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https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/a6bcd1754d4f695e222e5ef92110abb1.pdf
f75ddc9a62d9fd1e6c781d49409879ba
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
LGBTQ+ Collection
Is Part Of
LGBTQ+ Collection, RICHES Program
Digital Collection
<div class="element-text"><a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/">RICHES MI</a></div>
<div class="element-text"> </div>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Oral History of Debbie Simmons
Alternative Title
Oral History, Debbie Simmons
Abstract
Oral history interview of Debbie Simmons. Interview conducted by Sara Raffel in Orlando, Florida, on June 16, 2018.
Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website)
<a href="https://youtu.be/Ly8kvgJG7D4">Oral History of Debbie Simmons</a>
Subject
Orlando (Fla.)
Gay culture--United States
Trade associations
Gay & Lesbian Pride and History Month
Description
An oral history interview of Debbie Simmons, the co-owner of Shelbie Press and a founding member of the Metropolitan Business Association (MBA), an organization supporting LGBTQ businesses in Orlando, FL. As MBA president, she also helped found Come Out with Pride and the LGBTQ History Museum of Central Florida. This interview was conducted by Sara Raffel at Shelbie Press in Orlando, Florida, on June 16th, 2018. Some of the topics covered include attending the first gay pride parade in Orlando, founding the Metropolitan Business Association, facilitating a network of allies and inspiring activism, working with the Human Relations Board of the City of Orlando, building an LGBTQ+ community and collaborating with other groups, forming Come Out With Pride, the history of the gay rights movement, preserving the history of the LGBTQ+ community, her favorite memory from work at GLBT History Museum of Central Florida, organizing the first exposition of the Metropolitan Business Association, how the small business community impacted the LGBTQ+ community, omitting references to homosexuality in the organization’s name, and goals and challenges for the GLBT Museum of Central Florida and the Metropolitan Business Association.
Table Of Contents
0:00:00 Introduction <br />0:00:54 Attending the first gay pride parade in Orlando and founding the Metropolitan Business Association <br />0:07:21 Facilitating a network of allies and inspiring activism<br />0:12:49 Identifying items in collection <br />0:13:52 Working with the Human Relations Board of the City of Orlando <br />0:16:40 Building an LGBTQ+ community and collaborating with other groups <br />0:19:05 Forming Come Out with Pride <br />0:27:03 The history of the gay rights movement <br />0:31:35 Preserving the history of the LGBTQ+ community <br />0:36:57 Favorite memory from work at GLBT History Museum of Central Florida <br />0:41:07 Organizing the first exposition of the Metropolitan Business Association <br />0:44:55 How the small business community impacted the LGBTQ+ community <br />0:48:11 Omitting references to homosexuality in the organization’s name <br />0:51:42 Goals and challenges for the GLBT Museum of Central Florida, the Metropolitan Business Association and the LGBTQ+ Community
Source
Simmons, Debbie. Interviewed by Sara Raffel, June 16, 2018. Audio record available. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>, Orlando, Florida.
Has Format
Digital transcript of original 1-hour, 1-minute, and 2-seconds oral history: Simmons, Debbie. Interviewed by Sara Raffel. Audio record available. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES</a>, Orlando, Florida.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/207" target="_blank">LGBTQ+ Collection</a>, RICHES.
Requires
Multimedia software, such as <a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/" target="_blank"> QuickTime</a>
<a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html" target="_blank">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a>
Type
Moving Image
Coverage
Shelbie Press Print & Copy, Orlando, Florida
Metropolitan Business Association, Orlando, Florida
LGBT+ Center Orlando, Orlando, Florida
Joy Metropolitan Community Church, Orlando, Florida
Orange County Regional History Center, Orlando, Florida
Lake Eola Park, Orlando, Florida
Pulse nightclub, Orlando, Florida
Creator
Simmons, Debbie
Raffel, Sara
Publisher
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES</a>
<a href="http://glbthistorymuseum.com/joomla25/index.php?lang=en" target="_blank">GLBT History Museum of Central Florida</a>
Date Created
2018-06-16
Date Copyrighted
2018-06-16
Format
video/mp4
application/pdf
Extent
4.57 GB
256 KB
Medium
1-hour, 1-minute, and 2-seconds audio recording
20-page digital transcript
Language
eng
Accrual Method
Item Creation
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Humanities Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Debbie Simmons and Sara Raffel and published by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES</a> and the<a href="http://glbthistorymuseum.com/joomla25/index.php?lang=en" target="_blank">GLBT History Museum of Central Florida</a>.
Rights Holder
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES</a>
<a href="http://glbthistorymuseum.com/joomla25/index.php?lang=en" target="_blank">GLBT History Museum of Central Florida</a>
Curator
Cravero, Geoffrey
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
Manes, Billy. "<a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/2017/05/15/orlandos-metropolitan-business-association-receives-award-national-gay-lesbian-chamber-commerce/" target="_blank">Orlando's Metropolitan Business Association receives award from National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce</a>." <em>The Watermark</em>, May 15, 2017. Accessed March 27, 2019. http://www.watermarkonline.com/2017/05/15/orlandos-metropolitan-business-association-receives-award-national-gay-lesbian-chamber-commerce/.
"<a href="https://comeoutwithpride.com/about/history/" target="_blank">History</a>." <em>Come Out with Pride Orlando</em>. Accessed March 27, 2019. https://comeoutwithpride.com/about/history/.
Ogles, Jacob. "<a href="http://www.advocate.com/pride/2016/10/06/pride-orlando-will-take-new-meaning" target="_blank">Pride in Orlando Will Take on New Meaning</a>." <em>The Advocate</em>, October 6, 2016. Accessed March 27, 2019. http://www.advocate.com/pride/2016/10/06/pride-orlando-will-take-new-meaning.
Hyman, Jamie. "<a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/2016/06/16/community-rises-mass-shooting-orlando-gay-nightclub-kills-49/" target="_blank">Community rises up after mass shooting at Orlando gay nightclub kills 49</a>." <em>Watermark</em>, June 16, 2016. Accessed October 18, 2016. http://www.watermarkonline.com/2016/06/16/community-rises-mass-shooting-orlando-gay-nightclub-kills-49/.
Transcript
Raffel
Uh, today is Saturday, June 16th, 2018. My name is Sara Raffel and I’m conducting an oral history with Debbie Simmons of Orlando, Florida. The interview is being conducted at Shelbie Press in Orlando, Florida. Uh, so, Debbie, could you please state your name?
Simmons
Yes. I’m Debbie Simmons.
Raffel
And what brought you to Orlando? And how long have you lived here?
Simmons
I moved to Orlando in 1978, uh, shortly after high school. And I, um—my father had moved here in the early 70s. Uh, we had moved from Miami up to Central Florida, but in a more rural area. My mother and that side of my family. And so when I turned 18, I didn’t want to stay in the rural, uh, community that I was living in. So Orlando seemed the logical choice to start a new life.
Raffel
And you’ve mentioned that, uh, your involvement in the first gay pride parade in Orlando in 1991 started your community activism. Can you describe what led up to that and why you first decided to march?
Simmons
Yes. Um, in 1990, uh, my partner and I bought a house. And we went through all of the machinations at that time that we had to do in order to buy a house together as a couple. Um, and we had two friends—close friends that invited us to attend the first gay pride parade in Orlando. Um, to say we were nervous is putting it mildly. But we did attend. And four of us—there was[sic] about 100 people at the parade total: participants and, uh, people observing. We were the last four in the parade. And by the time we get to the end of the parade route, what a sigh of relief. Uh, we didn’t see any Ku Klux Klan that year. So that really, uh, set the stage for me.
Um, I started getting really interested in the people that had put that together because I thought they were so courageous and I wanted to know them all. And I wanted to do whatever I could to make a change for our community so that it would make it easier for all of us to buy a house together. To start a business together. Uh, just to live our lives and not be discriminated against.
Um, so, uh, the next thing that happened is[sic] I started attending meetings at the Center. And, um, the editor of the Centerfold newspaper at the Center put a—a blurb in the newspaper and said—it said something to the effect, uh, “If you’re interested in starting a business guild—is it time for Orlando to do that—come to the Center on January 15th, 1992, and let’s talk about it.” So a dozen of us showed up at that meeting. And then, um, from there we started, uh, identifying—fortunately someone had brought bylaws, uh, not to the very first meeting, but from Atlanta and from Tampa. And so we utilized their bylaws to put our own together and to start the Metropolitan Business Association .
Um, things moved, it seems like, at a really fast pace from there. But then when I look back it took a long time. Back then we didn’t have social media. We didn’t have cell phones. So we had to do everything the old fashioned way, which was literally have one-on-one relationships. We spent a lot of time together. Got to know each other. Um, developed the organization. Started having monthly meetings. We met at places. Back then it was a lot different than it is now in that people were really nervous about going into any establishment that was identified with the gay community. Um, but we did have a lot of our meetings at Joy Metropolitan Community Church. We had some meetings at The Center. Um, and so we developed the board of directors and then, um, set our mission in place, filed papers with the state, uh, and, uh, identified the Metropolitan Business Association.
Raffel
Alright. And who were some of the people that were on that first board of directors that were instrumental in starting it?
Simmons
Well, this is where I get into trouble, like I said, with the names. Um, the first president was Keith Morrison. Uh, I was the vice president. Dorothy Coleman was the treasurer. Mary Brooks was the secretary. Uh, Karen Goode was the programs director. Vicky Meechum was the membership director. Dick Shaw was the, uh—became the vice president when I became the president in ’92. And, uh, Sam Singhouse, Sandy Fink, Tom Dyer. Uh, those were the really—the beginning folks. Um, Mary Brooks, who was the secretary for five years—she and I carried the MBA banner in the 1992 parade. Um, and in that parade there were seven of us from the MBA. Um, and Mike Sipoligo that had put the ad in the paper—that was the editor of Centerfold at The Center. Uh, he also walked with us with the banner. Um, Dorothy Coleman, uh, she is still living in Montverde, but she’s quite a bit older than me. She’s in her eighties. And she—I admired her so much when I met her. Her and, um, Dick Scholl. Dick has passed away. Uh, to me they were beacons of hope that—I hoped that by the time I got into my fifties, sixties, um, that I would s—you know, have the—the life that they had. And, uh, the desire still to make change.
And, um—so, from there we—let’s see. This is again where I get into trouble. [laughs] I gotta have some—something to help me go along. So after we walked in the parade, uh, let’s see—in the first, uh—in August of ’92, we signed a, uh, contract with the Radisson Hotel downtown at Lake Ivanhoe, uh, to hold our meetings for over five years. Our general meetings. And we did that so that we could overcome that hurdle of people being afraid to walk into a gay s—gay establishment. Um, we had those meetings—we structured those to help the community to come out, obviously. We helped, um, them to be more confident in their job. Um, as far as networking with a group of pro—professional people.
Simmons
We worked to develop educational materials for people to start their own businesses or to strengthen their businesses. We hosted, uh, political candidates’ forums. We did that early on. Uh, those were some of the more nerve-wracking and difficult meetings. Getting, uh, folks that were campaigning to become an official or those that were in elected o—elected office. Uh, we did, um, work to get the mayor of Orlando, Glenda Hood—at that time, uh—in ’94. She had become the mayor in ’92, so we are—we were kind of linked together for a number of years while she was the mayor until 2002. Um, we had approached her office, Tom Dyer specifically, who’s the—uh, he was the founder—or was the founder of Watermark and he’s still involved. Uh, but he doesn’t own it anymore. Um, he was instrumental in getting Glenda Hood, uh, to attend the—the first meeting. Um, and it was not an easy task because she did everything that she could—I shouldn’t be so critical, but looking back, it was a whole different time. And I understand now more than I did then what she was dealing with and why she didn’t want to attend our meeting. Um, they had every excuse. Her office and—and she did—for not coming to one of our meetings.
Finally, in ’94, she did come to the meeting. And it was explosive in a lot of ways because there was a big interest in our community, uh, so we had big attendance. And often times our candidates’ forums and our political events like that—we did have large attendance. Um, she was asked some very direct questions about supporting the gay community and non-discrimination. And she stood right at the podium and said, “I will not be a champion for your cause.” And when she said that it was—it—it—right behind that she said, “but I encourage you to get involved in your—in your local government. I encourage you to get on boards. I encourage you to run for elected office.” So it wasn’t—I heard both sides of what she was saying. A lot of people that were there that night—what they heard was, “I will not champion your cause.” And that—that’s why I say it was explosive, because it made a lot of people really energized. That okay—well, now we’re going to be on the steps of City Hall asking, “Why not?” Because we all pay taxes, too.
So that to me was, um—it was a milestone in what happened with—it was eye opening for the community. It was energizing. And it, um, made us realize that in the very beginning, when we talked about developing our mission and our bylaws, we had talked about using the—the terms, um, the MBA to be a political and economic force. And some people found that a little bit too much. To use the word “force” and to use “political” in there. “Economic”, well, that’s one thing. It’s the Metropolitan Business Association. It’s a business association like any other chamber, but the political side of it—some folks were pretty nervous about it. I was nervous about it, too. I mean, that’s, uh—that’s saying a lot.
Well, it turned out that that’s exactly what the MBA became in short order. Because we were the ones that were going to folks that were running for office or that were in office and saying, “Okay. What we’d like you to do is sign a pledge.” And it was the Human Rights Campaign pledge at the time. It was a couple of sentences that basically just said that they would implement into their policy and procedure that there would be no discrimination against the LGBT community. Gay community. I think it said “gay and lesbian” at that time. Um, and it was a great piece to ask them to sign because it was simple. It wasn’t asking for the world. It was just asking for equality. Uh, and that really, um—with Mayor Hood, uh, in ’94, there was no way she was going to sign that. She wouldn’t have signed anything like that.
