Submitted by A Collective
Amidst all of the wonderful and amazing stirrings in the arts revitalization movement in
Two local women had been putting their life savings, and their blood, sweat and tears, into a dream that had, and still has, the potential to contribute immeasurably to the reawakening of cultural and economic vitality in
These women had purchased, and along with a trove of incredibly supportive family, friends, neighbors, and other community members, been breathing life back in to one of Venango County’s, crown jewels: The Latonia, an historic art deco theatre in the center of Oil City with a 4,000 sq. ft. banquet / conference / performance space that had fallen out of use and into disrepair.
But, as excitement was building for the grand opening of the newly-renovated Latonia this past February,
She would seize on this highly visible moment to stir fear in the community and to stamp out any possibility of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in
Yes, in addition to being talented, hardworking, taxpaying individuals and dedicated members of the area’s arts and business communities, the new proprietors of The Latonia also happen to be a lesbian couple.
So, armed with that juicy non-secret, and the fact that The Latonia’s inaugural concert would be performed a few days later by Namoli Brennet, an amazingly talented singer/songwriter from
Gramley distributed warnings on the American Family Association of Pennsylvania web site, in church bulletins, and through her underground gossip mill about an “effort to normalize the homosexual / transgender lifestyle” in Venango County.
“Brennet is a man who thinks he is a woman!” … “Is the church ready to address this issue?” … “Should parents be leery of the Latonia?” … she perversely howled!
Gramley’s attacks were so cruel, so disturbing, so incendiary, that one of her own followers actually turned the “Action Alert (1/29/08)” over to local police who, concerned about the potential violence that might occur as a result, went directly to Gramley and told her to tone it down.
Sadly, there was no public condemnation of Gramley’s scare campaign … No effort by the area’s political or religious leadership to send a message of love and acceptance, let alone tolerance, to the broader community in this tense atmosphere.
That is how terror works, and why it is used by the likes of Diane Gramley. It distorts reality, makes people afraid and suspicious of fabricated threats, outsiders, and one another, and keeps otherwise good people from acting, from standing up and speaking out at critical moments in time … when those under attack are most in need of solidarity, support, and in this case, protection.
These forms of terror are also used to seek benefit for those who deliver the message, who claim to be speaking “the truth” and shielding “the local faithful” from outside dangers.
And true to form, at the end of her “Action Alert” Gramley wrote that “Homosexual activism is being brought to our backyard … by those who have been involved in such activism in other places, other cities.”
She then made a PLEA for MONEY, “In His Service,” for her crusades on behalf of her, and apparently the American Family Association of Pennsylvania’s, understanding of Christianity.
Despite Gramley’s actions, however, something else, also quite magical, was beginning to happen in
Instead, the local business and arts community, members of the Venango Area Chamber of Commerce, and the community at-large turned out in huge numbers to help make The Latonia’s grand opening an enormous success. Many area residents also expressed their disgust with Gramley’s tactics in letters-to-the-editor in the local newspaper.
After all, is attempting to intimidate and ruin a local business, as Gramley and her allies would have it, really working “In His Service” ?
And, a few days later, hundreds of local residents, as well as travelers from Erie, Pittsburgh and other surrounding cities and towns, turned out for The Latonia’s inaugural concert to witness Namoli Brennet, a visiting artist and one of the targets of Gramley’s vicious attacks, demonstrate what courage, love and understanding, faith, family, values and in this case, forgiveness, are really all about.
While much work remains to be done, it seems as though a new day is dawning in
Singer Shine Your Light !!
Here’s another view of the beautiful Thorn in Your Side:
7 comments:
we hope she comes back to oil city soon! what an awesome persn!
You know, I've been reading this stuff for a while and saw the earlier video of this Diane Gramley woman and her anti-gay protests. So much venom and hatred clearly comes from a self-hating place inside herself and, being a well known fag spotter (and fag myself), I'm quite convinced she and her cohort (the really really really butch one) are lesbians. No question. No person who doesn't hate themselves for what they are that vehemently could possibly find all the reasons she and the butch one find for truly spreading such violent hatred. Hitler once again comes to mind - funny how his tactics always pop up whenever one thinks of irrational hatred - Wasn't it said he had some Jewish blood? I don't know, something has got to explain these two women and their madness.
