Social Reform and Advocacy

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 education and in helping children. With her long-term partner, Beth, Kerry adopted two daughters (Hana and Gabrielle) from China. They were one of the last lesbian couples to adopt out of China. Kerry founded or helped found several LGBT organizations, including the Center LGBTQA Support Network and the Gay Affirming Interfaith Network. Kerry also organizes “Drag Bingo” fundraiser event for the State College High School and her identification as a Quaker. Kerry speaks to her experience in a litigation regarding homosexual couples where the ACLU picked up their case and won the suit, eventually changing numerous policies regarding unmarried couples and insurance. Finally, Kerry discusses her fears regarding the current political climate as well as the Trump presidency.

James Tompkins was born and grew up in Southern Pennsylvania, where he lived on a farm with his one brother, three half siblings, and parents. In this interview, James discusses his experiences coming out to his family, his art, and various bars and gay organizations in York and nearby areas. He also discusses his experiences having a partner with AIDS and working through ACT UP and other well-known organizations to protest in the 70s, 80s, and 90s on the local, state, and national level.

Deb Fulham-Winston was born in 1952 in Boston, Massachusetts. She grew up in an Irish-Catholic family with eight siblings, and spent the first half of her schooling in Catholic school. Early on, she had a strong conviction for feminism and social justice which drew her away from the Catholic Church and inspired her to attend Bates College for two years and then transfer to the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, where she was one of the first 13 women to graduate. She has spent all of her career working with non-profits in the development sector, including agencies such as Planned Parenthood, various college fundraising organizations, and a variety of others. During this interview, she primarily discusses her experience at SCAAN [South-Central Aids Assistance Network], and her experiences with the social connotations of working with an AIDS foundation, the struggles that individuals with AIDS went through, the functions and day-to-day activities of SCAAN, and the annual AIDS Walk in Harrisburg, which she organized.

Frederick (Rick) Schulze was born in Delaware in the 60s and spent his childhood and adolescence in the 70s in the Harrisburg area. He first talks about his complicated relationship with his family and his gay identity, mentioning his mother’s support and positivity, his dad’s indifference, and other members’ repulsion. He then goes onto to discuss his first interactions with gay related material and media and his escapades cruising on State Street in Harrisburg. After high school, Rick went onto Mansfield University and was instrumental in forming The Mansfield Gay Alliance, first gay organization there. He describes the many abuses and acts of discrimination both he and his classmates faced. He goes on to detail the AIDS related volunteer work he did in the area, discussing the impact of the AIDS crisis on Central Pennsylvania. Rick worked closely with the organizations SCAAN, South Central AIDS Assistance Network, and AIDS Resource and then went on to work with the Department of Health in HIV/AIDS Counseling during the 90’s. During this time, his mother and Hope Nancarrow, the mother of Mary Nancarrow, worked closely with PFLAG, Parents and Friends of Gays and Lesbians, and he talks about the speaking circuits she went on at different churches and community spaces and touches on the threats that have been posed to the both of them. He also talks about various activists and their interactions with anti-gay leaders such as Anita Bryant in the area. After his public service, Rick went on to a career in academia, eventually settling in as a professor in Health Ed and Public Health at Lock Haven University. Outside of the classroom, he works closely with students on an LGBTQ related focus group and has been instrumental in instating gender name change policies and gender neutral bathrooms at the school. Rick’s story is a reminder to us all about the importance of public service and the impact just one person can have on a community and geographical region.

Patricia ''Pat'' Mastandrea Sanders was a hair stylist in Boston before moving up to advertising and marketing for 300 salons across the country. One fateful day she slipped on an ice cube and hit her head. Her life changed forever. Unable to work due to memory loss, Pat decided to give her time to various AIDS/HIV advocacy groups in the Lancaster County area. Pat worked with the Lancaster AIDS Project, Betty Finney House, and American Red Cross Foundation’s yearly Oscar Party. She hand wrote hundreds of letters each year to celebrities requesting donated materials and the response she got was incredible. Pat also discusses LGBTQ in the Age of the Trump/Pence presidency.

