Beginnings And Dignity/San Antonio
Editor's Note: To recognize Pride Month, we're kicking off a new series as our former intern – now a full staff writer/contributor (and recent university graduate!) – treks through the history of LGBT San Antonio.
I first started my internship with ignite magazine back in January. It wasn't until early February that the first magazine with articles written by me hit the local shelves. Ever since then, I've been delighted to be a regular contributor to this magazine. I've learned more about our local community here in San Antonio than I ever thought I would. More than that, I'm happy for all the people I've met along the way and for all the support I've received from readers like you. It gives me a great deal of pride to know that the things I write about are read regularly by my LGBT community. This is why I'm pleased to announce that I'll still be writing for ignite even though my internship is over.
As if I hadn't learned enough about San Antonio's gay scene, my first project as a regular contributor for ignite will be to write a series of articles on the history of the San Antonio LGBT community. I will be taking a journey of discovery into the lesser-known history of our "family" in this city, and I'll be taking you with me. This is pretty exciting for me. I only came out about two years ago, so I have little personal experience in this matter as I've witnessed very little history. This project is an opportunity to learn more than I ever thought possible. I will also be following on the heels of another researcher who's doing a much more scholarly analysis of our city's gay history. In preparing for this project, I learned that a graduate student named Melissa Gohlke is studying San Antonio's gay history for her Master's thesis. I corresponded with her, and she guided me to a couple of valuable resources. She was extremely kind and pointed me to one of the greatest resources for San Antonio's queer history, the Happy Foundation Archives.
Okay, for those of you who don't know, the Happy Foundation is a small organization dedicated to recording LGBT history. It is named after the late Arthur "Happy" Veltman, the man who's most famous for creating the Bonham Exchange. The organization is run by Gene Elder, who keeps a set of archives in the back of the Bonham Exchange. He has collections of periodicals and publications going all the way back to the late 70's. Elder told me he is always on the lookout for new things for his archive and encourages any gay organization around town to send him any written documents or publications they produce so he can add them to our historical record. It was at Elder's archives where I began my research into San Antonio's gay history.
Upon entering the archive for the first time, I was rather shocked how haphazardly everything appeared to be. In truth, it was actually organized, but in a way that only Mr. Elder could understand. I guess that makes sense considering he's usually the only one to actually look through these archives on a regular basis. Looking through the archives, I found box after box and file after file with the names of countless gay organizations, publications, and even some individuals labeled on them. It was amazing how much information there was. Since I had no idea how any of this was organized, I was very dependent on Elder's help to sort through all his records.
From the very beginning, I wanted my investigation of San Antonio's LGBT history to be focused on organizations and their activities. This would probably give the broadest account of our city's gay history. Once I was in the archive, I had to decide which organizations were worth investigating and in what order. This room was filled with countless files and boxes on gay organizations, not just from San Antonio but from all over Texas. I decided it was best to start with the earliest organizations and work my way up to the current day. From what I discovered during my research, the oldest LGBT organization to remain consistently active is Dignity/San Antonio.
Dignity/San Antonio is a local chapter of the national organization, DignityUSA. For those of you who are unaware, DignityUSA is a nationwide coalition of gay Roman Catholics and their allies. The national organization was founded in 1969 by the Augustinian priest and psychologist, Patrick X. Nidorf. He started it as a ministry that was an extension of his professional work. You can find more information on the national organization on their website: www.dignityusa.org.
The San Antonio chapter of Dignity was established in 1976. As far as my research in the Happy Archives can show, it's the oldest LGBT organization in San Antonio. I found references to this organization as far back as the late 70's. This really surprised me. I honestly didn't think the oldest gay organization in San Antonio would be a religious one. It would seem more logical that the gay rights movement would start as a political movement and slowly move towards the religious arena. Apparently, I was wrong. Although, it does make some sense as San Antonio has always had a very large population of Roman Catholics. In our city, Dignity has long helped LGBT Catholics by providing a place where they could practice their faith without fear of prejudice. They've held charity drives, helped set up many events in the local community, and have even set up tables at local college events to hand out gay positive religious tracts. Unfortunately, they're currently going through a rough time, as they were recently expelled from the parish where they had held liturgy for 15 years. The San Antonio auxiliary bishop, Oscar Cantu, sent out a letter to the priest who conducted the liturgy and asked him to stop. As a result, Dignity/San Antonio is currently meeting at Beacon Hill Presbyterian Church until they can find a permanent home. You can find more information on their website: www.dignitysanantonio.com.
I should mention that this isn't the first time I've heard of San Antonio's Dignity chapter. My first article for ignite was an interview with Nicky Valdez and her partner, Deb Meyers. Both of these women have been longtime members of Dignity and over the years, they have done a great deal to help the organization as well as the greater gay community. At the time, I didn't know how old and widespread this organization was. It really does seem that a lot of gay Catholics don't want to give up their faith regardless of the Church's official position.
This ends my first article on San Antonio's gay history, with a new chapter to be written each month. Thanks for following me along on the journey. I will be writing a series of articles such as this one in coming issues with each focusing on a different gay organization and the contributions it's made to the local community over the years.
|
|
Tweet |
|