2021

Sabrina Dare-Bledsoe was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1960. She grew up in a large family of entrepreneurs and bar owners, whom she worked alongside as a child and teenager. Her father, Stuart Withero Dare, inherited and ran The Clock Bar from his father George Dare. Her mother, Maureen Goodman, was from England, and lived above The Clock Bar before she met and married Stuart. In this interview, Sabrina talks about The Clock Bar, as well as the many other queer bars and restaurants her family owned, including the Commerce Diner, City Line Diner, The White Elephant, The 400 Club, The Golden Coach, Orpheus, The Rose Garden, and The Candy Shop. She describes the homophobia of her peers and teachers at school and the welcoming environment her family cultivated at work and at home. She tells the story of The Clock Bar’s 1965 raid and the jazz scene her family participated in. Sabrina shares the stories of some of her family’s close friends who frequented the bars and restaurants, many of whom have since passed away.

Cindy Lou Mitzel was born in April 1942 in York County, PA. Growing up Mitzel knew that she felt attraction towards women, however she married a man after graduating from high school and they had three children. Mitzel has been involved in the National Organization for Women [NOW]; the Lavender Letter newsletter; the Lesbian Alliance; the Central Pennsylvania Women’s Chorus; and York Support, later known as York Area Lambda, among other women’s and gay rights activist organizations.

These documents relate to Mitzel’s involvement in York Area Lambda, originally known as York Support. The collection consists primarily of news clippings related to efforts to hold a Gay Pride Week celebration in York, Pa in summer 1991.

This collection contains a poster for the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, October 11, 1987.

David Klinepeter was born April 26, 1926 in the Harrisburg, PA area. He married Gloria Klinepeter in 1949 and with whom he had four children. His youngest son, Daniel, was diagnosed with HIV and later died of AIDS-¬related complications in May of 1993. After Daniel’s passing, both David and Gloria became active in The Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. Gloria helped to create panels for her son, as well as others who died of AIDS-¬related complications, and they both participated in educational outreach surrounding HIV/AIDS.

This collection documents the involvement of Klinepeter and his wife in The Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, and the overall AIDS crisis. This collection contains 6 series: General Information, Memorial Programs, Posters, Media, Artifacts, and Books.

This collection contains a t-shirt from La Rose Rogue, an LGBTQ+ bar in Harrisburg, PA. La Rose Rogue was the final LGBTQ+ bar iteration at the 400 North 2nd Street location in Harrisburg, opened in 1978 by John Koch, and was open until 1990.

This collection contains citizen correspondence requesting that the inclusion of “sexual orientation” in the City of York’s non-discrimination ordinance be put on the ballot for a public referendum. The correspondence dates from February 1993 and is composed in large part of form letters. The City of York passed an anti-discrimination ordinance protecting sexual orientation in 1998.

This collection contains a 1991 Gay and Lesbian Guide to Central PA from the Gay and Lesbian Switchboard of Harrisburg (GLSH) and a Gay Trivia Game. O’Leary also donated a run of The Advocate magazine, from 1985 – 1991, which is housed in the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collection periodicals.

John Barns was born in Perry County, PA. He graduated from Greenwood High School in 1960 and then joined the Pennsylvania National Guard during the Vietnam War, where he was in the armored tank division. After discharging from the military, Barns worked for the State in the Department of Labor and Industry and The Department of Health. He was a state employee for 30 years. Barns was a member of Dignity/Central PA, a Roman Catholic based organization that was a place for LGBTQ+ community members of any religious background to be together in community; and a part of the Gay Switchboard of Harrisburg, a telephone service that gave information, referrals, and supportive counseling to members of the local LGBTQ+ community.

This collection contains 6 series: Newspaper and Magazine Clippings; Dignity/Central PA; Cards and Postcards; Montreal, Quebec, Canada LGBTQ+ Information; Miscellaneous; and Artifacts.

This collection contains two bar passes to The Allegro Bar that was located in Baltimore, MD.