But by the time—I’ll fast forward a little bit—by, um, I believe it was the ’98 election, uh, she came to our—our meeting. Um, we had scheduled a—a joint appearance with her and Orange County Chairman Linda Chapin at that time. Um, unfortunately, a police officer was shot in the line of duty that day, so Glenda [Hood] had to postpone. Um, so Linda [Chapin] came and we had a great meeting with Linda [Chapin]. Uh, and then shortly thereafter, we resched—rescheduled with Mayor Hood and she came. And I may be mixing this up a little bit, um, because I know she was—I think she had to postpone because of something else. And the night she was coming to the meeting was the night that the police officer was shot. And we were afraid she wasn’t going to show up, but she did, in fact, come. Um, and that night we asked her if she would sign the pledge of nondiscrimination. And, um, she said that she would. So, uh, I called her office—and, again, I might be mixing dates up a little bit. I have to look back at all the paperwork, which I’m going to give to you. Um, she did sign that pledge, but it—it didn’t happen that night. It happened right before the election in March. I had to call her office and pursue the signature. And had—their, uh—her office faxed it like the day before the election or the day of the election. So, it became very, very clear to us then that, okay, now we really do have that clout that we were looking for.
Simmons
And we were asked all the time, um, during that process—and then fast forwarding a little bit to 2000 when we were working with Human Relations Board of the City of Orlando and Mayor Hood’s office, uh, trying to get the, uh, city code amended to include sexual orientation. Simple thing again, like the pledge. Um, it was—I forget where I was even going with that. There I go [laughs].
Raffel
[laughs].
Simmons
It was—okay, let’s see. So we were getting her to sign the pledge, uh—she was, by 2000, telling us that she was supporting what we were doing, uh, even after we had fought for the rainbow flags to be hung in 1998. That was a huge spectacle and a fiasco. That was another thing that drew the community closer and closer together. Not just the gay community, but all of our allies. I mean, they came out from everywhere.
The same thing happened in 2000 to 2002 when we were holding the—or the downtown develop—or, uh, Human Relations Board was holding the meetings, um, to amend the—the policy. Mayor Hood was acting in public as if she was more supportive then she had been. Um, and then when we pulled the public records—which I had been chosen on the Orlando Anti-Discrimination Committee to be the one to pull the public records—um, found out that she and Commissioner Vargo—Vicky Vargo—were actually working with our adversaries. Um, and they were trying to pack the meetings. Um, and—and they succeeded in—in getting some people flown here and bussed here, um, with the Christian Coalition, um, uh, Family Research Council, Liberty Council, some of those folks, uh, to speak at the hearings when in fact they were telling all of us that you needed to be a resident of the City of Orlando in order to speak. If you had a business in Orlando you could speak. Um, and they were not telling the truth even on their appearance forms, which we found out, too, by pulling the public records. So we found out a lot about who was who and what was happening during those two-year—tho—that two-year period.
Simmons
So, fro—in the ‘90s, it was really us getting our legs under us, working with the community to build the community, create that strength, the unity, the relationships. Like I said, we didn’t have social media so we’re talking on the phone. We were meeting in person—a lot of meeting together face-to-face. Um, so a lot of us became friends in addition to working together to make the changes. Um, and in the early 2000s, after going through that two-year battle, um, we were stronger than ever but bruised after listening to all those terrible things that were said by the groups that the adversaries—that had been put together.
Um, so we dusted ourselves off and 2003 to 2004 and 5 we were trying to, um—the MBA, the Metropolitan Business Association wasn’t really organizing the parade. We were participants in the parade. Um, and the parade was like it is around the country: the—the pride event where people get together and are able to spend that time together really being out in the street marching for their rights, representing themselves. Um, and our parade had started to fall apart. And we were seeing in dwindle and dwindle for reasons that we weren’t quite sure why. The—the parade had gone through various groups that were organizing it. Um, and then by July of—you know, June/July of 2005, it had completely dissolved. And so we had talked about it over the years because we wanted to do everything that we could to support the parade, but we didn’t want to step on the organizers’ toes either because we didn’t want, you know, to crau—cause dissention. And we didn’t want to take it over ourselves. [laughs] We didn’t want that responsibility.
Simmons
Um, but by the time it fell apart, it was—it had been on our radar long enough, and been on the agenda, that the board of the Metropolitan Business Association finally said, “Okay. Well, let’s start a new organization.” And that was the way that Come Out with Pride was born. Um, we decided that, okay, June had passed. It had always been a discussion about how hot it is in June. It’s always raining. The weather was always brutal at the parade. So let’s, um—what can—what other date can we pick? And what can we do between now and the end of the year to actually do a parade?
And so we identified, um, October as National Coming Out Day on October 11th. Uh, National Gay and Lesbian History Month. Um, so it made perfect sense. We thought maybe the weather would be cooler, although that’s not proved to be true [laughs] since 2005. It seems like it’s been hot every year. And we’ve even dealt with a hurricane. So—but anyway, that was the whole thought process behind it. And from July to—to October, we put the event together. And we had it downtown. Um, we partnered with the students at UCF —with the Gay and Lesbian Bisexual Student Union. We thought that putting the business owners and professionals together with the university students, who always had an event at UCF, made perfect sense.
Um, and we partnered with the History Center—Orange County [Regional] History Center—so when the parade was over, everybody landed at the History Center. Uh, the History Center was great. They let us put a[sic], uh, exhibit inside. So all the students got together and the different organizations got together. Everybody made all of their displays and we put the displays up. Um, the first year we did the simple thing of developing a t-shirt that everybody could wear. A bright yellow shirt. Uh, we had “volunteer” on the back. So everybody that came to the event knew these are the people with Come Out with Pride. And that’s what we named it. Um, and the first year I believe, um—and again, I don’t—I don’t have those numbers with me, but we had, uh, several thousand in 2005. 2006, we did the same thing, um, and landed at the History Center. Uh, we did a brunch the first year in 2005 as well. And Mayor Dyer attended that—Buddy Dyer. Um, that was one of the first times—and Buddy, when he was running for office, came to our functions and actually asked for our vote. And was very open and accepting of our community. So—but when he spoke at the brunch that day, that was him really coming out himself to the community.
Uh, so by 2006, we did the same thing. Um, we had a larger turnout. 2006. We realized that the parade route needed to be enlarged. But more importantly than that, the History Center venue in the front of the History Center was not conducive for what we were trying to do. Um, so we talked with the city about moving the event to Lake Eola [Park]. Um, and believe it or not, even in 2007 that was not an easy process. Over the years, we had encountered problems with the City of Orlando, the City of Maitland when we were trying to have our first expo with the MBA in 1994. We got the excuse, ironically, from both, about double-booking. There was a double-booking problem with one of the first parades that the MBA didn’t have anything to do with, uh, organizing. That was Orlando Regional Pride Parade. Uh, they said they had double-booked. And so that year the parade shifted first to City Hall. Uh, one of the instrumental people on that, um, b—b—board was, uh, Phyllis Murphy and Patty Sheehan. Um, gosh. I should be able to again—to remember all—everybody’s names. Uh, there was a core group of people. Eileen Bell, Brian Hubert—De Hubert-Arbagast. He had a long last name. So, anyway—so they had a double-booking there. Couldn’t do it. Then we had that happen at the Maitland Civic Center when we tried to have our first Expo. So 2007 [road noise]—hello. 2007—sorry for the traffic. Uh, [clears throat] when we wanted to move to Lake Eola, it was still—there was still some of that—even though Buddy Dyer was the mayor—there was still some of that unease with the gay community. And there was definitely a—a pushback that they didn’t want us to have the even at Lake Eola. But it happened. Long story short, we went through the pro—a—all of the process. Um, of course, renting the space, paying all the various fees. And the fees are amazing.
Uh, I—I don’t know what’s changed. I’ve been retired now since 2000, uh, 8. But, um, it seemed as though for a number of years, uh, I did five, six, seven and eight—in eight, I was the logistics director. It seemed as though our group had to pay for the things that other people didn’t have to pay for. We had to do things that other groups weren’t required to do. Um, such as, uh, selling alcohol in the park. We had to pay for barricading the entire area to the cost of $10,000. Um, and so there was still some of that, you know, hangover. Um, now 2008 or 2007, I believe that there was, um, 70,000 people. Or that might have been eight. And the last few years there’s been over 150,000 people. And that’s according to the police department. That wasn’t our count. We always relied on whatever th—you know, they said because they’re the official law enforcement to determine the numbers so that we weren’t inflating the numbers. It became a wildly successful event. And then, to back up to 2005, when we were first forming Come Out With Pride, we had the meetings. Um, what we did was we took, uh, myself and two other MBA members with the GLBSU students, um, and we identified—i—it had always been something that I thought was really important that we maintain our [beeping] own history for our movement. Did you hear that?
Raffel
Yeah.
Simmons
[laughs] I don’t know what that was. Okay. Electronics gone wild. Um, but the—the history of our community. Because of the people that I knew when I got involved in 1991, the people that I met and got to know over the course of those 16, 17 years—um, and I—I knew that they had a history—like Dorothy Coleman and Dick Scholl being so much older than me—that there were those folks that had endured the Stonewall Riots in ’69. Uh, in ’78, when Harvey Milk was murdered in San Francisco, he had formed the first gay business guild there. Um, I knew that there was all of this history here, too, of people that had been part of the movement. And so I thought we needed to develop a history committee to maintain all of that history and to develop it and to get it from those people that were still alive.
Um, and, at—I mean we were part of—in 2005, from m—the MBA from ’92 to 2005, the amount of—of change that had happened over those 13 years, it was like a blur when I think about it now. Um, but since the MBA just celebrated its 25th year last year, and the board has asked me over time to, you know, put—put these materials together—I mentioned that I have 20 plastic cartons full of archives from all of the things that happened during the course of MBA in the 16 years that I was the president. Um, I think that this is a, uh—a monumental civil rights movement that is—the African American community’s Civil Rights struggle was huge and it—it’s still happening now for hundreds of years, whereas the gay community have remained closeted for, you know, years up until ’69 when Stonewall happened. That seems like—I know there were other things that happened, but that was a big benchmark. So in looking at—and I hea—I‘ve heard people talk about from ’69 to 2015, when the Supreme Court ruled gay marriage as legal, that it’s astounding that the gay community did what it did over the course of that short period of time. And I’ve heard it—heard people reference our activism and how we work together as a community to make those changes happen.
So I thought it was so critical that we maintain that history. That we make sure that we present it not only to get recognition to those people that did all that work and put their lives on the line, but for other movements that are obviously going to be necessary. When you look at the political environment that we’re currently in, um, I feel like our—the lessons that we learned in organizing our community are invaluable. And now, uh, with social media, with the internet, with all of these tools that we have with our, uh, immediate access with our phones—cameras, video, all of that—that coupled with the knowledge that the community has can really continue to make huge impact on oppression and equal rights for all.
Raffel
Can you describe, um, some of the sort of first portions of the history project, and maybe some of the people who were first involved in getting that formed?
Simmons
Sure. Um, I do have that, um, on the committee list here. Let’s see. That would have been, uh, 2005. Um, the first year I did chair, uh, the history subcommittee. Uh, Charlene Bell. Mary Brooks. Mary Brooks, who was the first secretary of the MBA, she got back involved. She, uh, was the secretary for five years. Um, but we had the meeting at her and her partner’s house. Phyllis Murphy. Phyllis and Mary actually met at an MBA meeting I believe in ’93. So they’ve been together for 25 years. Um, Ken Kasmerski. Uh, Patty Sheehan came to one or two of the first meetings. And, uh, Mallory Wells from UCF GLBSU . Um, we met at Mary and Phyllis’s house, um, and, um, all agreed about the importance of securing our history. Uh, and shortly after that, I asked Ken if he would be—if h—if would be the, um—the chair of the history project. And so, then he developed the history project from there. Added on, uh, more committee members and they developed, um—was it six or seven? I—‘cause in—in 2005, when we put all of those displays that were put together by everyone in the History Center, it was only for that one day. So that display then became part of the development of the actual—the timeline of the community, and um, developing and working with the community to gather up all of those archives.
And, uh, by 2007, we had—I can’t remember in ’06 if we had—we had—I think we had the history project back in the History Center if I recall correctly. And it had gotten larger. And I think it was in one of the—the rooms that was, um, a courtroom. It ha—actually had the—you know, the bench and whatnot. I think that’s the way that ’06 was. And then 2007, we actually had an air conditioned tent at Lake Eola. And the—they put the wall of remembrance of the folks that had passed. They had developed a—a timeline. Um, and they were great. I mean they—they worked that thing all day long. And people were in and out of that tent all day long looking at all those. And I believe that that [exhales] really, um, inspired people, too. Because there were people there—I went in and spent some time myself to cool off, um, and to say hello to everybody. But in watching, uh, what I saw was people that had no idea who some of these folks were. Had no idea about the timeline of our movement here.
Um, and then I saw others that were touched because they remembered Jimmy Brock , who was the pastor at Joy MCC , who had passed away. Um, and others. They—they remembered them, and so they were moved. And I—I could see the young people and I’ve th—I kept thinking about—I always did this whenever I went to Come Out With Pride—think about how I felt in 1991, when I went to that first parade. And that I was scared to death. I was just coming, you know, coming to—I had come out already, but just—I felt like coming into adulthood even though I was 31, you know? Um, starting to, uh—we hadn’t started Shelby Press yet. We started it in ’92. Uh, the MBA started—or not—or we started Shelby in ’93, but we started MBA in ’92. But I thought about—I—I still think about, you know, that it’s important that we inspire the young people to be confident in who they are and to accept themselves and to live their life to the fullest. And how better for them to get some insight into that then to see the timeline. To see those people that did that work. That made a difference in the lives of all of us—being able to live a healthier, more secure life.
Raffel
And do you have a favorite memory from your work with the history museum?
Simmons
[meowing] Um, and that was Louie giving his two cents.
Raffel
[laughs].
Simmons
Our kitty cat. Um, my favorite part of—of being involved with the beginning stages of the history project was seeing someone like Ken. Ken Kazmerski, who’s a little older than me, knowing his history and how he had worked with the students at UCF and Gay and Lesbian Bisexual Student Union. Um, and Phyllis and Mary. Phyllis Murphy and Mary Brooks. Um, knowing Mary and working with her side-by-side. Knowing Phyllis and her work on Orlando Regional Pride with the first few parades. Um, come back, uh,—it—together with the young people from UCF. To me, it wa—it—it’s—I—that’s what I’ve always thought. Um, and now there were a couple of people I will say that couldn’t see that. Couldn’t see that the—the wisdom of bringing the young people in. Because what are they—what are they going to contribute? And the majority of us though kept saying, “This is to encourage and to inspire future leaders. Because they need us and we need them.”
