LGBT History Project: LGBT-089 Walter J. Lear Collection

Number of Pages
5
Date
1976 - 2008. 2010. 2018

Born on May 4, 1923, in Brooklyn, NY, Walter J. Lear was a physician and activist for healthcare reform and LGBTQ+ rights. He received his B.S. from Harvard in 1943, his M.D. from Long Island College of Medicine in 1946, and his M.S. in Hospital Administration from Columbia University School of Public Health in 1948. Lear came out in January of 1976 in the first issues of the Philadelphia Gay News.

Lear held many public health positions in Pennsylvania including, but not limited to, Deputy City Health Commissioner for Philadelphia (1964), State Regional Health Commissioner (1971), and acting executive director of Philadelphia General Hospital. He also founded the Institute of Social Medicine and Community Health (circa 1975) and was one of the four founders of the Maternity Care Coalition in Philadelphia (1980).

As an activist, Lear’s dedication to healthcare and LGBTQ+ rights intersected. His activism included, but is not limited to: Chairperson to the Gay Public Health Workers Caucus of the American Public Health Association (1975-1978); Board of Directors member for the Gay Community Center of Philadelphia, now the William Way Center, (1975-1991); PA State Health Department delegate to the Governor’s Council for Sexual Minorities (1976-1979); co-founder of the Mazzoni Center in Philadelphia (1979); co-founder the Philadelphia AIDS Task Force (1982); and the first openly gay member of the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission (1984-1988).

Lear passed away in 2010.

The contents of this collection are organized into six series: Context of Collection, Correspondence, Photographs, Scholarship, Recognition Events, and Miscellaneous. For more materials related to Walter J. Lear, please see:

Walter J. Lear papers, 1975-1996, John J. Wilcox, Jr. LGBT Archives, William Way LGBT Community Center.

Walter Lear Collection, 1944 – 1963, Joan E. Lynaugh Archives and Special Collections, Barbara Bates Center for the Study of The History of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania.

People
Year
Origin
Gift of John Barns
Collection
Location
LGBT-089 Walter J. Lear Collection

Governor's Council for Sexual Minorities Meeting Minutes - December 15, 1978

Number of Pages
3
Date
December 15, 1978

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 December 15, 1978 meeting. Minutes include: 

  • Update on Prison Project, specifically on LGBTQ+ prisoner sexual assault
  • Update on Advisory Board meeting where Tony Silvestre will present LGBTQ+ issues
  • Committee on Alcoholism report
  • Health Committee Report
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 - July 11, 1978

Number of Pages
5
Date
July 11, 1978

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 July 11, 1978 meeting. Minutes include:

  • Committee Reports
  • Update on the Executive Order update
  • Membership update
  • Human Relations Commission meeting
  • Licensing Boards
  • General Announcements
  • A presentation on Alcoholism
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 - April 12, 1978

Number of Pages
5
Date
April 12, 1978

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 April 12, 1978 meeting. Minutes include: 

  • The future direction of projects undertaken by the council
  • General annoucements
  • Update on the Speaker's Bureau
  • Health Committe Report
  • Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) update
  • Employment and Education Committees Reports 
  • Pride 78 update
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 - January 19, 1978

Number of Pages
5
Date
January 19, 1978

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 January 19, 1978 meeting. Minutes include:

  • Report on the Prison Project
  • Membership
  • Public Information
  • The council's policy on Transsexuality
  • Reports form various committees
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Collection
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection

Governor's Council for Sexual Minorities Meeting Agenda and Minutes - May 27, 1976

Number of Pages
10
Date
May 27, 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.

This was the agenda and minutes from the May 27, 1976 meeting. The opening of the meeting contained a program on Transsexuality, and was followed by Committee Reports and discussion.

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

LGBT Oral History 005: John Barns

Number of Pages
20
Date
December 16, 2015

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.

Organizations
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of John Barns
Collection
Location
LGBT Oral History - Barns, John - 005

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)
Find Other Issues
Places
Year
Time Period
Format
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Location
LGBT - 001 Joseph W. Burns Periodicals Collection