Kent Lebsock of New York City who has never even been to Oil City but knows crazy bigots when he sees 'em.
Why the need for rhetorical overkill?
It's a real question, not a rhetorical one. Because from where I sit, one of the things that characterizes both sides of this is the tendency to A) insist that everyone must be either with us or against us and B) characterize the other side in the most extreme language possible.
I mean "reign of terror"? Really? Because I associate reigns of terror with, say, nazis going house to house and dragging Jews off to be killed. Locally, I could swear that every attempt the AFA has made to marginalize folks in this area has failed miserably.
I agree that there was little "public condemnation" of the AFA's opposition of the Brennet concert (I did, but not enough to suit Joe Wilson). But I think you're underestimating the degree to which mainstream Venangans didn't believe it was worth taking seriously.
But (and again, this is a serious question, because I'm a middle-aged male WASP and I acknowledge that I may just not know)-- why did the Brennet concert need to become a referendum on LGBT support?
Because what I see consistently happening in issues like this is that the fringes feed each other. The AFA's campaign against Brennet was disingenuous and an insult to everyone's intelligence, but at the same time, I'm not sure Gramley would ever have even latched onto the concert had not Wilson been promoting it far and wide on the net, not as a great performance by a talented artist, but as an event that would "blow the doors off the closet."
So Gramley quotes Wilson for her alarmist crap and in turn provides lots of quotes for her opponents.
I do appreciate the fact that the rhetoric on this blog has actually been dialed back a few times this week (I've seen some of the posts in their original form). But I guess at some point you have to ask what your goal is, or perhaps what your audience is.
Because what the fringe speakers share is a tendency, you should pardon the expression, to preach to the choir. Talk about Gramley's "reign of terror" or make the assertion that LGBT folks represent a public health risk, and the folks on your side of the aisle clap and pat you on the back and say, "Boy, you sure told them." And everybody else shakes their head and says, "There they go again."
So (and honest, these are real questions, not rhetorical ones) what is the change you would like to see? What do you wish I personally would do? Because I'm trying to understand, and I'm serious about doing the decent human thing, but it's hard to understand you when you're hollering.
I have to say "Reign of Terror" is way too emotive to be taken seriously. Gramley is simply a run of the mill bully. What do bullies want? Control of the emotions of others and a feeling of self-aggrandizing - exactly what she's being offered in this forum. When Dan Savage helped destroy Santorum's re-election bid, he didn't do so by explaining how all-powerful Santorum was - he did what bullies hate - he showed that the emperor had no clothes, was non threatening, and was really sort of sad. I'm becoming progressively worried that the victimization rhetoric has made this blog its own worse enemy.
The following quote is from a Dan Savage column following Santorum's election loss:
"reasonable people know that mocking politically powerful, bigoted, sex-obsessed, deranged national figures is often the only weapon we have at our disposal. (And, yes, I'd say Rick Santorum is way more obsessed with sex than I am.) Mockery is a potent political weapon, one that Republicans are only too happy to use. Remember those Band-Aids with purple hearts on them that the party faithful wore at the GOP convention in 2004 to mock John Kerry?
But, oh man, Republicans sure are pussies. Give them a taste of their own fucking medicine—when are Democrats going to start employing dirty-trick tactics on Election Day to suppress the Republican vote?—and listen to them whine. (How long until we hear the sad cries of the oppressed Republican minority in the House?) It was perfectly okay for Santorum—a politically powerful figure—to say the most vile, offensive, disgusting things about his fellow Americans (he was railing against oral and anal sodomy for anyone, gay or straight, in that infamous man-on-dog interview), but when politically powerless people come together to make Santorum the butt of, yes, a vile, offensive, disgusting, and effective joke, well, that's just rude!
You know what? Fuck that. Fuck Rick Santorum. We gave Santorum a taste of his own butt-sex-obsessed medicine—if he was going to obsess about our sex lives, we were going to give him a goddamn reason to—and it served him right."
Savage swears so much, I thought it was Dick Cheney at first. ;)
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