Becky Boone, who identifies as heterosexual, was raised in a religious family that was accepting of homosexuality, although they rarely discussed it. Her involvement with the Pembroke United Church of Christ in Harrisburg and as a parent of a...

Mary Nancarrow grew up in a suburb of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in the 1950s and 1960s with divorced parents and two siblings. After graduating from Shippensburg University, she became prominent in the women’s movement and the LGBT movement in...

Peggy Allan grew up in Oregon, where she attended Northwest Christian College for a year before marrying and having two sons with her first husband, Gary, a pastor. After 10 years of marriage, while the two were living together in Northern...

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...

Ray Davis was born on April 30th, 1954 in Bethlehem, PA. After attending Catholic school, Ray went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in ornamental horticulture from Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, PA. After moving to...

Cathy Nelson was born in Brooklyn, New York, and moved to Staten Island, New York, at the age of two with her strict Italian-Swedish family. As a child, Cathy loved music and did well in school. She also participated in Catholic youth group...

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...

Jude Sharp was born in November of 1947 in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania and graduated from the Philadelphia High School for Girls. She then attended the Tyler College of Art and studied the art of making jewelry. When she was 21, Jude married...

This is an interview with Steven Leshner of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He conveys his struggles of coming out in the 1970s and being a gay man in central PA through a series of anecdotes. Steven also talks extensively about his work at Dignity and...

Kerry Wiessman was born on October 26, 1954 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. She grew up in Wayne, New Jersey in a lake community. Kerry discusses her upbringing in a large family and her relationship with her mother. Kerry also discusses her career in...

Cassidy Frazee was born in 1957 in Cedar Lake, Indiana. Cassidy grew up in Cedar Lake with her younger sister, father and mother. They had a Catholic upbringing, but Cassidy explains she was no longer interested in religious affairs by the time...

Robert Sevensky was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1948. Despite having an unpleasant experience in early education and having financial issues, Robert persevered and ended up pursuing an academic career in college. After two years at the...