Gulfport LGBTQ Programs in June

Gulfport LGBTQ
Programs in June
Throughout June, LGBTQ Pride
Month will be celebrated by a full
slate of programs sponsored by the
LGBTQ Resource Center of the
Gulfport Public Library. All programs
are open to the public and take place
at the Gulfport Public Library, 5501
28th Ave. S., unless otherwise noted.
There will be an opening reception
for the exhibit “Rags: A Survey of
LGBT Periodicals” on Wednesday,
June 1 at 7 p.m. The exhibit examines
the history of gay newsweeklies across
the country and the significant role
they played in bringing LGBT people
together. Chris Rudisill, Executive
Director of Stonewall National
Museum and Archives, will provide
opening remarks. The exhibit will be
on display throughout the month of
June. The opening reception is free
and complimentary. Refreshments
will be offered.
Two “Lunch and Learn” programs
will take place during Pride Month.
Attendees are invited to bring
their own lunch while enjoying
presentations by visiting speakers.
Lunch and Learn programs are free
of charge. On Thursday, June 9,
at noon, “From Gay Surfers to Old
Lesbians Organizing for Change:
Developing an LGBT Initiative at
a State University in Florida,” will
be the topic presented by Matthew
Knight, Assistant Director of Special
Collections at the University of
South Florida (USF). Knight will
show and discuss the range of items
in the growing LGBT collections,
including some of the most notable
and interesting items among them.
A second Lunch and Learn will
be presented by Gulfport author,
educator and lecturer Susan Gore on
Thursday, June 23 at noon. “RFRA
Madness and the Law of Unintended
Consequences” is Gore’s subject,
posing an initial question, “What do
a ‘mom and pop’ florist in Oregon
and a $3.3 billion corporation have in
common?” Both have challenged legal
mandates that require serving the
public and their employees without
regard to sex, sexuality or gender
identity. Pushback to “gay marriage”
has emerged in the form of 22 state
Religious Freedom Restoration Acts
(RFRAs) that claim to protect citizen’s
“sincerely held religious beliefs” by
Gabber May 19 - May 25, 2016
providing religious exemptions to
nondiscrimination laws.
“Friends of Dorothy: Music from the
Land of Oz” will be the final program
in the Pride Month series on Tuesday,
June 28 at 7 p.m. The show will feature
well-known Tampa Bay singers and
actors Sara DelBeato and Michael
Raabe performing musical selections
from “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Wiz,”
“Wicked,” and other Oz-related music.
This special performance will be held
at Gulfport’s Catherine Hickman
Theater, 5501 27th Ave. S. Tickets
are now available for a suggested
donation of $15 each at the library,
the Gulfport Casino and the Gulfport
Beach Bazaar. Ticket sales benefit
the LGBTQ Resource Center.
The LGBTQ Resource Center is
a project of the non-profit Circle
of Friends of the Gulfport Public
Library. The Center is the first of
its kind in a public library setting in
Florida and was established in 2015.
For more information about Pride
Month programs or the Resource
Center, contact the library at 727893-1074.
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Salon’s Community Encourages “Women to Feel Includeded”
By Debbie Wolfe
Mix members of a secret and
taboo group with feminist concert
goers, a bookmark announcing a new
bookstore code named The Well of
Happiness along with a black book
of names and mailing addresses, and
you wind up with the ingredients of
how a monthly meeting started in
St. Petersburg on Oct. 1, 1982 called
Salon.
“This radical feminist collective
affected so many lives,” said Edie
Daly of Gulfport, one of the founders of
the original Salon. “This community
encouraged women to find the joy
in being lesbians and to claim our
rightful place in life to feel included
rather than excluded. What a lucky
bunch we are and have been.”
Daly, 79, a native of St. Petersburg,
returned to the area in 1981 and
couldn’t find like-minded women
that had been obvious to her in New
York and Massachusetts. So, she and
her partner at the time decided to
open a small bookstore named after
a famous 1928 lesbian novel entitled
“The Well of Loneliness.”
“We decided to name it that
because women would know,” Daly
said.
They got the word out by making
bookmarks and distributing them to
everyone standing in line for a local
Margie Adam concert sponsored
by the National Organization for
Women.
“People were saying, ‘It’s about
time,’” Daily said.
At the new Madeira Beach
bookstore, in the era before the
internet and email, women were
encouraged to write their names and
U.S. Postal mailing addresses in a
black book that was kept behind the
counter.
“Everybody was hiding still,” Daly
said.
Within a couple of months, there
were enough names to send out
invitations to the first Salon and 50
women attended. It was held in the
Madeira Beach town hall where at
the other end was the police station.
“I didn’t know the area very well,”
Daily said. “I don’t know if there
were people who didn’t even come in
because they saw the police station.
That would not have been cool.”
28
The
monthly
gathering was then
located
in
other
venues like a condo
association meeting
room and a Girls
Club, but after several
months in each, they
were asked to leave
because they were
told lesbians were not
welcome. Next, they
found space in a dog
grooming
business
after hours and had
to haul in tables and
chairs each month.
Then,
Christine
“Tina” O’Brien, a
local social activist
and leader of the St.
