PHOTO PROVIDED
One of four LGBTQ pride flags is painted in front of a stop bar at the intersection of Grove and Main streets.
LOCK HAVEN — A new advocacy group wants to help educate and advocate for local members of the LGBTQ+ community.
The Clinton County LGBTQ Network was formed in July 2020 by Ms. Reynolds, a member of the community and an advocate for inclusivity. (Reynolds prefers to not have her first name published)
Reynolds previously chaired Lock Haven University’s LGBT commission and served on the Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) advisory committee. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Reynolds felt Clinton County needed some sort of LGBT organization.
“I just felt there was a lacking in the community… a lacking of something organized because there are a lot of LGBT folks in the community,” she explained.
Reynolds reached out to some people throughout the county and formed a 13-person advisory board for the organization.
“These are people from all over Clinton County — business owners, educators from the university, educators from the high school and middle school… some people in government. So pretty much we have all facets. Some are allies and some are in the LGBT community,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds explained that the goal of the network is to educate and advocate for inclusivity in the county.
“Our goal is to educated, advocate and help people live their authentic lives. Because after living in the closet for a number of years, let me tell you it is not a fun place to be,” Reynolds said.
The network was quiet during the fall and winter months, only organizing lead hikes each month. But they made a stir in the community when Lock Haven City Council approved placing pride flags near the stop bars on Vesper and Grove streets where they intersect with Main Street.
“We worked with the city, it was really easy. I would encourage other entities, organizations that if they want something like that to just ask. That’s literally all I did. I went to the city and asked how we can celebrate pride. And they gave me a bunch of options. They were really easy to work with,” Reynolds said.
The flags were placed on the roadways a few days before the start of June, traditionally celebrated as Pride Month throughout the nation and world.
Reynolds said there were two different reactions — a positive and a negative.
“We had incredible acceptance from allies, from people in the community… people saying they were crying when they saw them because they were so excited to see representation in the community… and all the way to ‘you’re an abomination and you’re going to hell.’”
Following some of the criticism for the rainbows, Reynolds and other members of the network’s advisory board put together a six point response to some of the most common issues people had with the flags.
One of the biggest was that taxpayer money was used for the rainbows.
“Let me make it very clear, we have paid for the paint which cost less than $50. And it was paid for by a private donor through the network. Taxpayer dollars didn’t have anything to do with this,” Reynolds said.
She encouraged anyone from other organizations who would like to celebrate an event, like Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, to reach out to the city and see what they could do.
“They were very easy to work with,” she emphasized.
Although there were negative comments, according to Reynolds the positive far outweighed them.
“I will say the amount of people who private messaged us and commented on our posts and shared our posts was astronomical,” she said. Reynolds noted that the post on their Facebook page was shared 438 times and reached 43,000 people.
“The outpouring of positive far out weighed the bad,” she said.
The pride flags painted on the streets of Lock Haven served as a kick off event for the network.
The network is holding a gift card basket raffle fundraiser with over a dozen gift cards to local businesses valued at more than $400. They include the Broken Axe Brewhouse, Alaceus, Momoyo Otsu, A Little Bird, Simone’s Bakery, Avenue 209 Coffee House, It Is What It Is, Main Street Grill, Odd Fellas, Data Bits, Skeleton Key Boutique and more.
Tickets can be purchased by emailing cclgbtq@yahoo.com or messaging the network on their Facebook or Instagram pages — Clinton County LGBTQ Network.
The cost is $5 per ticket or 3 for $12. A Venmo account has been set up so people can enter and pay virtually, Reynolds said.
For those who’d prefer purchasing tickets in person, the network will have a booth at the Best of Clinton County event on Saturday, June 26.
“Our table is going to be outside of Data Bits. We’re going to have tickets available for the fundraiser. It’s going to be drawn that day. We’re also going to have fun rainbow things, an email sign up for a newsletter and we’ll have a list of events also,” Reynolds said.
Beyond the Best of Clinton County, the group hopes to start a volleyball league in Riverview Park this summer, hold open mic nights at Avenue 209 and a few happy hours as well.
Reynolds, who is a safe zone trainer, is also offering free training sessions for allies who would like to learn and understand the LGBT community more.
“Basically it’s teaching you LGBT 101. What do the letters mean? What is that whole alphabet soup? What does it mean to be an active ally? Why is it important to have a safe space? The difference between gender and sexuality. That’s a big one. Because you have a lot of misinformation out there and a lot of that is done by people who see something on Facebook and they don’t know the science behind it,” she explained.
Reynolds said she’s completed training with Americorp Vista, the Clinton County Democrats and Central Mountain Middle and High School administration.
“Living your authentic lives, I think that is what we strive for. And unfortunately, people can’t live their authentic lives until other people are educated. Whether that be a family member, a teacher, a business person,” Reynolds said.