Gary Hufford (born 1952) and George Centini (born March 11, 1937) are a married couple living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In this interview, George and Gary recount their time in the gay bar and restaurant business. Both grew up in the restaurant business and became business partners together. As successful restauranteurs, they provide insight in the running of their business, the Tally-Ho and the Loft, as well as other local gay bars. They also speak about employing family and friends as workers and employing both gay and straight workers. They also speak about how both of their families were supportive of their relationship and are both part of the other’s family. They liken Lancaster to a “bubble” where many outside problems did not affect them strongly. Even so, they speak about the impact of the AIDS crisis on the young people who often visited their bars and the loss of many in the gay community in Lancaster. Additionally, they talk about their annual trips to Key West in order to live the “gay lifestyle.” Finally, they speak about their choice to finally marry after many years together.

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 his relationship with Jerry Brennan. While Steven was not active in S.C.A.A.N. (South Central Aids Assistance Network), he was involved in a group that later became S.C.A.A.N. Also of note, Steven talks about his first time with a man, life as a male nurse in the 1970s and 80s, growing up Jewish, Jerry Brennan’s death, attending Pride festivals in NYC, and being a single gay man in Harrisburg.

Hannah-Smith Brubaker was born in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, and spent most of her childhood in Port Allegany, McKean County. She began to identify as a lesbian at the start of college, and she entered the political sphere for the first time when she participated in the Second National March on Washington in 1987. While on a study abroad program in Europe for about four years, Hannah worked for Onlywomen Press, a lesbian separatist book publishing company based in London. There she met Eileen, with whom she stayed for 16 years and had a son and daughter. Four years later in 2010, Hannah met Deborah, a Mennonite, with whom she is now happily married and maintaining a farm. In this interview, Hannah details her experiences of coming out as a lesbian to her friends and family, focusing upon her father, a Methodist minister. She chronicles her path of political activism, including a formal interrogation she experienced when departing from England on a plane. She also discusses the challenges of going through second parent adoption, and the importance of community, love, and acceptance in transforming the society of today.

Mark Segal is a gay rights activist, author, and journalist for the Philadelphia Gay News. In this interview, Mark discusses his political involvement in the gay rights movement in Pennsylvania in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Particularly, he focuses heavily on his work with Governor Milton Shapp, the first United States governor to publicly support the LGBT community. While discussing his life as a gay rights activist, Mark recounts many personal stories and memories such as disrupting popular television talk shows, working alongside Walter Cronkite, and signing up to become a Pennsylvania state trooper as an act of political resistance. Throughout, Mark stresses the important but often understated role Pennsylvania played in advancing civil rights for the LGBT community, while emphasizing that his state still has a long way to go.

Amy Skillman talks about her childhood growing up in Michigan in a large Episcopalian family and the influence of spirituality in her life, both as a teenager and an adult. Amy went to an all-girls school where rumors circulated about certain boarders and a book they were reading. Amy believes that this was likely her earliest introduction to LGBT alternatives to heterosexuality. Even before coming out and joining the LGBT community, Amy had frequented gay bars as a young woman and lost many friends to AIDS. However, it would be many years before she herself would come to terms with her own identity. Amy discusses falling in love with a woman for the first time at the age of forty. She describes coming out to her parents and siblings as both a challenge and a relief. Amy also discusses her activism and her interest in folklore, which is rooted in witnessing inequities as a child in the African American community in Detroit. While a graduate student at UCLA, Amy raised money for AIDS charities and for the people of Nicaragua. Amy also talks about the play she helped produce about and starring LGBT youth. Currently, she is the Director of Goucher College’s Masters Program in Cultural Sustainability.

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.

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 retreats, where she first encountered anti-gay sentiment. Although she knew she was attracted to girls from an early age, Cathy did not act on these feelings until age 22, when she entered her first long-term relationship. Cathy worked as a teacher in Carlisle, PA, but stopped teaching after suffering a head injury that affected her speech. Currently, she does secretarial work for a friend and ally at Goldcrafter’s Corner. Cathy was involved with the Pride planning committee and sang with the Central Pennsylvania Women’s Chorus. In this interview, Cathy discusses the process of coming out to herself, her family, and her friends. She also describes the Harrisburg-area lesbian community in the early 1990s and the problems and successes of the Women’s Chorus throughout her years of involvement. Cathy also discusses the general acceptance of lesbians in mainstream culture, but condemns the exclusion of transgender issues from the LGBT community and the transphobia that she sees as a major issue of the day.

