Pride Guide 2015
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Pride Guide 2015
INSIDEThis Issue
September 2015 - Volume 1, Issue 3
Welcome .................................................. Page 2
Entertainment Schedule ......................... Page 10
Ashes from a Stone Wall ........................ Page 6
Entertainment Overview ....................... Page 12
Festival Map ............................................ Page 8
Falling Without a Net LGBT Youth Homelessness .................. Page 16
Overview Schedule ...................................Page 9
PRISM FOUNDATION Overview ...... Page 18
About PRISM Foundation Magazine Published by The PRISM Foundation of Roanoke Pride, Inc. P. O. Box 18121, Roanoke, VA 24014 Roanoke Pride & PRISM Board of Directors Jason Michael Gilmore “Coda Fatts” Angie Parris Michael Lee Smith Timothy Dean Oliver Johnston “Bunny Flingus” Chuk Luvender Jonathan Moralde Wayne Swain Todd Nash
Editor In Chief Jason Michael Gilmore Editorial Staff Michael Lee Smith Timothy Dean Wayne Swain
Special Thanks to Our Contributing Writers this Issue!
To Subscribe send your e-mail address with SUBSCRIPTION noted to info@PrismMagazineVA.org
The views and opinions expressed in this magazine in part or in whole are soley attributed to and are of the original authors and contributors. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily represent or imply those of Roanoke Pride, Inc., The PRISM Foundation, or the Board or staff of these entities or this magazine. ON THE CO VER: From Stonewall in 1969 to the Christopher Street Parade in 1970 through COVER: Matthew Shepard’s death, The Backstreet Shootings in Roanoke and Marriage Equality plus The Park being donated to Pride this year... LGBT History Nationwide and Locally ! Pride Guide 2015
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THE ENTITIES
OF
ROANOKE PRIDE
FOUNDED 1989
FOUNDED 2011
FOUNDED 2014
ESTABLISHED 1978
The mission of the organization is to promote acceptance, visibility, and a sense of community for Southwestern Virginia Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and other gender and sexual minorities by organizing events and providing opportunities for celebration, education, and outreach.
Diversity, Education and Support to INspire Youth, better known as Roanoke DESTINY, is a nonprofit program that was established in December 2011. DESTINY is fully operated by volunteers. It was developed to address social and emotional support challenges LGBTQ adolescents and young adults often face, with an emphasis on suicide prevention. Support groups are not considered psychotherapeutic and there is no cost for participation. DESTINY volunteers are also available to assist professionals and parents with resources and referrals to other LGBTQ specific services and supports.
The PRISM Foundation by Roanoke Pride, Inc., was founded in the Fall of 2014. It works to end homelessness while facilitating Education & Job Initiatives for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth community in Virginia, creating a world in which young people can find acceptance of theirselves and by their community.
The Park Dance club is SWVA’s premiere dance club and the 35+ year hub of the LGBT Community for over a 90 mile radius.
Founded in 1989, the main feature of Roanoke Pride- its annual Pride in the Park Festival- is celebrating its 26th Year. Additional events throughout the year include recreational activities such as hiking, walks, outdoor ventures and bowling. Roanoke Pride also holds an annual dinner event called The Starlight Gala generally held on the Rooftop of Center in the Square. In recent years, Roanoke Pride has had unprecedented growth with the founding of the DESTINY Program, the PRISM Foundation and most recently taking ownership of THE PARK Dance Club. For more details on Roanoke Pride, please visit www.roanokepride.org.
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DESTINY volunteers facilitate a peer-based support group whose mission is to provide a safe and nonjudgmental meeting place to LGBTQA youth in the Roanoke Valley and surrounding areas. The group offers open discussion, educational activities, social events, emotional support, and resources. The overall goal of DESTINY is to provide a positive environment for personal growth through promoting acceptance and increasing the self-esteem of LGBTQA youth. DESTINY currently meets with 2st and 3rd Mondays of each month at the Roanoke City Library – Main Branch (Downtown) from 6:00p – 7:30p. For more information, please call or email 540-268-0195 or : rkedestiny@gmail.com.
