Audio Interview, Gin Shear and Sue Slate, September 11, 2012

EVELYN BAILEY: This is September 11, 2012.

And I'm sitting with Ginny Shear and Sue Slate

on their back porch in LeRoy.

And we're going to talk about their early involvement

in gay activism in Rochester.

I did some research, because I've known you for a long time.

But do I know your accomplishments?

To some degree.

SUE SLATE: Do we?

I don't know.

EVELYN BAILEY: But I know that in 1984, you both

received the Vicki Cup for the work you

did on getting Rochester City Council, I believe,

to approve anti-discrimination law

or an anti-discrimination bill or something.

SUE SLATE: Yes.

And the whole concept was initiated by the fact

that we were denied access to the ability

to have the prom at the Rochester--

GINNY SHEAR: Chamber of Commerce.

SUE SLATE: Chamber of Commerce.

I think it was Tom Ryan at the time?

GINNY SHEAR: Tom Mooney.

SUE SLATE: Tom Mooney.

Oh, forgive me.

Tom Ryan was a very popular mayor.

Yeah.

Tom Mooney denied us access for our gay prom.

And that initiated this whole theme

of moving the City Council to just let's

come up with a nondiscrimination clause, bill, executive order,

what have you, to eliminate it.

And it went far, far deeper and far broader

than just the gay prom.

Because it eliminated discrimination

for any contractor hired within the city limits.

So you know, that was a pretty courageous time

on the part of a lot of people.

EVELYN BAILEY: Was that the first involvement

you had with gay activism?

I mean, were you active--

SUE SLATE: No.

EVELYN BAILEY: --in the community before that?

SUE SLATE: We were part of--

my first involvement with the Gay Alliance

was actually with the Lesbian Resource Center at the time.

And then Gin and I would be going to a lot of meetings.

We'd been together since 1976.

And so the Lesbian Resource Center

was quite active at the time.

GINNY SHEAR: Weren't we on the Gay Alliance board at one time,

too?

SUE SLATE: We were on the Gay Alliance Board.

And we were also peer counselors.

GINNY SHEAR: Right.

SUE SLATE: And that's where we spent a lot of time.

Once a week, we staffed the peer counseling phone lines.

And that was quite enlightening.

GINNY SHEAR: Yeah.

SUE SLATE: Because you got calls from all sorts of people.

And I can recall in my early years calling that same hotline

and getting resources that I could follow up on for myself

and our son, Travis.

EVELYN BAILEY: Now, were you born in this area?

We you born in LeRoy?

SUE SLATE: I was born in Spencerport--

EVELYN BAILEY: OK.

SUE SLATE: --but migrated to LeRoy actually to play softball

and loved the community.

So between the softball and the volleyball teams I was on,

I got to know--

get to know the community.

And then Gin started poking her nose around a LeRoy,

because she knew I was going to be out here.

GINNY SHEAR: We had mutual friends out here

through softball and volleyball.

And also, I got a job in Batavia.

So that was 8 miles from here.

So that seemed like a good distance to have to drive.

At the time, I was living in Irondequoit.

So it was easier to live out here.

EVELYN BAILEY: And so when you moved out to LeRoy,

is that when your understanding of that you were a lesbian

came about?

Or--

SUE SLATE: No, no.

That was a couple of years before when our son was not

quite two.

And--

EVELYN BAILEY: Do you remember the year?

19--

SUE SLATE: It was probably 1974.

And at the time, our son was about eighteen months old.

And I had come out to myself even before that,

but then found myself pregnant.

And I go, "Oh, no.

What do I do now?"

So it kind of prolonged my coming out to figure out--

you know, I didn't want Travis to be a statistic of divorce.

And so I thought I'd give it the old college try.

And it just-- it wasn't going to work.

EVELYN BAILEY: What resources or were there

any resources available in the community for you

to access about lesbianism, about being a gay person?

SUE SLATE: Well, the Lesbian Resource Center

is where I initially went, but after calling the Gay Alliance.

And you know, then I did my own study.

It was certainly before internet and all that kind of stuff.

But even in those days, you could find some information,

you know, in the public library and things

like that and other resources.