Petersburg Meeting
“In the early days of feminism, women would gather in bookstores,
of
the
Religious living rooms and any place where we could see each other,” said
Society of Friends, Edie Daly, right, of Gulfport. She is one of the co-founders of the
or Quakers, for more original St. Petersburg Salon meeting that started on October 1,
than 20 years offered 1982.
the group the Friends
Meeting House at 130 19th Ave. SE.
2011.
Daly said, “For us, that was like
“In the last decades of the 20th
manna from heaven. We just couldn’t
century, we made Salon a special
believe that somebody wanted to do
place for lesbians being together in
that.”
community in a world where lesbians
Phyllis Plotnick said, “It was a
could be ourselves,” Daily said.
wonderful feeling,” in the Friends
By about 2005, the original Salon
Meeting House. “We didn’t need a
stopped meeting because community
lot. We just needed to be together.”
needs had changed in the era of
The Friends operate by consensus
the internet. The newsletter ceased
and O’Brien was “instrumental in
publication for similar reasons.
helping us to learn the process,”
By July 2015, Anna Linville of
Daily said. “The Friends themselves
Gulfport saw a need to restart the
were so supportive and integral to
group where women could meet to
the way we were at Salon.”
learn and share stories with each
Each month for nearly 25 years,
other without having to be in a
a different topic for discussion was
restaurant or a bar. The first couple
featured. Women learned from each
of monthly meetings took place in her
other and formed the Women’s
home, then she found a larger space
Energy Bank (WEB) organization,
at The Longhouse in Gulfport.
which did fundraising that led to the
“All women are welcome,” Linville
establishment of the Sonia Plotnick
said. “Trans, bi, straight, gay. There
Health Fund, a local charity named
is a lot of laughter. Nothing is too
after Phyllis Plotnick’s mother.
dramatic or serious.”
The fund still sponsors annual
Daly was the featured speaker
Valentine’s-themed women’s dances
at the May meeting of the Gulfport
that draw hundreds to the Gulfport
Womyn’s Salon where 30 people
Casino. For a few years, circa 2008,
attended. It meets every third
the dances were held in the St.
Sunday of the month from 6:30 p.m.
Petersburg Coliseum where up to
to 8:30 p.m. For more information,
1,500 women attended, Daily said.
visit prosuzy.com/beyond-prosuzy-2/
WEB also produced a monthly
gulfport-womyns-salon/.
publication called Womyn’s Words
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that ran continuously until July
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Summer Reading
Kick-Off Party
There’s always free family fun
happening at the library, especially
in the summer. Come to the Gulfport
Library, June 10 at 7 p.m. for the
Summer Reading Kick-Off Party
with special guest Tricky Dogs Show!
Register your kids for a summer filled
with lots of free fun program, pick
up reading logs and supplies, and
enjoy the show! FMI contact Cailey
at 727-893-1074 or email cklasson@
mygulfport.us
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Gulfport Democrats
Meeting
Gulport Democrats you are invited
to the Historic Peninsula Inn, 2937
Beach Blvd., on Monday May 23,
from 6 to 8 p.m. They are coming
together to socialize, network and
discuss what they need to do to
get Democrats elected during this
important election cycle. Jennifer
Webb, candidate for House District
69 will be there to answer questions
regarding her campaign. In addition
they will provide information
regarding membership in the
Gulfport Democratic Club and how
you can help them win in November.
For questions please call Bonnie
Sklaren, 727-637-2249 or April
Thanos, 1-206-501-7836.
one program, but the total request
cannot exceed $40,000. Agencies
must submit only one application.
A Bidders/Technical Assistance
Workshop will be held on Friday,
June 3, from 9 to 11 a.m. in Room 100
at St. Petersburg City Hall, 175 5th
St. N. Attendance at this workshop
is required by all new applicants to
the Social Action Funding Program
to qualify for funding. Agencies
currently funded (FY 2016) by the
city’s Social Action Funding Program
are not required to attend but are
welcome and encouraged. Interested
applicants are requested to print the
application and guidelines found
on the website and bring to the
workshop.
In Fiscal Year 2016, the city
allocated social services grants to 16
organizations in the community. For
more information, visit stpete.org/
socialservices.
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Tai Chi at Bay
Vista Center
Want to learn exciting defense
techniques while alleviating stress
and anxiety? Bay Vista Recreation
Center, 7000 4th St. S., offers Tai
Chi Yang Style classes on Tuesdays
from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. The cost is $24
per month or $7 per session. Classes
run from Tuesday, June 7 through
July 26. For information on over 100
ongoing classes offered by city of St.
Petersburg Parks and Recreation,
see stpeteparksrec.org or call 727893-7124.
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Social Services
Grants Applications
Social service agencies may now
apply for $333,500 in competitive
grants from the city of St. Petersburg.
Grant applications are due Tuesday,
July 5 by 4 p.m. and are available
online at stpete.org/social_action_
funding.
Funding is limited to social service
programs that provide homeless
services and/or homeless prevention
services. The highest priority for
funding is homeless families with
minor or dependent children, the
next priority is programs treating
unaccompanied youth and the third
priority is chronic homeless adults.
Grant awards will not be offered to
agencies requesting less than $10,000
or more than $40,000. An agency
can request funding for more than
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Places of Worship
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