So, to me, that was—that—it was that and it was, um, knowing that—that they were serious about remembering. Remembering how we got to 2005. What the community had endured here and what happened. When I went to the March on Washington in 1993 and 2000—uh, especially 2000—there was[sic] even newspaper articles written in the [Orlando] Sentinel. Um, one of ‘em I had on my—had framed in my den for a while—um, said well, you know, [meowing] most people are staying home and why—why go to a March on Washington again in 2000? We—those of us that got together and went—knew that it was going to reenergize us. It was gonna recharge our batteries. Excuse me. Bye bye. [laughing] It was to—for us to be re-inspired and recharged.
So Come Out with Pride and the history project. And having a festival and a parade and bringing young and older and old, um, gay and straight and bi and trans and every ethnic—everybo—bringing everybody together that’s still alive to remember those that aren’t with us anymore. That’s what the history project did for me in 2007 with the tent. Walking around and looking and everything. That’s what I re—I thought about—is all those people, many of whom I knew. I knew them. And they were inspirational for me. And so, I was so happy that everybody that walked through there got to see that. Everybody experienced it differently based on their—their own life. Who they are and whatnot. But that’s—that was the—the—the real moving part I guess for me.
Raffel
And just to kind of go backwards a little bit, you mentioned I think briefly the first, uh, expo that the MBA held. Can you tell me a little bit more about what—sort of what led to that and the—and the difficulties you had finding space?
Simmons
Um, in, uh, 1994, at—at a—I believe it was a—it might have been ’93—Sandy Fink had come on to the board. She was a veterinarian. Um, and she had—let’s see. She was the networking chair in May of ’93. And then the membership director in December of ’93 to May of ’98. I remember when we were at a board meeting and, um, she and the networking and expo committee she put together—or I don’t think she put the committee together yet. She started talking about it. Um, and I didn’t know that our community was ready to have an expo of all of the—the businesses. I knew we had identified, uh, people that had businesses in the community. We had—we had identified some, uh, allies in the community. Not big corporations, but people that wanted to be part of our association. But when she said that we should do a business expo, uh, some of us were like, “Wow.” You know? “Are we really ready for that?”
And so, she was—put together a structure. Um, put together a committee, and—Louie [laughs]. By, um—by the time we got—we had several board meetings, talking about doing an expo. We were all on board. Uh, because they—they were ready to go. But where to have the event? So they identified the Maitland Civic Center on Lake Louie. And it was a—a great place. It still is. Um, and we, uh, signed the contract. We were ready to go. And it was—we’d already advertised. We had already printed our first, um, uh, uh—it became the buyers’ guide or the membership directory. Nut, uh, uh, an expo directory of, you know, who was going to be there and whatnot. Um, we had a map. And then we had everybody listed in there. Um, and Maitland Civic Center said that we couldn’t do it because they had a double booking.
So, um, Sandy went to civil court. And we were just talking about it leading up to the 25th anniversary of the MBA. And, uh, she reminded us, and reminded me especially, about her going to court. And she was nervous because she said, you know—she wasn’t really out, out. And there she was in civil court and she said it was the first time she’d uttered “gay and lesbian” in public. In a courtroom, no less. And she said the place gasped. She said she could feel it. Um, but because the contract was signed before the other contract—they were just pulling that double-booking thing to try to stop it. Once they—I guess some people decided, “Oh, it’s a gay and lesbian business association. No. We can’t do that in Maitland. We’re not gonna have that.” Um, but, we won. And so, we had our event.
Simmons
We had 89 vendors at that expo. And that was a—that was another big turning point for the professionals and the business centers in this community. Um, people started to recognize that we—back then, we didn’t have corporate support. So the small businesses—we were the backbone of the community. We were the ones that funded, um, things, um, uh, paid the membership dues, paid extra money, sponsored different things to make things happen. Um, and that we were the ones that were—were going to work together to even build it larger. To build our business structure larger. To encourage professionals that were contemplating starting their own business or practice to do so. And they did.
Um, uh, a number of people—now not going back that far, but, um, there are some that have—have formed, uh, in the last 20 years instead of the last 25 years. Uh, but Tom Dyer, um, at Watermark—he’s an attorney. And he was working for another practice. And it wasn’t—and don’t quote me on this, but it wasn’t long before Tom started his own law practice. Um, and I believe he started Watermark in, uh, ’94. And so, he—he—I heard him talk about that recently. About, you know, seeing what was happening in other big cities and newspapers and this and that. And he thought that Orlando could really do with having its own newspaper. Plus, he dealt with the—the political scene here, like I had said, with Glenda Hood. And knew that we weren’t getting the coverage. Um, we weren’t getting the representation that we should. Uh, a—something as simple as Mary Brooks, who I have mentioned a couple of times—that was the secretary. She w—worked at the Orlando Sentinel. She was a reporter. And at that time, we couldn’t even have our, uh, partners’ names listed in our obituaries. I mean it was just things like that. Everywhere we turned we had, um, discrimination.
So, yep. ’94, we had 89 vendors. And then we had six business expos. Um, and that kind of hand-in-hand worked with what we wound up doing with Come Out with Pride in having the festival in the park. The festival in the park is really a business expo. It’s where we b—we brought the politicians together with the non-profits with the large corporations and with the small business centers in the MBA. So we had developed that experience in order to put together that part of Come Out with Pride.
Raffel
And was the discrimination in the community—was that one of the reasons that, uh, you didn’t put LGBT or i—in the name of the business…
Simmons
Yes.
Raffel
…association?
Simmons
Yes. And we had talked a lot about it. Um, it wasn’t as if we were hiding who we were, but we were trying to again, um, protect those that wanted to come to our functions that were advet—advertised at the Radisson, The Metropolitan Business Association. Well, that’s not saying it’s a gay and lesbian function. Um, and there were a number of times that we had functions there that, um—I’ll never forget one night that we were having a function there that John Butler Booke, who is a—was—I don’t know if he’s still alive—a—a minister pastor in Apopka. Uh, he was one of the biggest voices against us in the ’98 controversy to hang the rainbow flags. Uh, he came to everything and anything. Well, they were having a separate event at the Radisson. And some people that were coming to our event were on that elevator with him. And he didn’t know who they were. They knew who he was. And I remember them coming in. And I can’t tell you even who it was specifically. But came in and said, “Oh, my gosh. You’re not going to believe who I just saw in the elevator. John Butler Booke is here.”
And so that was just reaffirmation for us, you know, that those five and a half years or so that we were at the Radisson, that was a period of time where we built strength and confidence and encouragement for the community to, you know, come out and to be more confident in being themselves. Being authentic. Uh, but when we, uh, talked about the name of the MBA—I believe we were at Metropolitan Community Church, and Sam Singhouse and Marcy Singhouse’s, uh, sister-law—Sam was instrumental in those very—in the very beginning. He owned the big bang club downtown Orlando. A—and he and Marcy were always there. And Sam Singhouse is Miss See—Miss Sammy. Everybody knows Miss Sammy. Um, and we were talking about the name. And Marcy was the one that actually wound up coming up with the Metropolitan Business Association. And, um, it –I mean everybody was like, “Yes, that’s it!” And so it stuck. And we never changed that. Um, the logo changed a few times over the years, but it was still, um, the Association. That’s what we were is all—you know, we—like I said in the beginning, uh, we—we developed relationships with one another that lasted for years and years. And sometimes lifetimes. Like Mary and Phyllis. Um, whether it be a—a—a marriage, which now we’re allowed to actually have marriage, um, or just a lifelong friendship.
Raffel
And what do you see as some of the maybe next steps or next big goals for organizations like the MBA and the LGBTQ History Museum?
Simmons Well, um, I’m really glad that the—the History Museum is continuing and evolving and growing. And, um, as far as the MBA goes, I know that they’re really working on, um, corporate diversity and making sure that with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber, uh, that you have certification. And that—there’s that association. That group of large businesses that will buy from—recognize a gay and lesbian, trans—a tran—LGBTQ business as someone that they want to buy from. So they’re working on that. I know that they’re, uh, focused on, uh, transgender and gender equality. That’s very important.
Um, it’s—I know we—we’ve talked about this. Um, in 2015, when the Supreme Court ruled gay marriage legal , um, we had—that was in June of 2015—there was this sense of elation. Um, and I remember people saying—asking me and saying to me, “Do we really have a need for the Metropolitan Business Association and, um, the History Museum?” Of course. I mean, yeah. That’s gonna go on as long as people are alive to develop—to continue to develop all those archives. Um, but is it really needed anymore now that we have, you know, gay marriage? It’s legal. Well, it’s a lot more than that. It’s, um, uh, transgender. It’s gender equality. It’s—uh, you can still be fired from your job if you’re gay. Um, and we knew that there were—I knew, and I’m sure that most people knew, that there would be a backlash.
Um, but still there’s that sense of elation. I remember it was just three years ago, um, that everybody was—eh, I was going around getting every newspaper I could get. I was online looking at everything. Reading everything. Recording everything that I could during that. So amazing. And Prop 8 . And the fact that it was David Boies and—what’s his name? Theodore, uh—it’s gonna—and I—he was a con—he was the conservative that, um, represented Bush after the 2000 election. Olsen. Ted Olsen. Ted Olsen and David Boies. That they were the—the lawyers worked together. The conservative and the liberal. Um, and Prop 8 was overturned in California.
All these things happened. And people were elated. And, my gosh, for us to just have—I mean, a lot of terrible things have hap—had happened between 2015 and 2016, with these mass killings and shootings. Um, but when Pulse happened in 2016 in June, um, it was—I—I still have a hard time even articulating how I feel about it. Um, I couldn’t even talk about it because I knew the—the—the impact that it had had on—i—i—it squashed immediately that feeling of elation. Yes. It was a huge victory. But—that we—we achieved gay marriage. But, my gosh, what a gut punch. And have all of those people murdered. Um, regardless of the murderer’s motives, it was in a gay nightclub, um, owned by Barbara [Poma], a heterosexual. Um, to give Pulse and life to her brother’s life. Um, you know, it—I mean the way it—it—it’s just all come together, to me it’s a—it’s a—a reminder that the work is never finished. That it’s important.
I mean, I’ve been trying myself for the last ten years. I’ve been retired from my—my, uh, volunteer work and focused just on working for a living. Uh, sometimes I wonder how I worked 40 hours plus at work and 40-plus hours with the Metropolitan Business Association. Again, this goes to the age thing. I was telling you earlier, um. Uh, I’ve been trying to figure out what—what I can do now to participate. I don’t—I still haven’t been able to really—like I said, I can’t even articulate how I feel and it’s been two years since Pulse. Um, when the anniversary rolled around last year, um, it—very somber with everybody that I know. Um, and I thought this year would be, you know, a little bit—not easier—but a little bit better. But it’s not. Um, and I can’t even fathom what the families are going through.
Um, we have a—a young person that has come to work with us. Uh, she’s 26 and, um, she’s heterosexual. Not that that’s really relevant. But it is because she was impacted. And she asked me about posting on Shelby Press, uh, on Facebook—on our page—something about Pulse. And she had put together some—some language, um, and—just us all here trying to talk about it. And talk with her about it. It’s just, um—like I said, it’s hard to talk about it. Cause I just don’t even know what to say. And I—I feel like putting something on social media now like, uh, the thing now that the students from Parkland have made very clear. Um, we call BS on thoughts and prayers. Because that’s not—that’s not gonna do it.
So, yeah. It’s important. It’s important for all of the organizations. For the Metropolitan Business Association. For the History Museum. For Come out with Pride. For the Center. For, uh, Parents and, uh, Friends—PFLAG—uh, for GLBSU at UCF. For everybody to continue doing their work. And to never think, no matter what—what—how many steps we make forward, that we should ever let our guard down. And that we be out there representing our community and thinking about going back to what I had said earlier about our struggle for our civil rights. That the Constitution affords us those rights, as it affords every citizen of this country. Um, that our struggle is, and will continue to be, a model for the rest of the community to say, “Yes we can.” Love that about Barack Obama. Yes we can. Yes we will. And y—y—you might kick us down, but we’re gonna stand up again. And we will not let hate win. Ever.
Raffel
Thank you so much. If you had nothing to add. That’s all my questions.
Simmons
I know we skated all over it.
Raffel
That was great.
Simmons
[laughs].
Raffel
That was perfect [laughs].
Simmons
I mean I—I didn’t even, uh…
Raffel
[laughs].
Simmons
Wow. Thank you so much.
Raffel
Thank you, Debbie.
