Gay and lesbian bars in scranton area

This growing collection of oral history interviews is housed by the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections. The attached PDF file contains summaries of each completed interview. Cecelia Wambach was born on May 26th, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Cecelia begins the interview by talking about her family life, the dynamics of her relationship with her parents and religion, and how those facets shaped her adult identity as a lesbian woman.

She grew up as the second-oldest of 14 children, with a stay-at-home mother and a father who had a radio talk show and late-night talk show. She describes being very happy and satisfied with her upbringing. From there, she taught as a nun in several Parrish schools on the East Coast. She also worked with Dr. She explains that during this time in her life, she did not yet know she was lesbian.

Wambach got married to an ex-priest in It was not until the day after getting married did she realize she was lesbian. She had a son named Nathaniel and raised him while working as a teacher for public schools in New York City. In realizing her sexual identity, Wambach went through years of therapy to cope.

LGBT Oral History

Old Lesbians Organizing for Changeand B. W Bay Area Career Woman and others. Currently, Ms. After moving to Lancaster in their earlier childhood, they eventually performed in several plays with the Lancaster Kiwanis Club and the Fulton Opera House. They also spoke of the harassment they faced for being gay, both on the streets, in the workplace and by the Lancaster Police Department.

They spoke of their work with Gays United of Lancaster and attending several government meetings while dressed as Miss Tina, as well as the various AIDs events they attended dressed as such to show solidarity. They described their want to join the Air Force only to be turned down because of medical reasons and about the discrimination they faced from the police and medical professionals.

Sabrina Dare-Bledsoe was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in She grew up in a large family of entrepreneurs and bar owners, whom she worked alongside as a child and teenager. She describes the homophobia of her peers and teachers at school and the welcoming environment her family cultivated at work and at home.

She graduated from high school and attended nursing school, but after burning out from her job and schooling, she dropped out, married, and had three children with her husband. In this interview, she discusses going to a doctor and being referred to therapy which gave her the tools to live a healthy life despite the violence and instability of her childhood.

Her therapist pushed her to come out so she told her children. After her youngest daughter informed the entire neighborhood of her sexuality though, Marie looked for gay organizations to join. She travelled to groups across Central Pennsylvania, but she grew frustrated with the lack of community in Lebanon, so she started her own group, Lebanon County Lesbians.