Speaker 1 0:02 Good morning, and welcome to this morning's edition of Lambda Reports, a public service program by and for the lesbian and gay community. I'm talking this morning with TIm Cusick, president of the 1989 Lesbian and Gay Pride Celebration Committee, and we are now in Gay Pride Month, and Tim is here to talk to us about some of the activities that we can anticipate and that we may have already been enjoying in St Louis. This is going to be the first of a two part part series on gay pride celebration. Tim and tell us, what can we look forward to? Tim Cusick 0:36 Well, good morning Deb, and good morning St Louis. I think that June is going to be an exciting month this year for gay pride, as you know, and may, as the listeners may know, this is the 10th year to celebrate Lesbian and Gay Pride openly in the city of St Louis, as well as the 20th year since the historic Stonewall Riots of New York City that took place in 1969. We have events scheduled for probably every night of the month in June, starting the 12th of June, going all the way to the 25th of June, when we culminate in the parade and the rally in the Festival at Forest Park near Steinberg rink. Deb Law 1:11 Great. Can you give us some tidbits, some things that will, Tim Cusick 1:14 For instance, on the 13th of June, we have a reception for the not the person that will be receiving the Felton T Day Award, which is a Community Service Award. The next night, there will be a Prom Night, the prom night we never had, which is titled Some Enchanted Evening at one of the local establishments. The following night, we have a show with the bowlers, and the name of that show with divinity and debauchery and people can be promised very nice show for that evening following that, then the next night, the Growing American Youth, the gay youth group in St Louis, is having an open house. The Men's Chorus on Friday the 16th, will be hosting an evening at the Elliot Unitarian Chapel in Kirkwood and singing some of their favorite songs. And the name of the show that evening is an evening summer rhythm. Evening Summer Rhythms. I apologize for that. We have the annual Wired Women dance on the 17th, as well as the river cruise sponsored by the Metro Now. On the 18th, Sunday is our annual volleyball championship in Forest Park. The 19th we have a skating party. And the 20th as a rap group with the men's rap group open house at MCC the 21st is our annual debut tromp ball that's being hosted by Attitudes. And the 22nd will have a reception for Perry Watkins, who will be in St Louis to speak, as well as a dance hosted by the Growing American Youth and a show at Monte's. The 23rd is a Mr. Leather Pride contest at Clementines. And then the 24th we have the days of workshops sponsored by Challenge. And then we have the 25th which is going to be the parade and all of the other festivities that will follow. Deb Law 2:57 It's wonderful. Any of us who complain about there's nothing to do in St Louis will have to bite our tongues this June, won't we? Tim Cusick 3:02 That's for sure, because on some evenings, there are three things going on, as well as many other events taking place that are not official Celebration Committee events. Deb Law 3:12 It's marvelous. It's marvelous. Can you tell us a little bit about the workings of the Committee? Tim Cusick 3:15 Well, the Committee's been is now 10 years old. 1979 was the first time that we held a walk for charity through the Central West End to Washington University and had a small rally in the quadrangle. And it's grown from that in 1979 to where we actually have our own festival now on the 25th where we will have artesians, craftspeople, a psychic village, all sorts of game booths, food booths, the rally entertainment, the late Knights of Pythias are going to be hosting a tea dance in the afternoon after the rally at Forest Park. So the organization has grown tremendously to where we had a handful of people in 1979 there are now 35 to 40 people that are working regularly to make sure that this event and everything around it is quite successful. Deb Law 4:04 That's great. Now I assume that you all just have not been meeting in the last month or two, but that probably you meet year round. Tim Cusick 4:12 We meet year round. We meet second, fourth Monday of every month, with the exception of May, April, May and June, and then we meet every Monday evening at the MCC, 1120 Dolman at 730 Deb Law 4:23 That's great. Now I know we're getting very close to when all the events are going to happen. Can people still get involved? Tim Cusick 4:28 Certainly, certainly anyone in that is interested in helping can join us in the Committee. Our last meeting before the Pridefest is June the 12th, and that meeting will be at 630 and we encourage and invite anyone that's willing to to please help them participate. Deb Law 4:44 Can you tell us where? Tim Cusick 4:45 At the MCC which is the Metropolitan Community Church, and that's located at 1120 Dolman in South St Louis, great. Deb Law 4:52 Great. Can you tell us what's the history of your involvement with prior committee two? Tim Cusick 4:56 I started working with the Committee in 1980 and worked in 80, 81. 