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A bit of Little Known GLBT History
I first became involved in the cause for LGBT equality in 1974. Born in April, 1951, I was raised in a conservative home. My father was a preacher in a small fundamentalist church. I was the youngest of 8 children. I knew there was something different about the way I felt from the time I was fifteen, and possibly earlier. By age nineteen, I was the last of my siblings still living at home. We had just moved from central PA to the Pittsburgh area, and I got a job in the city. I began hearing about demonstrations and marches for gay and Lesbian rights in the early 1970’s. I would buy magazines and newspapers, such as the Advocate in order to learn more about what was going on. Several years later, I was living back in the mid-state, on my own, visiting the bars in Harrisburg and other nearby towns, and becoming more certain each day that I needed to be involved, and be honest about my life, even if it meant a difficult break with my family and church! I heard about the Philadelphia chapter of Gay Activists Alliance, so I drove to Philly on my days off and attended some meetings. I became acquainted with some of the GAA members, and soon convinced two guys (Mark Segal and Bill ____) to travel up to Northumberland (near Sunbury) and help me start an organization there. I sent out notices to everyone I knew that I would host an organization meeting in my apartment above the State Liquor Store. About thirty people (mostly men) crowded in to my tiny apartment that spring evening in 1975. The consensus was that they wanted a social style organization, and as individuals wanted to keep a low profile. But, if I wished to use the organization for activist purposes, I could do so if I kept all other members’ identities secret. I accepted! The name of the new organization was Susquehanna Valley Gays United. We opened a bank account, held social functions, and had monthly meetings in members’ homes. (By the way, Northern Central Bank got our name wrong on the bank statements they mailed to our treasurer, calling us Susquehanna Valley Gays Unlimited!) But for me, the fact that an organization existed was a stepping stone, and provided me the opportunities I needed to become more active. I issued press releases, called in to talk shows, and convinced friends to call in also. I hooked up with two out-of-town “movement heavies”, both college professors, to do a live show with me about Gay and Lesbian issues on our closest NPR TV station in Wilkes-Barre. Also, taking advantage of any free publicity, I started calling in snow and inclement weather cancellations for SVGU meetings every opportunity I got, even if it was only a dusting of snow, and I had to invent the meeting. Who were the radio station personnel going to call to verify the announcement? Also, which SVGU member was going to call the station and identify themselves to question the cancellation? . About this time, Pennsylvania’s governor, Milton Shapp, courageously stepped forward and issued a pair of Executive Orders that were the first in the nation. The first order decreed that all state departments would revise policies that in the past permitted discrimination against gays and Lesbians in state employment. All departments were instructed to insert wording in their employment policies, adding “Sexual Orientation” to their non-discrimination statements. At this same time, gay and Lesbian organizations were popping up in various small cities around the state. These groups formed a network organization to share information and provide strength to the movement. The organization was called the Pennsylvania Rural Gay Caucus. We met each month, rotating from town to town. Meetings were held in Allentown, Reading, Lancaster, Harrisburg, Wilkes-Barre, West Chester, Sunbury, State College, etc. All of a sudden, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh were not separated by hundreds of miles, with no voices to be heard in between. PRGC was to become the forerunner of several statewide LGBT organizations since then, as political events evolved and created new needs and new blood. The first major project the PRGC took on was testimony to the determination, the courage, and the will of these rural activists! It was proposed and recommended that we take on the task of organizing a Gay Lobby Day in Harrisburg. I volunteered to help, and was appointed a co-chair of the Lobby Day Committee. I had never done anything on this scale before. I remember that meeting was held in Allentown in the middle of autumn of 1975. A date in March 1976 was selected as the target date for the event. My co-chair could not participate due to personal obligations, so I went ahead, and conducted work sessions almost weekly. (I was unemployed at the time, having resigned my hotel management position due to stress!) The seven or eight persons who worked with me on that Lobby Day Committee were the toughest, the best, the most diligent and committed persons I have ever had the privilege of working with! I love them to this day and wish we could get together Our most important task was to set the tone and agenda for our event. We held workshops around the state to share what we were doing and seek input. It was decided our focus issue would be repeal of the Pennsylvania “Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse” statute, commonly called the Sodomy law. . After months of planning, March 23, 1976 arrived. A busload of “lobbyists” came to Harrisburg from Philadelphia, and a busload from Pittsburgh, and carloads from most other areas of the state. We were just ordinary citizens, men and women, mostly young and inexperienced. A few veterans from the earlier days of the Gay Rights movement, such as Barbara Gittings, and veterans of other 60’s era causes also participated. We all wore homemade “Pink Triangle” badges on our lapels or pockets. We went in to the Capitol and collared every Senator and Representative we could locate. Some tried to hide from us. Several legislators told us they had never met a gay or Lesbian person before. Most were polite, but unwilling to give us much