LGBT Oral History 089: Brian Patchcoski

Number of Pages
26
Date
July 2, 2014

Brian Patchcoski was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, brought up in a very strong Irish, German, and Polish Roman Catholic family. Brian progressed through high school, working for a Catholic church for 10 years and expecting to go into the priesthood until he left the Diocese of Scranton to get his education at the University of Scranton and Penn State, then continuing on to work at Penn State for five years. Afterward, Brian was the Director of the Office of LGBTQ Services for Dickinson College for two years, then accepting a position as Associate Dean of Students and Director of the LGBT Resource Center at Cornell University. In this interview, Brian discusses his journey managing himself, his sexuality, and his religion. He also discusses how he became involved in social work for the LGBT community in college, how supportive faculty influenced his development, and how he has handled the challenges of educating within largely rural, conservative areas. For the future, Brian hopes we will remember the important strides made by past advocates while acknowledging how much farther we need to go to achieve equality. He also praises the LGBT History Project, hoping it will continue to reveal marginalized voices in Central Pennsylvania.

Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Brain Patchcoski
Collection
Location
LGBT Oral History - Patchcoski, Brain - 089

Here's How (Williamsport, PA) - May 1980

Number of Pages
3
Date
May 1980

Homophiles of Williamsport (HOW) was founded in 1975 to be an educational outreach and social group for members of the LGBTQ+ community in the Williamsport, PA area, through monthly meetings, social events, and discussion sessions. The newsletter, Here’s How, was a way to keep group members up-to-date on news and events.

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General Subjects
Year
Time Period
Format
Origin
Gift of Dan Maneval
Collection
Location
LGBT-008 Dan Maneval Collection

LGBT Oral History 107: Anthony Silvestre

Number of Pages
22
Date
September 21, 2016

Anthony Silvestre was born in 1946 in the Bronx in New York. He grew up in a working-class, Italian neighborhood and is familiar with stigma. He began identifying as gay in the sixth grade, but went through school still in the closet. After high school, he entered a Catholic religious group in the Boston area called the Holy Cross Brothers. He left after three years due to his disillusionment with the church, not his sexual orientation. He finished his final year at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, PA, and then attended Penn State as a graduate student.

Silvestre was introduced to LGBT rights while at Penn State, where he remained as student for five or six years. While there, he became active in an organization called the Homophiles of Penn State [HOPS], and, as president, met many of Pennsylvania’s leading activists. He was appointed Chair of the Pennsylvania Council on Sexual Minorities and became a leader in the Pennsylvania Rural Gay Caucus, which supported numerous groups across Pennsylvania. He was appointed Chair of the Pennsylvania State Council and supervised all of the subcommittees, one of which worked with the State Department of Education to create a gay high school in Philadelphia for the young gay kids from the Cuban Mariel Boatlift.

Silvestre worked with the department of Children and Youth Services to ensure that non-straight populations were not short-changed in the bureaucracy. He became executive administrator of the Eromin Center. Eromin [Ero: erotic, and min: minorities] is a center established to provide culturally competent mental health services.

Silvestre discusses how the State Office of Administration during the 80s effectively handled issues related to the AIDs epidemic, including writing policies and conducting sensitivity training around gay issues in various agencies such as the State Police. He interacted with the Governor and made policy with the governor’s aides, adding LGBT language into contracts and policies and requiring reports be generated concerning their efficacy, especially in regard to complaints that were made. He helped establish a community advisory board, probably one of the first in the country dealing with HIV.

Silvestre was hired at the University of Pittsburgh at the Pitt Men’s Study program to supervise their six-month grant sponsored by the NIH—and he still works there, thirty-plus years later. He is now working on non-discrimination policy and education for HIV individuals in nursing homes and home health care.

Silvestre is married and a practicing Buddhist. He has created a group for young LGBT Buddhists, and has organized HIV services through the Ball community by supporting SILK, which is a group for African American young, MSM and trans kids who are members of the Ball community.

Topics
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Anthony Silvestre
Collection
Location
LGBT Oral History - Silvestre, Anthony - 107

Gay Era (Lancaster, PA) - March 1977

Number of Pages
25
Date
March 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:

  • "Aid Sought in Contracts Wording by State Minority Council" (p. 2)
  • National Bill (p. 2)
  • "Senate Bill 83" (p. 9)
  • "PA Rural Gay Resource List" (p. 10)
  • "Gay Couple Denied Use of Campus Chapel" (p. 22)
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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) - 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