This collection contains the Presidential Proclamation for Pride Month 2011 by Barack Obama.

This collection contains two AIDSWalk T-shirts from 2000 and 2001.

Dr. Eric Selvey was born and raised in Harrisburg, PA. He attended optometry school in Philadelphia and returned to the Harrisburg area after graduating.

Selvey was a member of Lily White and Company drag troupe, which raised thousands of dollars for local AIDS related organizations including South Central AIDS Assistance Network (SCAAN), of which he was also an active member. He worked on the Harrisburg Human Relations Commission, which fostered community relationships between the diverse Harrisburg populations; helped to develop Harrisburg’s Pride Festival; and was a part organizing the first Fall Achievement Benefit (FAB) fundraising event in Harrisburg. He was also the creator, editor, and publisher of the local LGBTQ+ publication Crossroads Magazine.

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.

Joseph W. Burns started to donate these materials in 2013 as the first contribution of historical documents to the LGBT Center of Central PA History Project. These materials reflect his involvement in, and document, LGBTQ+ activism in Central PA.

This collection contains materials from 1968 – 2015, but the bulk of the materials focus on LGBTQ+ activism from 1970 – 1980. There are 14 Series which highlight LGBTQ+ activist organizations, legislation, publications, photographs, personal/miscellaneous items, media, and artifacts, as well as Subject Files regarding people, organizations, or issues related to LGBTQ+ activism. Materials include documents, photos, a cassette tape, and multiple artifacts.

Amanda Porter [now known as Amanda Hecker] was born in 1950 in Lansdale, PA and was assigned male at birth. She attended Grove City College, receiving her BA in History, and enrolled in ROTC. After college, she joined the Air Force, and after being discharged attended Temple University, receiving her MA in Industrial Arts Education. Porter is married and has three children.

Porter is a transgender rights educator and activist. She was the Vice President of the Lehigh Valley chapter of the Renaissance Transgender Association, where she gave transgender education presentations on Transgender Equality, Gender Dysmorphia, and Transgender Inclusion in the Workplace, and has spoken at multiple Keystone Conferences. Porter’s goal is to make transgender people visible everywhere.

Porter lives in the Lehigh Valley area today.

Joseph F. Christ was born in 1927 with Klinefelter Syndrome and assigned male at birth. The seventh of eight children, Christ was placed into an orphanage during the Great Depression until the age 18. Two weeks later, Christ was drafted into the Army and fast-tracked to work in a secret German Prisoner of War camp in Richmond, Virginia due to fluency in German, Pennsylvania Dutch, and English. Following World War II, Christ got a degree in education from Moravian College, going on to teach English, German, and Social Studies.

In 1974, Christ went to Germany to teach American English on a Fulbright fellowship, and there was married a second time to, Liz, a Fulbright scholar who was in Germany teaching British English. While working there, Christ helped improve the English skills of a German cytogeneticist to allow her to participate in the World Health Organization, and it was through this connection that Christ discovered they have XXY chromosomes. Christ had occasionally started presenting as a woman before learning they were intersex following the end of their first marriage in 1973, but never formally came out, electing to present as masculine or feminine selectively. Christ expresses comfort in being able to present as either/or, while not particularly identifying with the LGBTQ+ community.

Christ passed away in 2018.

Katie Ward was born in 1952 and assigned male at birth. She was drafted after graduating from high school, and spent 22 years in military service, including active duty on a nuclear submarine in the Navy and Air Force National Guard. After Ward left active duty, she married and attended community college. She started working in the printing industry, moving up in the international printing business until 2013 when her company was bought out and she decided to retire. Ward was married twice and had one child.

Ward was a transgender activist and very active in LGBTQ+ community in Central PA. She organized and participated in numerous activities, including the Keystone Business Alliance, Central PA’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce; LGBT business mixers; local Gay Pride events; monthly Nights-Out with the Girls, and many others. She was an officer and longtime volunteer for TransCentral PA, and she helped establish the Keystone Conference, an international Trans conference held annually in Harrisburg.