Though still in its formative stages, the programming efforts developed and projected goals of the Foundation have already helped several in the area with their everyday lives. Call for all interested parties to attend this important meeting to be held Wednesday, October 21st at 7p at THE PARK, 615 Salem Avenue, Roanoke.
Founded in 1978 by Dale Thomasson, The Park served as entertainment, gathering place, and dance club for the community for almost 36 years before closing in September 2013. In November 2013, Community Ally Elizabeth Bower bought the facility and reopened in a remodeled and grander state on December 28, 2013. The Park has enjoyed new life while continuing to serve as the hub of our Community. In May 2015, Bower donated The Park to Roanoke Pride to continue as a Community Gathering Place, Dance Club and to facilitate further programming of the organization.
For more information on the Foundation and how For more information, find you can help, please e-mail us on the web at Jason@RoanokePride.org www.theparkroanoke.com. and / or e-mail Coda@RoanokePride.org It’s Always a Party at THE PARK! Pride Guide 2015
Welcome... to Pride in the Park 26! On behalf of the Entire Board of Directors, we would like to welcome you to the 26th Annual Festival as well as the special PRIDE LIVE Deborah Cox with Pepper MaShay Concert Event! Many hours of planning by the entire committee have gone into planning this year’s festival and we hope everyone has a great time. This has been a year of great growth and change for Roanoke Pride and its overall organization. Last fall, we founded THE PRISM Foundation and have been hard at work laying the proper groundwork to get this LGBT Youth Organization off the ground. Plan to be with us in October for a special meeting about such! In May, we launched this magazine in hopes of facilitating a better communications effort specifically for our LGBT Organizations in SWVA. Just a few weeks after this launched, THE PARK was donated to Roanoke Pride by the wonderfully generous Elizabeth Bower. The overall of our organization continues to grow and the possibilities know no bounds looking forward. With such at core of the goals going forward, never forget it takes each and every individual in a community through many forms of support to make things an overall success. We welcome your input and feedback and we welcome you at the table to build upward for longterm success in SWVA LGBT... TOGETHER we can accomplish anything! Happy Pride Everyone! Have a great time this weekend! Pridefully,
Jason Michael Gilmore President, Roanoke Pride Chairman, PRISM Foundation
Michael Lee Smith Vice-President of Festival, Roanoke Pride General Manager, THE PARK
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The Origin of Pride
Ashes from a Stone Wall by Mat Reyna-Trent
Mat Reyna-Trent is a former Resident of Virginia. He travels the World and loves checking out new places. He currently resides in Orlando, Florida.
At 1:20am on June 28th 1969, bright lights flooded a hole in the wall dive bar in New York’s Greenwich Village as police stormed the establishment shouting “Police! We’re Taking the Place!” This sort of raid was common for bars that sold alcohol to homosexuals . During these raids police would enter the bar and order everyone to line up and show their identification. Those dressed as females would be taken into the restroom and a female officer would verify their gender. If a man was caught dressed in
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female clothing he would be arrested. Females were arrested if they didn’t have at least three pieces of clothing that was deemed appropriate for women. Those not arrested would have their names recorded and often times printed in the newspaper the next day. Having your name printed in the paper could cost you your job, your residence, or your family. Stonewall Inn was owned by the Mafia and in 1966 it was converted from a heterosexual restaurant and nightclub into a gay bar. This new bar would become a favorite for the queer community in New York City because it was the only bar that catered to homosexuals that had a dance floor. In order to get in the bouncer had to know you or you had to look gay. Everyone who entered spoke the code “I’m a friend of Dorothy” and had to write their name (most didn’t use their real names) in the guest book. The guest book was used to show that the bar was a private bottle club where members could bring their own booze. Having no liquor license or running water didn’t keep patrons from frequenting Stonewall. “The gay bar in the city,” as it was known to many, would become a haven for the LGBT community. The police raid on the morning of June 28th was unexpected. Most raids were done early enough in the evening that owners could restock the bar and resume business as usual, and most of the time the owners had been tipped off that the raid was going to happen. Not this time. During the raid something different happened. Men started to refuse to show the police their identification and those dressed in drag refused to
