Local
Housemate talks about Kameny’s home life
Gay activist’s ashes to be laid to rest in Saturday ceremony
Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part report on Timothy Clark, the sole heir of Frank Kameny’s estate. Visit washingtonblade.com for more of this exclusive Blade interview.
Timothy Clark was Frank Kameny’s sole heir; the two lived together for almost 19 years in Kameny’s D.C. home, which is now on the market. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
LGBT rights leaders from D.C. and across the country are scheduled to honor the late gay movement leader Franklin E. Kameny Saturday morning, March 3, at an interment ceremony in the city’s historic Congressional Cemetery.
Among those expected to attend is Timothy Lamont Clark, 35, Kameny’s friend, housemate, and heir of his estate. Clark’s 19-year friendship with Kameny was unknown to many of Kameny’s collaborators in politics and gay activism.
In an exclusive interview with the Washington Blade last week, Clark said he came to know a private side of Frank Kameny as the two developed a grandfather-grandson relationship that Clark says uplifted his own life and complimented Kameny’s tireless and rough-and-tumble role as a fighter for LGBT equality for more than 50 years.
Kameny died Oct. 11 at his home in Northwest Washington at the age of 86. Several years before his death friends and associates founded the Kameny Papers Project, which arranged for the papers documenting his life’s work as a recognized architect of the gay rights movement beginning in the early 1960s to be given to the Library of Congress, where they are available to researchers and scholars.
Gay historian David Carter, author of the nationally acclaimed book “Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution,” is writing Kameny’s biography.
Clark told the Blade he has long admired Kameny’s work on the local and national stage in the struggle for gay equality. But he said he shunned the whirlwind of political and movement events and activities that Kameny relished, calling himself “a very private person.”
Clark said he met the gay rights pioneer by phone at the age of 15 when he called the Gay Information hotline that Kameny operated out of his home in 1991.
At a time when he was struggling to accept his sexual orientation coming from a strong religious upbringing, Clark said Kameny gave him support and advice through a series of phone conversations that helped him cope with coming out to his family.
“If it would not have been for Frank maybe I would have been one of those kids committing suicide because I’m gay,” Clark said.
At Kameny’s invitation, Clark said he moved into the basement apartment of Kameny’s house in Northwest Washington in 1997 at the age of 20. Clark said he moved out in 1999 to live with his boyfriend in Virginia before returning to the house between 2002 and 2003, where he remained until Kameny’s death.
Following are excerpts of Clark’s Feb. 21 conversation with the Blade.
Washington Blade: Where were you living in D.C. before you moved in with Frank Kameny?
Timothy Clark: With my grandmother.
Blade: When you met him through the gay hotline he operated, did he help you come out as gay?
Clark: Yeah. When I first called him that’s what that was about. I saw that and he just guided me through that year.
Blade: Over the years that you knew Frank Kameny, did he visit any of your relatives and family members?
Clark: Yes, yes, yes. Frank went to Christmas dinners, Thanksgiving dinners, a cookout when my cousin Milton graduated from high school. Frank was a part of my family. Frank was like a grandfather to me. My grandfather passed away when I was little, but Frank was literally like a grandfather to me. We had our ups and downs, but that’s what families do. That’s what a family does. You go through things like that.
Blade: When you moved into his house, did he make it a rent or a roommate situation?
Clark: No, that’s what I want people to understand. It was a family thing. Even when I would offer things to Frank, Frank did not accept it. We just had a bond. I remember one time that I went to the Safeway. I was shopping and I got Frank – he always ate Stouffer’s for lunch and he always ate Healthy Choice for dinner. I bought Frank the groceries and I will tell you he literally went to the ATM and he was trying to give me the money back. I don’t know what it was about me but he was always like that. He never asked anything from me. I mean I was there for him. Of course, I made his breakfasts and his dinner. And I always cooked – we had – every other Sunday he would come down for dinner with me. I would cook a big dinner. Me, him and my friend Jessica, we would eat together.
Blade: You were like a family member?