I just poked around.

But I also had met members of the gay community in LeRoy.

And they served as a great resource and a sounding board.

EVELYN BAILEY: How did that come about?

How do you-- how do you meet--

SUE SLATE: Well--

EVELYN BAILEY: --members of the gay community in LeRoy,

the remote part of Rochester?

SUE SLATE: Well, actually, my then husband

was teaching in LeRoy and got me involved on the volleyball team

with the female colleagues.

It was-- actually, it was a mixed team.

It was a co-gender team at the time.

And there were a couple women in the community

that were lesbians living together in LeRoy.

I got to know them.

And it gave me the courage, probably, to--

once I had a couple of real live people to talk to

and knew that the Lesbian Resource Center was out there,

that I might meet other moms that were concerned

about keeping their children should they have

to go through a divorce and all of that,

it gave me the courage to move forward.

I was very concerned about losing our son.

Because it was back in the '70s.

EVELYN BAILEY: Right.

SUE SLATE: Life was a little different.

EVELYN BAILEY: Now, you, I think--

I'm not positive about this.

Did you begin the Lesbian Mothers Group?

SUE SLATE: I'm not sure if we began the Lesbian Mothers

Group.

I know that--

GINNY SHEAR: I think we joined it.

SUE SLATE: I think we joined it early on.

And we met the people that were thinking about getting it going

or had gotten it going through the Lesbian Resource Center.

Because they were attending meetings as well.

GINNY SHEAR: Right.

SUE SLATE: And then we got quite active with that group.

and did a lot of activities, had a real eclectic mix

of kids of all ages.

And everyone seemed to have at least two peers as far

as kids went.

They all got along.

It was really a joyful time for the kids.

Because back in the '70s, they didn't really

know a whole lot of other lesbian mothers

in their communities.

GINNY SHEAR: Yeah.

SUE SLATE: You know, now we see things very differently

for kids growing up, maybe not necessarily right here

in the LeRoy, but in other parts of Rochester.

You know, certainly where our grandson and granddaughter

are growing up in California.

I mean, they have the most diversified neighborhood

you could possibly imagine.

And everyone gets along.

And it's like a no-brainer.

You know, we actually legally got married.

All our nephews and nieces thought,

why are they getting married?

I thought they already were.

It was just so accepted.

GINNY SHEAR: Yeah.

SUE SLATE: We were so accepted as a couple.

EVELYN BAILEY: And were you still in Batavia working?

GINNY SHEAR: I-- we met before I got that job.

I was teaching in Rochester School District when we met.

And then I got laid off.

EVELYN BAILEY: What were you teaching?

GINNY SHEAR: Instrumental music.

EVELYN BAILEY: OK.

GINNY SHEAR: I was a band director.

EVELYN BAILEY: Oh, wow.

GINNY SHEAR: Marched in the Memorial Day Parades.

But when they have budget cuts in '76,

the first thing they cut is music and art.

EVELYN BAILEY: Right.

GINNY SHEAR: So I was a new teacher at the time,

so I got laid off.

So then I went to school and got new skills

and became a mechanic.

So I got the job in Batavia.

We weren't living together yet.

But shortly after I got that job,

then we found an apartment out here.

And we moved in together.

EVELYN BAILEY: And were you open at work?

GINNY SHEAR: Yes.

Yeah.

I would say so.

I didn't make any announcements.

But--

SUE SLATE: You had--

EVELYN BAILEY: Did you--

SUE SLATE: --pictures on your desk and things like that--

GINNY SHEAR: Yeah.

SUE SLATE: --or something that was very--

GINNY SHEAR: Yeah.

EVELYN BAILEY: You went to events together for work

if there were events?

GINNY SHEAR: Well, in a small motorcycle dealership,

we didn't have many events.

But Sue would pick me up at work, or we'd meet there.

And a job I had before that, we were pretty open there I guess.

And then when I got a job at Kodak,

it was just sort of assumed that I was gay.

EVELYN BAILEY: Talk to me a little bit

about that Kodak experience.

Had Lambda Kodak been formed yet?

GINNY SHEAR: I don't think so.

I went to Kodak in 1980.

