Shoulders to Stand On

On the Road with Shoulders to Stand On

by Evelyn Bailey

On February 16, I began a road trip south to interview members of the LGBT community who have moved away from Rochester. 

Bill Pritchard’s involvement with Rochester LGBT community began in the late ‘80’s with the Political Caucus of the GAGV.   Bill joined the Board of the Gay Alliance in 1992, and became Board President in 1994.  In 2003 Bill was appointed to fill a vacancy on Rochester City Council, and in 2007 was named Vice President of City Council.  In 1994 Bill was awarded the Vinnie cup.  Bill, an openly gay government official for over 18 years, courageously fought to bring equality and full civil rights to the Rochester LGBT community.   Now Bill is the Executive Director of the Foundation at Union Hospital of Cecil County, MD.  He and his partner Michael live happily in Newark, Delaware with their 3 dogs.  

Tim Mains: New York State's First Openly Gay Elected Official

by Evelyn Bailey

It is November.  What comes to my mind?   November 3, Election Day and Thanksgiving.  These two occasions are linked very closely.  Our OUT Politicians give us a great deal to be thankful for.  The Shoulders that our Rochester GLBT community identifies as the first openly gay candidate to run for political office is Tim Mains.

When Tim Mains began his career in public education, he believed that the word “gay” and “teacher” didn’t belong in the same sentence, let alone the same classroom. He assumed that he would keep his private life and his professional life strictly separated. After all, such beliefs and practices were common in 1971, when Mains graduated from Ball State University and left his home in Indiana to teach high school social studies in a suburb of Rochester, New York.