Spring 2010

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READING PRIDE CELEBRATION NEWS
The newsletter of Reading Pride Celebration serving the Greater Reading area with the latest GLBT news, reviews, announcements and more. Spring 2010 vol. 1 no. 1

Stand up and be counted —couples only please!
by Ben Renkus The Census Bureau wants to count gay couples. Census 2010 will allow same sex couples to identify as having a husband or wife, or as an unmarried couple. The census will report this information along with other demographic differences such as ethnicity, household and family dynamics, etc. In the past, gay couples who identified themselves as married, having a husband or wife would be automatically counted unmarried partners since gay marriages were and still are not legally recognized, federally. What has happened is that several states legally have instituted gay marriage with full marriage equality - Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire.
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Take Me Out: a great night out on the town
by Richard Wagner Playwright Richard Greenburg’s Tony Award winning Take Me Out, a drama exploring the themes of homophobia within major league baseball, was performed March 6 by The Reading Community Players and directed by Santo Marabella as a fundraiser for The Reading Pride Celebration. The setting takes place in a locker room of a World Series
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Where is the Pride?
Pride is waking up every morning next to the person I love; Pride is going to work and able to be myself —out and accepted; Pride is to advocate for Civil Rights for all; Pride is to understand one another's differences; Pride is being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, straight or whomever; Pride is to worship in a place that accepts me for who I am; Pride is to educate others to dispel ignorance; Pride is community building; Pride is fraternity of persons working together toward common goals; Pride is making life long friendships; Pride is visibility that fights hatred and bigotry; Pride is a celebration of diversity and life; Pride is you making a difference; Pride is within each one of us; Come, share and be part of Reading Pride Celebration! Ben Renkus—contact: [email protected]

$$$ CONTEST $$$
We are having a contest to choose a title for our newsletter, currently under the working title Reading Pride Celebration News. The winner will receive a $30 gift card from Izzies Restaurant in Boyertown, as well as an announcement in our newsletter. Email your title suggestions to [email protected]

INSIDE
Oliver North and local Boys Scouts: likely bedfellows!—p.2 Lisa’s Legal View—p.3 All Souls Church—p. 4 Homosexuality and the Bible: not a biblical concern—p.4 Brenna’s Library Shelf—Tipping the Velvet—p.5

NEWS/EDITORIALS

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those who refuse to let God be taken from them. At hearings held this winter by Reading City Council on adding the GLBT community to city’s non-discrimination ordinance, two members of Reading Pride spoke of personal experiences with discrimination. The amendment passed by a vote of 6 to 1. These are the things we believe in and work for. If you believe in the same, please come help us grow and flourish
—Rich Spangler President, Reading Pride Celebration Contact: [email protected]

From the Desk of the President
I feel privileged to have this opportunity to thank everyone who has given of their time and talents to bring this newsletter from an idea to a reality, and to tell you a little bit about whom we are. It is because of their and all of our dedication and belief in the mission and purpose of Reading Pride Celebration that it thrives and flourishes as we prepare for our fourth festival to be held the weekend of July 16, 17 and 18. I can assure you that if you enjoyed last year's Pride Festival you will be thrilled with this year's event. We will soon be announcing our headliner for this year. We are always striving to fulfill our
Reading Pride Celebration News
Spring 2010 Vol. 1 no. 1

mission of celebrating the unity and diversity of the GLBT community through our July event. We also believe our purpose of working against prejudice and discrimination against the GLBT community is of equal importance. We do this through education and outreach. In our last two festivals we screened documentaries at Reading Area Community College, which were of importance to all of us. And this past festival we added an interfaith prayer service for all