Clark: That’s exactly what Frank and I were. It would always be to me as long as I’m here. It wasn’t a tenant. And well Frank even got – can I say it? [He looks at his lawyer, Glen Ackerman. Ackerman says to go ahead and say it.] In the last year or so in his life people were making accusations about me and saying things about me and saying that well, you should be charging him rent and who is this person? And then two cops came to the house and asked Frank was he being extorted. And Frank was really — Frank sat on that couch and said I have not worked all of my life for people in the community to treat him like that. I thought that was very disrespectful because the cops wanted to meet me. Actually, a guy from [D.C. Council member] David Catania’s office came over. He was a black guy my age. He came over and we talked. He didn’t even understand it but he said these things were going around and he wanted to talk to me to better understand that. But Frank was very, very upset by that. He felt as though that should not have taken place.
Blade: Did Frank make it clear to people that you were not a problem and he wanted you to be there?
Clark: Of course, of course.
Blade: Concerning the people who were raising concerns about you, some said they worried that Frank was supporting you financially with money he needed to meet his own household expenses.
Clark: How?
Blade: Some of his friends who didn’t know you said they wondered whether you were working and able to support yourself.
Clark: No, no, no, no. I will answer that. First, my work situation has nothing to do with anybody but me. Frank did not spend his money on Timothy. That’s one thing that I can tell you. When my grandmother passed, I was left money. You can call anyone in my family. I’ve always been well taken care of. I was in a relationship and still am sort of and have always been taken care of. And Frank knew everything about my relationship where everything was coming off.
And Frank did not take any money and spend it on me. I was living with Frank. I don’t have a passport to go out of town. I’m scared of flying. The only place I went was Myrtle Beach. I talked to Frank when I went there. Frank was not spending any money on me. Everything I got, I got through me — my computer, my bed, everything.
I can’t tell you where Frank’s money went. I do know — and he’s probably rolling in his grave — but I do know when I was into his family history and all that, but I know that Frank had money and things in stocks but when the stock market crashed a few years ago, that’s what he told me. As he always used to say, I’ve never been a financial whiz — things like that. I can’t tell you where his money went.
But I can tell you that it wasn’t to keep me because I do not sell myself to anybody. And that’s what that would have been if Frank was taking care of me. There was none of that going on. I have respect for myself. I may battle with my religion and being gay but one thing I would never do is sell myself to no man and no woman. I already have to answer for being gay but not that. I would never, ever use anybody that way because I would never want anyone to do that to me — never.
That’s the only thing that I get upset about. I would never sit back and use Frank, con Frank, do anything like that to him because I have respect for him because if it would not have been for Frank maybe I would have been one of those kids committing suicide because I’m gay. I would never have done that to him at all — at all.
Blade: Most people who knew Frank Kameny politically didn’t know you. Did you ever go to political events with him or was that always his thing?
Clark: His thing. I mean Frank always wanted me included, even one of the last events with the drag queens who gave him an award. He wanted me to go. I just — I’m not that kind of a person. I’m private. Now that he’s gone I feel bad that I never went to anything.
But it was things like when he had a birthday party this past year, his last birthday party, I think it was somewhere near Logan Circle somewhere and he wanted me to go. But I didn’t go. But when he came home like the next day I got a cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. I had two bottles of champagne and I made a little dinner and Frank came down with Jessica and me and celebrated.
Frank was like, he said this is what he was looking forward to. He loved my cooking. That’s why I never went to these things. Frank always said I wasn’t gay enough, that I didn’t care about the cause. He did, but that wasn’t my thing. Frank finally got me to go to the Gay Pride.
Blade: Do you mean the gay pride parade?
Clark: Yeah, the parade. That’s never been my thing. But he finally got me to go.
Blade: Do you think some of the rumors about you started because Frank Kameny was a famous person of sorts and just like other famous people, the public wants to know about the people who are part of their lives? He was known nationally as a preeminent leader for gay rights.
Clark: Right, and so was Whitney Houston.
Blade: That’s right, and everyone wants to know what her ex-husband is doing.
Clark: Yeah, her ex-husband. Frank and I were not lovers. Let’s get that straight… Let me just say something. I think what it is — when those people wanted to meet me — I do not talk about Timothy. I can give you my mother’s telephone number right now and you can ask her things about me. I do not talk about my personal business with anybody. And I think that’s what upset a lot of them.