go to the bathroom. A crowed started to gather outside and soon there were more people out on the street than had been in the bar. When an unknown woman who had been escorted in handcuffs to a police wagon and hit on the head with a police baton screamed at the crowd, “why don’t you guys do something,” the mob acted and that was when the LGBT community hit back. The crowd started to throw things at the cops and tried to tip the police wagons and slit their tires. Some of the police fled. At one point someone yelled that Stonewall was being raided because they didn’t pay off the cops, to which someone else yelled “lets pay them off!” The crowd started throwing loose change at the cops and beer bottles along with anything else they could throw. The police lashed out at the mob. Rioters found bricks at a nearby construction site and started throwing them at the cops. At least 10 cops barricaded themselves and some bystanders in the bar for selfprotection. The angry crowd started throwing bricks and rocks at the bar then beat the door and boarded up windows in. They threw garbage that had been lit of fire into the holes they had created. Once they were able to enter the bar, the police inside drew their guns and tried to shoot into the crowd. Someone covered the bar in lighter fluid and set it on fire. As the cops took aim sirens were heard from the fire trucks that were arriving. The New York Police Department Tactical Police Force arrived to free the trapped officers. “The cops were totally humiliated. This never, ever happened. They were Pride Guide 2015
angrier than I guess they had ever been, because everybody else had rioted... but the fairies were not supposed to riot... no group had ever forced cops to retreat before, so the anger was just enormous. I mean, they wanted to kill," recounts Bob Kohler, who was walking his dog by the Stonewall that night. The police tried to round up as many people as they could into the wagons to arrest them. The drag queens on the other hand were resisting the most. They fought the police and refused to enter the police wagons. According to inspector Pine who was there that night, “All I could see about who was fighting was that it was transvestites and they were fighting furiously." The Tactical Police Force eventually cleared the streets and silenced the crowd who had been chanting “Gay Power” The next day people from all over the city came to check out the black charred remnants of “the siege of the Stonewall” As thousands gathered they spilled out on to surrounding streets. The large crowd became rowdy as tensions were still high and began to set fire to garbage cans and destroy police cars, and city buses. More than 100 cops from 4 precincts where there trying to regain control of the streets. The Tactical Police Force showed up again and had to clear the streets. The battle raged until the early hours of the morning. Riots continued to fill the streets of Greenwich Village for 4 more days. In the following weeks and months after the Stonewall riots several gay rights activist groups were formed and public demonstrations were held across the country. Many who had been there and had witnessed the riots felt a new born sense of urgency that fueled them to fight back against the suppression of their community. Protests were held across the nation where gay rights activists picketed in front of government buildings. Christopher Street Liberation
Day was held on June 28th, 1970 on the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots. A large gathering of people met on Christopher Street while for the first time in history, gay pride marches were held in Los Angles and Chicago in commemoration of the riots in New York. By 1972 gay pride marches were held in New York, Chicago, Los Angles, Boston, Dallas, Milwaukee, London, Paris, West Berlin, Stockholm, Atlanta, Buffalo, Detroit, Washington D.C., Miami, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, as well as San Francisco. Today pride events are held in more than 35 countries’ around the world and nearly every major city in the United States. In June of 2000 President Bill Clinton was the First American President to declare June “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month” in 2009 President Barak Obama also declared June as Pride month but for the first time included both Bisexuals and Transgenders by Presidential decree, declaring June as “LGBT Pride month” and called on every American to end discrimination wherever it is found. Each June since President Obama has continued to declared June as LGBT Pride month. For most of us it is easy to sit back and watch, from the comfort of our homes, the riots that have taken place recently in Ferguson and in Baltimore and be quick to pass judgment or to dismiss the rioters as disrespectful, opportunists who are doing more harm for their cause than good. But it’s important to remember that we, the LGBT community are where we are because of riots. Through civil disobedience and violent acts of defiance, the gay rights movement was formed. As we take this time to celebrate I would ask each of us to remember the blood that was spilled on Christopher Street and remember that from the ashes of Stonewall our Pride was born. Happy Pride!