Oliver North and local Boys Scouts — likely bedfellows!
by Ben Renkus It's bad enough that the national Boy Scout organization refuses to allow gay scout leaders under the guise of a "private organization," but now the local council has reaffirmed the policy of hatred and bigotry. The Hawk Mountain Council of the Boy Scouts of America here in Berks County, in their infinite wisdom, invited Oliver North to speak at their Leadership Dinner on Tuesday, February 23rd at the Crown Plaza Reading in Wyomissing. North was a Boy Scout and a Marine, convicted for his role in the Iran-Contra Affair, which was overturned on appeal and an active supporter of keeping gays and lesbians out of the scouts and the military. He presented his homophobic beliefs to the 500 or so Boy Scouts and their leadership gathered to hear North speak. North suggested that the Boy Scouts are

being unfairly judged based on their ideals. While the Boy Scouts have taught many positive attributes to young boys, they also teach that it is okay to discriminate against gays by the stance their leadership has taken. This dinner is a large fundraising event for the local council to the tune just shy of $200,000, but to choose Oliver North as a guest speaker was certainly a disgrace to the mission of the Boy Scouts. Beware when you make donations that you are not supporting this or any organization which discriminates against you. For example, the local Boy Scouts are funded by three United Ways, Berks County, Boyertown and Schuylkill. It is important to pick and choose which organizations get your donation when you give to a blanket organization like the United Way, so your dollars support those that support you and not those who work against you and/or your beliefs.
—-Ben Renkus is a RPC Committee Member for four years and Vendor Chair. Contact: [email protected]

EDITORIAL STAFF Brenna J. Corbit Joe DiCindio Jolene M. Flamm Kimberly Kalbach Ben Renkas Richard Spangler Richard Wagner LAYOUT, DESIGN and TEXT EDITOR Brenna J. Corbit PHOTOGRAPHY Kimberly Kalbach

CONTRIBUTORS Deb Coggin Brenna J. Corbit Joe DeCindio Lisa DeLong Jennifer Glass David Ramos Ben Renkus Richard Spangler Richard Wagner

Reading Pride Celebration News is a quarterly publication of the Reading Pride Celebration. The current publication title is a working title and will change with a permanent title in the Summer issue (see front page for details) DISCLAIMER The views expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views The Reading Pride Celebration. Our Mission is to Celebrate Unity and Diversity In the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community of Reading and Berks County. Contributions are encouraged and must be submitted via email, CD or flash drive. Articles are subjected to editing and may be rejected; article length approximately 250 words or less. Deadline for Summer submissions is June 12, 2010 Contact: [email protected]

NEWS/EDITORIALS

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LGBTQI community. Our families are legally fragile, even while the greater LGBTQI movement makes great strides in securing our rights. What can we do? First, fill out the 2010 Census. If you consider yourself married, put it down in the census. It will be the first time that the Census will be counting our community, and the Federal Government needs to know how many people they are discriminating against.
currently practicing law focusing on LGBTQI issues and rights. She has had the honor of arguing for the end of the military policy of "Don't ask don't tell" in front of State Supreme Court Justices at the Williams Institute and has argued First Amendment Rights in front of the Florida Supreme Court. Currently, she lives in Sinking Spring with her partner and 13yr old s o n . C o n t a c t : [email protected]

Lisa’s legal view— Big advances:

small rewards
by Lisa M. De Long, Esq.

The last year has been an exciting time for the LGBTQI community. We have While we wait for the rights we seen major hisdeserve, we should also take the toric advances in employment and necessary steps to protect our civil rights, as well as greater recfamilies and partners the best we ognition from the mainstream mecan. Write a will and an advance dia. Not a day goes by that the directive, so that your news doesn’t include either commentary on “It will be the first time wishes are followed even if you are unable “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” that the Census or marriage equality. I will be counting our to voice them. Provide believe that now, more community, and the for your children’s conrelationships than ever before in our Federal Government tinued with their parents. history, we are close needs to know Married heterosexual to being recognized as how many people couples’ wishes are full citizens and receiving all the rights we they are discriminat- assumed. We in the LGBTQI community ing against.” deserve, but.... sadly, have to write ours there is a “but.” down. While we wait for the government to give us our rights, we Many of us still are without must take the initiative to protect many of the basic securities our what we have. Be proud of what heterosexual married friends take we have accomplished, but be for granted. Health insurance sure that you are protected. benefits, hospital visitation, and parenting issues are all still prob——Lisa DeLong is a graduate of lems for the majority of the
Florida Coastal School of Law and is

www.queerthecensus.org

Check us Out online for additional news, photos, events and a lot more
www.readingpridecelebration.com

