I can't remember who but we just kind of sat around the living room talking about, you know, the march in Kalamazoo and what we could do what turned out that Ron had work for gryphon place in Kalamazoo, which was a crisis hotline.Ġ5:41 And he was working there for quite some time and that he noticed that they didn't have any information regarding to homosexuality if anybody called inĠ5:53 So he put together a bunch of information took it down to Griffin place and it was available. So we you know said sure come on over so Jim came over and he brought another person with the name Rhonda Drew.Ġ5:15 And I never met Ron before we never met Ron but there were a couple other people. We had a house not a lot of people did people live in apartment.
So I believe probably one of the first meetings was in our living room. How about getting together again? And seeing what we could possibly do here in Kalamazoo. Remember the boxes of Kleenex is that were placed on the corners of each quilt panel and the silence, you know, and the tears and I think that too kind ofĠ4:26 Do something whatever that was going to be.Ġ4:30 So, how did you learn gymnastics respond to the Challenge from the Martian Washington when you got back to Kalamazoo? Well, I remember we exchange phone numbers before we left and went back to Kalamazoo and probably a couple months later that Jim called and said hey remember we talked on the mall. Everybody was just kind of wondering and watching and reading and Ice particular. Everybody was go back to your community find out what your community needs what kind of Grassroots organization or work that you can do to help the people in your community.Ġ3:37 I'm one of the things I remember most about being in Washington that weekend was it was the first time that the AIDS quilt was on display in front of the Washington Monument.Ġ3:50 And I remember that they were you know hundreds of thousands of people on the mall and when you got down to the AIDS quilt all of a sudden there was like no noise.
So this kind of rally the community in Kalamazoo with the gay and lesbian community of Kalamazoo, and there was a protest in front of the courthouse and Jim found himself with a megaphone and that's how it all began.Ġ2:50 So anyway, we were in Washington, and we were part of the Michigan contingent that was lining up on the ellipse by the White House, and we kind of met Jim and started talking and realize we're both in Kalamazoo, and we pretty much spent the rest of the day together and we March down Pennsylvania Avenue, and we ate hot dogs and sat on the mall and listen to Jesse Jackson and Gerry studds and Barney Frank and Eleanor chmiel talking aboutĠ3:22 Equal rights and Justice and how the theme was pretty much from.
I'm in front of the the court building in Kalamazoo when there was a demonstration after a trial here was a man named Wayne Watson who was a gay man who was murdered and the two men who murdered them were acquitted because of the they use the gay Panic defense. I am a name Jim Knox who we met in, Washington.Ġ2:01 And who is gymnastics to Max was a accidental activist here in Kalamazoo? I use the word accidental because basically someone pushed a megaphone in in front of him and he picked it up. It was the second big March on Washington and the resource center really was then kind of nourished after that. There was a state representative andĠ1:14 Do a lot of people who are not gay or lesbian who are allies and we started to think back about the Kalamazoo Resource Center when it first started back 26 years ago and how far it's come over the years and what brought it to this point.Ġ1:32 So how did the resource center get started?Ġ1:36 The seed for the resource center, and he was planted back in Washington DC during the march on Washington in October 1987.Ġ1:44 We have gone there for the weekend. Today is November 7th 2015 and we're at the studios of wmuk on Western Michigan University's campus.Ġ0:33 And we're going to talk about the resource center.Ġ0:37 Which is a lesbian gay organization in Kalamazoo that's been around for 26 years now.Ġ0:45 We were at a Gala in January 2015 and it was a major fundraiser the winter Gala major fundraiser for the Kalamazoo Resource Center.Ġ0:55 And there were about 300 people there and it was held at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts downtown, Kalamazoo.Ġ1:04 There was the mayor was in attendance. My husband Rick Kowalski, and I'm the husband.
I'm 66 years old today is November 7th 2015 and we are at Western Michigan University and I'm here with my partner of 32 years.