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Falling Without a Net: Losing Our LLGBTQ GBTQ YYouth outh tto o Homelessness and Addiction When the F amily Unit TTurns urns Their Bac k Family Back
by C.L. Frederick
C.L. Frederick is an LGBTQ and HIV/Aids advocate. He has written articles for DNA Magazine, Impulse Group, and The Dallas Voice among others. As a former LGBTQ model and actor he hopes to use his voice to bring attention to LGBTQ issues and create change for future generations.
photographs for this article and the PRISM Foundation Article by Tru Stevens
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Coming to terms with ones sexuality in youth can be a precarious time in one’s life. Let’s face it, society has been straight centric for much of recorded history and the LGBTQ community has always had to toe the line in a society that has never acclimated to them. Not everyone is born into the perfect family and not every LGBTQ youth is born into an accepting family unit. Growing up without a solid foundation, having your sexuality viewed as a perversion, and the residual emotional conflict one encounters can lead some youth to fall through the cracks. An infinitely unequal percentage of LGBTQ youth find themselves homeless and immensely vulnerable to the darkest aspects of humanity when false beliefs trump loving and supporting an LGBTQ family member. Of all homeless youth in the United States over forty percent identify as LGBTQ. The percentage boggles the mind when one takes into account that the LGBTQ population makes up only around ten percent of said populace. These statistics are jarring, but rarely addressed. It’s time to shine a light so bright onto this issue with hope that in the United States of America zero youth end up on the streets and that the incomprehensible amount of homeless LGBTQ youth will not continue to haunt future generations. In this day and age, it should be expected that parents and families would be educated enough to discern that their children, through no fault of their own; might identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or in
certain instances question their sexuality. Unfortunately, that is not always the case and thousands of LGBTQ youth each year are shunned from their own families simply because they aren’t straight. Religious and societal hate mongering has led around twenty-six percent of LGBTQ youth who come out to their parents to be kicked out and abandoned by their families according to current statistics. Some youth are kicked out of their homes and some leave on their own accord because they can’t deal with the judgment when it comes to being different. What is certain is that when love, care, support, and opportunity are taken away from any child they will suffer the consequences. When families of LGBTQ youth turn their backs, there are precious few options for these youth and they become prey to the evils of the world. When one finds themselves relying on others for shelter or find themselves without a home they are in complete danger in regards to making significant compromises with their lives that under normal circumstances they would never have to make. This is particularly prevalent in rural and suburban areas where families haven’t been exposed to the gay community and aren’t as cultured when it comes to what it means to be gay in society today. Compromises abound when left to fend for yourself and sex plays a hefty role in survival for our homeless youth. Big cities become beacons for youth even though they are rarely ready to deal with the Pride Guide 2015
realities of urban life. Realities faced when one has no money or degree. Selling one’s body or even survival sex become common options for these youth. They find themselves exposed to STI’s such as HIV, which in turn raises transmission rates around the country. Most will suffer added emotional turmoil and abuse due to this. Most will fall further into darkness and will find it near impossible to regain their once promising entrance into the world. Drugs such as methamphetamine fill the void left by abandonment and again add to the transmission of HIV. These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes down to the possible scenarios faced by LGBTQ youth who are shunned by their families. It’s hard to imagine worse scenarios, but even those exist. More needs to be done to support our homeless LGBTQ youth in the United States. The optimal resolution would lie within more familial support for these kids, but that is not always the option since that is the root of the problem. More resources need to be made available to rural and suburban areas, whether it is through outreach, LGBTQ accepting religious organizations, or by school districts. A foundation needs to be in place for these kids and all adults in their lives need to be held accountable. The teachers, religious leaders, and adult family members need to be treated as state mandated reporters. Culpability, responsibility, and action are needed by every adult in their lives. This can lead to family counseling and services to be rendered in hopes of helping strengthen the family unit. LGBTQ counseling can be offered to the youth and family. Though these suggestions are not easy to come by currently there are other options available. Nonprofit organizations such as The Point Foundation and True Colors offer support for at risk LGBTQ youth. They coordinate within communities to find resources and support in order to prevent youth from falling through the cracks. Hopefully, more light will shine on this issue in order to protect our most vulnerable LGBTQ youth. Once compassion and urgency come together we can make the difference that needs to be made. Pride Guide 2015
