Summer 2010vol. 1 no. 2The newsletter of the Reading Pride Celebration serving the Greater Readingarea with the latest GLBT news, reviews, announcements and more.

stage this year, including the Philadel-phia Freedom Band, the Lehigh ValleyGay Mens Chorus, American Idol con-testant Nori and award-winning drag-king performer Evangeline. We're alsothrilled to welcome some of our favoritedrag performers from the past, includ-ing Joey Josephs, Precious Caliente,Amie Vanite' and the very talented drag-king performer Mezro and so muchmore.Of course thehighlight of theday, is the Pridedebut of TheaAustin singingher smash hits 'IGot the Power','Rhythm is aDancer' andmany more.Show starts at 12, featuring me,David Ramos, as the emcee that keepsthe show moving. Be sure to comeearly, grab your seat, sit back and pre-pare to be wowed. See you there

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David Ramos is RPC entertainment commit-tee chairperson

by David Ramos

It's that time of year, again, time tocelebrate Pride in Reading. This year'sevent will take place on July 18th andlooks to be our best year in entertain-ment.Tom Goss will be making his 4th ap-pearance on our stage, and, as always,we're thrilled to have him back. We alsohave a few Pride debuts gracing our

Thea Austin headlines RPC Entertainment Joey Josephs:

premier entertainer returns to ReadingPride Celebration

byRichardToddWagner

Enter-tainer JoeyJosephswill beperform-ing onceagain attheReading Pride Celebration in CentrePark, Sunday July 18, one of the premier entertainers to perform for the very firstPride in 2007.Joey Josephs has been an entertainer for the past 23 years. Impersonating thefabulous Connie Francis, Joey achievedfame at The Supper Club off Broadway inNYC from 1994 to 1997. When the showclosed, Joey traveled with the cast work-ing all over the country enjoying the peo-ple he met and befriended along the wayin and out of show business.Joey appeared numerous times intelevision appearances and has per-formed in many reviews as well as soloperformances, winning many titles. Andhe has added something very special tohis act and career

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rather than lip sync-ing, he uses his own voice, impersonat-ing as the incomparable Judy Garland.He has also added to his repertoire BetteMidler, Marilyn Monroe, Barbra Strei-sand, Liza Minnelli and many more

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-Richard Wagner is RPC vice-president.contact:r35badboy@aol.com

INSIDE

♥ RPC—

past, present future

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-p.2

♥ The spirit of volunteers—

p.4

♥ The gay bar as community institu

tion

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p.4

♥ Vendors—What’s in store for

you

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♥ RPC Interfaith service—

p.6

♥ Silent Witness training—

p.6

♥ The Bible and queer spirituality

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p.8

♥ Lisa’s legal view—

p.8

♥ Stirling Mansion fundraiser—

-p.9

♥ Dining out with Chef Joe D—

p.10

The

GAYZETTE

a GLBT and Allies Publication

―. . . the highlight

of the day, is thePride debut of Thea Austin sing-ing her smash hits'I Got the

Power,’ [and]

'Rhythm is a

Dancer.’ ‖

EDITORIALS 2

year's headliner Ms. Thea Austin thediversity and unity of the GLBT com-munity of The Greater Reading Area.As we look forward to the future of Reading Pride Celebration we havecome to the realization that our re-sponsibility is not just in celebratingPride every third Sunday in July butalso in being a voice for the GLBTcommunity. We have begun reachingout to the religious, Latino and AfricanAmerican communities. It is throughunderstanding we dispel fear, hatredand ignorance. We welcome the op-portunity to share our stories with oth-ers, to erase stereotypes and throughunderstanding build friend-ships.And as I close there arethe dreams of Reading PrideCelebration, that new andyounger members will be-come involved and carry onthe works and joys that have beenstarted. The dream that somedaythere will be a place where young andold can go to create memories, learntheir history and share their storiesfree from fear, hatred and ignorance

—

Rich Spangler President, Reading PrideCelebrationContact:rb1502@aol.com

enough to walk around in a pink shirtwas good enough to be a part of Pride.The founders included Steward Willman( President), John Durkin ( Vice Presi-dent), David Ramos (Treasurer & Sec-retary), Mary Gomez and Brian Rundle.I soon learned that Pride was thechild of this group of friends who felt itwas time and that maybe Reading wasready. It was amazing how we all cametogether and worked not knowing whatthe outcome would be. On Sunday July15, 2007 we found out. Itwas as if the seas partedand in you came, 1,500 of you. Yes, Reading wasdefinitely ready! We weretold by some of the 56 ven-dors there that this was thebest first Pride Event theyhad ever been a part of.And choruses of thank you for doing thisresounded from those attending.We have had our ups and downsover the last four years. We shared our sorrow in the loss of four of our mem-bers. Mary Gomez one of our founders,Robert Dry our 2008 Entertainmentchair, Mr. Bill Rebstock and Mr. DennisBogush aka Denise Du Jour, committeemembers. We rejoiced when after an 18month battle with The IRS we wereawarded our 501( c ) ( 3 ) nonprofitstatus, thanks to combined efforts of Mr.Brian Pinto and Mr. Donald Maher. Andwe've carried on through everythingbecause we know how important it hasbecome to give our community this joyand this voice.In 2008 we had a crowd of 1,800 and 85vendors. In 2009 the addition of a head-liner Ms. Maxine Nightingale proved tobe a winner with a crowd of 2,100 and70 vendors, which was remarkablegiven the state of the economy. And aswe approach this year's festival, it iswith great anticipation and excitementthat we, the current officers, PresidentRich Spangler, Vice President RichardWagner, Secretary Bethany Bower andTreasurer Henry Pruski along with allthe committee and volunteer members,look forward to celebrating with thisAs I sit downto write this I amtaken back toDecember 2006.We were at aChristmas partythrown by friends.Many of us hadbeen involved ina survey regarding LGBT concerns inReading and Berks County. As a re-sult we started to receive copies of The Lehigh Valley Gay Press and inthe December issue there was a smallarticle about the creation of a PrideEvent in Reading. It was a topic of conversation at the party and a few of us decide we were going to attend thenext meeting to see what it was allabout. And that is how my partner Benand I became involved in ReadingPride Celebration.We walked in and I knew I was athome when one of the founders GeriFarley told me anybody who is brave

From the Desk of the President

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Reading PrideCelebration ... Past, Present and Future

Newsletter Committee Chair

Brenna J. Corbit

The Gayzette:

a GLBT and Allies Publication

Our Mission

is to Celebrate Unity and Diversity In theLesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community of Reading and Berks County.

Contributions

are encouraged and must be submittedvia email, CD or flash drive. Articles are subjected toediting and may be rejected; article length approximately250 words or less.

Deadline

for Fall submissions is September 11, 2010

Contact:

readingpridenews@gmail.com

EDITORIAL STAFF

Brenna J. CorbitJoe DiCindioJolene M. FlammKimberly KalbachBen RenkasRichard Spangler Richard Wagner

LAYOUT, DESIGN andCOPY EDITOR

Brenna J. Corbit

PHOTOGRAPHY

Charles CorbitKimberly KalbachRichard Todd Wagner

CONTRIBUTORS

Deb CogginJoe DeCindioLisa DeLongJennifer GlassKimberly KalbachDonald Maher Henry PruskiDavid RamosBen RenkusValerie Schaeffer Richard Spangler Richard Wagner

DISCLAIMER