Northeastern Pennsylvania’s rural Endless Mountains region might not come immediately 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 that there was an LGBT community up here,” said Elizabeth Garofalo, programs director of the Bradford County Regional Arts Council (BCRAC).
But there is, and support for that community is growing.
BCRAC is helping organize Pride Month events in the Towanda area together with about 30 people from Bradford and Sullivan counties.
Last week they hosted a free showing of “Out Here,” a locally produced documentary spotlighting the stories of lesbian, gay and trans people from Bradford County.
This week, they’ll gather in Towanda at 11 a.m. Friday, June 7, for the reading of a Pride Month proclamation on the steps of the Bradford County Courthouse, followed by a free lunch. Events will continue Saturday, June 8, with a Rainbow Run 5K and block party.
“Last year, we had, we believe at least 50 at the proclamation in front of the courthouse, and that was with only two institutions, the Arts Council and the local library system, supporting us,” said event organizer Rev. Dan C. Storrs from Holy Name of Mary Independent Catholic Chapel.
“This year we have United Way Children's Health Advocacy Center, the Episcopal Church, the list goes on,” Storrs added. “We're hoping that we'll see at least 100. It would be spectacular if we saw it doubled.”
Pride: Roots and expansion
Pride Month is observed 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 touched off days of protests by patrons and supporters. It is widely seen as the beginning of the gay rights movement, and Pride Month is celebrated each June in many countries around the world.
That includes many places across Pennsylvania.
The Pride Flag was raised at Scranton City Hall on Saturday, and at Wilkes-Barre Public Square on Monday. Thousands marched through Philadelphia on Sunday, with one group carrying a 400-foot-long version of the flag. On the same day, Pocono Pride Fest in Stroudsburg saw bigger crowds and expanded offerings in its fourth year.
Similar events are planned across the state, but not everyone welcomes them.
In Pike County, for example, officials in all 13 municipalities were asked to pass resolutions supporting Pride Month, but only a handful did.
Even in Bradford County, Storrs acknowledges that not everyone is supportive, and it has sometimes felt like "kind of a Don't Ask, Don't Tell town, even for the allies."
Finding truth, acceptance
That's a history he knows well.
Storrs, who is gay, was previously married to a woman and has a 19-year-old son. He was well into adulthood before he began to acknowledge his sexuality.
But at that point, Storrs had been ordained to minor orders in the Eastern Orthodox Church and was moving toward the priesthood. The church does allow married men to be ordained, but Storrs knew being openly gay would conflict with the church's rules and teachings.
"And so kind of overnight I resigned my position in the church — pretty much lost all of my family and friends and paycheck — you name it was quite a time in life," said Storrs, who was then living in Indiana.
Storrs later connected with an "Old Catholic" Scottish bishop who had read some of his online religious writing.
Old Catholic worshippers hold many of the same basic beliefs and practices of Roman Catholicism, but do not acknowledge papal authority. And while there remains some division 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.
A native of Troy, which is about 25 miles west of Towanda, Storrs had never fully let go of his roots.
"My heart was always here, he said. "I think I had to depart for a time too for my training and to grow and who I was and become stable with that and bold enough to be who I am."
When his husband's job went fully online during the pandemic, Storrs saw a chance to move home and reconnect.
But in his ministry, he sees that not everyone is accepting. It's a challenge Storrs accepts.
On Easter Sunday, his church baptized a local trans teen whose mother was raised Catholic but had left the church many years ago after differences arose with the parish priest.
"But she came to her, her trans son's baptism on Easter Sunday, and, you know, tears streaming down her face. It's just incredible," Storrs said.
"My calling was to come back here. Everyone leaves this area, and hardly anyone comes back. But if we don't, how are things ever going to get better? What about all the gay teenagers here and trans people who need someone who will stand up for them?"
Even in Bradford County, some areas are more accepting than others, he said.
"That 25-mile distance has been kind of helpful," Troy quipped about living in Towanda as opposed to his hometown of Troy.
"We were kind of joking the other day with Liz (Garofalo) down at the Arts Council that we could say, 'keep Towanda weird,' like they say 'keep Austin weird,' because Towanda has a little quirkiness to it."
Garofalo says the growing visibility and awareness of LGBTQ people and issues isn't limited to Towanda, but is spreading across the region, including into Sullivan County. She says the community has seen parents of trans youths being vocal about standing up for their children's rights and wellbeing, including in the schools.
Garofalo said she has seen "a little pushback" — the banner for this week's event was stolen and found undamaged in a nearby trash can — but she is optimistic overall.
"We got it back. We're gonna rehang it, it's gonna be fine," she said.
Garafalo and Storrs have both heard the complaints from those who want to know why LGBTQ people "get a whole month" to be celebrated.
Storrs said it is important for LGBTQ Americans to feel recognized as full members of their communities, something many say they have not been.
"I believe we need a pride month for the LGBTQ community, because they still constantly hear stigmatizing language. If they are accepted, they're only accepted as long as they're 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 up here than you think, than we even know, in this community," she said.
"God blesses us all. And so the month of June, Pride Month just just reaffirms that," Storrs added. "And hopefully it helps undo some of the hurt and the heartbreak that so many have experienced simply for being themselves."