satisfaction. You see, at that time we were criminals in the eyes of the state. Every one of us was guilty of breaking the “Sodomy” statute! After our lobbying was complete for the day, we had a press conference outside the Capitol. The event went on the evening news in nearly every media center in the state and was followed in the newspapers the next day. As far as our community was concerned the event was a whopping success! We were riding high, and the PRGC was, from then on viewed as an important and necessary partner for the Philly and Pittsburgh groups. The second Executive Order Shapp issued, just a few months later, set up an official “Governor’s Council for Sexual Minorities. A Gay rights ad hoc committee was set up immediately, open to all state residents, to work on the structure and official mission of the Council. The Council was to consist of thirteen members of the various state departments to be involved, and thirteen members of the gay and Lesbian community in Pennsylvania. State employees were selected and appointed by the governor to represent their area of government. The community members were to be selected from among “sexual minority” individuals who requested appointment in writing and submitted a resume, stating why they wished to serve. The community members were not paid, but were reimbursed travel expenses from the Governor’s personal budget. The Pennsylvania Rural Gay Caucus pushed hard for rural inclusion on the Governor’s Council I applied! I was, of course selected, but not because of any special skills or achievements. I was an outspoken advocate, a gay man who was totally unafraid to be “out” and I was from the boonies! The rest of the Council members were from Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and State College (Penn State University). They were real activists and very brave, many were well educated, but they were much more sophisticated than I was at the time. I made the cut for council membership, and was appointed by the Governor. I was then selected for the steering committee by the LGBT community membership. I recall that one of the state agencies that was in my block as a steering member was the Pennsylvania State Police. Several times, Captain Rodriquez hosted me in his office, providing me with a phone, a desk and other tools as needed. It was with a surreal sense of irony that I placed my calls to other activists and council members, and used the copier, and other facilities of the State Police headquarters in order to change the very laws the State Police were engaged in enforcing! I met my current partner of thirty-three years shortly after these events, in July 1976. Soon after, I moved from Sunbury to Lancaster, got a job and cut back on my high level of involvement. I did not “burn out” as I have kept involved in one way or another ever since. Besides, I had some growing to do and new lessons to learn. Recently, I ran for a post on the Democratic Committee here in Lancaster. I was elected a member by the 17th precinct in Manheim Township. I love my precinct work! I am also proud of my effort to help elect Barack Obama our 44th President! We still have some work ahead, but ask me, do I ever see our progress since the mid 1970’s?!
Sam Deetz
Lancaster, PA
Sam Deetz
Lancaster, PA
MTSamDem |
Latest page update: made by MTSamDem
, Apr 25 2009, 2:39 PM EDT
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
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| lelandt | Federal Marriage Rights Should Be Our Focus, Not State Marriage | 7 | Feb 25 2009, 12:57 AM EST by lelandt | ||
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Thread started: Feb 20 2009, 1:55 AM EST
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After 31 defeats in 32 elections & 45 states banning marriage, our President, still, wants to grant us federal marriage equality. The White House web site proclaims the President believes we need to repeal DOMA and enact federal marriage rights to couples in “legally-recognized unions.” This presently covers eleven states & D.C. which have marriage, civil unions or domestic partnership. This also means anyone in the other 39 states could travel to Massachusetts and get married, Vermont for a civil union, or California for domestic partners and attain federal marital rights even if their home state does not grant state marital rights. Three of the 1,138 right this brings us are joint income tax returns, immigration rights and social security benefits.
The two catches are: First, the federal government will not call these marital rights “marriage.” They will simply be recognizing any “legally-recognized union,” whatever the states calls them. Second, we need to work our butts off to help our President fulfill his promise by lobbying Congress to support the President’s pledge to us. Prior to the marriage lawsuits which brought a tsunami of reactionary electoral defeats, we had a working strategy. Working through legislative bodies, not the courts, we passed hundreds of domestic partnership/civil union policies which have only been reversed when they were included in anti-same-sex marriage laws Now President Obama has invited us to work for federal marriage equality in the US Congress. He wants us to help him fulfill his pledge to us and cannot do this without our help. Equality California has said they want to repeal Prop 8 on the 2010 ballot. But is this the best use of our time, money and energy when our new President has a mandate for change NOW? Our President has thrown the LGBT community a lifeline in our hour of need. I hope we have the good sense to grab for it. |
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| MTSamDem | Our Unique GLBT History | 1 | Feb 15 2009, 10:38 PM EST by giftofamber | ||
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Thread started: Feb 15 2009, 1:44 PM EST
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Hoping to hear fom other Pennsylvanians, esp. any who remember the events described in my little story.
Sam Deetz Lancaster, PA
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Keyword tags:
Courageous Governors
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