Blade: Your lawyer has said you will be selling Frank Kameny’s house that you’ve inherited. What are your plans after that? Once the house is sold and this probate process is completed, are you planning on staying in this area? Have you made any decisions on that?
Clark: I’m going to Charlotte. I’m getting away. I’m moving away so I have time to really grieve and really have time to think about the memories I have of Frank. I have not been able to do that.
Blade: What are some of the things you remember of Frank Kameny?
Clark: I will never forget the last time I went to Myrtle Beach and Frank said what are you getting ready to do? Frank had called me because we always talked at 12 o’clock. I said, ‘Frank I’m paying my tab. I’m at the club.’ He said, ‘Timothy, you get back to your hotel. You don’t know those people down there — drinking and galloping around.’ I said, ‘Frank, I am 35 years old.’ I said, ‘Don’t you call me long distance telling me what to do.’ And that was one of my last fun memories of Frank.
Blade: Are you saying he obviously cared for you?
Clark: Yeah, and he fed my dog for me. He called me and said the dog has been fed. You see Frank and me we really got a kick out of each other. That’s what I can talk about. I got a kick out of Frank. I loved him to pieces.
Blade: Did you mention earlier that you did things together but they were non-political going back to when you first got to know him?
Clark: It was way back and I was still living with my grandmother. My aunt knew somebody at Ticketmaster and she got four tickets to see Patti LaBelle. I said Frank we’re going to see Patti LaBelle. He said I’ve heard of her, but Frank was into Mozart. I said Frank I want you to come. I was sitting here and Frank was sitting here and my aunt was sitting there. I took him to see his first Patti LaBelle concert. And it was so amazing.
So we went to see Patti LaBelle a couple of times. He and I went to Blue’s Alley in Georgetown. Me, him and Jessica, we went to see Eartha Kitt. And then after the show you could go upstairs and Eartha Kitt was there and she said to him, nice to meet you. And he said I’m Frank Kameny, gay activist. I said, ‘Frank not here. She’s not interested in that.’ We just laughed. So he got to shake Eartha Kitt’s hand. Frank and I did things together. The only thing he would not take part in was my gospel concerts. Other than that — he didn’t believe in that — but other than that, me and Frank did a lot of things together.
Me and Frank really shared things together. I know how Frank liked his food, his coffee — full sugar cubes; fill the coffee thing right up here and all the milk. I would make his food about 12 o’clock so about 1 o’clock it was near cold — but we shared things together.
Now, like I told you, we talked about political things, too, like about Obama, how he felt about living to see Obama be president, even though I wasn’t an Obama supporter — I was for Hillary — and things like that. That was us. We would argue about things, about the marriage thing. I said you know Frank sometimes gays want too much. I said we’re getting that much but let’s just let Obama get in and do things. And he argued me down about it but that was us. We shared.
Frank would come down in the basement because I wouldn’t come upstairs — it was a mess he wouldn’t allow me to clean up. I cleaned up and he would get mad. He said it was a mess but it was his mess and he knew where things are. But he would come downstairs and we would watch TV.
Blade: Glen Ackerman, your lawyer, mentioned that you recently moved out of the house after Frank’s death. Was there some kind of problem?
Clark: I had never witnessed anything like that day when Frank passed away. It just scares the living crap out of me. And it’s like just to be there — even though the memories are good, there’s nothing bad, but it’s the fact that I found him like that. It just breaks my heart. I don’t know. It doesn’t sit right with me. It doesn’t feel like home anymore. You know what I mean? There’s no peace any more.
Blade: Your lawyer said you were also troubled over a letter that someone hand-delivered to the house. Was it an anonymous letter?
Clark: Yeah. It was pushed through the thing [mail slot on front door]. It was just right there. And that’s just horrible for anybody to say, no matter what your opinion is, to say that. It said, ‘The nigger got everything.’
Blade: Did it have your name on it?
Clark: No, but whoever it was must have known that situation what’s going on.