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Why Sout by Jason Michael Gilmore
Need in one’s community is not always as obvious as one may think. Throughout the course of becoming more involved in the local LGBTQ community here in SWVA over the last 18 months, the one thing that I have consistently heard feedback on is a greater need for support and resources for two specific groups within the community; young people who are displaced from their homes and families and older citizens of our community who feel alienated from the rest of us. While it was always obvious there were far more cases of displaced youth in our community, leaving many of them without a real home, I was astounded to learn that out of the mayo else's between the ages of 12 and 24, 40% of them identify as LGBTQ. 40 percent. To put that number in perspective, only 7-8% of the population in that age range identifies as LGBTQ. There’s a huge element at play here with the homeless population. Cyndi Lauper, the famous singer who had her own trials and tribulations as a teen, founded TRUE COLORS to help with this very cause. She just this past month spoke to Congress about the subject. “Basically, the kids come out and they get thrown out,” she told Congress. “Truth is, they didn’t choose their identity. You know, it’s like you choosing the color of your eyes. You know, you’re born that way.” “If it’s a faith issue, I implore you not to pray to God to change your
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kid,” she said. “Pray to God to change your heart." Pilot programs for LGBTQ Homeless initiatives are already in progress in larger cities like New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. The national agenda focuses on bringing the LGBTQ Youth Homeless Population to a functional zero by the end of 2017. Southwest Virginia is really ahead of the curve for an area of our size by stepping up to form a new organization to address this very important need within our community. The premise of the need in this mission may seem simplistic at surface, but it has recently become obvious to many of us in this region that the longterm effects of this issue are many and varied. Some reveal themselves openly and quickly, while others lay beneath the surface and plague individuals for years before revealing themselves--- often too late for those individuals to find the help that they need. In the Fall of 2013, several of us here in Roanoke were introduced to a young man who was 17 years old. He was Gay and searching to fit in. He was searching for a place to call home. His mother had died of Cancer when he was 15. Placed with his father at that time, he found a very unstable home life. His father, always skirting barely on the right side of the law, finally snapped and kidnapped his ex girlfriend in a stolen van and grabbed his 17 year old son. Evading the police, he was finally tracked down and a Pride Guide 2015
thwest Virginia needs chase ensued which found them in pursuit from Roanoke to Rocky Mount. A standoff with police occurred in Rocky Mount and this young man found himself witnessing his father commit suicide in that stolen van. At 17 he had endured more than many have in a lifetime. Without a stable place to turn for the long haul and being gay, he found himself feeling alone and outcast. When he came into the lives of several in our community here in Roanoke, we reached out to help providing him with a place to stay—often just couch hopping between several of us--- and ensuring he had transportation for school and work. The emotional toll of these events plagued him for many years, and often he found himself unable to properly focus on or keep a job for very long. Eventually, he did find continued work and was able to get out on his own. Many of us would not see him for long periods of time but when we did it was nice to see he was living a good life and happy in it… or so we thought. In the Fall of 2014, trying to escape all that continued to plague him through his 20’s, he found refuge in a new home on the West Coast and a new start. Many of us were hopeful this would be the escape he needed to find internal peace and strive for success. At first it seemed things were finally going his way. This young man was Dewey Lee