And--

EVELYN BAILEY: I'm not sure when they formed.

GINNY SHEAR: I think it was not long after that.

But I don't think they existed yet.

I can't remember exactly.

But there was some nasty people there at the time.

And it was not management or anybody of any great importance

other than human beings.

But there were some workers there

that didn't like lesbians.

They were anti-gay definitely.

But when you do your job well, people don't bother you.

EVELYN BAILEY: Yeah.

GINNY SHEAR: Now, I never had any problem there at all

and always brought Sue to all the employee,

the office parties or whatever we had.

I always brought Sue to those things.

And nobody made a big deal out of it.

EVELYN BAILEY: And we were eventually

a member of Lambda Kodak?

GINNY SHEAR: No.

No I wasn't.

They were always downtown.

I was out at Elmgrove.

So, eh, we were very busy during the '80s raising a kid

and doing motorcycle events.

And--

EVELYN BAILEY: You were teaching, Sue, right?

SUE SLATE: Yeah.

I was teaching at Churchville-Chili.

And I had graduated from Churchville-Chili.

So a lot of the families that I grew up with

were affiliated with the school district.

My ex-mother-in-law worked in Central Office.

A number of employees--

you know, one was the Business Director at Churchville-Chili.

One was Buildings and Grounds Superintendent.

So they get to know me as a person before I came out.

And I really never felt any discrimination

in the workplace at all.

And I think-- and it was a concern.

EVELYN BAILEY: Sure.

SUE SLATE: Because, certainly, our son--

we had-- our son, we chose Churchville-Chili as the--

we felt that it was a better school district for Travis,

a better fit for him.

Because when we did get divorced,

then he wouldn't be uprooted from his friends as well as,

you know, living in two households.

So that was a commitment that Kenny, my ex-husband, and I

made to Travis, that we were going to make life

as normal as possible for him.

So I think when people get to know you as a person,

and then they find about this other dimension,

it's pretty hard to all of a sudden hate you.

And I always felt that the kids got it.

And I was a good teacher.

And I really knew that I was born to teach.

It's what I did.

I miss it terribly still.

But life's moved in other directions since I retired.

And Gin would come to school sometimes with her guitar

and play for songs that were thematic to the stories we

were reading.

She came and taught CPR and first aid

to phys-ed teachers and nurses as well as my kids.

She got community service time off from work

to be able to come from Kodak to come and teach

CPR and first aid to my kids, which I turned into a reading

and writing component as well.

So we haven't-- and we have family support.

We have always had unbelievable family support.

So I think maybe the need for Lambda and some other things

weren't as high on our priority list, which I

think is a good thing in a way.

GINNY SHEAR: Yes.

We were incredibly lucky.

My family-- I grew up in my family,

so they pretty much knew me.

And my grandmother always said at Sunday dinner

with my cousins and my sister would

bring a boyfriend or a girlfriend, she took me aside.

And she said, "Now, Virginia, you

can bring a friend along, too, if you want.

If you want to bring somebody to Sunday dinner,

you go right ahead."

And so I started bringing my girlfriends to Sunday dinner

at grandma's.

And it was just very accepted.

And when Sue and I got together, my parents just adored her.

And they certainly adored Travis.

And he became their newest grandson.

EVELYN BAILEY: I want to stop for a minute

and just ask both of you, what do

you attribute the openness within your families

to the fact that you were lesbians?

GINNY SHEAR: My family, I think it's just them.

They're very open-minded in a lot of ways.

My grandmother, especially my maternal grandmother,

is way ahead of her time on civil rights issues,

and how to treat people, and acceptance.

And that came down to my mother and my father.

And it was just the way they are.

SUE SLATE: Now, initially my mother

had a tough time with it.

And it put a great strain on our relationship

for about two years.

Because it relegated us to talking

about superficial issues, which was

totally different from the dynamics of our relationship

from before I came out to her.

So she was a widow.

She started dating a guy, Richard.

And after not quite two years he said, "Dorothy,

they're not playing house.

When are you going to have a real relationship

with your daughter?"

And upon that conversation with Richard,

they showed up here when we were renovating it,

getting it ready to move into with a bottle of wine,

some cheese.