GLBT AWARENESS MONTH
APRIL 2010
Sponsored by the Center for Academic Success

Reading Area Community College Invites you to a series of month long GLBT Awareness Events:
—-GLBT history discussion and showing of Gay Pioneers Wednesday, April 7—2:30-4:00 pm—Yocum 117 —-Marriage Equality and heterosexual privilege with speakers Liz Bradbury and Trish Sullivan. Friday April 9— 3:30-4:00 pm—Location (contact Kym—see below) —-Table sits in Berks Hall lobby. Mon 4/12, Tues 4/13, Wed 4/14, Thurs 4/15. 11-1 each day; also 4-6 on W 4/14 —-National Day of Silence. Friday April 16 all day, including raising of the rainbow flag—Contact Kym Kleinsmith for more details: [email protected] or 610-372-4721 x5265

Religion and Spirituality

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Unlike many GLBT churches, All Souls follows a more traditional worship style. Those coming from a Lutheran, Episcopal, Roman Catholic or United Church of Christ back-ground will find the liturgy and flow very familiar. The church is affiliated with the Ecumenical Catholic Communion—a progressive, Old Catholic (not Roman Catholic) denomination that seeks to be welcoming, inclusive and diverse. The denomination believes that all people, regardless of age, sex, gender, sexual orientation or marital status are beloved
(Continued on page 7)

All Souls: A New GLBT Church in Town
by Fr. Dewayne Messenger There is a “new” GLBT church in town? That’s right! There is a new church in Reading that is made up predominantly of GLBT folks. The church is All Souls. Although it is new, the church has continued to grow steadily since it began worshipping as a community of faith in April of 2009.

Homosexuality and the Bible: not a biblical concern
When considering what we central issue here. As Christians, mean by “Holy Scripture,” keep in we profess this to be true. The mind that the worth or value we as human filters through which this humans place on any one particurevealed word has been made lar thing is usually a reflection of known to humanity, however, is our own personal investment in an important factor to consider what that thing can do or has done when trying to discern what the for us. The same is Bible really says about “Agree with us homosexuality. true for the Bible. or not, Agree with us or not, The fact that we we believe the we believe the truth is a c k n o wl e d g e the that homosexuality is not truth is that scriptures as “holy” a biblical concern. We serves not only to set homosexuality will discuss and explain in is not this book apart as future columns more unlike any other writa biblical about the Bible and ten document known Queer Spirituality. concern.” to humanity, but it also increases the tendency for us to Got questions? About the Bible? overlook the fact that the Bible, as About other matters of faith? we know it, is a product of human Please feel free to email Pastors hands. Deb and Jen at [email protected]. The bottom line is that the inspired word of God was transmit- Rev. Deb Coggin is the Lead Pastor ted to human beings, through the at Vision of Hope MCC and Rev. Jen Glass also a pastor on staff at Vision lenses of human nature, and interof Hope MCC. Vision of Hope is a preted by human beings. Whether or not the Bible is the revealed Word of God is not the
member of the denomination known as the Universal Fellowship of Metro-

by Revs. Deb Coggin and Jennifer Glass As pastors of a Christian church that predominately ministers to the LGBT community, we are frequently asked, what does the Bible really say about Homosexuality? Well, there is no simple answer. In fact, we often present information like this in a four to six hour workshop. In addition, before we even get into the potential scriptural references, we share some things we think are important which we call “Bible basics.” For instance, as Christians, we believe that the Bible is a body of texts inspired by God (God-breathed) for the benefit of God’s people and transmitted to humanity for the purpose of creating a written document of God’s divine action in and among God’s created order.