2016 Orlando nightclub shooting
activism
activists
Barbara Poma
Brian De Hubert-Arbagast
chamber of commerce
Charlene Bell
Christian Coalition
civil rights
Civil Rights Movement
David Boies
Debbie Simmons
Dick Shaw
discrimination
Dorothy Coleman
Eileen Bell
Family Research Council
Gay and Lesbian Bisexual Student Union
gay marriage
GLBSU
GLBT
GLBT History Museum of Central Florida
GLBTQ+
Glenda Evans Hood
government
gun violence
Harvey Bernard Milk
homophobia
homosexuality
Human Relations Board of the City of Orlando
Human Rights Campaign
James T. “Jimmy” Brock
John Butler Booke
John Hugh "Buddy" Dyer
Joy Metropolitan Community Church
Karen Goode
Keith Morrison
Ken Kasmerski
Lake Eola Park
lesbians
LGBT
LGBT+ Center Orlando
LGBTIQ
LGBTQ
LGBTQ+
Liberty Council
Linda Welch Chapin
Maitland Civic Center
Mallory Wells
Marcy Singhouse
marriage equality
Mary Brooks
mass shootings
Metropolitan Business Association
Mike Sipoligo
National Coming Out Day
National Gay and Lesbian History Month
Obergefell v. Hodges
Orange County Regional History Center
orlando
Orlando Anti-Discrimination Committee
Orlando Regional Pride
parades
Phyllis Murphy
Prop 8
Proposition 8
Pulse massacre
Pulse nightclub
Pulse nightclub shooting
Radisson Hotel Group
Sam Singhouse
Sandy Fink
Sara Raffel
Shelbie Press Print & Copy
Stonewall Riots
Ted Olsen
terrorist attacks
The Center on Mills
The Watermark
Tom Dyer
UCF
University of Central Florida
University of Central Florida Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Student Union
Vicki Vargo
Vicky Meechum
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/cb521e832ee7d645a567dae23d491cff.pdf
df813caedecee050941025150659e798
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Watermark Collection
Alternative Title
The Watermark Collection
Subject
Gay culture--United States
Description
Since 1994, <em>The Watermark</em> has been the cornerstone source of LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/Questioning, and others) centered news for the Central Florida region. Founded by Tom Dyer in Orlando, the publication began generating bi-weekly issues beginning August 31, 1994. Since then, <em>The Watermark</em> has consistently published newspaper style issues every other Thursday. Gaining traction, the publication expanded in 1995 to include Tampa and, in 1997, <em>The Watermark</em> became a permanent piece of LGBTQ+ culture when the publication initiated the first large-scale Gay Days Weekend event, the Beach Ball at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon. Before 1999, the publication printed 20,000 copies every week, distributing them to over 500 locations between its two major cities. Following 1999, the publication launched watermarkonline.com shifting to an online publication style. In 2016, Rick Claggett purchased <em>The Watermark</em>.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/" target="_blank">RICHES Program</a>
Type
Collection
Contributing Project
<a href="http://www.floridalgbtqmuseum.org/%20" target="_blank">GLBT History Museum of Central Florida</a>
<a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/">The Watermark</a>
Curator
Smith, Robert
Cepero, Laura
O'Neal, Rhiannon
Hearn, Nikki
Greene, Quintella
Rodriguez, Sharon
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://www.floridalgbtqmuseum.org/%20" target="_blank">GLBT History Museum of Central Florida</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/aboutcontact/" target="_blank">About/Contact</a>." WatermarkOnline.com, accessed July 11, 2016. http://www.watermarkonline.com/aboutcontact/.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
The Watermark, Vol. 12, No. 10, May 19-June 1, 2005
Alternative Title
Watermark, Vol. 12, No. 10
Subject
Gay culture--United States
Description
The tenth issue of the twelfth volume of <em>The Watermark</em> was published on May 19, 2005, and covered stories related to the local, national, and international LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/Questioning, and others) communities. Topics include the opening of a new Kissimmee bar, the death of community pioneer Jack Nichols (1938-2005), the overturning of a Nebraska state amendment that would have banned gay marriage, and the homophobia of Catholic priests in Spain. There is also an interview with Betty White (b. 1922), coverage of an AIDS protest outside the White House, and a look into the annual Orlando Fringe Festival. Although the "Editor's Desk" section mentions that this issue has 88 pages, the largest of 2005, there are only 48 pages available.<br /><br />Since 1994, <em>The Watermark</em> has been the cornerstone source of LGBTQ+ centered news for the Central Florida region. Founded by Tom Dyer in Orlando, the publication began generating bi-weekly issues beginning August 31, 1994. Since then, <em>The Watermark</em> has consistently published newspaper-style issues every other Thursday. Gaining traction, the publication expanded in 1995 to include Tampa and, in 1997, <em>The Watermark</em> became a permanent piece of LGBTQ+ culture when the publication initiated the first large-scale Gay Days Weekend event, the Beach Ball at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon. Before 1999, the publication printed 20,000 copies every week, distributing them to over 500 locations between its two major cities. Following 1999, the publication launched watermarkonline.com shifting to an online publication style. In 2016, Rick Claggett purchased <em>The Watermark</em>.
Type
Text
Source
Original 48-page newspaper: <a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/" target="_blank"><em>The Watermark</em></a>, Vol. 12, No. 10, May 19-June 1, 2005: Watermark Publishing Group, Orlando, Florida.
Requires
<a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html" target="_blank">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/203" target="_blank">The Watermark Collection</a>, LGBTQ+ Collection, RICHES.
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of original 48-page newspaper: <a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/" target="_blank"><em>The Watermark</em></a>, Vol. 12, No. 10, May 19-June 1, 2005.
Coverage
Orlando, Florida
Sarasota, Florida
Tampa, Florida
Cocoa Beach, Florida
Boston, Massachusetts
Washington, D.C.
Kissimmee, Florida
Madrid, Spain
Omaha, Nebraska
Creator
Baber, Keith
Blanchard, Steve
Crescitelli, Jim
DeJesus, Edwin
Dyer, Tom
Ferber, Lawrence
Hartlage, Kirk
Jenkins, Georgia
Kundis, Ken
Leiner, Victor
Masters, Billy
Middour, Bryan L.
Murray-Parker, Karen S.
Nolan, Margaret
Roehr, Bob
Triggs, Greg
Walen, Rick
Wiethop, Dave
Wiggins, Jayelle
Wilde, Diane
Publisher
<a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/" target="_blank">Watermark Media</a>
Date Created
ca. 2005-05-19
Date Issued
2005-05-19
Date Copyrighted
2005-05-19
Format
application/pdf
Medium
48-page newspaper
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Provenance
Originally published by <a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/" target="_blank">Watermark Media</a>.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by <a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/" target="_blank">Watermark Publishing Group</a> and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES</a> for educational purposes only.
Accrual Method
Donation
Curator
O'Neil, Rhiannon
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/" target="_blank">Watermark Media</a>.
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/aboutcontact/" target="_blank">About/Contact</a>." WatermarkOnline.com, accessed January 28, 2018. http://www.watermarkonline.com/aboutcontact/.
ACLU
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
ACT-UP Philadelphia
Adobe Realty
AIDS
AIDSWatch
Alliance for Marriage
ALSO Out Youth
American Civil Liberties Union
Amy Boyd
Amy Steinberg
Ann Hart Coulter
Barry Farmer
Bart T. Coyle
Beak to Beak
Bears of Central Florida
Benny Lacks
Betty Castor
Betty Marion White Ludden
Billy Bruce Wagener
bisexual
Bo Shuff
BOCF
Bowling in Boxers
Campaign to End AIDS
Candace Gingrich
Central Florida Black Pride
Charles Wysocki
Church of the Trinity MCC
Community Impact Spokane
Corene Fry
Eddie Sarfaty
Equality Florida
Equality Forum
Family Research Council
FGRA
Florida Gay Rodeo Association
Focus on the Family
Freedom Resort and Spa
gay
Gay Days
gay marriage
gay rights
genetics
Greg Hall
Gulf Coast Men's Chorus
Harry Flynn
HIV
homophobia
homosexuality
Howard Brush Dean III
HRC
human immunodeficiency virus
Human Rights Campaign
IGRA
International AIDS Candlelight Memorial
International Gay Rodeo Association
Irene "Beth" Stroud
Jack Nichols
James Dobson
James E. West
Jeanne White-Ginder
Jennifer Foster
Jim Merritt
John Dorr
John Forbes Kerry
John Himonetos
John Ruffier
Joseph Batallion
Joseph J. Cook
Joy MCC
Justin R. Cannon
Ken Hutcherson
Ken Martin
L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center
Lambda Legal
lesbians
Leslie Dawley
LGBTQ+
Lige Clark
Lorri L. Jean
Malcolm Lazin
Marcus Matthews
Mark Leno
marriage equality
Mary Anne Servian
Matt Daniels
Matt Foreman
Mel White
Michael Connelly
Michael Kitsos
Michael Wanzie
Michele Balan
Microsoft
Nathan Leopold
National Association of People with AIDS
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Orlando Family Reunion Picnic
Orlando Fringe Festival
Orlando Gay Chorus
Parrots with Pride
Penny Lancaster
Peter Malamoutsis
pheromones
Philip W. Johnston
queers
questioning
Rainbow Sash Alliance USA
Republicans
Rob McKenna
Robarts Arena
Romer v. Evans
Ryan Wayne White
Ryan White CARE Act
same-sex marriage
Sandra Witelson
Sarasota Pridefest
Scott Garstka
Scott Zirbes
Soulforce
Southwest Florida Business Guild
Southwest Florida Community AIDS Quilt
Spanish Bishops' Conference
Splash Bash
St. Mark United Church of Christ
St. Pete Pride Promenade
Stamatios Kannis
Steve Ballmer
Sunshine Invitational Tournament
Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Terje Anderson
Terry Thomas
The Watermark
Theo Malamoutsis
Thomas Hall
Thomas Minnery
TIGLFF
Tom Higgins
transgender
TV Land
Unitarian Universalist Church
United Methodist Church
Walt Disney Company
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/ebc980fc9d13db0bcd5793015f93ddb6.pdf
c89536571af9b880da1eb9b33521d283
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
LGBTQ+ Collection
Is Part Of
LGBTQ+ Collection, RICHES Program
Digital Collection
<div class="element-text"><a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/">RICHES MI</a></div>
<div class="element-text"> </div>
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Oral History of Patty Sheehan
Alternative Title
Oral History, Patty Sheehan
Subject
Orlando (Fla.)
Music--Florida
Mass shootings
Memorials--Florida
Gay liberation movement
Gay rights
Municipal government--United States
Description
An oral history interview of Patty Sheehan, Orlando’s first openly gay city commissioner. The interview was conducted by Kalynn Smith at Sheehan’s offices at Orlando City Hall in Orlando, Florida, on April 11th, 2017. Some of the topics covered include an introduction, how the challenges of growing up gay shaped her activism, how coming out affected her familial relationships and career, identifying items in her collection, Michael’s March and bringing together the gay and lesbian communities over HIV/AIDS, the stigma of HIV/AIDS and how shame kills, facing discrimination while running for office, civil rights activism as city commissioner, becoming an advocate for marriage equality, and her favorite accomplishments as City Commissioner.
Table Of Contents
0:00:00 Introduction <br />0:01:52 How challenges of growing up gay shaped activism <br />0:06:05 How coming out affected familial relationships and career <br />0:12:49 Identifying items in collection <br />0:15:25 Michael’s March and bringing together the gay and lesbian communities over HIV/AIDS <br />0:23:38 The stigma of HIV/AIDS and how shame kills <br />0:28:51 Facing discrimination while running for office <br />0:33:22 Civil rights activism as city commissioner <br />0:37:22 Becoming an advocate for marriage equality <br />0:44:14 Favorite accomplishments as City Commissioner
Abstract
Oral history interview of Patty Sheehan. Interview conducted by Kalynn Smith in Orlando, Florida, on April 11, 2017.
Type
Moving Image
Source
Sheehan, Patty. Interviewed by Kalynn Smith, April 11, 2017. Audio record available. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>, Orlando, Florida.
Requires
Multimedia software, such as <a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/" target="_blank"> QuickTime</a>.
<a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html" target="_blank">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/207" target="_blank">LGBTQ+ Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Has Format
Digital transcript of original 53-minute, and 1-second oral history: Sheehan, Patty. Interviewed by Kalynn Smith. Audio record available. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>, Orlando, Florida.
Coverage
Audubon Park Covenant Church, Orlando, Florida
Greenwood Cemetery
Lake Eola Park
Orlando
Pulse nightclub
Creator
Sheehan, Patty
Smith, Kalynn
Publisher
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
Date Created
2017-04-11
Date Copyrighted
2017-04-11
Format
video/mp4
application/pdf
Extent
342 MB
Medium
53-minute, and 1-second audio recording
25-page digital transcript
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Humanities Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Patty Sheehan and Kalynn Smith and published by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>.
Rights Holder
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
Accrual Method
Item Creation
Curator
Cravero, Geoffrey
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
Ogles, Jacob. "<a href="http://www.advocate.com/pride/2016/10/06/pride-orlando-will-take-new-meaning" target="_blank">Pride in Orlando Will Take on New Meaning</a>." <em>The Advocate</em>, October 6, 2016. Accessed October 18, 2016. http://www.advocate.com/pride/2016/10/06/pride-orlando-will-take-new-meaning.
Hyman, Jamie. "<a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/2016/06/16/community-rises-mass-shooting-orlando-gay-nightclub-kills-49/" target="_blank">Community rises up after mass shooting at Orlando gay nightclub kills 49</a>." <em>Watermark</em>, June 16, 2016. Accessed October 18, 2016. http://www.watermarkonline.com/2016/06/16/community-rises-mass-shooting-orlando-gay-nightclub-kills-49/.
Manes, Billy. "<a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/2015/10/22/five-for-fighting-orlando-city-commissioner-patty-sheehan-isnt-going-anywhere/" target="_blank">Five for fighting: Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan isn't going anywhere</a>." <em>Watermark</em>, October 22, 2015. Accessed May 17, 2017. http://www.watermarkonline.com/2015/10/22/five-for-fighting-orlando-city-commissioner-patty-sheehan-isnt-going-anywhere/.
Pilkington, Ed. "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/17/orlandos-first-out-gay-elected-official-weve-been-dealing-with-hatred-forever" target="_blank">Orlando's first out gay elected official: 'We've been dealing with hatred forever'</a>. <em>The Guardian</em>, June 17, 2016. Accessed May 17, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/17/orlandos-first-out-gay-elected-official-weve-been-dealing-with-hatred-forever.
Transcript
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>S—you good?</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>Alright. I am, uh, Kalynn Smith, a UCF<a title="" href="#_ftn1">[1]</a> undergraduate. I am interning for the GLBT<a title="" href="#_ftn2">[2]</a> History Museum of Central Florida. With me is Geoffrey Cravero. Um, we are conducting an oral history with Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan in her offices, uh, in, um, [<em>smacking sound</em>] Orlando, Florida, on April 11<sup>th</sup>, 2017.</p>
<p>Uh, Commissioner Sheehan, thank you…</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Thank you.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>…for agreeing to speak with us today.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Sure.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>Um, I am currently working on processing your collection…</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<strong>Smith<br /></strong>…with the GLBT Museum.