Dr. Eric Selvey was born and raised in Harrisburg, PA. He attended optometry school in Philadelphia, but returned to the Harrisburg area after graduating. In his interview he discusses his relationship with his mother and grandmother — and coming out to them in his younger days. He goes on to discuss his prolific activist work including his involvement with Lily White and Company, which raised thousands of dollars for local AIDS related organizations including SCAAN and other gay causes. Dr. Selvey worked on the Harrisburg Human Relations Commission, which fostered community relationships between the diverse Harrisburg populations. He was an active member of SCAAN, and also worked to create the local LGBT publication Crossroads. Dr. Selvey explains that he is most proud of his work on developing Harrisburg’s Pride Festival, and his instrumental role in organizing the first Fall Achievement Benefit (FAB) in Harrisburg. The interview concludes with a discussion of changes the LGBT community has encountered and what challenges they continue to face.

Eva O’Diam was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1953 to her mother, a school teacher, and her father, an engineer. Growing up in conservative, rural Ohio, Eva lost her father at the age of 12 and moved to Covington, Ohio where she graduated from high school. At Manchester College, where she earned a degree in sociology, Eva was interested in ministry but grew disillusioned with the church during her last year of college and became a probation officer in Wabash, Indiana. About 18 months later, a Church of the Brethren pastor influenced Eva to return to the ministry, and she has since worked at various positions in pastoring, alternative ministry, and HIV/AIDS assistance. She currently lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with her partner of 23 years, Mary Kelly, and is looking for work as a pastor again. In this interview, Eva discusses her slow personal journey to accept her sexual orientation, the challenge to make her Metropolitan Community Church [MCC] more inclusive of racial, sexual, and ability minorities, as well as her nephew’s unfortunate death that united her family and church community. Regarding LGBT issues, Eva is optimistic for the future but admits that the LGBT community needs to adopt a broader focus, be more inclusive, and address growing challenges for older adults.

Cindy Lou Mitzel was born in April of 1942 in York County, Pennsylvania as the youngest in a big family. Growing up, Cindy knew that she felt attraction towards women but married a man just after graduating from high school and had three children. Throughout her life, Cindy has been involved in the National Organization for Women [NOW], the Lavender Letter, the Lesbian Alliance, and the Central Pennsylvania Women’s Chorus, among other women’s and gay rights activist organizations. Cindy remained married for many years before separating from her husband and, after the age of 40, began dating other women. In this interview, Cindy discusses coming out to her adult children, her involvement in the passage of a gay rights ordinance in York city, and how LGBT-identified individuals practiced safety while community building. She also mentions the importance of coming out, her experiences at the Metropolitan Community Church, and her attendance of the first Central Pennsylvania Pride Festival. Today, Cindy is pleased with the recent affirmative gay marriage laws, which were once thought “impossible” for the LGBT community.

The interview performed on March 23, 2015 is with Oral History project volunteer, Michele Metcalf and long-time LGBT activist and self-identified gay man, Phil Wenger. Wenger was born and raised in Ethiopia in a large Mennonite missionary family and returned to his family’s roots in Central Pennsylvania when he was 12. In this interview, he speaks about his coming out, his advocacy with Pride and the Harrisburg LGBT Center, and with the Lancaster AIDS Project. He goes on to speak about how all of these factors have affected his life, life path, and relationships.