(Continued on page 7)

ENTERTAINMENT

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twist when sung by a female cross dresser. Oh, and if you think you know what tipping the velvet means, you are probably wrong. You will have to read the novel to discover that one yourself ;-)
—-Brenna J. Corbit is a librarian at Reading Area Community College’s The Yocum Library. She is a transitioned male-to-female transsexual and shares her life with her partner, Jolene. The Library has an extensive GLBT collection of books and films, many of which are generous donations and grants from the Pa. Diversity Network and PFLAG. All reviewed items are available from the RACC Library, a collection opened to the public. Brenna can be reached at [email protected]

Brenna’s library shelf—Tipping the Velvet— a lush performance of decadent Victorian lesbian fiction, cinema and music.
Historical / lesbian fiction author Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet takes us back to fin de siècle Victorian England where Nancy, a small-town oyster girl becomes infatuated with cross-dressing dancing and singing star Miss Kitty Butler. Infatuation leads her to becoming Butler’s personal attendant, her lover, and then dancer and cross-dressing star herself, headlining with Kitty as Nan King. After discovering Kitty’s love affair with their stage manager, Nancy strikes out on her own. With the use of her male stage costumes, she survives as a “male” prostitute, then as a live-in sex-slave with a rich and cruel Sapphist, and then back to the streets where she meets the true love of her life, an activist in the socialist labor movement. Both the book and BBC adaptation give a well-researched taste of the seedier side of end-of-the 20th century London life. Through Nancy’s eyes, we meet characters as strange to her as they are strange to us—rag-tag theater denizens, street- wise toffs (prostitutes), eccentric Sapphists, and passionate socialists. While Tipping the Velvet does include some steamy sexual encounters, Waters relies upon exploring her characters in depth. We really feel for our heroine’s adventures as she struggles and ultimately survives the treacherous and dark winding streets of London. The CD collection, inspired by Tipping the Velvet, is a collection of original recordings from 19151938 by GLBT stage performers and male impersonators upon which Kitty and Nan are based, giving a taste as close as possible to the fin de siècle London stage. “Masculine women! Feminine men!” performed by Gwen Farrar and Billy Mayerl or “I'm a mummy (an old Egyptian queen)” performed in falsetto by Douglas Byng are clearly songs with a strong GLBT streak, not to mention much comical and sexual innuendo, while songs like “If you knew Susie like I know Susie” sung by Ella Shields gives a lyrical

Waters, Sarah. Tipping the Velvet. New York : Riverhead Books, 1999. 472 p. ISBN: 1573221368 Tipping the Velvet—Dir. Geoffrey Sax, DVD. Acorn Media, 2004. ISBN: 1569386757 Tipping the Velvet—England: CD41, 2002. CD.

ENTERTAINMENT
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which asked Reading Pride if they would do more fund-raiser events. I enjoyed the evening out with some friends for the night as well as the total of eighty patrons that showed up for the play. I would recommend going to the Reading Community Players playhouse located on Eleventh and Buttonwood Street to see some local talent, as well as some culture. —-Richard Wagner is RPC VicePresident. Contact: [email protected]

Take Me Out
baseball team. The main character, Darren Lemming, played by newcomer Umar Abdur-Rahman, is a gay man of mixed race who has not yet told his teammates

RPC President Rich Spangler and the director of the play, Santo Marabella—photo David Ramos that he is gay, but fellow teammate, Shane Mungitt (Adam Kissinger), blurts out on national television that he is gay. In one game Shane throws the fatal pitch that takes the life of Darren’s best friend, Davey Battle (James Barksdale). The play ends with Darren inviting his manager Mason Marzac to the team’s victory party for winning another World Series game. He even tells Mason that he can wear his championship ring, and that they could stop by Mason’s place and hold hands so that his gay neighbors can see them together. Shane’s performance in the show was outstanding; you could see the fear, the hate and evil in his eyes. Preceding the fundraiser was a wine and cheese party, which was warmly appreciated by the patrons who attended, many of

ODDS and ENDS
(Continued from page 4)

