2013

Founded in 1994, the Central PA Womyn’s Chorus “brings together a diverse group of women, united by the joy of singing, to celebrate and empower women and to affirm a positive image of lesbians and feminists.” This event program is from the Central PA Womyn's Chorus' summer 2013 concert "Babes on Broadway: The Sequel," performed on June 1st at the Colonial Park United Church of Christ in Harrisburg and on June 2nd at the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg. This performance follows the group's previous "Babes on Broadway" concert in June 2011.

Frank Pizzoli, founder and editor-in-chief of the Central Voice, an LGBT newsletter for the Central PA community, discusses his experiences in the community and how he thinks things have changed over time. He describes some aspects of growing up gay in the 1960s and ‘70s and specifically the small community feel that the early LGBT community had, discussing the changes between then and now. He also discusses some of his experiences of living with HIV and how that affected his life in the early ‘80s, including his role in for formation of the South Central AIDS Assistance Network (SCAAN), which would later become AIDS Community Alliance, and is now under Alder Health Services. Finally, he discusses some of the books and authors that he found important to the LGBT community and their influence.

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

Julie Lobur was born in New Kensington, Pennsylvania in 1955 and moved to Harrisburg in 1970. She received her bachelor’s degree from Penn State and added a master’s degree in computer science in 2003. Julie briefly served in the military in 1983 where she met her wife Marla, but was discharged because she is a lesbian. She currently works as a computer architect for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and an adjunct professor of computer science for Penn State.

Julie discusses her coming out process at the age of 18, in large part aided by the existence of something that might be unique to Harrisburg: a diner – The Commerce Diner – that catered to a gay clientele. Julie details how she met Marla, how they decided to get married in Iowa in 2009, how they came to be part of a set of couples suing the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to recognize their marriage, and how the lawsuit has completed her coming out process. She describes how attitudes have changed towards gay people over the years, and how this “sea change” in acceptance implies increased responsibility for gay people. She shows her gratitude to the gay men of Harrisburg by describing how they established the “gayborhood,” which she believes saved the city from blight. Human and institutional support networks have played a major role throughout Julie’s story.

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.

Michelle Probulus, 43, describes her experience with realizing that she is a lesbian at age 40, while married to a man with whom she had two young sons. She discusses the complications of figuring out her sexuality and coming to the realization she was a lesbian and the subsequent difficulty of coming out to her husband, her children, her family, and her friends. After getting a divorce, she began getting involved in Lancaster’s LGBT community, and she describes her experiences in meeting people and working for greater LGBT acceptance, including starting her own oral history project to collect some of the experiences of women who realized they were lesbians later in life. She discusses how coming out has affected the way she raises her sons as well as her career choices, specifically her new sense of purpose as a guidance counselor in being an advocate and a support system for young people coming out.

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.

Born in Chicago, IL in 1949 to a Catholic family, Mary Merriman joined the Air Force in 1967, where she struggled with her sexuality due to the environment, eventually becoming pregnant and discharging from the military before giving her son up for adoption. She attended Montgomery College in Maryland and received a degree in psychology, after which she and her then-partner moved down to Tampa, FL. Merriman got licensed and ordained as a pastor and started a Metropolitan Community Church in Lakeland, FL in 1983, where she and the congregation dealt with the difficulties of forming an LGBT church in a conservative town as well as the emergence of AIDS. In 1987, she was called to serve as pastor at Vision of Hope MCC in Lancaster, PA, a position which she held until 1995, navigating the creation of Lancaster’s Human Rights Ordinance and the process of buying the church’s current building in Mountville, PA. Since earning her Master of Social Work degree, she has worked as a social worker at Community Care Behavioral Health in Camp Hill, PA. In this interview, she discusses her involvement in the LGBT community, especially in the area of religion, and the advances that the community has made over time.

Transcription of Clarke Hess and Lee Stoltzfuss interview. This transcript is incomplete. Please contact archives@dickinson.edu for more information.

Larry Lee Thomas was born in Burnham, Pennsylvania in 1941, living there for at least 19 years before spending four years in the military, and shortly thereafter moving to the nearby city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. After his first experience dating another man through a 20-year relationship, Larry now lives with his partner with whom he has spent 31 years. In this interview, Larry discusses his experiences as a self-identified gay man living in Harrisburg through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, when there was a prevalent stigma against LGBT people and few places to safely express one’s sexual orientation and meet others in the community. He also discloses his challenges of managing both personal and professional relationships by selectively deciding to come out or not within particular social circles. While he does not actively participate in LGBT activism, Larry admires the amount of freedom that he sees in the gay community today, while commenting that LGBT young people may be unaware of how difficult life was only a few decades ago.

