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Coming Out in the 50s thru 80s
Last week I talked about Cleveland’s first annual Gay Pride celebration, Pride ’89. It was such a different world back then! This week I present a series of videos with interviews from YouTube describing gay life over the four decades leading up to Cleveland’s 1989 celebration. The interviews are conducted by high school and college…
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30 Years of Pride
Note: This post was first published in 2019. We’re now up to 37 Years of Pride! Today is Pride in the CLE, Cleveland’s annual LGBT Pride Day. The day will start with a march stepping off 11 a.m. from West 9th Street and Front Avenue, then traveling to Public Square where a festival will be…
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Breaking News: Yet Another Coming Out
I can’t believe this is my third post in three weeks about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are generating a lot of LGBT news these days! To catch you up… Matt Easton, this year’s Valedictorian at Brigham Young University (BYU), came out during his Commencement speech on April 28th. About a…
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Gay, Transgender & Mormon
Last week I posted Mormon Valedictorian Comes Out reporting on Matt Easton’s gutsy announcement during commencement at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. Visit that post to see his speech and related features including a TV interview with Charlie Bird who had been BYU’s mascot “Cosmo the Cougar” from 2015 to 2018 — and…
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Remembering Dad
My Dad passed away on Cinco de Mayo twenty-one years ago. It’s amazing to think that he’s been gone nearly a third of my life. Yet he remains ever-present. I think of him almost everyday. And even when not, I know that I model him in a zillion ways. He lives on inside me, just…
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Mormon Valedictorian Comes Out
Graduation at Brigham Young University (BYU) this year was a bit different than usual. In keeping with custom the class Valedictorian spoke — but his speech was anything but customary at this Mormon college. Matt Easton announced that he is gay to the graduating class, parents, families, faculty and administration. And the crowd cheered. BYU…
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Kent State Gathering Honors Dolores Noll
About two dozen people gathered at Kent State University’s LGBTQ Student Center this past Monday, February 11th, to remember and honor Dr. Dolores Noll. Dolores was a friend, comrade, role model and inspiration to me personally — and also to the LGBT community far and wide. It was not exactly a sad event because there…
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A Teaching Moment
There’s a teaching moment in all the uproar over events at the Lincoln Memorial a week ago Friday. But what is it? The privilege and racism of white suburban Catholic boys? Trump-inspired disrespect of Native Americans and indigenous cultures? Confrontation and suppression of Free Speech? The polarization of politics? The power and danger of social…
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Remembering Dolores Noll
Word came to me yesterday that Dolores Noll, a dear friend, passed away on Tuesday morning, January 8th. I met Dolores in 1975 and worked with her until about 1980 at Kent State University’s Kent Gay Liberation Front (KGLF) where she was Faculty Advisor. Then later we teamed up again at Cleveland’s Lesbian-Gay Community Service…