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Rev. Dewayne Messenger. Please feel free to call the church at 610621-1738 for more information or check the church’s website —

All Souls
children of God and offers the church’s sacraments to all. All Souls worships in the chapel at Calvary UCC each Sunday at 1pm. The church often offers additional services and activities. All Souls especially welcomes everyone to join them as they observe Holy Week. Services on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday during Holy Week are at 7pm. The candle-lit Great Easter Vigil on Saturday, April 3, begins at 7pm and the Easter Sunday service at 1pm. The church is located at 640 Centre Avenue, Reading, PA. The chapel entrance faces Oley Street. The church’s pastor is The

allsoulsecumenical.org.
(Continued from page 4)

Homosexuality
politan Community Churches. For the last 42 years MCC has grown into the world’s largest Christian faith group providing spiritual support to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender persons along with their allies. The MCC is “Led by Christ, Empowered to Rock the World” with locations in Mountville, York and Reading (Sundays at 7pm at the Quaker Meeting House, 108 N. 6th Street). Questions? About the Bible? Matters of faith? Please feel free to email Pastors Deb and Jen at [email protected].

Rainbow over the West Shore Bypass, Reading, Pa.—photo Brenna J. Corbit

(Continued from page 1)

Stand up and be counted
Due to pressure from advocacy groups, the Obama Administration and the Census Bureau amended the census form to capture the changing social and household demographics in the United States. Unfortunately, you only count if you consider yourself to be in a relationship. It's not perfect, but it is a start. Eventually, this could mean government funding for programs that benefit our GLBT community. Should we take advantage of this as an opportunity to stand up and be counted? Do what is right for you, but I see this as an opportunity to take pride in which I am! Before you fill out your census f o r m , g o t o www.ourfamilycounts.org for more information on the GLBT community and the census
—-Ben Renkus is a RPC Committee Member for four years and Vendor Chair. Contact: Contact: [email protected]

Chef Joe D

—Marinated Mushroom Salad
Ingredients:
-3 lbs small button mushrooms -1 green and 1 red bell pepper—chopped -2 lbs olive mix “Italian Deli” -1 can artichoke hearts pieces -1 small onion finely— chopped -1 small bag carrots---medium diced -5 stalks celery—minced -5 cloves garlic—pressed -1 small can black pitted olives -1 small can strained green olives

Condiments:
-1 tbs salt -11 tbs coarse black pepper -4 bay leaves -1 tbs garlic salt—Lawrey’s -1 tsp sweet basil I- tsp oregano -1 tsp dried red pepper flakes

Method:
In a large pot, boil one gallon of water and mushrooms—boil for approx 3 min, drain and rinse mushrooms. In another container mix two cups of wine vinegar, 1 cup of water, and rinsed mushrooms—let sit in refrigerator overnight. On the day of preparation drain off liquid from bowl. Place mushrooms in bowl, add all ingredients, mix together and let sit in an air tight container for 24 hours. Serve cold. Enjoy—-Chef Joe.

ANNOUNCEMENTS / EVENTS

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READING PRIDE CELEBRATION’S NEWSLETTER
is looking for writers, photographers, editors, sponsors and advertisers The Summer 2010 Issue deadline for submissions is June 12, 2010 Advertisers and Sponsors contact Kim Kalbach at [email protected] All other submissions contact Brenna J. Corbit at [email protected]

SAVE THE DATE
Joyride: A Gay Event at Dorney Park
On May 22, 2010 from 7:30 PM to 1:00 AM New York City Pride will be sponsor and Reading Pride celebration will be partner for an evening of fun and entertainment at Dorney Park. Also our 4th annual Stirling Event will be held on Sunday May 16, 2010 from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM. On Sunday June 6, 2010 we will be kicking off the start of Summer with a Dance Party at The Brick House in Shillington. Watch your e-mail for further details and information on purchasing tickets for these events. You can also check for updates at www.readingpridecelebration.org or call Lori at 484 955-1490 or Rich at 610-375-8209

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