David Walker was born in 1946 in Lancaster County, where he grew up in a strict Presbyterian family and always knew that he was different. He studied to be a teacher at Lebanon Valley College when the school was more fundamentalist, but after encountering difficulty finding a teaching job, David started working in broadcasting at WITF, where he encountered a supportive creative community where he wasn’t the only gay person, which he enjoyed greatly until his retirement in 2005. David has also worked with Open Stage of Harrisburg and Theatre Harrisburg doing sound design for performances, as well as with various musical groups, including working as the artistic director of the Harrisburg Gay Men’s Chorus. In this interview, David discusses these experiences, as well as his family life, what it was like to be gay in Central Pennsylvania from the ‘60s to now, and his current work in the community, which includes activism in support of marriage equality and non-discrimination laws and volunteering at the LGBT Center. David currently lives in Hummelstown with Jack, his partner of 36 years.

Joseph "Joe" W. Burns is an LGBT activist who actively participated in LGBT organizations, marches, and protests especially throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s. In this interview, Joe discusses his involvement in several of those LGBT and women’s rights organizations, including Berks County, Allentown NOW, the Gay Line, and Le-Hi-Ho, of which he was a founding member. He also recalls his involvement in attempting to have a gay rights ordinance passed through the Human Rights Commission and Pennsylvania Rural Gay Caucus for the Lehigh Valley area, which unfortunately failed. Additionally, in this interview Joe considers the importance of talking and listening to women in order to promote inclusive activism. In terms of his personal life, Joe briefly talks about his relationships with two of his lovers, both which sadly ended in divorce. In the future, Joe hopes to learn about what happened to the Le-Hi-Ho library and his fellow activists from Berks County.

Sharon Mahar Potter was born in Buffalo, New York and raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania, commuting to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for the first time when she was offered a position to build the early intervention system for disabled children in the city. Profoundly moved by a young gay man’s speech in a meeting of the House Education Committee, Sharon established the Bi, Gay, Lesbian Youth Association of Harrisburg [BGLYA], later going on to receive a Master’s degree in Human Sexuality, working as the sexuality consultant for the Office of Developmental Programs of Pennsylvania, and then finally moving to California, where she resides today. In this interview, she recalls many successes and triumphs with her students in BGLYA that include issues such as gay marriage, suicide, HIV/AIDS, and homelessness. She won the Fall Achievement Benefit [FAB] award for her work in the gay community and established a scholarship with Melinda Eash for LGBT graduating high school seniors. Sharon emphasizes the variety of support options for the LGBT community today compared to those available in the past, praising the work of the Center in its development and efforts.

Ann Van Dyke was born in a farming community in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, where she was raised in a devout Methodist home. After moving to Mechanicsburg to work at the Methodist Home for Children at age 19, Ann was exposed to the more diverse Harrisburg community that challenged the ideals of her upbringing. She went on to study at the Middletown campus of Pennsylvania State University and then moved to Harrisburg to work for the State Human Relations Commission. In this work, Ann offered trainings about hate crimes and organized hate groups, collaborating with several major organizations such as the Community Responders Network and Equality PA as well as with the U.S. Department of Justice until her retirement in 2012. In this interview, Ann discusses her experience identifying and challenging her homophobic beliefs that were engrained during her childhood. Ann describes how she began to identity as a straight ally when several of her close friends, family members, and, eventually, foster son came out as gay. She also describes the legislative difficulties the Commission faced in preventing LGBT hate crimes, especially when sexual orientation and gender identity were added to the state’s list of protected classes, but then were later repealed.

Video footage of this interview is unavailable at this time. Please contact archives@dickinson.edu for more information.

Alanna Berger and Blaise Liffick are the co-founders of the Silent Witness Peacekeepers Organization. Alanna was born in 1954 in Hummelstown, PA. Before committing full time to Silent Witness, Alanna by profession worked as a systems analyst after having received undergraduate degrees in philosophy and computer science. Alanna also serves as an adjunct professor at Lebanon Valley College in the Women and Gender Studies department. Blaise Liffick was born in southern Indiana (his birthdate was not mentioned). Blaise by profession is a faculty member at Millersville University in the Computer Science department after receiving his doctorate in computer science from Temple University. Alana Berger and Blaise Liffick are married. Alana and Blaise are a part of the congregation of the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg. In 2005, under Alanna’s initiation, the Silent Witness Peacekeepers Organization was established as a service to peacefully alleviate conflict between street harassers and the LGBT community during special events and ceremonies. Their work does not emphasize anti-protesting, but conflict averse strategies to guarantee the safety of all parties. In this interview, Alanna and Blaise discuss their path to starting this organization, several fond memories of their work, as well as, discuss the presence of street preachers and protest organizations like Westboro Baptist Church. They discuss their commitment to the LGBT community and their plans for the future of Silent Witness Peacekeepers.