District of Columbia
LGBTQ voters divided in Ward 8 special election
All four candidates on DC Council seat ballot are allies
Political observers, including LGBTQ activists, believe LGBTQ voters in Ward 8, like most if not all voters in the ward, are divided over which of the four candidates to support in the July 15 special election to fill the ward’s vacant D.C. Council seat.
Each of the four candidates, all of whom are Democrats, including ousted Ward 8 council member Trayon White, who is running to recapture his seat, have expressed support for LGBTQ related issues.
The special election was called earlier this year after the D.C. Council voted unanimously to expel White following his indictment and arrest by the FBI on a federal bribery charge in August 2024.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charge and under D.C. law he can legally run for and regain his council seat until the time he is convicted of the charge. His trial is scheduled to begin in January 2026.
The three candidates challenging White — Sheila Bunn, Mike Austin, and Salim Adofo — are longtime Ward 8 community advocates who have been involved in local government affairs for many years and, according to LGBTQ activists who know them, have been supportive of LGBTQ rights.
White also has a record of supporting LGBTQ issues while serving on the council since 2017. Following his indictment, he won re-election by a wide margin in the November 2024 general election against a lesser-known Republican opponent.
Political observers say White’s indictment on a bribery charge is likely to alienate some of his past supporters, but they say he remains popular in the ward, and with three candidates dividing the opposition vote he could win the election with less than 50 percent of the divided vote count.
Two of the candidates, Bunn and Adofo, responded to a request by the Washington Blade sent to each of the four candidates asking for a statement summarizing their positions on LGBTQ related issues. In their respective statements Bunn and Adofo expressed strong support on a wide range of LGBTQ issues.
“In my nearly 30 years of public service, I have consistently supported the rights and worked to improve the quality of life for the LGBTQIA+ community,” Bunn said in her statement. She noted that much of her work on behalf of LGBTQ rights took place when she served as chief of staff for D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and as a senior staff member for former D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray.
In his statement, Adofo said he advocated for a wide range of LGBTQ issues, including housing programs for homeless LGBTQ youth and supportive employment training programs for transgender residents.
“At the heart of our platform is a steadfast commitment to uplifting LGBTQ+ communities, ensuring that policy is shaped not just for them, but with them,” his statement says. Adofo’s positions in support of LGBTQ rights are also posted on his campaign website.
GLAA D.C, formerly known as the Gay and Lesbian Activists of Washington, released its ratings of three of the four candidates on June 22, based on its recent policy of basing its ratings mostly on non-LGBTQ specific issues. The group rates candidates on a scale of -10, the lowest possible rating, to +10, its highest rating.
It assigned a rating of +7.5 for Bunn, +6.5 for Austin, and +4.5 for Adofo. In a statement accompanying its ratings, GLAA said each of the three have a record of support on LGBTQ issues, but they lost rating points for not supporting non-LGBTQ related issues deemed important by GLAA.
GLAA said it did not issue a rating for White based on its policy of not rating candidates who are removed from office or resign due to allegations of ethics violations.
The Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political group, chose not to make an endorsement in the Ward 8 special election.
“We thought that this is best because this is a special election and in these unfamiliar times, we decided not to take a stand,” Howard Garrett, the group’s president, told the Blade.
Ward 8 gay Democratic activist Phil Pannell is supporting Adofo, he told the Blade, on grounds of Adofo’s strong support on LGBTQ issues and Adofo’s role as the only candidate in the Ward 8 special election who supported Initiative 83, the ballot measure passed by D.C. voters in November 2024 calling for a ranked choice voting system and open D.C. primaries. A lawsuit challenging the initiative filed by the D.C. Democratic Party has delayed its implementation.
Another longtime Ward 8 gay Democratic activist, David Meadows, is supporting Bunn. Meadows cites Bunn’s support for LGBTQ rights and her positions on other issues he supports as his reason for backing her candidacy.
The D.C. Board of Elections website shows that the board mailed ballots for the special election to all Ward 8 registered voters. The website shows that as of July 7, 2,483 voters sent back their ballots by mail or placed them in drop boxes located throughout the ward.
Early in-person voting at several polling places was scheduled to begin July 11, the website says, prior to the official election date of July 15 at all polling places throughout the ward.