And we sat down on footstools and ladders

and had our first real conversation.

And from that point on, my mother I would say

became an out mother, very comfortable

with her love for me, the acceptance of us.

And so that was very early on.

That was like 1978 that--

GINNY SHEAR: Yeah.

SUE SLATE: --she-- and she went to PFLAG upon my suggestion

and got more information and was able to work through her guilt.

And her guilt revolved around the fact

that she recognized my lesbianism

when I was, you know, pre-pubescent

and in early puberty.

And from her background and messages she got,

she thought the right thing to do

was to absolutely stamp that out of me.

EVELYN BAILEY: Yeah.

SUE SLATE: So she would say things

like, "You can't hate these people.

God is love.

But you can't help but feel sorry for them.

And you know, it's not a good way to live,"

and things like that.

So--

EVELYN BAILEY: In one sentence, can you

simplify the impact of PFLAG on your mother's

attitude and her own growth and development as a out lesbian

mom?

SUE SLATE: I would say that PFLAG gave her permission

to let go of her fear and her guilt. Once those went away,

we were good.

EVELYN BAILEY: So you were a mechanic, Ginny?

GINNY SHEAR: Hm-hm.

EVELYN BAILEY: What did you do at Kodak?

GINNY SHEAR: I got into an apprentice program

there as becoming a sheet metal mechanic.

And during that two-year apprenticeship,

I became a programmer on computer

operated equipment, tour presses, stamping machines,

and laser cutters and things of that sort.

So I went right into programming in the poppier area.

And moved up from there to programming inspection

equipment, and then moved into the quality assurance group

at Elmgrove.

And from there, I was on loan to the health division,

health imaging.

And then they got sold.

And I became part of Carestream Health.

EVELYN BAILEY: So where did the motorcycles come in?

GINNY SHEAR: Well, I was--

we both rode motorcycles.

We met riding the same model motorcycle.

EVELYN BAILEY: How-- when did you start riding?

GINNY SHEAR: I got my license when I was nineteen.

I was in college.

I bought a Honda 150 for $90.

And I had ridden friend's dirt bikes and mini bikes

and things like that earlier on before I got out on my own.

And you know, it didn't seem to be well-received,

a road bike, at the time.

But as soon as I was out on my own,

it was cheap transportation.

I learned to wrench on it myself.

And so I had been riding, you know, for quite a while

before we met.

EVELYN BAILEY: Wrench, what does that mean?

GINNY SHEAR: Wrench-- work on your own motorcycle,

do your own mechanical work.

SUE SLATE: And I had always wanted

to ride a motorcycle since I was a little kid.

I was the kid on the sidewalk would see a bike parked,

and I'd glaze over and just stare at it.

And I didn't know anyone who rode a motorcycle.

And it took until I was twenty-four

and I was teaching that my vice principal at one of my schools

rode a motorcycle.

And she said she'd teach me how to ride.

So in '74, '75, I started riding.

EVELYN BAILEY: When did you buy your first?

SUE SLATE: 1975.

EVELYN BAILEY: And what was it?

SUE SLATE: It was a 1975 Kawasaki KZ400 Deluxe,

chrome and red and beautiful.

GINNY SHEAR: Meanwhile, I was on the Plain Jane KZ400, 1975.

SUE SLATE: The special.

GINNY SHEAR: Special, kick start no tack,

you know, it was just a stripped down model.

But it was a KZ400.

We both thought that was pretty ironic that we met at a ball

field riding the same bike.

Meant to be.

EVELYN BAILEY: So you're riding your bikes.

What made you begin your motorcycle

work or the motorcycle festivals that span a good twenty

years of your life?

GINNY SHEAR: Oh, yeah.

We had been riding together since before we met.

We had a couple of friends here in LeRoy who rode.

And we had a couple of friends in Toronto who rode.

And they would come down and ride with us.

SUE SLATE: And a couple of friends in Gowanda.

GINNY SHEAR: And a couple of friends in Gowanda.

And so there were like six or eight of us that rode.

But that's all we knew of women who rode motorcycles.

We thought, well, there's got to be more of us out there.