Ward passed away in 2021

Sophie Kandler was born in Spring City, PA in 1966. After graduating from high school, Sophie attended Drexel University, but transferred after two years to Pennsylvania State University where she graduated with a degree in Secondary Education in 1989. Growing up, Kandler always identified as female even though she was born a male. She transitioned in 2014.

This collection contains an embosser for the PA Governor’s Council for Sexual Minorities. The council was an officially appointed advisory committee created by Governor Milton J. Shapp in 1976. Governor Shapp, by executive order, declared that all executive branch offices and services were to end discriminatory practices and policies against all LGBTQ+ employees, clients, and program of state services. The council was his instrument for the implementation of his decree throughout the Executive Branch of state government. Council committees consisted of knowledgeable LGBTQ+ activists appointed by Governor Shapp to work side-by-side with official state employees to monitor and rewrite government regulations and practices to reflect the executive order.

This collection contains material related to the establishment of the LGBT Center of Central PA and the activities of the AIDS Community Alliance. It also includes a 1995-1996 Gay and Lesbian Switchboard of Harrisburg directory, a flyer for the FAB Fall Achievement Benefit in 1996, documents from a 1999 LGBT rights program, and three matchbooks from gay bars once in Harrisburg, PA.

There materials were donated at the Lancaster PA Pride event in June 2013. The collection represents the contributions of Mark Stoner and Mary Merriman, and documents LGBTQ+ issues and activism in Lancaster County, PA.

Of particular interest in this collection is The Pink Triangle Coalition materials and the newspaper articles from the Lancaster New Era and Intelligencer Journal, two local newspapers in the area. The newspaper address the establishment of an MCC Church in Mountville, PA, debate over LGBTQ+ rights in the Elizabethtown school system, and controversies over an LGBTQ+ book display in the Lancaster County Public Library. There is also a run of The Lancaster Inqueery, housed in the periodical series.

Gloria Jackie Schulze was born on November 25, 1934 in Huntington, WV. She graduated from high school and attended John Marshall University (now known as Marshall University) where she received her degree in Journalism.

After her son Rick came out to her, Jackie attended a local Parents of Gays meeting, and then she, and Hope Nancarrow, local activist Mary Nancarrow’s mother, established a local Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) chapter. Founded in 1973, PFLAG is the largest LGBTQ+ organization for LGBTQ+ people, families, friends, and allies. Jackie was president of the local PFLAG chapter for 18 years, and during those years she regularly spoke at universities, schools, and churches. Jackie was also active in HIV/AIDS related activism alongside her son, Rick.

Jackie passed away in 2018.

Rick Schulze was born in Delaware in the early 1960s to Jackie Schulze and his father George. After moving around as a young child, Rick grew up primarily in the Harrisburg area. After high school, Rick went on to Mansfield University and was instrumental in forming The Mansfield Gay Alliance, the first gay organization on campus. Rick also was active in HIV/AIDS awareness in Central PA, along with his mother, and worked closely with the organizations South Central AIDS Assistance Network (SCAAN) and AIDS Resource. Rick then went on to work with the Department of Health in HIV/AIDS Counseling during the 1990s. Rick is now in academia, eventually settling in as a professor in Health Education and Public Health at Lock Haven University.

Rick lives in the Lock Haven area today.

This collection documents Jackie and Rick's activism through photographs, correspondence, PGLAF memorabilia, newspaper clippings, and other miscellaneous items.

This collection contains materials from the Harrisburg Men’s Chorus, and the 1989 and 1990 Unity Festivals, precursors to the Central PA Pride Fest. Unity Festival materials include planning documents, advertisements, and letters for Unity Festival 1990, which were originally stored together in the folder which is housed in the first folder in this collection. There are also photographs from Unity Festival 1989 and 1990. Harrisburg Men’s Chorus materials include programs from performances. There are also Artifacts which include one Harrisburg Men’s Chorus T-shirt and four Unity Festival T-shirts, which are a mixture of staff and spectator versions.