LGBT Oral History 065: LGBT Center History Group Interview

Number of Pages
51
Date
September 16, 2017

The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Center of Central PA (Harrisburg) began to form in the late 90s. To receive fundraising though the National Lesbian and Gay Community Funding Partnership of New York, the founding group was led approximately 600 need-based assessment surveys around Central Pennsylvania. The study covered the eight-county region of Central Pennsylvania. In 1999, the group received a matching grant from the foundation – one out of the two states in the country to get that funding. From this funding, the LGBT group in Harrisburg was able to gain a community center. In this interview, Louie Marven, Ben Dunlap, Marlene Kanuck and Elizabeth Mullaugh speak on their experiences as board members of the LGBT Center in Harrisburg and each describe the functions and communal efforts made by the group, including starting Gay-Straight Alliances in Pennsylvania high schools.

General Subjects
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Louie Marven, Ben Dunlap, Marlene Kanuck, and Elizabeth (Beth) Mullaugh
Collection
Location
LGBT Oral History - LGBT Center History Group Interview - 065

LGBT Oral History 076: Louie Marven

Number of Pages
23
Date
March 29, 2015

Louie Marven moved to central Pennsylvania from his hometown of Wappingers Falls, New York to attend Messiah College in 2003 and has lived in the Harrisburg area ever since. The school’s conservative values and prohibition of “homosexual behavior” made Louie’s time there complicated, and it wasn’t until after he graduated that he came out. He then began working for the LGBT Center, taking on the role of Youth Director and Administrator when the Center merged with Common Roads, and then accepting the position of Executive Director in 2012. In this interview, Louie discusses his experience of being gay at an evangelical Christian college, recalling experiences both as a student and as an alumnus that have caused him to think critically about the specific issues of LGBT inclusion that arise from the environment of the school. He also talks about the issues that he finds most pressing for the LGBT community at the moment, what being out means in terms of his life today, and his hopes for the community’s future.

Topics
People
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Louie Marven
Collection
Location
LGBT Oral History - Marven, Louie - 076