Bernie Pupo was born in Kulpmont, Pennsylvania in 1945 and attended Mount Carmel Catholic High School. After working in a factory after high school, Bernie moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he worked as a window decorator for Pomeroy’s department store for three years. During this time, he also joined SCAAN, the South Central Aids Assistance Network, which is now known as the AIDS Alliance. In this interview, Bernie speaks about his most memorable experience as a Boy Scouts leader, as well as his experience working in and visiting gay clubs in cities such as Harrisburg, Reading, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, and D.C. During this interview, he also speaks about how he experienced very little homophobia in both his family and overall social life, despite living in a small town during the 60s and growing up as a practicing Catholic. Bernie, still Catholic, now works as a hair dresser and owns his own salon.

Nancy Datres was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania in 1948 and moved to Harrisburg to pursue computer science after becoming blacklisted by the Altoona Police Department when she was just 27 years old. Thereafter, Nancy moved through several careers, holding positions such as college professor, journalist, legal writer, and lawyer. In her interview, Nancy discusses the incredible impact of her sexuality on the course of her academic and professional life, which required her to change schools and even careers whenever an environment became too unsafe for her to stay. She illustrates several examples of harassment and discrimination in her life, as well as the inefficiency of local law enforcement, educational institutions, and court systems to help alleviate these injustices. Additionally, Nancy remarks on lesbian bar culture, her difficult financial situation, and her 20-year relationship and engagement with another woman. Although she began identifying as a lesbian as a teenager, Nancy explains her difficulty to fully “come out,” insisting that she does not feel completely “out” in all aspects of her life. She believes that her hardships have impacted her ability to consistently feel comfortable sharing her sexuality with others, but expresses great hope for feeling that freedom someday.

Prior to coming out at the age of 32, Ted Martin had worked for many years for the government and public policy organizations, chiefly in the areas of communications and advocacy. Martin lived in Washington, D.C. and worked for Congress before returning to Pennsylvania, where he worked at the Historic Harrisburg Association and then his alma mater Dickinson College, at which point he came out. He became involved with the Team Pennsylvania Foundation and became part of the Rendell administration, serving in the Department of Community and Economic Development and as an advisor on LGBT issues. He currently works as the Executive Director of Equality Pennsylvania, the PA LGBT advocacy organization. In this interview, he discusses his life prior to, during, and since coming out, as well as the ways in which being out and gay has affected his life and his work.

Born in 1949 to a Lutheran minister and his wife, Marlene Kanuck married a man, had two children, and got a divorce after 11 years of marriage before realizing that she was a lesbian. In this interview, she discusses her coming out process and the effects that being a lesbian has had on her life. A teacher and a divorced mother wanting to retain custody over her children, Kanuck was not able to be openly gay for many years, and she discusses that experience, as well as her experiences in long-term relationships and in raising her children with those women. Additionally, she describes her relationship with religion and where she thinks the LGBT community is heading in the near future. Currently working at the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Kanuck is also a founder of the LGBT Center, in addition to being involved with a number of other organizations, and she discusses her involvement in opening the Center.

From the time Joseph "Joe" W. Burns came out as gay at around 27 years of age, he was involved in gay activism. He was a part of many organizations that have helped to move gay rights forward, including the Mattachine Society and Le-Hi-Ho. He donated his entire library of gay-related books to Le-Hi-Ho before retiring from his activism career, and he donated books to the LGBT archives at the Waidner-Spahr Library at Dickinson College as well. This interview focuses on his memories of activism in the early years of the Gay Liberation Movement just before and just after the Stonewall riots of 1969. He finishes this interview with an emotional recollection of the Christopher Liberation Day Parade in 1970.

