‘God bless us all:’ Bradford County Pride event to celebrate LGBTQ community

The rural Endless Mountains region of northeastern Pennsylvania may not immediately come to mind when discussing communities with a thriving LGBTQ population.

“You know, we’re up here in the middle of nowhere. Some people didn’t even realize there was an LGBT community here,” said Elizabeth Garofalo, director of programs for the Bradford County Regional Council for the Arts (BCRAC).

But there is and support for this community is growing.

BCRAC helps organize Pride Month events in the Towanda area along with about 30 people from Bradford and Sullivan counties.

Last week they hosted a free screening of Out Here, a locally produced documentary highlighting the stories of lesbian, gay and trans people in Bradford County.

This week, they will gather in Towanda at 11 a.m. Friday, June 7, to read a Pride Month proclamation on the steps of the Bradford County Courthouse, followed by a free lunch. Events will continue on Saturday, June 8 with a Rainbow Run 5K and block party.

“Last year, we had, we think, at least 50 at the proclamation in front of the court, and that was with only two institutions, the Arts Council and the local library system, that supported us,” said event organizer Rev. Dan C. Storrs from Holy Name of Mary Independent Catholic Chapel.

“This year we have the United Way Children’s Health Advocacy Center, the Episcopal Church, the list goes on,” Storrs added. “Hopefully we’ll see at least 100. It would be spectacular to see it double.”

Pride: Roots and Expansion

Pride Month is celebrated in June as a commemoration of the 1969 Stonewall Riots, when a police raid on the Stonewall Inn gay bar in New York’s Greenwich Village sparked days of protests by patrons and supporters. It is widely seen as the start of the gay rights movement, and Pride Month is celebrated every June in many countries around the world.

This includes many places in Pennsylvania.

The Pride flag was flown at Scranton City Hall on Saturday and at the Wilkes-Barre Public Square on Monday. Thousands of people marched through Philadelphia on Sunday, with one group carrying a 400-foot-long version of the flag. On the same day, Stroudsburg’s Pocono Pride Fest saw bigger crowds and expanded offerings in its fourth year.

Similar events are planned across the state, but not everyone is welcoming them.

In Pike County, for example, officials from all 13 municipalities were asked to pass resolutions supporting Pride Month, but only a handful did so.

Even in Bradford County, Storrs admits that not everyone is supportive, and at times it has felt like “kind of a Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell town, even for allies.”

Finding the truth, accepting it

It’s a history he knows well.

Storrs, who is gay, was previously married to a woman and has a 19-year-old son. He came of age before he began to acknowledge his sexuality.

But by that time, Storrs had been ordained in minor orders in the Eastern Orthodox Church and was on his way to the priesthood. The church allows married men to be ordained, but Storrs knew that being openly gay would conflict with church rules and teachings.

“And kind of overnight I resigned from my position in the church — I lost almost all my family and friends and my salary — you could say that was a pretty big time in life,” said Storrs, who lived then in Indiana.

Storrs later connected with an “Old Catholic” Scottish bishop who had read some of his religious writings online.

Old Catholic worshipers hold many of the same basic beliefs and practices of Roman Catholicism, but do not recognize papal authority. And while some division remains within the Old Catholic tradition, most Old Catholic communities embrace LGBTQ equality.

For Storrs, that was essential.

Now married to a man, he returned to the area after stops in Kentucky and Austin, Texas.

Originally from Troy, which is about 25 miles west of Towanda, Storrs never completely left his roots.

“My heart has always been here, he said. I think I had to go away for a period of time for my training and to grow and who I was and become stable with that and bold enough to be who I am “.

When her husband’s job went completely online during the pandemic, Storrs saw a chance to move home and reconnect.

But in his ministry, he sees that not everyone accepts. It’s a challenge Storrs accepts.

On Easter Sunday, his church baptized a local trans teenager whose mother was raised Catholic but left the church years ago after falling out with the parish priest.

“But she came to her trans son’s baptism on Easter Sunday and, you know, tears are streaming down her face. It’s just unbelievable,” Storrs said.

“My calling was to come back here. Everyone leaves this area and almost no one comes back. But if we don’t, how will things ever get better? What about all the gay teenagers out here and trans people who need someone to stand up for them?”

Even in Bradford County, some areas are more accepting than others, he said.

“That 25-mile distance was kind of helpful,” Troy joked about living in Towanda as opposed to his hometown of Troy.

“I was joking the other day with Liz (Garofalo) at the Arts Council that we could say ‘Keep Towanda Weird,’ like they say ‘Keep Austin Weird,’ because Towanda’s got a little weird “.

Garofalo says the growing visibility and awareness of LGBTQ people and issues is not limited to Towanda, but is spreading throughout the region, including Sullivan County. She says the community has seen parents of trans youth speak out about standing up for their children’s rights and well-being, including in schools.

Garofalo said she’s seen “a little pushback” — the banner for this week’s event was stolen and found undamaged in a nearby trash can — but she’s optimistic overall.

“We got it back. We’re going to reattach it, it’s going to be fine,” she said.

Garafalo and Storrs have both heard the complaints of those who want to know why LGBTQ people “have a whole month” to celebrate.

Storrs said it’s important for LGBTQ Americans to feel recognized as full members of their communities, which many say they haven’t been.

“I think we need a pride month for the LGBTQ community because I still hear stigmatizing language constantly. If they are accepted, they are only accepted as long as they are quiet about their relationships or their beautiful families. And they simply deserve the same respect and affirmation as their straight counterparts,” Storrs said.

Garafalo agreed.

“Now there’s more queer here than you think, than we know, in this community,” she said.

“God bless us all. And so June, Pride Month just reaffirms that,” Storrs added. “And hopefully it will help undo some of the hurt and pain that so many have experienced simply because they are themselves.”