Coming Out:
Eric's Story
Dr. Eric Selvy was an only child living with his mother and grandmother in Harrisburg, PA. He was a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church as a child into his early adulthood, but eventually stopped going as he became more spiritual than religious and could spread the work of Christ without the need for a church. His early experiences in the church confused him about his sexuality as he received the message that it was wrong, but it was who he was. It was not until he went to earn his doctorate in Philadelphia that he fully accepted his sexuality. He had some experiences prior but coming to Philadelphia showed him that this was what God wanted for him.
|
In Philadelphia during the 1980s, the Neptune bar was a hotspot in the gay community as this was where most people would flock too. At first, Dr. Selvy was scared to be seen coming and going to the bar, however, he soon realized that these people were going to the bar for the same reason as him and these fears subsided. Towards the late 1980s, Dr. Selvy decided to come out to his grandmother first and then he came out to his mother on Mother’s day when discussing how he got his job at the Harrisburg Human Relations Commission. Both of them were supportive with his mother taking it matter-of-factly. Fortunately for him, he saw no extra struggles with being African American and gay; he did not come out to most people he knew prior to college as he believed they already knew due to his exposure and involvement with the pride festival.
|
Dr. Selvy discusses coming out to his grandmother and mother.
|
|
Dr. Selvy discusses his involvement with SCAAN as well as what prompted him
to get involved with the organization. |
In 1986, he became involved in the Lily White and Company drag troupe, as his current partner was an active member in the troupe. He mostly worked as a choreographer for the troupe, and they would raise money for the South-Central AIDS Assistance Network [SCAAN]. They received support from many of the local bars as much of their advertisement came through word of mouth and were even able to perform at the bars. Dr. Selvy soon began to work for SCAAN, becoming their secretary quite fast, which was his first experience working for the gay community. This came from a desire to help as someone in the local community had died from AIDS and he saw how this death impacted the community and wanted to help in anyway he could.
|
|
While at SCAAN, he ran for president and lost, meaning he would also loose his spot on the board of SCAAN. However, Dr. Selvy was chosen by the mayor to fill a vacancy on the Harrisburg Human Relations Commission. He became the gay representative on the commission and was tasked to help increase protection of LGBTQ+ individuals as there was a spike in gay-bashing around the local gay bars. He was also largely involved in ensuring that the drag scene was able to exist at pride. During the 1993 pride festival, there was fear that having the dunk-a-drag booth would be seen as promoting violence against women and that if media coverage saw men wearing dresses, that the public would think that was the “gay-lifestyle”. This caused quite the commotion as many people threated to back out since the pride festival was meant to about unity among the LGBTQ+ community. Eventually, the festival committee restructured itself , these issues were resolved, and the pride festival was moved to Riverfront.
|
Dr. Selvy discusses the work that still needs to be done in Harrisburg,
as well as Pennsylvania at large for the LGBTQ+ community. |
Dr. Selvy (right) at a FAB fundraiser with Ben Dunlap (center) and David Leas (left)
|
During his travels to San Francisco, Dr. Selvy came across a plethora of LGBTQ+ publications that were available for people to read and wanted to bring this back to Pennsylvania as they only LGBTQ+ publications they had were from Philadelphia. So, he along with another individual decided to create a publication providing news, feature stories and information about the Harrisburg area LGBTQ+ community that people could submit their writings to in order to get people proud of the Harrisburg community. They published bimonthly issues and handed them out the at the 1995 and 1996 pride festivals. They ended up shutting the magazine down a year later due to it being too much to handle but it focused largely on general issues in the LGBTQ+ community as well as the impact of AIDS.
Recently, Dr. Selvy has noticed an increase in the pride people have in their identity, but also the ability for them to be outward and visibly proud of being LGBTQ+. He has also noticed an increase in visibly of the drag community in the area as well as people being able to be who they are. He also notes the lack of statewide anti-discrimination laws in Pennsylvania, but that there is an increase in support for LGBTQ+ people. |