Salim Adofo statement on LGBTQ issues:
Our campaign is rooted in the belief that everyone deserves to live with dignity, security, and opportunity. We are committed to building a safer, healthier, and more equitable District for all — where every voice is heard and every community is empowered. At the heart of our platform is a steadfast commitment to uplifting LGBTQ+ communities, ensuring that policy is shaped not just for them, but with them. We recognize that the fight for equity is interconnected, and we prioritize action in the areas that most deeply impact our residents’ daily lives. As [a] council member, I will advocate for healthcare for all, boost funding for HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD, and TB Administration (HAHSTA) programs to address disparities in health outcomes.
• Expand access to care by exempting digital-only telehealth services from the Certificate of Need (CON) process and increasing funding through the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH).
• Build a culturally competent workforce by removing licensure barriers and expanding the pipeline of LGBTQ+ mental health providers.
• Employment and economic equity: sustain workforce development efforts like Project LEAP, a successful investment in economic empowerment for TGD residents.
• Foster public-private partnerships by requiring D.C. HR to work with labor unions and local employers to host trans-affirming job fairs.
• Fund community-led training by supporting programs developed by TGD organizations, modeled after California’s Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative.
• Housing with dignity: every LGBTQ+ resident deserves stable, affirming, and permanent housing. End youth homelessness with a community-centered strategic plan focused on expanding permanent housing and wraparound services.
• Support inclusive housing by continuing funding for LGBTQ+ housing vouchers and senior housing initiatives.
• Safety and community support: create safe shelters by investing $2 million in a 20-bed LGBTQIA2S+ shelter for survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault.
• Empower community organizations with no-cost capacity-building support and streamlined access to D.C. grants for LGBTQ+-serving CBOs.
Sheila Bunn statement on LGBTQ issues:
In my nearly 30 years of public service, I have consistently supported the rights and worked to improve the quality of life for the LGBTQIA+ community.
As chief of staff to Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, I helped prevent Congress from overturning the District’s 2009 marriage equality bill and worked on removing congressional riders from the District’s budget that prohibited the expenditure of locally raised funds for our needle-exchange program, which has been pivotal in HIV/AIDS prevention.
As part of Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s senior staff, I assisted in launching the District’s transgender employment initiative under the Project Empowerment Program, increasing training and job opportunities for transgender residents. We also employed a member of the transgender cohort in the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs after their tenure, demonstrating our commitment to the program. I facilitated efforts to end health insurance discrimination based on gender identity with DISB’s 2013 bulletin, ensuring coverage for services like mastectomies and hormone replacement therapy. Additionally, I helped to coordinate Mayor Gray’s first LGBTQIA+ Youth Town Hall to address the concerns of LGBTQIA+ youth and participated in cultural competency training to better support the District’s significant LGBTQIA+ population.
Currently, I am a member of the Capital Stonewall Democrats, actively engaging in Pride events and supporting LGBTQIA+ causes like the DC LGBTQ+ Community Center, a one-stop shop for services and programs with critical social service partners. Through direct outreach to organizations serving the LGBTQIA+ community, I aim to understand and represent their issues effectively. I look forward to collaborating with GLAA, Capital Stonewall Democrats, and other allied organizations to shape legislation and policies that benefit our LGBTQIA+ residents and all District residents.
Virginia
Defying trends, new LGBTQ center opens in rural Winchester, Va.
‘It has taught me that I am not alone in this place’
A new LGBTQ community center celebrated its grand opening on June 30 in Winchester, Va., defying recent trends amid a federal crackdown on DEI and LGBTQ funding.
The local HIV/AIDS service organization AIDS Response Effort, Inc. (ARE) worked with a team of volunteers to open the area’s first physical center.
ARE’s R.I.S.E. (Resources, Inclusion, Support and Empowerment) Center, located near the heart of Old Town Winchester on West Piccadilly Street, is more than a renovated bank building to the local LGBTQ community. The empty teller window on the side of the structure and converted vault inside give away the building’s past. But the volunteers, program participants, and well-wishers gathered at the ribbon-cutting ceremony tell the Blade that they are hopeful for a thriving future for the building — and the community.
