Shoulders to Stand On

40 Years of The Empty Closet Are Digitized!

by Evelyn Bailey

The official launch was Tuesday, Nov. 15 – the University of Rochester has uploaded, indexed and completed the necessary links – Empty Closet newspapers from January, 1971 through April, 2010 will be accessible through U of R server for online search engines to access!

In April, 2010 the Gay Alliance, in partnership with the University of Rochester’s Rare Books and Manuscript department, moved forward on digitizing The Empty Closet for research purposes and to preserve this primary source for Rochester LGBT history. Richard Peek, Director of the Rare Books and Manuscript Department offered to have the University pay for the microfilming. Shoulders To Stand On raised the remainder of the funds for digitization.

Search Past Issues of the Empty Closet Online!

You can now search issues of the Empty Closet from its very beginning - January 1971 - to as current as April 2010 at the University of Rochester's website:  www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=4800.

A special thanks to Evelyn Bailey, Project Manager, Shoulders to Stand On, and Melissa Mead, Director, Digital Project Research Center, University of Rochester Libraries, for making this happen.

Jay Baker, The First Editor of The Empty Closet

The Unsung Shoulders - Empty Closet Columnists

by Evelyn Bailey

The 40th Anniversary of The Empty Closet newspaper took place on Feb. 27 at the Tea Room on the fourth floor of the Auditorium Center. The focus was on the past editors and staff, at a time when there was no identified editor who month after month “got the paper out”.

Obviously it takes more than the editors, more than the recounting of local, national and in some cases international news, to keep a newspaper an integral part of a community’s life. Reporting the news for the most part deals with the facts of what happened or what is expected to happen. A community newspaper’s purpose is to do more than this. It is to share information and ideas and often personal opinions on topics of interest. Newspaper columnists are the primary conduit through which this communication happens.

Rochester Chamber of Commerce Discriminates Against GAGV - In 1983

By Jackie Nudd

During the summer of 1983, the Board of Directors of GAGV decided to hold their Tenth Anniversary Dinner at the Rochester Chamber of Commerce. There was a lengthy debate as to whether the application would be approved, but it was decided to go forth with the plan. The Board consisted of members with strong convictions that it was way beyond time to move the Alliance into the mainstream Rochester Community,

To the astonishment and relief of all, the approved application was received within a very short time. Committees were formed and plans moved quickly to get tickets printed and flyers made announcing the Tenth Anniversary Dinner along with the named location where it was to be held. The whole Gay Community was abuzz that the Alliance’s Tenth Anniversary Dinner was going to be held in the ballroom of the prestigious Chamber of Commerce.

Empty Closet 40th Anniversary Celebration Is February 27

By Evelyn Bailey

The Empty Closet 40^th Anniversary Celebration is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 27, in the Tea Room, fourth floor, Auditorium Center, 875 E. Main St.

This year the Empty Closet turns 40 – a milestone in anyone’s life, but an exceptional one especially today for any newspaper, let alone a gay newspaper!

Bob Osborne, Brian (Monday) Tangen, Debbie Lestz, Larry Fine, RJ Alcala, and Patricia Evers were the first six writers for The Empty Closet. Each put pen to paper and what they wrote was pretty radical even by today’s standards, and I quote,  “Gay Liberation is more than a group of oppressed people joined together to seek freedom and justice.  Gay Liberation is a call to power.” (Debbie Lestz, Empty Closet, January, 1971)

Empty Closet Digitization, Microfilming Are Finished; Will Be Available to Public

by Evelyn Bailey

On Thursday, June 11, the microfilm copies for the Gay Alliance, and the digitized copies for the University of Rochester, the Gay Alliance and Cornell University were picked up from HOV Services, the vendor who did the conversion.  The entire process began mid-March and was completed by June 1st.

Shoulders To Stand On will now have on one CD the record of all the shoulders that have brought the Rochester LGBT Community into the 21st century.  The University of Rochester and the Gay Alliance will spend the next several months working out an agreement for offering the digitized version to the public, along with ongoing digitization of future issues, and the legalities inherent in such an agreement.

The Gay Alliance and the University of Rochester will celebrate this accomplishment at the Gay Alliance Annual Meeting to be held on June 30, 2010 at 6 pm in the GAGV Youth Center at the Auditorium Theater.  Come and see the early issues and how the Empty Closet has grown and changed.

Shoulders to Stand On is proud to have been a part of this endeavor, and is proud of all of those who contributed to making this happen.  See you at the Annual Meeting to CELEBRATE!!!

Empty Closet Digitization Project Completion Deadline: June 1, 2010

By Evelyn Bailey

Initially a quarterly, then a bimonthly and finally a monthly newspaper, the Empty Closet is the oldest continuously published GLBT newspaper in New York State. With a current monthly circulation of  5000+, the EC has chronicled political, social, and economic events affecting the gay community over a 39 year period of unprecedented change.

Six years ago, June, 2004, the Gay Alliance celebrated its 30th Anniversary.  One of the goals for the Anniversary year was to digitize the Empty Closet Newspaper.  That goal will be a reality by the time this issue of the Empty Closet  is published.  Making the Empty Closet a digitized researchable document will preserve the content of the Empty Closet and preserve the documented history of the Rochester GLBT community.  The digitized researchable format would allow present and future generations friendly access to this historical data for use in education, research, and advocacy work.

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. 

June 1974: Gay Radio

The following gay radio and television programs were broadcasted in Western, New York in 1974:

• GREEN THURSDAYS.  Wednesday midnight.  WCMF-FM, 96.5 Mhz. Alternates with LESBIAN NATION
• LESBIAN NATION. Wednesday midnight.  WCMF-FM, 96.5 Mhz. Alternates with GREEN THURSDAYS.
• GAY WAVES.  Thursday 5:30 – 6 p.m.  WRUR-FM, 88.5 Mhz.
• SISTERS OF SAPPHO. Thursday, 9:30 – 10 p.m., WBFO-FM 88.7 Mhz. (Buffalo)
• STONEWALL  NATION. Thursday, 9 – 9:30 p.m.  WBFO-FM  88.7 Mhz. (Buffalo)

Compiled by Evelyn Bailey from the Empty Closet.