So Sue came up with an idea to start fishing,

looking for more women who ride.

And she came up with the idea of the first festival.

SUE SLATE: And it was educational in format.

You participated in some of them,

so you probably remember that we had seminars

going on going all the time, riding skills events,

all sorts of things like that.

And the idea is that, with more comfort and a stronger skill

set, you would be empowered to try going cross-country

on your own, working on your own motorcycle,

developing the confidence to maybe take

on other challenges in life over and beyond motorcycling.

EVELYN BAILEY: But when this began, I have to ask you,

did you have any idea of the impact that it would have

and on the number of women that became

involved in this endeavor?

SUE SLATE: Well, I dream big.

GINNY SHEAR: She dreams big.

I wasn't so sure about it.

But she thought we'd get 250 women

to the first one we had in '84.

She said, "Wow, this will be great.

This will be great."

And we had our staff all set, which is mostly our ball team.

SUE SLATE: Our ball team and our eight riders.

GINNY SHEAR: Yeah, our ball team and our eight riders

that we rode with.

We had them all on the staff and rented the Presbyterian camp

on Seneca Lake.

And we were all set.

And we did advertising in all the women's

newspapers and magazines we could locate in the country.

And that was before--

SUE SLATE: College newspapers, things like that.

GINNY SHEAR: Yeah, it was before the internet.

SUE SLATE: Yeah.

GINNY SHEAR: So it was--

SUE SLATE: Yeah.

GINNY SHEAR: --you know, difficult.

And it all took mail.

And we had a poor electric typewriter

that didn't have an O. So we had to hand put in all the Os.

But we got sixty-four people to come to this.

And they had a great time.

And it was a great bunch.

They were really strong leaders, strong riders,

and have remained very close friends since then.

And it was good that we only had sixty-four there.

Because otherwise--

EVELYN BAILEY: At the first--

GINNY SHEAR: --it would have been too much.

EVELYN BAILEY: --women's motorcycle festival,

did you have seminars?

GINNY SHEAR: Yes.

EVELYN BAILEY: Did you have workshops?

SUE SLATE: Mm-hm.

GINNY SHEAR: Yes, yes we did.

SUE SLATE: It's always--

it's always been educational with the focus on fun.

GINNY SHEAR: We had evening entertainment.

During the day, there were rides, destination rides,

group rides, and skill activities and fun events.

And at night, we had entertainment.

EVELYN BAILEY: So from sixty-four--

GINNY SHEAR: Eighty-four.

EVELYN BAILEY: --eighty-four--

GINNY SHEAR: Eighty-four altogether, yeah.

EVELYN BAILEY: --original members or participants,

what was the largest it ever grew to?

SUE SLATE: Well, you have to take a look

at the evolution from the motorcycle festivals

into the foundations work.

We actually hosted our last festival in 1994.

However, from there, '93 is when we took the Women's Arctic

Tour, Ride for Research, which was a 1,399 mile dual sport

ride to the Arctic Ocean by motorcycle

on behalf of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

EVELYN BAILEY: Why?

SUE SLATE: Why?

We-- our son had--

what triggered it was we were going on a vacation

to the Arctic Ocean--

vacation.

(Laughter)

And were planning it since 1991.

We started the plans.

But in 1991, our son was also graduating from high school,

and had to register for the draft,

even though we didn't have an active draft at the time,

nor do we now.

Males still have to go down and register.

And this kid grew up in a very gender equity home.

You know, he was doing his own laundry from the age of eleven

on.

So he did not get this.

And he posed the question to us, "If my name were Travina,

I wouldn't be going down to the post office

to register for the draft, what gives?"

And we agreed with him and told him

we wouldn't want to send you to war anymore than we'd want

to send our daughter to war.

GINNY SHEAR: But it's not fair.

SUE SLATE: It's not fair.

GINNY SHEAR: It's not right.

SUE SLATE: So we took a trip to the wall

just to show him the names of all the people

we, all the friends we lost during the Vietnam Conflict.

And it was wrenching.

You know, you can't go to that whether it's

the wall of Washington or the Moving Wall-- they're

both so powerful.