For the very first interview of the history project, Edmund Good and Thurman Grossnickle describe their coming out stories. Thurman is a retired Scientist Administrator and has spent many years in academia and in health professions, as well as in LGBT organizations. He considers himself Brethren, although he no longer attends church, though a large part of his coming out process involved the organization, Dignity, which was primarily run by the late Father Saude (ph.). Upon discovering his sexuality, Thurman spent a considerable amount of his time dedicated to the LGBT community of Harrisburg, operating the Gay and Lesbian Switchboard, attending and hosting Dignity events, and serving as editor of the Dignity newsletter. Thurman discusses his involvement, his experiences living in Central PA, and his decision to never divorce his wife. Edmund is a retired apartment manager, though he is still involved in the Brethren Housing organization, which finds places for mothers going from welfare to work. Edmund explains that though he was always kind of aware of his sexuality, he hadn’t really come out before attending college. At Penn State, he was involved in several LGBT outlets, including the student organization HOPS (Homosexuals of Penn State), which was supported and funded by Penn State. Edmund, too, alludes to the friendly climate, which he’s experienced during his life as a gay man in Central PA. In the second half of their interview, Ed and Thurman tackle some deeper issues. Ed discusses how his work and family life didn’t change too much overall, but there were some bumps. At first, his parents didn’t understand what it meant to be gay, creating an estrangement. But with the introduction of Thurman into the picture, they had a change of heart. Ed and Thurman discuss other difficulties they’ve endured in 33 years as a couple. Despite being made coal on the carpet, a church backed them up and defied their national organization, making it a known safe space for LGBT couples. On a less happy note, they discuss a community’s reaction to Thurman’s friendship with a gay teenage boy. As Ed and Thurman reflect on the past events they’ve encountered, they note where we’ve come from and where we still need to go. Ed mentions several websites, webinars, and workshops that helped him as a gay man, but could also help others to understand and love thy neighbor.

Richard H. Hause was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, on May 21, 1947, moving to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, after he graduated from high school in 1965. After coming out to his family when he was eighteen, Richard began working for the State Government in the Department of Highways, and he eventually retired from the State Government in the Department of Public Welfare just eight years ago. While Richard discusses in his interview the difficulties of identifying as LGBT in both personal and professional spheres, he also illustrates the vibrancy of the gay community by citing memorable experiences both occurring in Harrisburg as well as in nearby communities such as Washington, D.C. He expresses his regular interest in LGBT activism, from supporting the Human Rights Campaign Fund to participating in the local Pride Festival every year to being an active member in the Dignity Chapter of Central Pennsylvania, one of the first LGBT organizations started in the area. Throughout his interview, Richard expresses the historical changes he has witnessed in the gay community both nationally and locally, and he emphasizes his distaste for organized religion, asserting its negative political influence on the gay rights movement.

Samuel Deetz was born in Quakertown (Pennsylvania), in 1951, on April 21 and was one of eight children. Sam’s father became a minister, which allowed his family to move from place to place over Sam’s young life. Sam’s family wanted him to continue into the Christian faith, but as Sam continued through Christian schools, he realized he was different. He became a strong advocate in the Susquehanna Valley Gays United (SVGU), worked along Harrisburg Pennsylvania Council members, Senators, and Representatives to form other gay and lesbian groups. He was also instrumental in organizing and arranging meetings in order for other gay and lesbians groups to blossom within their own communities. Sam was influential in creating a social media site and continues to keep blogs current and updated for well-known gay and lesbian advocates to share their experience, strength, and hope. He met the love of his life Jim, thirty-seven years ago, and because of the passing of the Marriage Equality Bill in Delaware was able to marry his best friend and confidante.

Bobbi Carmitchell was born in Willow Street, Pennsylvania.  She spent most of her professional career as a full-time musician, but currently has added contracting work in stained glass and woodworking art. Bobbi describes her journey in the musical world – from the Wood and Wind trio, to playing with her sister, and then onto to a solo career – and how that journey has shaped her identity as a lesbian.  She details how her early years with Wind and Wood, and the influence of women musicians enabled by Olivia Records, helped her to come out.  She expresses amazement at how coming out today has become a non-issue for so many women.  She describes several stories over the years that demonstrate her difficulty in balancing a life as an out lesbian with the desire to appeal to a broader audience, including how she is currently choosing to frame a novel she hopes to finish soon.  Bobbi emphasizes that her parents were fully supportive of her, and yet relates stories of their difficulties with her sexuality.  She details her involvement with the Central Pennsylvania Women’s Music Festival and Women’s Circle which highlight tensions within the LGBT community.  A strong feminist identity and involvement in women’s issues has powerfully shaped who Bobbi is.