82 and after that, went to started working with other organizations, and left the Committee. At that time, when we were coming upon the 10th year anniversary, I felt that it was time for me to get back involved with the Committee, so that I could put my time and energies into the Committee, so that this 10th year Anniversary of Lesbian and Gay Pride in St Louis is the biggest and the best ever. Speaker 1 5:24 Sounds like it's going to be. What kind of changes have you seen over the years in terms of how our community celebrates pride? Tim Cusick 5:33 We have from a handful of people that would march and hold the rally, to having more and more people attend the rally and feeling better about themselves and openly and actively participating in this event, feeling good about being lesbian or gay and helping to break down the barriers that exist in our life to promote this the community at large, not only the lesbian and gay community, but the progressive community and many other organizations, as well as political and some of the politicians, are very supportive. So it has grown, and we're receiving more and more support, and it is becoming a much better organization, more and more community involvement. Deb Law 6:19 Well, I certainly think as our community has matured, we have seen a maturation of our pride celebration also, I think, Tim Cusick 6:25 I think I agree with you, we are seeing more and more support from other groups that are not specifically lesbian and gay, which have other minority groups which are also oppressed, and they have joined us in support of civil rights for all people, not only lesbians and gays. Speaker 1 6:43 That's great. Can you give us some information about the tie-in nationally, not only in terms of the theme of Stonewall 20, but also how our Celebration Committee works with other celebration committees around the globe. Tim Cusick 6:59 Well, as you know, the theme for this year is Stonewall 20, a Generation of Pride. And that is a commemoration for the Stonewall Inn, a bar that was raided in 1969 and it is considered to be the birth of the modern lesbian and gay civil rights movement. St Louis is a member city of the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Pride Coordinators Conference, and it was at the conference in October of 1988 that the theme was chosen. We are in daily contact, it seems, daily contact with all other cities, Kansas City, Chicago, New York, all the way to the West Coast, up into Canada, and learning from them their mistakes, and working together to teach other cities that perhaps I know that Madison, Wisconsin, for the first time this year, will be hosting a parade and a rally and a picnic of some sort, and they have come to the International Association for help and guidance in this. Kansas City is now in the same doing the same thing. They are starting to increase their activities every year for Pride events. So we have, we have a very strong network of what is taking place across the country. And if you go into any other city across the country at the end of June, if that's when the cities host their events, and most cities do host it at the end of June, you'll find that they are also utilizing the theme of Stonewall, 20th generation of pride. Speaker 1 8:17 That's great. And it was determined right here in St Louis as to what the theme would be Tim Cusick 8:21 Right here in St Louis last October? Yes. Speaker 1 8:23 That's super. That's super, I would assume, And this is probably a task that all committees face in all communities, there's an effort to really increase the involvement, not only in terms of the activities of the committee, but also in terms of the celebration activities as a whole. Talk about some of the outreach work that the committee's been doing, and where people could be finding out about the activities. Tim Cusick 8:46 We are, we distribute to our annual Pride Guide that will actually have been distributed by the time this show this air. This program is aired. The Pride Guides are available throughout the St Louis lesbian and gay community and to other businesses that lesbians and gays patronize throughout the Central West End, many of the shops and businesses there, especially at some of the bookstores Our World, Too, located on Vandeventer, Left Bank Books, Pages, Video and More, The Daily Planet News on Euclid, they will all have our annual ride Guide in which all of the details of the different events and activities will be highlighted, where people