The Washington Blade spoke with the executive director of ARE as well as the co-directors of ARE’s R.I.S.E. Center during a tour of the facility ahead of the opening.
Katy Vance, executive director of ARE told the Blade, “I started [at ARE] about five years ago and we were an AIDS service organization, we have been for about 35 years now. We started as a group of volunteers out at the hospital —with Valley Health, and we’ve grown into a program that provides HIV case management for folks living with HIV in the community.”
Vance explained that as community needs have changed for service organizations like ARE, it has led to some soul-searching among advocates.
“We had this big meeting about, ‘who are we?,’ ‘who do we want to be?,’ ‘who do we want to be in a few years?,’” Vance recalls. “As things shift and change with HIV … we have a lot of folks that come into our office who are newly diagnosed. They will get connected to a medical case manager, they’ll get on medication, and they are undetectable within one to two months, which means they are untransmittable, which is amazing.”
“So, science and technology has come so far,” Vance continued. “And so, who are we when this tends to go in the direction of no longer being the major epidemic it has been for the last 40 years, right?”
“But, when I came in, we also had a general housing program for anyone in the community,” Vance said. “That was confusing for a lot of people who came into our doors trying to figure out who we were and what we are. We called it, our ‘identity crisis,’ essentially.”
“Are we an HIV service organization? Are we a housing program?” Vance asked. “So we worked with our local Goodwill and the board got together and we decided to transition our housing program out and we realized we wanted to open an LGBTQ center.”
“We have had a little bit of pushback as to why an HIV agency is opening a center,” ARE’s R.I.S.E. Center Co-Director Matt Buracker said. “Obviously, HIV and LGBT identities have a long history and a lot of stigma, but we felt like it was kind of irresponsible to talk about one without talking about the other. And we’ve always been supporting the LGBT community, so we’re just expanding our services to encompass more.”
The center seeks to serve the LGBTQ community in a county that Donald Trump carried with more than 63% of the vote in the 2024 election. While ARE receives state and federal grants for its operations, the LGBTQ center is currently funded by community donations and a founders’ campaign and is staffed with volunteers.
Vance tells the Blade that the Center met its initial fundraising goal of $50,000 very quickly. The building housing the center was renovated with a combination of grants, donations and volunteer work.
“I think our fundraising goals now are going to be more programmatic so that we can do the things that we want to do,” R.I.S.E. Center Co-Director Mary Bohacek said. “Because Matt and I are great at finding things to do for free. But there are other things that people are asking us to do, craft events or things that aren’t free to do. Eventually, we might need a license if we want to do movie screenings. So there is always going to be a fundraising need to fund the programming, but the building has been a huge success.”
“The support from the community has been overwhelming,” Buracker told the Blade. “We’ve had such a positive response from the community and it’s just it’s been so emotional to see that the need has been here and we are the one to finally do something about it.”
Vance interjected, “And of course, there are community members that aren’t a fan that are ‘keyboard warriors’ that are coming out saying stuff. What is amazing is: we had an article in the paper and they put it up on their Facebook page and people were making just terrible comments. But then, we got new volunteers from that. The community support has been, like Matt said, amazing and overwhelming.”
ARE’s R.I.S.E. Center is a member of CenterLink, a community of LGBTQ centers. Other LGBTQ community centers in the wider region include the Roanoke Diversity Center in Roanoke, Va, the Shenandoah LGBTQ Center in Staunton, Va., Diversity Richmond in Richmond, Va., NOVA Prism Center in McLean, Va., the DC Center for the LGBT Community in Washington, D.C. and the Frederick Center in Frederick, Md. A new MoCo Pride Center is scheduled to open in Bethesda, Md. in August.
While the physical building opened to the public on June 30, the R.I.S.E. Center in Winchester has held events for more than a year.
“We’ve had programming going on for almost two years now,” Bohacek told the Blade. “Our first event was a ‘Friendsgiving.’ There were so many people that showed up that we literally didn’t have enough space: we needed to knock down walls.”
The staff and volunteers at ARE and the nascent Center used that momentum to foster the growth of affinity groups, community groups and services.