Cried, etched the names, the whole thing,

came back and read an article by a woman--

GINNY SHEAR: In Hilton.

SUE SLATE: --in Rochester.

GINNY SHEAR: She was in Hilton.

SUE SLATE: She lived in Hilton.

She, as the Memorial Day era came up,

that was the same time of year.

She mentioned that let's think about the ripple effect

of the 58,000 plus Americans who died in Conflict that

are represented on that wall.

Think of all the lives that each one of them touched,

the impact it had on our country and the world.

And then factor into your thinking

that in the United States alone we quietly

lost 330,000 Americans to breast cancer.

We're going to the Arctic Ocean.

There's four women.

We're riding, all those dirt.

We knew we could get some, in quotes, "mileage" out of it

for a good cause.

And once that happened, we just had to move forward on that.

And when we came back from that with a fundraising

goal of $10,000 having raised $25,000,

we just knew our work wasn't done in that arena.

EVELYN BAILEY: Why did you choose Kathrine Komen?

Why--

GINNY SHEAR: Susan G. Komen?

EVELYN BAILEY: Susan G. Komen.

GINNY SHEAR: We had done research

on where we could have the money go specifically

to breast cancer research.

And a woman in the American Cancer Society in Syracuse

said try Komen Foundation.

They're new.

They are small.

But they allow you to earmark where

you want your funds to go.

So we looked into them.

SUE SLATE: And that worked nicely up until 2003.

GINNY SHEAR: 2003, yeah.

SUE SLATE: And then we were not allowed.

Because their structure had grown exponentially.

Their corporate structure was much different.

They wouldn't allow us to dedicate our money solely

to research unless you could guarantee them megabucks.

And we're an all volunteer organization,

so that wasn't going to happen.

GINNY SHEAR: We couldn't guarantee

them a quarter million dollars.

SUE SLATE: Right.

GINNY SHEAR: On an event.

Although, we had done that in the past,

but the economy changed.

And our base changed.

And a lot of our rides-- and there

were thousands of riders that rode

with us during those years of doing the Pony Express

tours for breast cancer.

A lot of those people had gone on

to start their own events in their own areas

and were raising money for their local Komen

chapter or their local Bosom Buddies

or different charities around the country.

So we weren't drawing as many people to our events.

And we couldn't afford to draw as many people to our events

with the price of gas going so high

and price of everything going high.

So we'd cut down on our events, making them smaller,

which meant smaller money gathering.

So it just wasn't going to work with Komen anyone

at that point.

SUE SLATE: We did try working with Komen

on an international fundraising event in 2011.

And we raised $47,500 for that program.

And no, that was 2009 was the last time

we raised money for Komen.

GINNY SHEAR: Yeah.

SUE SLATE: I take that back.

In 2009, we raised for Komen.

And it was 2007, it was 2007 and then 2011 was back to Komen.

Because they found a vehicle for us to use to raise for them.

And then when 2012 came up, we weren't

as comfortable with the decisions

that Komen was making.

It wasn't a good fit.

We absolutely respect all the work they have done

and continue to do.

But we couldn't be involved with an organization as small

as we are that would even suggest politics was involved.

And we polled the riders.

We went to the riders.

We did not make a unilateral decision with our board or just

the two of us.

We went to the riders.

We sent out a mass email to 6,000 people.

And quite frankly, it was overwhelming to support Dr.

Susan Love Research Foundation.

One it's strictly for research, which is our bias.

Don't just cure it.

Eliminate it.

Stop it from ever happening, that

is our bias for all cancers.

And two, we could dedicate the research dollars solely

to them.

They'd work with us set up online pages,

so it made it easy.

And they were small the way Komen was small--

GINNY SHEAR: In the beginning.

SUE SLATE: --in the beginning.

And for our organization, we're grassroots.

And that's exactly where we want to be.

We entrench ourselves with the riders.

And it's been a gift for us personally

to be involved with this.

EVELYN BAILEY: So, but go back.

The first-- the eighty-four women who came together

was in what year?

SUE SLATE: '84

GINNY SHEAR: '64, eighty-four women.

No '84, sixty-four women attended the first.

And then we capped it.

EVELYN BAILEY: In 1984, Ginny?