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>There’s a collection?</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>And…</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>Yes [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>I didn’t realize that. Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>Yeah. It’s, uh, mostly artifacts…</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>…and, um, a couple like journal entries. And, um, a few things like that.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>And we just had a few questions regarding, um, uh, specific artifacts and…</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Okay. Sure.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>…some personal biography.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Alrighty. Absolutely.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>So, um, first, if we could start off by, um, having you state your name and tell us a little bit about where you’re from.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Sure. I’m Commissioner Patty Sheehan of—I’m in Orlando, Florida. I’ve been in office since 2000. So I’ve been doing this for 17 years. Um, and I’m well-known for my advocacy of pedestrian safety, walkable neighborhoods, um, Main Street districts, which are blowing up and very exciting around Orlando, and pedestrian safety, which I got death threats for my first couple of years in office. And ended up being one the hardest things I’ve ever done. Putting sidewalks within a mile of ele—every elementary school. So people think that sometimes issues like LGBTQ<a title="" href="#_ftn3">[3]</a> can be difficult. You’d be surprised what things people will threaten you on and everything like that. So it’s not always easy being an elected official [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<strong>Smith<br /></strong>[<em>smacking sound</em>] Um, what was the atmosphere like regarding LGBTQ issues when you were growing up?
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Oh, gosh. I mean I was raised Catholic. So, you know, this was something that was worse than being a murderer. So I really hid who I was. I struggled very much with it. I had a really hard time. There were times I was suicidal. And I wanted to end it all because I just couldn’t accept who I was. Um, I had a very difficult time. I’ve—I’ve given a story to, um—to, you know, the folks that talk about—about suicide among young LGBTQ people because I think it’s really important. The, uh, It Gets Better Project. Because I think it’s important for young people to realize that they may struggle. I struggled. Um, and it, you know—just because it’s—maybe it’s somewhat easier now to come out and be who you are, we still have a long way to go. Um, there’s still children being bullied in school. There are still children who are not being accepted for who they are in terms of transgender issues. People can still be fired from their jobs for who they are.</p>
<p>So, you know, I get some blowback for those folks who say, “Patty, why can’t you just be quiet? Why can’t you just blend in? Why can’t you just—why can’t we just have unity?” Well, that’s usually what’s said by the dominant culture when they want to put you down. “Oh. Well, Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ community and all these people are making it difficult for us.” No. You’ve actually made it difficult for us. And we’re just trying to live and be who we are. And it’s re—something that’s really, really, um, offensive to me and—is this notion somehow that we have to bury who we are. “Oh. Ya’ll have the right to marriage. Why can’t you just be quiet?” Um, you know, there’s always been this desire to keep the LGBTQ people in the closet. And I find that very offensive.</p>
<p>Uh, I was talking to, eh—years and years ago, I was talking to, um, uh, an African-American activist. And she says, “Well, you know, you’re difference is—is different from mine because you can hide yours.” And I asked her, “If you could hide your difference, would you? Would you hide your skin color if you could?” And she looked at me. And it was an “aha moment” for her. And I can’t even believe—I don’t even know where that came from out of me. ‘Cause I’m not even—I’m not—I don’t think—I don’t consider myself that eloquent.</p>
<p>But Pat—then people that—“why don’t you just hide who you are?” Well, you know what? When you’re work—when you’re at work with people and they all talk about where they went on—you know, on vacation or on—what they did on the weekend, you know it—it’s[sic] puts you in a very difficult situation. When I was a younger woman, I was, you know, attractive woman. “Where’s your boyfriend?” Where—you know, there is—there is—people don’t understand because they’re straight that these are things that they take for granted. And these are things that we can’t—couldn’t talk about back then.</p>
<p>So I think there’s still a long way to go. I’m—I’ve been very, um, vocal since the Pulse tragedy, uh, that this happened to the LGBTQ community. And even our allies—some of our allies have gone back on me and said, “Why can’t you just be nice? Why can’t you just be unified?” And I’m like, “You can’t erase us. Yes. There were straight people that died at Pulse, too. But that doesn’t mean that we have to erase who we are to make it okay. Um, they were—they were targeted because they were young, they were gay and they were Latin—you know, QLatinx. They were people of color. And they were straight allies. And there—we shouldn’t have to erase who they were in order to make it okay for everybody else. Because we do have to take, as a culture, responsibility for how we te—how we treat LGBTQ people.”</p>
<p>In our churches—one of the most amazing things that happened to me after Pulse happened, um—after we’re dealing with all the issues of the tragedy, I had come here to City Hall and Mayor [Teresa] Jacobs’s office called me. And I went running over there. And she—and it was a—it was a group of clergy. And they were having a press conference. And they were talking about, “We do not agree with the Baptist Church. [inaudible] wanna say their name. That’s coming here to demonstrate at the funerals of these victims.” They had never dealt with that. I’ve been dealing with that for, you know, 30 plus years. I understand what it’s like to deal with hateful people that carry signs that say, “God hates fags.” This was their first time of dealing with it. And our religious leaders came out and said, “This is not who we are.” I could not have been more proud. And felt so amazing during that time. That’s unity. Not telling me to shut up about who I am [<em>sighs</em>].</p>
<strong>Smith<br /></strong>Um, how were or are your familial relationships affected by your coming out?
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>]. When I first came out, I was 21. And like I said, I really, really struggled. And it wasn’t a matter of my parents supporting me. I had moved out at 17 because I was different and there were issues that I couldn’t deal with my parents. And, uh, so I basically started—I mean I started taking care of myself at 17. And so it wasn’t any reason for me to, you know—to—to hide who I was. Other than the fact that, um—I mean I—I wanted to have a relationship with my family. And I thought that that was gonna be part of it. And it—it got to be more and more pressure for me because my sisters were old enough to go out. And I said, “Oh. I was at Park Avenue Club or I was at this club over the weekend.” And they’re like, “Well, we didn’t see you. We were there.” And the lying just got to take such a toll on me.</p>
<p>And at 21, I finally came out. And [<em>laughs</em>] my mother’s Italian and Catholic. She said to me, “Well, we’re a family and we’re gonna stick together. But you have to understand you’ve chosen a very difficult lifestyle. And—and you can’t be a teacher now. You realize that.” ‘Cause I had wanted to be an art teacher. She goes, “You—you—you’ll be a bad influence to children.” I was like, <em>Wow.</em> You know? Although, the weird thing was I did change to—to journalism. Um, and I went back to art eventually.</p>
<p>Um, but I accepted that. And s—ashamed to s—I’m not ashamed. I mean that was a pressure that was put on me. And I accepted that. And I—and I hope that young people now realize they don’t have to accept that. You’re not a bad influence because you’re LGBTQ. You’re not a bad person because you’re LGBTQ. Um, there are lots of people in this community who’ve made a lot of great contributions now that were not swept under the rug and—and forced to keep—stay in the closet. So I’m proud of many contributions of—of my community.</p>
<p>Um, I was—it—we just watched—I just watched—I’m in the process—like I had recorded it because I couldn’t watch it. <em>When We Rise</em>.<a title="" href="#_ftn4">[4]</a> And I remember Cleve Jones. And I remember [inaudible]. I remember these people who—who paved the way for people like me. And I think it’s important to tell our history because we tend to forget it. And I think that’s why this project is so important. And why oral history projects are so important. Because the dominant culture does want to erase us. They do want to erase people in the movement. The Women’s Movement. They do want erase people in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. Um, because it makes them feel com—more comfortable who they are. Because they don’t want to accept the fact that they did things that were wrong. There’s a whole movement to erase the Holocaust. And the fact that it happened to the Jewish community. Because the dominant culture isn’t comfortable with dealing with the fact that this happened and some of them were complicit with it.</p>
<p>So I’m not about making people comfortable when they do the wrong thing. And if they blow back on me—this has always been a risk for me. When I was at the Florida Department of Agriculture and I stood up for people in my office because they were people of color or people of Jewish faith, I was—I was punished for it. As a—you know, I—I was denied management positions because of my s—because of standing up for others. I was up for—I finally was up for a promotion at work. And, um, I had gone to the March on Washington for LGBTQ rights in I think it was 1992.<a title="" href="#_ftn5">[5]</a> ‘Cause I went to—I went to a couple of them. There was one in the ‘80s and one in the ‘90s. And I can’t remember the exact date. But I’d gone to the—to the second march. And, um, I took—I took my vacation time. And I happened to be in the back of a photograph. I wasn’t even the—the focus of the photograph. I didn’t even know the person was taking it. I was basically getting out of a train to go to Washington[, D.C.]. And I was in the background. And someone took—took that picture out of the paper, faxed it to my division director in Tallahassee[, Florida] and made sure I got demoted. That was my life.</p>
<p>And when I called to complain, ‘cause I had actually helped the State of Florida deal with a lot of personnel issues. I was, you know, the person that they sent around to help deal with it—go—as part of my management training. They said, “We’re sorry, Patty. There’s nothing we can do to protect you. We can protect women. We can protect minorities. But we can’t protect you because your class isn’t protected.” So I’ve lived this. This has happened to me. And I think it’s important, you know—I’m not bitter. I mean I get better. I don’t get bitter, I get better. It was a hard thing to deal with at the time. And I was angry. But, um—but I had to find a way to persevere. And eventually, the manager that—the—the—the guy higher up that demoted me ended up getting in trouble for bad behavior at work [<em>laughs</em>]. And, uh, I had a new boss. And I came out to him. He goes, “Why—why are—why are people so reluctant to let me, eh, promote you?” I said, “Because I’m gay.” He said, “Well, that’s stupid.” I’m like, “Well, I know that.” He goes, “You have to understand that not everybody is as comfortable with your sexual orientation as you are.” I said, “It’s not my job to make them comfortable.” He said, “Touché.” And he promoted me. And I thought, <em>Wow. That’s really cool</em>.</p>
<p>So, you know, there are allies all along the way that you’re gonna find if you’re willing to stand up for who you are. And it wasn’t easy. Um, I’m—that day that I had to meet with that—with that manager, I was throwing up. I was so—so nervous. Um, when I first ran for office, I was so nervous whenever I had to talk because I was, you know—I was afraid of how it was gonna come up. And I was at a debate one time, um, gosh, at the Audubon Park Covenant Church. Because I was running for office and there was a bunch of us. And, uh, one of the—one of the people stood up and said—um, one of the candidates—one of the—the question, which was clearly aimed at me, was, “Should candidates make an issue of their sexual orientation?” And one of the candidates—candidates stood up and said, “Well, I have a wife. And I have a child. But I don’t think anybody should flaunt their lifestyle.” And I got up there and I said, “Well, it’s very interesting. ‘Cause when my opponent says about his life, it’s charming. When I talk about my life, it’s flaunting.” And a hundred and fif—fifty people in that church that were sitting there listening to that got it. And there were people that ran after me and apologized for that question.</p>
<p>So it’s not always easy to make change. And I lost that 1996 election. But I won the next one. So it is, you know—for me, and I think for our movement, it is incremental change. And it’s not easy. And it is something that you have to fight for. But it’s not something that I’m ever willing to—to lay down. And I won’t until the day I die. Um, and the day I die I will be laid at the feet of all the Pulse victims because that’s where I bought my cemetery plot in Greenwood [Cemetery]. I wanna watch over—I wanna watch over those kids forever. Because that’s been—that’s—that’s a part—that’s a part that’s interwoven in my soul. You know? That they were viciously attacked for who they were. And we need to keep telling that story. Because of people are already trying to—they call it “straight-wash” it. But, you know? It’s—it can’t be. We have to talk about how hatred killed them and how we have to be better people as a result of it to honor their memory [<em>sighs</em>]. Sorry [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<strong>Smith<br /></strong>No. You’re good. Um, how did you come to obtain the Paul [Efthemios] Tsongas and Brian Arbogast [de Hubert-Miller] 1992 election i.d. tags?
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>What?</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>They’re in your collection.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>[<em>sighs</em>] I can’t remember [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>Oh. [<em>laughs</em>] That’s okay.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>It’s Paul and—and Brian?</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Gosh. I—I don’t know. Really? Maybe they got stuck in there by accident. Because Brian was friend of mine. Um, he helped me with, um—with—he was one of the original founders of, um, what was then Orla—Orlando Regional Pride. And then I knew him. Um, uh, so that’s how I knew Brian Arbogast de Hubert-Miller. Um, and we used to call him “Alphabet Man” because he kept adding, you know—it’s part of his culture. [<em>laughs</em>] He was like, “You know, I’m—I’m Hispanic. So we have a lot of names.” And so he kept adding names. And we were—we laughed and called him “Alphabet Man”.</p>
<p>Um, I don’t know how Paul’s came into—to be in my collection. I don’t know. Um, uh, you know, I—eh, during the Names Project, we would—we—we, uh,—we were, uh, carrying names of people who had passed of—of HIV<a title="" href="#_ftn6">[6]</a> and AIDS.<a title="" href="#_ftn7">[7]</a> But those weren’t the names that I carried. ‘Cause—‘cause I don’t think either one of them—no. I can’t remem—I don’t think either one of them passed from AIDS.</p>
<p>Um, but, um, there—there was an i.d. tag though that I had that I carried that was, um, a—a, um—it was, uh, from LCN Express.<a title="" href="#_ftn8">[8]</a> And it had my name. And I had it made. Maybe that’s how the i.d. tag accidentally got in my collection. Because we all had—I had an i.d. tag made in case I was a victim of violence at the march that they would know who I was. So it had—it had my name, it had the LCN Express, was the affiliation of the group that I was with, and it had my address on it. It was basically dog tags in case anything happened to me. But that’s the only dog tag that I can recall that, uh—that I had from that time. That and—and one that was fabulous that had sequence on it. ‘Cause, you know, it had a rainbow on it. It was beautiful [<em>laughs</em>]. I am who I am [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p>That’s crazy. I—you—that’s so funny. You know? I don’t know how those got in there.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>Yeah. We had no idea either. We just kind of…</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Wow.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>…figured we’d ask.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Nope. I don’t know. Yeah. Okay. What else you got?</p>
<strong>Smith<br /></strong>Uh, what was Michael’s March? And what was your role within it?
