LGLV Folds

Editor's note: The following is reprinted with permission from Greg Valiga's blog. Greg served as organizational coordinator of the Erie Chapter of LGLV from 1992 to 1996.

by Greg Valiga March 15, 2004

I got an email over the weekend from Mike informing me that the League of Gay and Lesbian Voters—an organization with roots in Pittsburgh that grew to include many areas of the state—was closing its doors after 17 years. Chris Young, a truly good guy, was the drive behind the League but I think it got away from him. Chris was always overworked, the office always underfunded, and the enormous backlog of work never finished.

I believe that our Erie Chapter did a number of good things including a billboard project, fundraisers/social events, producing the Voters' Guide, voter registration and hate crime advocacy, lobbying, and holding a meet-the-candidate fundraiser.

It was actually the League that got activism started here in Erie back in the early 90's and to tell the truth, Chris was a large part of my motivation. I wish him all the best.

Among the many accomplishments of the Erie Chapter of LGLV was to pay for four billboards in Erie County in April 1996. This one was on Route 20. For more on the Erie Chapter, visit the History section of the Erie Gay News website and select "1990s". The address is www.eriegaynews.com/history.

LGLV published Voters Guides for a number of years. One of the first activities for the Erie Chapter in 1992 was a coordinated effort to collate Voters Guides for the entire organization.

These members of LGLV's Erie chapter made the billboards possible. From left to right: Larry Sawdy, Greg Valiga, Elaine Hill, Chris Sargent, Heidi Streich, Dave Mulholland, Jeff Hill, Laura Suroviec, Ray Blount, Floyd H