can get information on tickets, ticket prices, locations, etc. We are as well, doing posters, flyers, and as you know, we've done a billboard to help spread the word of PrideFest on the 25th of June. Speaker 1 9:38 I have to admit that the first time I saw it, my pulse rate jumped. It's been one of the most exciting things. When I heard that it was being anticipated, I was very excited about such a bold move in St Louis, and having seen it, I have been more than ecstatic when I drive by. Tim Cusick 9:53 Well, on behalf of the Celebration Committee, thank you. We feel that we feel the same, and the support has been very positive that we have received from people throughout the community and throughout St Louis for the billboard, Speaker 1 10:04 it's beautiful. Anyone who hasn't seen it, it's facing west as you approach Jefferson on 44. Tim Cusick 10:12 Correct. It's gorgeous. Deb Law 10:16 Actually, we're acting as if all of the events are to happen. And certainly the billboard is one that lets us know that things have been going on before. Are there some other things that have, in fact, already happened? In terms of. Tim Cusick 10:29 We have different fundraisers throughout the year. There aren't any events that have taken place as of yet. We look at the different celebrations that will be taking place as starting on the 12th of June, I'm sorry, the 10th of June, and going to the 25th. Speaker 1 10:44 Great. You know, I would feel remiss if I didn't, in fact, address through the issue of who's involved in the pride committee and kind of, some of the senses about gay pride celebration there has been, for lack of a better term, probably some sense of lesbian alienation, and I think in terms of people of color, queers of color, also in terms of and that seems, from what you're saying to me, that things have changed, and things are changing both in terms of how the committee is conceptualizing things. And actually, I don't in any way want to put you on the defensive, because I think certainly it's a two-way street, and all of us in our community need to be involved in things that are happening. But I think there's some very real issues also. Tim Cusick 11:30 Oh, there are, and we realize very acutely that we have a lack of representation from the women's community, as well as from people of color. We are seeing more and more women join the committee and work with us on events and hosting and trying to sponsor events specifically geared and directed towards the women's community, as well as for people of color, for the lesbians and gays that are black in the City of St Louis, the name of the committee is Lesbian and Gay Pride Celebration Committee, and for many years, it has just been predominantly white males that have been involved in the Committee. We feel as if, when we are only representing the white males, that we're missing 50% of our community, and then when we don't have people of color involved, that's another 25% of our community, although I certainly want to, don't want to draw hardcore statistics like this, we do feel that there, we are not just white males out there that are gay, but very large percentage of our community is also women and people of color. We are trying to do more and more to host events for them, but if, as a man, I just am not as cognizant as women who would join the committee of exactly what kind of events we should be putting on and hosting that would be geared specifically for women or for people of color. Speaker 1 12:53 So I would assume that the Committee itself has been doing some outreach to get others involved. Tim Cusick 12:58 Certainly in the committee, we've made it a point to try and attend other meetings and invite people and specifically work with them on how we could host events that people from their parts of the community would be interested in participating and attending. Speaker 1 13:12 I know that the connection with Wired Women several years ago and starting to do the Pride Celebration Dance had a very positive effect in terms of the lesbian community, Tim Cusick 13:21 yes, Wired Women is one of our very strong supporters. We are very thankful that they're around. They also host very good dances, great dances. Deb Law 13:30 Good. Well, let us conclude this section of our program now. And as I mentioned at the beginning of this show, next Sunday, you can tune in. And actually, I think we'll be spending more time talking specifically about the events of Pridefest, and maybe also at that time addressing some of the longer term effects of the pride celebration, both for our community in St Louis and generally for the lesbian and gay movement. I thank you, Tim for joining us now. Don't forget to turn us on next Sunday again, this is Deborah Law for Lambda Reports. Tim Cusick 14:03 Thank you. Applause. Transcribed by https://otter.ai