Jon Johnson was born in Southern Lancaster county, Pennsylvania and lived on his family’s farm in his early life. Charles (Charlie) Maser was born in Brownstown in Lancaster County Pennsylvania. Jon spent most of his life in Pennsylvania. He went to the York Academy of Arts in York, Pennsylvania and then worked in the Bon Ton department store doing store displays and visual merchandising. Charlie attended dental school in Washington D.C. and then enlisted in the Air Force. He was stationed in Charleston, North Carolina and then later on in Germany, and finally in Madrid. Jon and Charlie met in July of 1975 at a bar called the Fiddler when they were introduced through a mutual friend. In this interview they discuss what it was like to come out in rural Pennsylvania in the 70’s and the challenges of living in an area that was very religious. Charlie also discusses his experience being gay in the military and how surprisingly he did not face much prejudice as a result of his sexuality, especially while in Europe. The couple also reflects on the difficulty of losing friends to AIDS in the 80’s and the type of activism they became involved with during that crisis. In conclusion, Jon and Charlie express that they felt lucky that they had not faced a lot of prejudice in their lives, because of their relationship, and discuss how they feel that there are not a lot of differences between their relationship and a relationship between a straight couple.

Barry Loveland was born December 28th, 1956 in Schenectady, New York. After graduating from high school, Barry attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he obtained a Bachelors of Science degree in Architecture and Building Sciences. Following his undergraduate career, Barry got accepted at Eastern Michigan University, where he earned a Masters in Historic Preservation Planning and became very active in the LGBT community. Since his participation, Barry has been an integral member of this community. From developing Montgomery, Alabama’s first gay organization to the creation of Common Roads, Barry has demonstrated his drive and his passion for the success and the advancement of the LGBT community. In this interview, Barry discusses in great length the numerous activist roles that he has possessed in his lifetime as well as the opportunities resulting from his selfless work. Also in this interview, Barry reveals the details of his own personal lifelong journey of coming out and what support systems he uncovered along the way as he formulated his own identity.

Born in 1951, Mary Nancarrow grew up in the Harrisburg area, and from a young age, she has been involved in the movements for LGBT and women’s rights, especially for Central Pennsylvania. She has worked extensively with NOW, serving as the president for Pennsylvania NOW in 1984 and 1985. As part of this involvement, she helped to plan the first march on Washington for LGBT rights, which was eventually held in 1987. Additionally, she was one of the founders of the Pennsylvania Rural Gay Caucus, and she was also very involved in the drafting and passing of the Harrisburg Human Relations Ordinance, ensuring that the legislation provided protection against discrimination for LGBT people. She recently retired from the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission after over 20 years. In this interview, she discusses what it was like to be gay in the ’70s, ’80s, and ‘90s, particularly in the Central Pennsylvania area, recalling discrimination she and others faced during that time period, her struggles with coming out to her parents, notable events of the era and her personal reaction to them, and her dedication to LGBT and women’s rights and its role in her life.

Mark Stoner, born in 1959, grew up and currently lives in Lancaster, where he has worked as a graphic designer for the past 30 years. He came out as gay early in his college years at Penn State University and thereafter became involved in Lancaster’s gay community, both socially and politically. He was among the founders of the Pink Triangle Coalition and worked extensively with the organization for years. Additionally, he has been involved with establishing the first Central Pennsylvania Pride and Lancaster Pride, the Lancaster-area gay publication Inqueery, and the Lancaster City Human Relations Commission’s protections against anti-LGBT discrimination. In this interview, he discusses gay life from the late ‘70s to the present and its influence on his personal life, including his experiences coming out in a supportive environment, his personal relationship with religion over the years, the impact of the emergence of AIDS in the ‘80s, and political efforts to end anti-LGBT discrimination in Lancaster.