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Michael’s March [<em>laughs</em>]? I have no idea [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>That’s okay.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>It’s like a letter or something. And it’s—you have it titled “Michael’s March”.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Oh. That’s from LCN. Okay. Um, back, um, in the ‘80s, there was a big division between men and women in the community. The—the LGBTQ and the gay community. And, um, after the men started getting sick, they were moving in with the lesbians. The lesbians were actually taking care of them. And LCN had kind of been an organization for women—was women’s only space. And a lot of the men were really offended by that. And I’m like, “Look. You guys call us ‘fish’ and you’re really mean to us. So you know? We—we have our own space. You know? That’s our thing.”</p>
<p>But when the—the men started getting sick, a lot of us start—you know? A lot of women started taking care of them. And—and—and everything. And the community really started coming together. So when we went to the March on Washington—and I—again, I can’t remember which one. It was Michael Wanzie’s letter I’m pretty sure [<em>sniffs</em>]. Um, that was Michael’s—that—I think that was Michael’s story, um, that he had submitted to LCN, um, about his partner dying. I think that’s the letter that you’re talking about. Um, and Lou Tozer and a bunch of the folks that were really involved with the LCN were very much touched by it. And wanted to include it in our newsletter even though we only allowed women to write for the newsletter. So that—think I’m remembering that right.</p>
<p>But I would get into it with Michael a little bit later because, you know—because they would—they—again, there were these issues about allowing women into the what they called at the time gay community services. And representing the rights of women. And it wasn’t easy with the gay men either sometimes. You know? And I mean they weren’t sensitive to women’s culture. And they weren’t sensitive to—to our issues. And I was glad over time that they added GLBCS. You know? Gay Lesbian Bisexual Community Services. And now, you know, we’ve added T<a title="" href="#_ftn9">[9]</a>. And we’ve—we’ve—we’ve been more inclusive. But that wasn’t easy. And there’s been many times when Michael and I tangled because, you know, we said, “Hey. You know? You gotta include women’s issues, too.”</p>
<p>So—but Michael’s March was about losing his, um—his partner. His reaction to the march, which was, um, very emotional. Um, and again, I’m trying to remember which year were—was the year the [NAMES Project] AIDS [Memorial] Quilt was unveiled. In ’87 or, gosh, ’90. I—I n—I need to do my research because I can’t remember when the marches exactly happened. But, uh, I—I can get back to you on that. But the first march, um, I believe was the one where they unveiled the AIDS Quilt. You’ll have to go back and look.</p>
<p>But that was the year that Whoopie Goldberg<a title="" href="#_ftn10">[10]</a> was the first person to walk out. And she was one of the first actors to actually take a stance on HIV and AIDS. And that was, uh, very emotional for a lot of us ‘cause we lost so many of our friends. I mean I’ve lost, eh—between the age of 20 and 30, I lost easily half my friends. Um, a lot of the entertainers. A lot of the—the drag queens were the first to go. Um, you know? All of a sudden, it’s—everyone started getting sick. They called it Gay-related Immune Deficiency. GRID. And all of us were t— completely panicked and freaked out. And by the time they finally had the test, of course, I took it. Because I was, you know—I was a bad girl. And I was going, <em>Man. Do I have it? </em>And I didn’t. You know? But lesbians had a—had a, you know, lower submission rate and everything like that.</p>
<p>Um, a lot of my friends were dying. Um, my closest friend that died was Gary Bailey. And he was my friend and rock. And I mean I just loved that man. And, um, you know, I just couldn’t believe he was sick. And then ended up passing away. And then there was Chuck [inaudible]. And it was just—it was a time when, um, we were going to funerals. Steve Marnier[?]. He was my political, um, mentor. I mean anytime I wanted to bounce something off Steve. And every time that I wanted to do something—he was like one of the few men that really got women’s culture and understood the need for everybody to work together and everything like that. So whenever I really wanted, uh, someone as a sounding board, I would go to Steve. When I ran in 1996, he had gotten really, really sick. And he ended up getting it really early. But he had taken care of himself, so he had it for a while. But in—in ’96, when I ran the first time, um, I had gone to visit him in the hospital and he asked me to pin one of my campaign pins on his—on his hospital robe. And, uh, he died like a couple days later. And, um, I’ll never forget that. So, you know, I mean I wasn’t there when he died, but I was there when gra—when Gary died.</p>
<p>And to watch someone pass away that you really care about, and they’re so young, and it’s so unnecessary, you just want the government to do something and to help. And there’s—n—no matter how much we marched, no matter how much we did, no matter—I mean I remember we had—the first time I stood on the AIDS Quilt, and it took up the entire mall. It was a football field of people who were dead. People we had lost. And, uh, the, uh—the amazing thing about the quilt was it actually—they—they designed it so that it was the size of a—of a funeral plot. You know? So you could really get a sense that these were people. It wasn’t like just a name written in a column or something like that. It was the physical size of a person.</p>
<p>And, uh, yeah—so I—I think—and—and a lot of that’s forgotten. Young people go, “Oh. What’s the big deal? What’s the—why do you guys get so upset? A—AIDS is—AIDS is survivable.” But there was a time when it wasn’t. And it wasn’t that long ago. And most of us who are a little older remember that. But that’s why we’re so passionate about making sure that, um [<em>sniffs</em>]—that people don’t forget that. Because it was a horrible time. And, um, you know, yeah. It’s become a chronic disease. But it’s not something I would wish on anyone. And I still have friends who are suffering. You know? And I still have friends who are dying. They just die from other opportunit—or oth—other opportunistic diseases. There are some people who are still in the closet about having HIV and AIDS. There are still people who are dying of AIDS. And, uh, uh, you know? Um, we gotta keep telling that story, too. But Michael’s March was about how he lost his partner. And, uh, yeah. It’s a very poignant story. It’s lovely. Even though Wanzie and I have had our issues over the years. Um, I thought that was absolutely a lovely story.</p>
<p>But, yeah. That’s when I was with LCN Express. That was a women’s newsletter. And I remember my friend, Joel[?] always saying to me, he’d go, “You are a separatist.” And I’m like, “You know? You have to remember though that we were women feminists. And we also had women’s culture. We—we had a double whammy. We were gay and we were lesbians. You know? We were—I mean we were—we were women. We were gay, but we were also women. We also had the—we also had to deal with the discrimination that came along with being women. And men telling us, “All you need is a good man.” And all that stuff. And the sexual harassment that I experienced as a young woman. And, you know, it—so we had to have the—a space where we could express that. Where we could kind of come to terms with that. Where we could be supported in community, too.</p>
<p>And, you know—and—and, uh, after the marches and after HIV and AIDS, we really kind of gelled as a community. But it was a process. So yeah. There was a while when I enjoyed women’s culture. And I kind of did the separatist thing. But I also evolved to realize that we all had to work together because if we didn’t, you know, we were—we were gonna die. And the guys were dying at alarming rates. And we all needed to come together to—to do what we could to stop AIDS. And, you know, to get education. And to get testing. You couldn’t even get—you couldn’t even get reasonable, affordable testing. Those all came as a result of fighting for that for many, many years [<em>phone rings</em>].</p>
<strong>Smith<br /></strong>Um, who was Charles S., [<em>phone rings</em>] whom you have memorial artifacts for?
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Is that Chase? Chase Smith?</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>Um, all we have is a Charles and then his last initial. S.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>What do you got? I don’t know what you guys have. I need to go over there and check out what you’ve got [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>[inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>I mean it could be Chase. But…</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>I believe it is, um, rose pedals and a candle.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Mm. I mean, um, that might have been from the last AIDS, um, uh, vigil that we had. And, um, Chase was the aid to—to May—a—Chase was my longtime aid for many, many years. And he was also an aide to Mayor [Teresa] Jacobs. And, um, he never disclosed his status to us until he was dying. And, um, I don’t think his family wanted anybody to know that he was HIV-positive. And this just happened a few years ago. I’m almost reluctant to—you know, to do it because, um—because he didn’t want anybody to know he was HIV-positive. And it killed him. He ended up getting, uh, lymphoma, which shouldn’t have killed him. But because his—he had just contracted it and his viral load was really high. It killed him like that.</p>
<p>And, um, you know, here—here’s someone who was openly gay, an aide to, you know, me and Mayor Jacobs, um, who wasn’t comfortable enough to ask for help. So that’s why I put Charles S. Because I didn’t want people to know who he was. Because I didn’t—wasn’t sure that [<em>sniffs</em>]—mm—that he would want that known. But you know? There he was. He never came to me. I wish he had come to me. I could’ve—I’d have go—I would have walked him right over to OIC<a title="" href="#_ftn11">[11]</a> to Doctor [Edwin] DeJesus. I’d have gotten the best care I could. But he didn’t feel comfortable telling me ‘cause he was ashamed. And, um, you know? Shame is a killer in my world. You know? I’ve seen it kill too many good people. We have to be—e—e—even though he knew. I mean he was an aid. He knew. All of these resources. He was too ashamed to take them up for himself.</p>
<p>So the rose pedals and the, uh, candle were Chase. And, um, I miss him. He’s the reason those are—those pink bunnies are all around—I put those pink bunnies all over town [<em>laughs</em>] [<em>sniffs</em>]. Um, because he loved playing the Easter Bunny for kids. He was just a lovely, helpful, decent man who, uh, had his secrets. And I remember when he was dying—and it happened really quick[sic]. Um, Mayor Jacobs came to me and she goes, “Is he HIV-positive?” I’m like, “I don’t know. He didn’t disclose to me.” And I—that’s—I still struggle with that. I mean, you know? He really didn’t—he didn’t tell me until he was on his deathbed. But, um, yeah. That’s my boy, Chase. So, yeah. I’m—I’m actually delighted that’s part of my collection [<em>clears throat</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>Good.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Yeah [<em>sniffs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>Um, what type of problems...</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>I can’t believe you got—where’d you guys get this stuff? I mean what do you guys go around following me? This is weird [<em>laughs</em>]. I’m kind of freaking out a little bit [<em>laughs</em>]. I’m like—I need to like—I need to like say, “Here [<em>laughs</em>]…” That’s interesting.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>I think it was, uh, donated in 2002. If that helps at all.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>[<em>sighs</em>]. He didn’t die that—wait a minute. No. That couldn’t have been because he didn’t die then.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>Huh.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>I need to get—I need to get together with you guys and make sure this stuff is in the proper s—sequences and stuff. Because this is just kind of a little strange. Yeah. Because that’s the only Charles S. I could think of would be Chase. And the—and the rose pedal and the candle would have been from the AIDS—but that wouldn’t have been from that long ago. So we may—might need to go over and make sure that everything’s in the proper sequence and stuff like that. Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>I’ll—I’ll—I’ll sit down with you. ‘Cause I want to make sure it’s right. ‘Cause it—‘cause you know as it happens some type of historical stuff. You know? It—it’s not quite in the right slot and everything like that. So I’ll—I’ll…</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>…go over it with you. Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>Well, thank you.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Yeah. I’ll—I’d be glad to do that. ‘Cause it shouldn’t have been from 2002. Gosh. He didn’t even die until [<em>sighs</em>]—I think he’s been dead since 2013 or something. 2—2012 I think he died. Yeah. Yeah.</p>
<strong>Smith<br /></strong>Um, what type of problems and discrimination, if any, ha—did you face during the 2000 and later elections?
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Uh, ’96 was the hard one. ’96 was the one where, um, half the candidates running were gay. I was the only one who was out and open about it. Um, one of the candidates used my sexual orientation against me everywhere she went. And then she ended up going to the runoff. And then she ended up getting defeated because they actually put, um, flyers in—as an insert in all the <em>Orlando Sentinels</em> and all the, um, mailbox—and all the, uh, boxes. And said that Patty Sheehan lost ‘cause she’s a lesbian. And this other woman needs to lose ‘cause she’s a lesbian, too. She was—that’s how she got outed. And where they didn’t s—insert them into the papers and all the mailboxes and all the paper boxes downtown, they threw ‘em all in the intersections in these little bags. Outing this other person. And, um, she came to me and says, “What do I do?” And I’m like, “Well, you know, you used it against me. That’s kind of karma [<em>laughs</em>]. You know? But what you’ve gotta say is discrimination is wrong and that you’re willing to stand up for other people.” And that didn’t happen. It just became an ugly food fight.</p>
<p>And that’s the thing. When someone attacks you, it’s the first response to get angry. But that’s what they want. They want you to get angry and frothing at the mouth and looking crazy. And what I’ve learned is I have to, you know, take a step back and take a deep breath and think before I speak, which isn’t always easy sometimes. Sometimes I still get my hackles up. Usually, that’s when I get in trouble. Um, um, because you—you’re—you’re not just speaking for yourself. You’re speaking on behalf of a community, whether you like it or not. And, um—and it’s important to do that in a way that educates and not what I—what I always call “teachable moments”.</p>
<p>So in ’96, I lost. And I said, “Well, you know what? I only lo—I only lost that election—I only missed that runoff by like 75 votes.” And I threw that l—I threw that together with my friends in like 90 days. I said, “What if I actually worked hard and learned the issues a little bit better that people were criticizing me that I didn’t know about? And what if I really applied myself?” So for the next four years, I got all involved in—in—in city business. And got to know about the codes. And came to—to be president of my neighborhood association. Talking about things like duplexes and, you know, sidewalks. And all those things that were really impacting the neighborhoods. And got to know the other neighborhood leaders. And I ran in 2000 and I beat the incumbent. And I won. So it can be done. And I wasn’t just—even though the newspaper in 1996—they had a huge headline on Election Day, “Gay Candidate Race on Ballot”. Um, yeah. They just ma—they all—they made it all about me being gay. They didn’t make it about any of my other stances on anything. Why I was really running, which was historic preservation, and saving neighborhoods and those kinds of things. Because there was all these teardowns happening. Making better quality of life in our neighborhoods. Business. Those were the things that I ran on. But all they wanted to talk about was me being gay.</p>
<p>And then I said, “Okay. All these people now know me. And they know I care about these issues. And I’ve known them from their neighborhoods and all that. Let’s see how this works out.” And it worked out very well for me. I won. And I’ve won every election since. And I’ve been through redistricting. And every time I go through redistricting, my colleagues try to put me in a more conservative area, thinking they’re gonna get—I’m gonna get beaten. And I just get higher and higher, you know, percentages [<em>laughs</em>]. So you know? I’m kind of the middle kid. I get picked on. I’ve represented more of this city than any other commissioner ‘cause they keep moving me around, hoping to get rid of me. And the bottom line is I’m not going anywhere. I’m, you know—I serve at the pleasure of my constituents. They’re my boss. And, uh, you know, I try to do the best job I can for them.</p>
<p>And I think it’s important to be an advocate for LGBTQ issues, but I also have to balance that with, “Yes. I care about your issues, too.” But what really offends me is when people say, “Well, you’re gay so you can’t represent me.” That’s not fair. And that’s not true. Um, I think being an a—being an LGBTQ activist has made me a better commissioner because I’m not afraid to fight for what I believe is right. Regard—if that—regardless if that’s sidewalks or if that’s historic preservation. Or if it’s proper infill development. Or if it’s for fighting for small businesses. I—I—I bring that passion to all those aspects of my job. And I think that makes me a better commissioner now—[inaudible] commissioner.</p>
<p>So, um, yeah. I think that’s—I think that’s an important point to make. ‘Cause I think a lot of people who are in the LGBTQ community who run for public office are marginalized that way. And it’s something that you have to be able to overcome.</p>
<strong>Smith<br /></strong>How have you used your position as city commissioner to conc—to continue civil rights activism?