Summerlin, Jr. To most of us he was always Lee. Sadly, Lee was found dead on Sunday morning, March 29, 2015. He had passed in his sleep. In the preceding weeks, he had turned to alcohol and substance abuse to ease his pain and escape his troubled thoughts. This is where the obvious problems in those displaced isn’t always clearly visible. In the long run, Lee was never able to overcome all the sadness and tragedy which befell him at such a young age. Many of us have thought back to the years we first knew him. Did we miss signs? Could we have done more? Would a PRISM Foundation have helped Lee get on a better overall path? This is why we need a long term Foundation which helps our community overall. Something which will outlive every single person within every single organization in this area and will be here for our current youth and for the youth of our present future born this week in one of our many Hospitals and for the youth of the next generation of SWVA. For those in our area who scoff at the notion of PRISM and who continue to belittle those in our community trying to make a difference and who are in some ways continuing to try and roadblock the many efforts of many people here, I simply ask this: Are any one of those naysayers willing to be the one to look a child born this week at Roanoke Memorial Hospital in the eye 17 years from now when they tell their parents they are
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gay or lesbian or bi or transgender and say: “I’m so sorry for you but I was one of the ones who stood in the way of progress?” PRISM Foundation is bigger than any one person- any one group of people- and bigger than our community collectively. It is about longevity for those who follow in all our footsteps and hope and pray for a better tomorrow for themselves and the generations who follow. For more information, please check out our initial news release and for updates at: www.roanokepride.org/prismfoundation.html
PRISM is looking for citizens in Southwest Virginia- and beyond- who wish to step up and be a part of this great cause. Please consider being a part of this great new Foundation today.
Jason Michael Gilmore is President of Roanoke Pride, Inc., and Chairman of The PRISM Foundation.
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PRISM Foundation outlines programming Short and Longterm Goals in Place The PRISM Foundation by Roanoke Pride, Inc., was founded last Fall. While still in its infancy, the mission is to work toward ending homelessness while facilitating Education & Job Initiatives for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth community in Virginia. Through those efforts, we strive to create a world in which young people can find acceptance of theirselves and by their community.
the launch of this publication, a BiMonthly Magazine entitled PRISM Foundation Magazine launched.
Longterm Goals in the works include General Counseling & Substance Abuse Counseling for youth, adults, and families; A 24 hour crisis hotline to help with bullying issues as well as all other related issues which can arise for community members; and Working with the largest LGBT Library in the Commonwealth of Virginia to Current Programming which has al- insure proper historical records are ready been established as well as kept of our regional LGBT History. Short Term Goals for new programming in the near future include Peer Finally, we are working to establish to Peer Counseling, Working with an "Out of the Closet" clothing proLocal and Regional existing entities to gram for displaced community memhelp facilitate Housing Placement, bers and specifically for providing Education Assistance and Initiatives proper attire for job and education infor Job Placement, as well as On site terviews; and Counseling, Seminars Job Training in fields of business, and onsite assistance to potential Fosmanagement and restaurant/serving ter Families for hosting displaced skills through Roanoke Pride's The youth. Park Dance Club & Community Center. This December we will be found- Ultimately we look to the day where ing a Christmas Angel Tree Program we can found The PRISM House as a and for the Spring we are working to- freestanding structure Community ward a Scholarship Program for both Center and hub for all of these curTeen and Adult Education. rent, goaled, and additional programming. Last year we founded a Community Recognition Program called PRISM Interested in helping PRISM? Contact us Awards recognizing excellence in via email at Jason@RoanokePride.org or Youth and Adult assistance to the Coda@RoanokePride.org or call us at overall community and in May with 310.743.3083. Pride Guide 2015
PRISM Guiding Committ ee Committee Formulation Mee ting! Meeting! Call for all interested parties to attend this important meeting to be held Wednesday, October 21st at 7p at THE PARK, 615 Salem Avenue, Roanoke. Please bring ideas and what elements you can bring to PRISM Foundation, helping firmly launch this fantastic program forward! 21
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