Legal Affairs

SCAAN supported patients with HIV/AIDs to navigate welfare, social security, and financial concerns, as well as providing medical supplies and assisting patients with a verity of task, ranging from light housekeeping to assisting terminal patients with end-of-life planning.

Digital versions of SCAAN Newsletters are unavailable to access online. Please contact archives@dickinson.edu for more information.

This collection was donated anonymously by an individual associated with the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) of the Spirit in Harrisburg, PA.

The Newspapers Clippings series documents issues such as same–sex marriage, the relationship between local churches and LGBTQ+ individuals, LGBTQ+ activism, and discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals. The majority of newspaper clippings are from Central PA newspapers published between 1991 and 2009. The Lancaster Anti-Discrimination Law 1991 series contains photocopies of newspaper clippings that deal with a debate that took place in 1991 regarding a Lancaster City ordinance banning discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals.

This Central PA Pride Festival 1996 series contains documentation regarding the planning of Central PA Pride Festival 1996, and the Metropolitan Community Church of the Spirit series contains a program from a Celebration of Community event held at the MCC of the Spirit on March 21, 2004.

Gretchen Little was born on October 26, 1958 in Elmira, New York. As a child, Gretchen was interested in sports and experimented with wearing women’s clothing in the home. While studying Media Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, Gretchen told some female partners about her interest in presenting as a woman, but remained largely closeted. After law school at the University of Pittsburgh, Gretchen went on to serve as the District Attorney for Sullivan County for several terms and then moved to Harrisburg to work for the Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association. While in Harrisburg, Gretchen worked for TransCentral PA and helped organize the first Keystone Conference. In this interview, Gretchen discusses the vocabulary she used to describe her feelings during the sixties and seventies, her past relationships, her work with TransCentral, and the process of finding an authentic presentation in balance with her professional goals and personal relationships. She also discusses some difficult movements of confrontation, her relationship with organized religion, and her perspective on dating in the future. Gretchen concludes the interview by talking about how she chose her name after a domestic violence advocate she met while she served as the DA.

These materials document the holy union of Nancy Datres and Riitta Lukkari. They also contain court documents and a photograph dealing with harassment Datres and Lukkari experienced from their neighbors.

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.