Shoulders to Stand On

Do You Know Your History?

Do you have a story, memory or photograph about the gay community and/or being gay in Rochester, NY you would like to share? If so, please add your comment to any blog post or email us at share@shoulderstostandonblog.org.

Don't Know Much About History ...

By Kevin J. Indovino

Last month, Rochester welcomed and celebrated another successful ImageOut Film Festival – 17+ years in the making. As I ponder the many films that were presented this year, I was once again struck by the vast improvements that are being made within the documentary genre.

From production values to subject matters, these works continue to engage us in conversation about who we are, where we’ve come from and how far we may still have to go. But the one clear message that was driven home, time and time again, is the importance of documenting and safeguarding our own LGBT history.

Remodeled GAGV Library Hosts New CyberCenter

By Ove Overmyer
from the October 2009 Empty Closet

Gerry Szymanski, coordinator of the GAGV Library & Archives

The GAGV Library and Archives project re-invented itself back in 2004 and has been evolving ever since.

For the past five years, the Library and Archives has been located on the fifth floor in the GAGV administrative offices at the Auditorium Center, 875 East Main St. in downtown Rochester and was open on Wednesday evenings. It is now located in a room next to the GAGV Youth Center on the first floor. It houses thousands of books, CDs, DVDs, magazines, newspapers, periodicals and archival materials (including back issues of The Empty Closet) that pertain to the local LGBT community.

UR Pride Network Annual Reception

The University of Rochester Pride Network student organization invites alumni, students, families, and friends to their annual reception, taking place over Meliora Weekend, October 10, 1:30 - 3:00 pm, Alumni & Advancement Center's Alumni Lounge.

This will be a time to network and to learn about initiatives to support the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered campus community. We hope you will join us to reconnect and share your stories. A shuttle will be available from the River Campus to the Alumni & Advancement Center. If you have questions about the event or are interested in attending, please contact Thomas McArthur, assistant director of alumni relations, at the University, at thomas.mcarthur@rochester.edu.

Remembering the '60s and '70s in Rochester

by Evelyn Bailey

In the 60s and 70s, Rochester became known as the leading jazz town in upstate New York. Famous jazz musicians would come to Clarissa Street and play all night long moving from club to club. The Pythodd Room (Stanley and Delores Thomas) was one example of a top Clarissa Street "joint" that hosted jam session including everyone from Little Stevie Wonder to Jimmy Smith and the Mangione brothers (Chuck and Gap). The Mangiones grew up in Rochester, and Chuck went on to become one of the biggest "cross-over" trumpeters in jazz history, with his records regularly being played on jazz, smooth jazz, and easy listening stations.

OUTlandish is Outlandish

by Evelyn Bailey

Rich Schroedel and Russ Shaner, Grand Marshall’s of the 2009 Pride Parade, are the current owners of Outlandish Video and Gifts.  You may remember that this store in Village Gate was not always Outlandish.  Village Gate was purchased in 1982, by Gary Stern.  It had been the Stecher Traung Printing Company.  At the time of the sale the building resembled an abandoned warehouse.  Gary believed the neighborhood could make a strong comeback in the near future.  And so, Village Gate became a place to live and a place for retail establishments and art galleries. 

In 1989 Chuck Antonelli and Walter Dyer decided there was a real need in Rochester for a store selling leather goods.  At that time people had to travel to New York or Toronto for leather outfits, which Walt and Chuck also did.  When Walt and Chuck got outfitted, they went to Toronto and spent over $1200 on the basic things.  Within six months they started having problems with the clothes, seams ripping out,  and so on.  They decided that they could do better. On July 29, 1989 Rochester Custom Leathers (RCL), a store specializing in leather apparel and some adult/fetish merchandise, came into existence taking up residence at Village Gate.  John and Walt did a lot of the work themselves, but they also had to two full-time employees to part time, and three people on call.  Chuck and Walt also operated the MultiCom 4 computer bulletin board.  

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Events in Gay History - July

by Evelyn Bailey

Sunday, May 16, 1971: the first gay picnic - About 300 people from Rochester, buffalo and other upstate areas gathered in Genesee Valley Park for Rochester Gay liberation Front's First Annual "Gay In." A volleyball game and a women's touch football game highlighted the afternoon picnic.

June 21-27, 1971 is Gay Pride Week all across the country for the second year. In New York City a march by 50,000 gay people on June 27 will be the highlight of the week on the East Coast. The Rochester Gay Liberation Front is charting a bus to New York City for the March. The bus fare is $15 round-trip.

What did the Gay Liberation Front do?

by Evelyn Bailey

In previous issues we looked at WHAT the Gay Liberation Front at the University of Rochester was.  We looked at WHO the driving force behind the organization was.  In this issue we want to look at WHAT  DID  THE  GLF  DO?

The accomplishments of the Gay Liberation Front at the University of Rochester can be summarized in one word – VISIBILITY.  The members of the GLF were naturally catapulted into the public arena.  Their commitment to educating the public and speaking out resulted in being OUT and VISIBLE themselves. 

Karen Hagberg, a student at the Eastman School of Music, came out publicly when she and two other students, R J Alcala and Jim Fishman, did a TV spot on WXXI channel 21, on July 14, 1971 on a talk show “Call 21.”  The show aired live so no copies were made at the station. 

Events in Gay History - June

by Evelyn Bailey

Excerpted from the June 29, 1971 issue of the Empty Closet

GAY  PRIDE WEEK in New York City began on Friday, June 18 and consisted of 10 days of plays, movies, workshops, dances, suppers and marches.

Thursday, June 24 a candlelight march to City Hall was held in support of the City Council bill for fair employment for gay people.  Several people were arrested.

Friday, June 25 several dances and a community supper were held.

Bob Osborne

by Evelyn Bailey

In last month’s Shoulders To Stand On article we looked at HOW and WHAT the Gay Liberation Front was.  This month we will look at who the people involved in the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) were.  We need to remember the times in which the GLF was established. 

The year was 1970.  A Richard Nixon was President.  U.S. troops invade Cambodia (May 1). Four students at Kent State University in Ohio slain by National Guardsmen at demonstration protesting incursion into Cambodia (May 4).   This was the year the Beatles broke up, the year Jimmy Hendrix and Janis Joplin died of a drug overdose at the age of 27, the year of Midnight Cowboy, Love Story, Airport, the year IBM introduces the floppy disk, the year Maya Angelou wrote I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and the year of the 5th Dimension’s Grammy award winning song Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In.

Onto this stage steps Bob Osborne, the original founder of the Gay Liberation movement in Rochester.  Bob had a flair for revolutionary rhetoric.  His early writings in the first three Empty Closets carried with them the spirit of the turbulent 1960s.