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>[<em>sniffs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Yeah. Uh, when I was with the, um—I was really involved with the Democratic Party many, many years ago and they asked me to be constituency outreach. And it wasn’t easy ‘cause people were angry. I mean like they—go deal with—they’ll go deal with the—the—the—the different caucuses. And then—and—and sit down and, you know, figure out what—what—what are their needs and stuff like that. And people were really angry. And the thing was they hadn’t been asked.</p>
<p>So I go in there. I’m this little white girl. You know [<em>laughs</em>]? And, “What do you know about struggle?” This and that. You know? And I’m—everyone I went to I [<em>sniff</em>s]—I was with the African-American caucus and they were—they’re just—and I just said, “Okay. I’m just gonna listen. I’m just gonna sit here and listen to what everybody’s, you know, issues are.” And I sat there. And one of the—one of the gentlemen who was—M—Mr. Armistead[?], who I still know, said, “You hung in there.” He goes, “You just hung in there. And you listened to us.” He goes, “And you know what? That’s important. ‘Cause nobody listens to us.” Like wow. It’s like, “I can’t promise anything. But it—but it’s important to listen.” And I never—I never forgot that. Because for him to tell me, “Nobody has ever listened to me.” This is an African-American lawyer. Pretty prominent in his community. To tell me that no one had ever bothered to listen to him, that’s—that broke my heart.</p>
<p>Um, and so I think it’s important, y—you know? I can’t promise I’m gonna fix everybody’s issues like that. You know? Nobody can promise that. Because a—again, any kind of civil rights movement, you have t—it’s incremental change. Because the—the majority’s not gonna just give it to you. You know? The don—they don’t—they don’t say, “Oh. Eh, gay and lesbian community, you want civil rights? African-American community, you want civil rights? Jewish community, you don’t wanna be discriminated against? Oh, we’ll just do this ‘cause it’s the right thing.” It doesn’t happen that way. You know? You have to educate and you have to fight for it.</p>
<p>Um, but it’s been a—it’s been an honor to be trusted by people. And with their feelings. And with their concerns. And with their problems. And, um, if you look at it that way, um, that it’s a chance to—to bridge that divide and—and help them, that’s how I look at it. And, you know, I deal with angry people all day long. And I say, “Even a broken clock is right twice a day.” You know? Everybody’s got their—everybody has something to offer. Everybody has something to give you. Um, sometimes people are just mean. I don’t know. I mean I don’t take on everybody who wants to call me a[sic] epithet or curse at me or anything like that. I mean that’s—it—I think there’s a level of civil discourse that’s—that’s very uncivil, especially with social media “keyboard courage” I call it, that really unfortunate. But, uh—but I think overall, if you, um—if you listen and try to—to—to understand—and listen not to respond, but listen to understand, um, you’ll—you’ll—much better advocate and—and public servant. That’s just how I’ve applied it.</p>
<p>But I mean I’ve had, you know, the Hispanic community, the African-American community, I just haven’t just dealt with the LGBTQ community, you know, over the years. And, um—and there—and there are specific needs. And there have been specific needs specifically from Pulse. I mean the QLatinx, these young Latin-American, you know, young people. Many of whom—you know, some of—some of the families didn’t claim their kids ‘cause they found out they were gay that way. I mean the—what else—what other community’s experienced that?</p>
<p>So there are things that we need to help people with. Um, and we need to be sensitive, too. And I think a community—the community came together really well. I was very proud of how the city—the Camping World Stadium—deal with the immigration issues. I mean a lot of families weren’t even—you know, they had to come here to bury their kids. What a horrible thing. That the way this community—and it’s amazing how well this community came together to help everybody. But that doesn’t mean that we, um, brush aside their concerns as minority community.</p>
<strong>Smith<br /></strong>How have you aided in developing marriage equality?
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>]. You know, um, eh, when—at first when they were talking about marriage equality, I’m like, “I’m not you’re girl.” You know [<em>laughs</em>]? I hadn’t had a relationship in a long time. You know? ‘Cause we were—g—gosh, we had been fighting for marriage equality forever. And—and—and, you know, in the—in the—in the, uh, early 2000s, everybody’s like, “We want you to take this one.” I was, “This really isn’t my thing. You know? I’m a lesbian. I think I got workplace equality. All those things are important to me.” But I hadn’t really been in a long-term relationship. But then I got in a long-term relationship and I realized why those things were important. Because, you know, I went to go get—you know, I went to—to—to deal with, um, um, you know, leaving—leaving my things to my p—my partner in case then—my health had gotten really bad. What if—what if I—what if something happens to me? Um, you know? How do I take care of her?</p>
<p>And all those issues that it—marriage conveys 1,500 rights that, you know—‘cause straight people think about, <em>This is a right for me. This is something for me. Gay people shouldn’t have the right to the wedding cake. </em>And all those things. That’s a straight thing. Well, we had the right to the wedding cake. We had the right to the church ceremony. But what we didn’t have access to was the contractual arrangement. So I had to educate myself about it so that I could then communicate it. And I think w—w—and I’m a—I was a member at the time of a lot of the national LGBTQ organizations that said, “You know what? We don’t talk about…” I said, “I don’t care if they call it ‘domestic partnership’ or call it ‘Fred’. But what we need to explain to people is the difference between the wedding cake and the contract.” And so every time I had the chance to talk about it, I said, “There are 1,500 rights that convey with marriage that go—that—that—that we should be able to have access to as a contractual relationship to—to be able to partner with someone.</p>
<p>And then other people in the, you know—other—my—my colleagues said, “Yeah. You know? That’s a really well—that’s a really good way to communicate that.” So then we all started—elected officials, we all started talking from that same page. And, you know, we would all get together and fight about how we were gonna do it. ‘Cause, you know, it’s—it’s difficult. I’m from Florida. You know, and—and they’re from San Francisco[, California]. They’re talking about medical marijuana. And they’re so cool. And everyone’s more accepting. I mean, I was like, “Okay. I’m not a canary in the coalmine. And in Orlando, you know, if we can figure out how to communicate it, this should help you guys, too [<em>laughs</em>].”</p>
<p>So after a while, we started talking about the rights that convey with marriage. And it—and it was right from the HRC<a title="" href="#_ftn12">[12]</a> website. It wasn’t like it was hidden. But nobody was talking about it. So once we started talking about that from that standpoint, the weird thing for me was I started seeing people go, “Oh. Wait a minute. That’s not fair.” So sometimes we have to remember this. Because we understand something doesn’t necessarily mean that somebody else understands something. And it became an educational process. And I think that all the LGBTQ groups did a better job of—of communicating that fact. The—the proper, um, court cases came forward. I mean the Windsor case<a title="" href="#_ftn13">[13]</a> was just—was beyond. Because that was a clear case of someone being denied access to her partner’s, you know, um, uh, what they had built together in their life. When her partner died, that was a clear case. And, you know, here’s this—here’s all of us gay rights activists who have, you know—fighting, fighting, fighting. And here’s little Edie Windsor<a title="" href="#_ftn14">[14]</a>, you know, winning this historic court case that brought that all come on tumbling down, which was phenomenal. And she’s a hero. You know? She just wanted to fight for what she thought was right.</p>
<p>And—and—and I—and something that I tell people that I think the majority of the community doesn’t understand is minority rights have never been conveyed by the majority, except for Ireland. Ireland did it for—for LGBTQ rights. They actually had a referendum and extended marriage equality, too. That there—that’s the only place that had—did not happen in the courts. Usually min—the majority does not vote to give minorities any kind of rights. And so that’s what I tell people. I’m like, “The m—the—the majority feels they’re gonna lose something ridiculously if they—if they—if they look after minorities, unfortunately. Um, so it’s—it should never be up to a referendum. Minority rights should never be up for a referendum. Because they’re—I—they are a minority. You know, you can’t get enough votes out of a mi—minority. But—and that’s why the Constitution talks about the tyranny of the majority. That’s the actual quote about the tyranny of the majority. And have—and having rights for everyone. And having the courts. And having these balances.</p>
<p>So, uh, you know—I mean I think it’s important to understand that. And I was glad to be a part of it. Uh, I was—my partner and I were the first domestic partnership. Unfortunately, it broke up shortly thereafter. I was horribly embarrassed ‘cause I never would have put my—my relationship as—as domestic partnership number—number one, had I known it wasn’t going to last that long. I wasn’t on the way out. She was. But, you know, it—it happens. It happens. For divorce happens. And people break up. And, you know—but I felt this tremendous, “Ah.” You know? Pressure to be perfect. And, <em>Oh, my God. How could this happen?</em> I was so horrified. And I was already heartbroken.</p>
<p>But, you know, I—and I remember when the report—one of the—one of the reporters found out. I’m like, “I’m just gonna get beaten up so bad, you guys.” “And I ain’t got—I went through a divorce, too. I’m so sorry.” I thought, <em>Wow. I’m actually getting treated like everybody else. Isn’t that nice?</em> It was the first time I really felt like somebody had been fair to me. Was [<em>laughs</em>] dealing with my div—it wasn’t even really a divorce. It was by domestic partnership being—and I had—I went and dissolved it. Yeah. It’s hard—it was hard. ‘Cause I—it wasn’t my choice. But lots of people get left. And lots of people get heartbroken. And it’s part of life. You know? Half of marriages end in divorce. But that doesn’t mean that the LGBTQ community doesn’t b—deserve the same rights and equality or, as some of my friends say, “That’s the same—that’s the same right to be miserable as everyone else [<em>laughs</em>].” You know?</p>
<p>But there are some couples that I know that have been together 40—I mean there was a couple that had been together 41 years that got married here on the steps of City Hall. And that was an incredible day. For the mayor [John Hugh “Buddy” Dyer] to have the ceremony. And he’s actually a notary public. He did the—he did the ceremony. And I did a reading. And it was just really lovely to be there. You know? And—and to experience that. And it—and it was a little bittersweet to me because I wasn’t in a relationship. But, um—but, you know, s—it was great for me to see my friends who’d been together 28 years and 20 years. And Bill [Stevens] and Bob [Brings]. My, uh—my assistant got married that day. Um, and they were actually—what a lot of people don’t realize, there was a backcourt case, um, at—at the—at—at Orange County. Um, they had asked for a marriage license. And they were trying to get the clerk to deny them. And they were gonna do—they were gonna fight it in court, but it ended up being that the case came down. And they didn’t up—not ended up having to do it. But, uh—but Bill and Bob were one of those plaintiffs ready to—you know, ready to take on that case if they had needed to.</p>
<strong>Smith<br /></strong>Could you tell us a little about some of your favorite accomplishments as commissioner between 2000 and 2015?