Affinity groups are described as “not just support groups or social groups, but rather as something of a hybrid between the two.” As Bohacek says about the affinity groups, “if someone needs community or needs a place to talk about queer issues, they have a space to do that.”
Affinity groups hosted by the Center include a group for trans and gender non-conforming people, a group for the families of trans people, a polyamorous affinity group, an aro-ace group, a “Rainbow Connection” all-purpose group, and a “Gay-RP” affinity group for people 50 and older.
“We also have a young adult group, which is for ages 18-25, which is one of the more vulnerable sections of our community,” Bohacek said. “So we want to make sure that they have places to connect.”
As reported in the Blade, the youth advocacy organizations Hopelab and Born this Way Foundation recently issued a report that suggests LGBTQ youth (ages 15 to 24) living in rural communities face greater challenges than their suburban or urban peers in dealing with their sexual orientation or gender identity, though have significantly benefited from online resources.
“We also have some community-wide programming that allies are welcome attend,” Bohecek said. Programming includes a monthly game night, a volunteer night for the many Center volunteers, as well as the “stitch and bitch” group, who “sit, crochet, embroider and talk.”
“And Coffee and Coloring!” Bohecek exclaims. “That’s one of my favorites. We like to say it’s about — just sit down, relax, have a cup of coffee — but frankly it’s about community building.”
Bohacek proudly lists the many other services the center offers, including a transgender/gender-affirming closet, which is currently overflowing with donations of clothes.
“We also have an amazing library of all kinds of identities and all kinds of ages for people to come and see,” Bohacek told the Blade. “This building is actually an old bank, so we put our books into the vault.”
The old bank, now vibrant community center, was filled to capacity for the official opening ceremony on a hot Monday afternoon in late June. People from across the Shenandoah Valley who had come to the ribbon-cutting event snacked on rainbow-colored cupcakes as they toured the renovated building.
“To be a gay man growing up in a small, rural area . . . we didn’t have anything like this,” Front Royal, Va. resident Ed McKee told the Blade. Though he lives in a town a few miles away, he works at a salon in Winchester and had come to see the new center opening.
“We didn’t have anything like this when I was growing up,” McKee said as he gestured toward the packed LGBTQ community center. “If we had, it would have made my life so much easier. I probably would have come out sooner — I didn’t come out until I was about 30 — because I would have felt the support, you know?”
“Especially now with everything that is going on in our country,” McKee continued. “We need to show strength in numbers: come together. And the center is allowing for that to happen.”
McKee’s husband, Winchester business owner Paul Miller, agreed.
“I’m hoping that [the Center] can be a great way to connect with people who might not otherwise understand how they can come together,” Miller told the Blade. “And I’m hoping that, while I’m not sure that this is its mission, I’m hoping that it has a political effect in Virginia.”
Members of the community who came to witness the opening gathered outside of ARE’s R.I.S.E. center for the ribbon cutting. Speakers at the ceremony included the Center’s co-director Bohacek.
“Today, we’re celebrating the renovation of the building,” Bohacek began. “But, we’re also celebrating the rise of this community.”
“This community has taught me resilience and it has taught me friendship and it has taught me that I am not alone in this place,” Bohacek told the crowd. “There are people that care. And we are so proud to have a place where we can be ourselves, where anyone and everyone is welcome — and we mean it. So, with that said, let’s keep on rising!”
Maryland
Maryland’s oldest rural gay bar — and one of the last — is a log cabin in the woods
The Lodge is a Boonsboro watering hole resembling a log cabin
By SAPNA BANSIL | In the woods of a conservative Western Maryland town of fewer than 4,000 people is an unlikely landmark of state LGBTQ history.
The Lodge, a Boonsboro watering hole that resembles a log cabin, is Maryland’s oldest rural gay bar — one of a few remaining in the country, according to historians.
For about four decades, the Washington County venue has offered safety, escape and community to queer people far from large, liberal cities. Starting Friday night, The Lodge will close out Pride month with one of its biggest parties of the year: a weekend of dancing, drinking and drag in celebration of Frederick Pride, held about 20 miles away in the area’s largest city.
The rest of this article the Baltimore Banner published on June 27 can be read on its website.
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