentation to the US Civil Rights Commission
• Update on conference on LGBTQ+ Prisoner Sexual Assault
• Pride '79 planning
• Update on Speaker's Bureau
• Council Membership

Founded in 1968 in California, the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) began as a Christian outreach to meet the needs of the LGBTQ+ community. MCC Harrisburg (later renamed MCC of the Spirit) and MCC Lancaster (later renamed MCC Vision of Hope) were two local parishes in the Central PA Area.

The Freedom Newsletter was a joint publication of MCC Harrisburg and MCC Lancaster. It includes various articles, parish new, and a calendar of events.

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 newsletter was used as outreach to the Central PA LGBTQ community. In this newsletter, the editor describes the purpose of the newsletter and explains how someone could become involved in the Caucus, as well as the different committee they could be involved in.

The newsletter then gives the meeting minutes from the August, which cover:

• the recognition of the in-house Gay Rights Advisory Committee under the Department of Education and the sensitization sessions in the works for upper members of the Pennsylvania Department of Education
• the scheduling of sensativity sessions for student workers at Bloomsburg State College
• an invitation to join the National Coalition of Gay Activities
• follow-up on the responses from senators and representatives about the letter sent to them in July about Gay Pride Week.

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.

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)