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Um, yeah. I mean getting to work on the Lake Eola fountain. That was really cool. I mean I kind of got criticized because, uh, “Why are you spending all this money for this engineering study?” You know? ‘Cause it’s—it’s a one-of-a-kind thing. I love neat, cool, original stuff. And I like the fact that it looks like a big old Jell-O mold [<em>laughs</em>]. But it was broken down. It wasn’t working. It was dreadful. And the m—most fortuitous lightning strike I think in American history after we had done the study to figure out what it would take to fix it. And they were able to put LED lights. It’s a lot more efficient. And, you know, it’s the icon of our city. It’s beautiful. And it was—wasn’t working for almost two years. And I think that that was—I—I—when you have something like that it has to work. It has to. It got—municipal government. You can’t just say, “Okay. Well, here’s our—here’s our icon. And we’re gonna let—leave the lights off or leave the fountain off.” We couldn’t do that. And—and I think it’s a s—I think it shows that it works. It’s beautiful. It dances [<em>laughs</em>]. It’s—it’s computerized now. It does all these cool things. We have shows that we run to it. That was really neat to get to work on. That was really a lot of fun.</p>
<p>Um, painting the [Lake Eola] Bandshell. Working with Walt Disney World, uh, to paint the bandshell in the rainbow after Pulse was just so meaningful. And I—I—it was a very symbolic and beautiful thing. And I didn’t even reali—you know, it—what I first, eh—it never occurred to me to paint it as a rainbow before. And then, uh, I actually a—a—a, uh—a person who just lives in the community. A mom who lost her son to suicide. He wasn’t gay. He killed himself—she says, “You know what? I feel an affinity to these parents—parents who have lost their child.” And she’s an artist. And she says, “Look what you could do. Painting this bandshell in rainbow.” And I didn’t realize there were exactly six ribs in the bandshell for the rainbow colors. And, um—and then Walt Disney World came and painted that. And it just—is—it—it makes such a stunning statement. And it’s such a beautiful testament to remembering the—the 49 fallen of Pulse. That was just—that was really cool to work on.</p>
<p>Um, sidewalks. I’m really proud that we can—that we—that we have sidewalks within miles of our el—elementary school. I mean I remember when we used to open up the paper on the first day school and a half dozen kids were getting killed in the ‘90s. The late ‘90s to 2000s. You don’t—you don’t do—you don’t read that any more. We’ve become much more aware of pedestrian safety for children. And children aren’t getting killed walking to school on the first day of s—of school. I’m proud of that. When I was in second grade, one of my best friends got killed walking to school. Again, there was a lot of people says[sic], “Why are you doing this?” Or, “Why can’t we vote?” And I said, “Okay. If there’s 10 people that live on a street and two have children, do the two people that have children get outvoted by the other eight? And we don’t put sidewalks in for children? Really? Is that how that works?” Again, that tyranny of the majority.</p>
<p>And I had to stand up for sidewalks. I got death threats [<em>laughs</em>]. They had to park a police car in front of my house for 24 hours ‘cause the death threats got so bad. The Audubon Park people. Um, it is what it is. People take very crazy stances sometimes. You know? And you gotta fight for what you believe in. And I honestly—how am I gonna change my mind, you know, that—when I lost someone as a child. And I’m an adult. And I’m a decision-maker. And I get to make a—and I get to make a difference. Do I just roll over? And the crazy thing was that gave me the political courage to say, “Okay. I really believe in this. I’m gonna fight for it. Even if I don’t ever get reelected.” “You are never gonna get reelected again.” I’m like, “Okay. Well, I guess I’ll have to do that then. Because I believe that this an important leadership thing. Tha—this is an important leadership stance I need to take.</p>
<p>Of course I got reelected the next time. ‘Cause people—people always say, “We’re gonna—we’re gonna make sure you never get reelected. And if you are always constantly worried about getting reelected, you will never get anything accomplished. Because there’s always a—there’s always people on two sides of an issue. Always. You have to pick a side or you’re schizophrenic. You cannot bend to please everyone. Is there a—there is even—I wanted to take the trash—I wanted to clean up the trash on Mills [Avenue] and I had someone that was opposed to the—that. How could anybody opp—[<em>laughs</em>] you know? “We don’t like going to these new garbage cans.” Well, that’s ridiculous. But there’s always gonna be somebody against that. And you—you can’t just bend or you’re gonna be completely ineffective. So I’ve decided, you know, I’m gonna fight for what I believe in. And—and I think I’ve been pretty good at it.</p>
<p>And the Main Street Districts are always—also something I’m really, really, really proud of. I mean we had all these great little areas that were so cool. I [inaudible] in Ivanhoe. And we did the—the, uh—they call it “Jingle Eve” now. But these[sic] big Christmas thing that we did. I’m like, <em>Why can’t we do special events to bring these folks together? </em>Which had morphed into our Main Street program. And I’m very proud of that program. I mean whenever we get written up in national newspapers and travel magazines now, it’s usually our Main Streets. And I’m proud to have been a huge supporter of that program. And I love what they’re doing.</p>
<p>And I—I—I—again—and public art. I mean we were—we were acting like public art was some kind of problem instead of something to be celebrated. And you—then when—when, um, Orlando City [SC] wanted to do murals all over the city to commemorate their news[sic], um—their new team, they said, “Well, you have to—you have to erase them.” You—we’re gonna [inaudible] tempor—I’m like, “Why would I want to do this temporarily? We have all this great art. Why can’t we find a way to legalize art?” So I worked on it—I worked on the orders with the planning staff. And now we’ve got art. But you have to go through a process. You have to get a permit. And it has—that’s what differentiate—differentiates you from the graffiti. So I—I was really proud to do that. I’m an artist. I love that kind of stuff.</p>
<p>So, you know, you get to work on really cool things. I mean I’ve been here long enough to where I’ve gotten to do some really cool stuff over the years. And, uh, they’re things I love. And urban—everything from urban chickens, which was a lot of fun, you know? Slow food movement. Um, these are trends. I mean I go to—when I go to a city, I see what are[sic] they doing. What are the kind of cool, f—fun, funky things that they’re doing? And how can we bring ‘em here to Orlando? And urban chickens was one of ‘em. I mean, you know? Backyard chickens. People love that. You know? And I’ve had a great time doing it. And people say that, “My—my kids love having our chickens and going and getting the eggs.” And I love that it teaches kids that food doesn’t come from a grocery store. And it’s important to treat animals humanely. And there’s always lessons that come out of that.</p>
<p>So it’s—it’s—it’s—it’s—need to be a—able to a part of, you know—of making that change in people’s lives. And it was something that people asked me to do. Um, so, and you know—I mean I’ve worked with everything from the Asian-American community, um, because they felt they were invisible and they wanted to be more involved in what was happening. And they’ve been really embraced by Mills 50 [District]. And they do the Asian Winter New Year, which is one of the coolest cultural festivals I think that we have. Um, it’s—it’s empowering people to be able to connect and do those things together. That’s the—that’s the neat part of the job.</p>
<p>The awful part of the job is when, you know, people are just mean and hateful and say [inaudible]—they just want to suck the soul out of you and just write mean things to you in an email. And I’ll still help him. I don’t take on their anger and their meanness. But I’ll still—you know, like I say, “A broke[sic] clock is even work twice—is right twice a day.” But that’s the stuff that hurts. You know? I’m a human being. People forget that elected officials are people. And, you know, I have people write horrible things about me. But if it’s really, really nasty and it’s so unfair, I don’t even respond. Because I don’t want to dignify it with a denial. It’s not that I accept their opinion of me. It’s that some people—some things are just so bad that you have to—I learned a long time ago that sometimes allowing someone to scream an epithet at me in an empty room and walking away is a lot more impactful than screaming back at them. ‘Cause I’ve had that happen where someone called me the f-word, even though I’m not—I’m not a faggot. I’m a dyke [<em>laughs</em>]. I’ve had someone call me that word. And I just walked away and I let it resonate. And, uh, sometimes that means more to people than shouting back [<em>phone rings</em>]. And, you know, sometimes you gotta know when to walk away. I—believe me, I’m a fighter. But I’m not going to stoop to the level to rise to the occasion. I’m not gonna be like him.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>Well, is there anything else that you would like to, um, say or talk about that we haven’t talked about?</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>No. I just need to go to the collection to make sure you [<em>laughs</em>] guys have got the proper stuff. ‘Cause some of this stuff, I don’t even know what it is [<em>laughs</em>]. So—and I wanna make sure that we’ve got it categorized properly. Yeah. I think I need to do that ‘cause, you know—I mean, uh, ‘cause I had a really—I don’t think I’ve really donated to you guys. I think you probably got it from friends of friends. Or maybe through LCN or something like that. And I—and, you know, like I say, L—LCN was Love and Committed Network. That was the women’s group. And, you know, different things like that. So I just need to make sure we got the right, you know—we’re good—we’ve got the right stuff.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>Alright. Well, thank you.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Sure. Thank you. Thanks for coming over. I appreciate it.</p>
<p><strong>Smith<br /></strong>Of course.</p>
<p><strong>Sheehan<br /></strong>Awesome.</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>Alright.</p>
<div><br /><div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> University of Central Florida</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref2">[2]</a> Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref3">[3]</a> Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Questioning (or Queer)</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref4">[4]</a> American docudrama miniseries about LGBT rights, created by Dustin Lance Black. The series originally aired from February 7, 2017 – March 3, 2017.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref5">[5]</a> The March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation took place on April 25, 1993.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref6">[6]</a> Human Immunodeficiency Virus</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref7">[7]</a> Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref8">[8]</a> Loving – Commitment – Networking. “A Women’s Organization”</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref9">[9]</a> Transgender</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref10">[10]</a> Caryn Elaine Johnson (November 13, 1955 - )</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref11">[11]</a> Orlando Immunology Center</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref12">[12]</a> Human Rights Campaign</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref13">[13]</a> United States v. Windsor, 570 U.S.__(2013)</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref14">[14]</a> Edith “Edie” Windsor (June 20, 1929 – present)</p>
</div>
</div>
Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website)
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLfxgFOd1UA" target="_blank">Oral History of Patty Sheehan</a>
2016 Orlando nightclub shooting
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
activism
activists
African-American caucus
AIDS
Asian Winter New Year
Asian-American community
Audubon Park Covenant Church
Bill Stevens
Bob Brings
Brian Arbogast de Hubert-Miller
Caryn Elaine Johnson
Charles "Chase" Smith
city commissioner
civil rights
Civil Rights Movement
Cleve Jones
Democratic Party
Democrats
discrimination
divorce
DNC
Edith "Edie" Windsor
Edwin DeJesus
elections
feminist movement
feminists
Florida Department of Agriculture
Gary Bailey
Gay Lesbian Bisexual Community Services
gay marriage
Gay-related Immune Deficiency
Geoffrey Cravero
GLBCS
GLBT
GLBT History Museum of Central Florida
GLBT Services
GLBTQ+
governmnet
Greenwood Cemetery
Grid
gun violence
hate crimes
HIV
homophobia
homosexuality
HRC
human immunodeficiency virus
Human Rights Campaign
immigration
It Gets Better Project
Jingle Eve
John Hugh "Buddy" Dyer
Kalynn Smith
Lake Eola
Lake Eola Bandshell
Lake Eola Fountain
Lake Eola Park
Latinx
LCN Express
lesbians
LGBT
LGBTIQ
LGBTQ
Lou Tozer
Loving - Commitment - Networking. A Women's Organization
Main Street districts
March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rifhts and Liberation
marriage equality
mass shootings
Michael Wanzie
Michael's March
Mills 50 District
municipal government
Names Project
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
orlando
Orlando city commissioner
Orlando City Hall
Orlando City SC
Orlando Regional Pride
Patty Sheehan
Paul Efthemios Tsongas
pedestrian safety
public art
public service
Pulse massacre
Pulse nightclub
Pulse nightclub shooting
Pulse tributes
QLatinx
sidewalks
slow food movement
Teresa Jacobs
terrorist attacks
tyranny of the majority
UCF
United States v. Windsor
University of Central Florida
urban chickens
Walt Disney World
Westboro Baptist Church
When We Rise
Whoopie Goldberg
women's liberation movement
women's movement
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Florida Historical Quarterly Podcasts Collection
Alternative Title
FHQ Podcast Collection
Description
The <em>Florida Historical Quarterly </em>is the academic journal published four times per year by the Florida Historical Society in cooperation with the Department of History at the University of Central Florida. Each issue features peer-reviewed articles focusing on a wide variety of topics related to Florida history.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Florida
Contributing Project
<a href="https://myfloridahistory.org/quarterly" target="_blank"><em>The Florida Historical Quarterly</em></a>
Curator
Burke, Mike
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="https://myfloridahistory.org/default" target="_blank">Florida Historical Society</a>
External Reference
"<a href="https://myfloridahistory.org/quarterly" target="_blank">Florida Historical Quarterly</a>." Florida Historical Society. https://myfloridahistory.org/quarterly.
"<a href="http://fhq.cah.ucf.edu" target="_blank">The Florida Historical Quarterly</a>." College of Arts and Humanities, University of Central Florida. http://fhq.cah.ucf.edu.
Sound/Podcast
A resource whose content is primarily intended to be rendered as audio.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Florida Historical Quarterly, Episode 26: Vol. 94, No. 1, Summer 2015
Alternative Title
Florida Historical Quarterly, Ep. 26
Subject
Women's rights--United States
Description
This episode features an interview with Laura E. Brock about her article in <em>The Florida Historical Quarterly</em> on the legislative fight for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and the Florida Legislature in the 1970s, titled "Religion and Women's Rights in Florida: An Examination of the Equal Rights Amendment Legislative Debates, 1972-1982."
Type
Sound
Source
Original 20-minute and 30-second audio podcast by Daniel S. Murphree, 2015: <a href="https://myfloridahistory.org/quarterly" target="_blank"><em>The Florida Historical Quarterly</em></a>, Florida Historical Society, Cocoa, Florida.
Requires
Multimedia software, such as <a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/" target="_blank"> QuickTime</a>.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://myfloridahistory.org/quarterly" target="_blank"><em>The Florida Historical Quarterly</em></a>, Florida Historical Society, Cocoa, Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/184" target="_blank">Florida Historical Quarterly Podcast Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Coverage
Florida State Capitol, Tallahassee, Florida
Creator
Murphree, Daniel S.
Publisher
<a href="https://myfloridahistory.org/quarterly" target="_blank"><em>The Florida Historical Quarterly</em></a>
Contributor
Brock, Laura E.
<a href="https://myfloridahistory.org/default" target="_blank">Florida Historical Society</a>
<a href="http://history.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">University of Central Florida, Department of History</a>
Date Created
2015
Date Issued
2015
Date Copyrighted
2015
Format
audio/mp3
Extent
37.5 MB
Medium
20-minute and 30-second audio podcast
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Daniel S. Murphree and published by the <a href="https://myfloridahistory.org/quarterly" target="_blank"><em>The Florida Historical Quarterly</em></a>.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by the <a href="https://myfloridahistory.org/default" target="_blank">Florida Historical Society</a> and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Accrual Method
Donation
Contributing Project
<a href="https://myfloridahistory.org/quarterly" target="_blank"><em>The Florida Historical Quarterly</em></a>
Curator
Burke, Mike
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="https://myfloridahistory.org/default" target="_blank">Florida Historical Society</a>
External Reference
Brock, Laura E. "Religion and Women's Rights in Florida: An Examination of the Equal Rights Amendment Legislative Debates, 1972-1982." <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/69023195" target="_blank"><em>The Florida Historical Quarterly</em></a>. 94, no. 1 (Summer 2015): 1-39.
Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website)
Episode 26: Vol. 94, No. 1, Summer 2015
ACA
Affordable Care Act
Arthenia Joyner
Barack Hussein Obama II
Barack Obama
Barbara Palmer
Bill McCollum
Bob Graham
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Carolyn B. Maloney
Carolyn Bosher
Carolyn Maloney
conservatives
Cynthia Lummis
Cynthia Marie Lummis Wiederspahn
Daniel Alan Webster
Daniel Robert Graham
Daniel S. Murphree
Daniel Webster
Democratic Party
Democrats
Dempsey J. Barron
Dempsey James Barron
Elaine Boom
Elaine Gordon
Eleanor Weinstock
Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson
Emma Watson
Equal Rights Amendment
ERA
federal overreach
FHQ
Florida Historical Quarterly
Florida House Judiciary Committee
Florida House of Representatives
Florida Senate
gay adoptions
gay marriage
gender equality
GLBT
Ira William McCollum, Jr.
Janet Reno
Janet Wood Reno
Laura E. Brock
lawsuits
LGBT
marriage equality
Mary Louise Streep
Medicaid
Meryl Streep
Obamacare
Obergefell v. Hodges
Pam Bondi
Pamela Jo Bond
Pastor Protection Act
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Pork Chop Gang
PPACA
progressives
religions
Religious Right
representatives
Republican Party
Republicans
Richard Lynn Scott
Rick Scott
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan
S.B. 110
S.B. 120
same-sex marriages
Senate Bill 110
Senate Bill 120
Senators
states' rights
U.S. House of Representatives
U.S. Senate
women
women's rights