The Hell We’ve Been Through Stories of LGBTQ+ Discrimination

Joanne Carroll, former president of TransCentral PA, also had a difficult childhood growing up as a boy named John. As John, he was the victim of bullying in school  “…the girls didn’t pick on me because I made friends with them, but most of the boys did, in fact the kid across the street used to beat me up every day after school, every day. I think he was studying for the Olympics, because he needed a punching bag and his parents couldn’t afford one. I accepted Christ when I was ten, baptized at twelve, and Daddy molested me at thirteen. That didn’t make me think anything differently about myself, but it made me mad at God. Because having been brought up in a very religious experience, and always being told that God loves you and all the sudden the person who leads you to faith, and then God saying He is the God of Love - that didn’t work out for me. And so, basically I yelled at God for fifty years. I’ve looked at suicide four times. That’s the level of desperation I think that comes in.” Joanne continued to struggle until she finally was able to live her true gender identity later in life. In addition to becoming president of TransCentral PA, Joanne has become one of the most involved and visible transgender activists in the state with membership on numerous boards including the Governor's Commission on LGBTQ Affairs. – Joanne Carroll oral history

Richard Hause moved to Harrisburg in 1965. In his oral history interview, he recalls what life was like during this time:

“There was a lot of discrimination went on back then, and I think younger people today can’t even identify or imagine it, but—for example, I had friends who would go to look at an apartment they were interested in, and they were told, ‘Well, I’m sorry, we just don’t rent to your kind.’”

In 1974 Mary Nancarrow was attending Shippensburg University and met her partner Char. Mary recounts in her oral history interview:

“But at that time, Stonewall had happened, of course, but there was rampant discrimination, and Char and I rented a small apartment, a farmhouse outside of Shippensburg.  We were both going to school there.  And our first experience with this discrimination is that the landlord came to the—pounded on the door one day and said, “I need you to leave.”  Okay?  And I had a thought—I had a feeling that—that it was because of our relationship, but I needed to make—I forced him to tell us.  Keep—keep asking, “So why?  What’s the reason?  We’re paying our rent, we’re—you know—we’re not wild, crazy people.  We take care of your place.”  And he finally stammered, “Well, it’s your relationship.” 

Many more stories could be told about discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community in central Pennsylvania throughout its history and no doubt many more are yet to take place. While attitudes within society are changing, more jurisdictions of government are enacting protections and more companies are adopting policies prohibiting discrimination, anti-LGBTQ+ bias stubbornly persists. It is up to everyone to continue to  document and call attention to these stories wherever and whenever they occur.