GINNY SHEAR: Yes.

EVELYN BAILEY: And so that went on, though.

GINNY SHEAR: We did one in '84--

SUE SLATE: '85.

GINNY SHEAR: --'85, '86.

And then we started going every other year, to '88, '90, '92,

and '94.

Did we do one in '96?

SUE SLATE: No.

GINNY SHEAR: No, we did Pony Express.

SUE SLATE: We did Pony Express.

GINNY SHEAR: So '94 was the last one we did.

And that was at the hotel over by RIT.

SUE SLATE: Inn on the Campus.

(Interposing voices)

GINNY SHEAR: Inn on the Campus was what it was called then.

EVELYN BAILEY: And the year before that was at Wells?

SUE SLATE: Wells College, yeah.

GINNY SHEAR: Yes.

EVELYN BAILEY: And prior to that, you were in the mud

as I recall.

GINNY SHEAR: Camp Lakeland.

SUE SLATE: Camp Lakeland, yeah.

GINNY SHEAR: Down off Route 16 in the Southern tier.

Yeah.

SUE SLATE: Yeah.

And before that, we were at Whitman on Seneca Lake.

GINNY SHEAR: On Seneca Lake.

EVELYN BAILEY: And what was the largest group

of women who came together?

Do you remember?

GINNY SHEAR: We capped it actually.

SUE SLATE: Yeah.

We had to.

GINNY SHEAR: We capped it at 250.

We were as much interested in creating leadership.

And we really feel a smaller venue

allows for a more intense level of interaction with the seminar

speakers and all the workshops, the skills of the events,

everything.

And we felt that we would produce a stronger leadership

base that way.

And so we--

SUE SLATE: And it'd be easier to manage if we capped it at 250.

GINNY SHEAR: 250 allowed us to take over

the whole campus at Wells College, the whole hotel,

at Inn on the Campus and create community, which

was extremely important to us.

EVELYN BAILEY: And the foundation began when?

SUE SLATE: '84

GINNY SHEAR: The foundation began in '84.

SUE SLATE: Or '83.

GINNY SHEAR: But it became a tax exempt 501(c)(3) in '95 when we

started.

EVELYN BAILEY: OK.

GINNY SHEAR: We did our first fundraising event

under the auspices of the Women's Motorcyclist

Foundation.

But we weren't a tax exempt organization at the time.

So Komen wrote all the thank you letters.

Because 100 cents on the dollar did go to Komen.

And actually, that's always been true of all of our fundraisers.

EVELYN BAILEY: So it was in your mind

in a sense from the very beginning

that this would become or be a foundation as well as a,

quote unquote, "festival" or gathering.

GINNY SHEAR: Yeah, yeah.

SUE SLATE: The irony is when we started

using the term Women's Motorcycle Festival,

it was a little harder to get land secured,

like campgrounds and college campuses and all.

But everyone was used to it.

By 1984, people were already used to WMF.

So when we'd go in to meet with people,

we would meet as representatives of the Women's Motorcyclist

Foundation.

And secure the contract and explain to them.

Because you were going in as of a recognized foundation,

we had the credibility of the American Motorcyclist

Association behind us.

They were our-- they provided--

we were a sanctioned AMA, which is

a huge national organization.

We were sanctioned by the AMA.

We carried liability insurance.

We did-- we had our ducks in a row.

We did staff development with our staff.

I mean, everything looked good to the-- and you know,

we had still--

until we started having some people in our dirt rides--

and dirt bikes, you do go down.

You fall.

We had not a single moving accident on a motorcycle

in all of our events.

So that's a pretty good track record.

EVELYN BAILEY: Excellent.

SUE SLATE: And so people did secure.

They were willing to come forward

and say, yes, you can use our facilities.

EVELYN BAILEY: Before I go back to a previous thing,

but can you share one or two stories

from the women who came about the life changing experience

your group gatherings or festivals provided?

SUE SLATE: I think Dotty Bratcher is one.

Dotty Bratcher--

GINNY SHEAR: Yeah.

SUE SLATE: --also rode with us on our Pony Express rides

before and after she got breast cancer.

And she came to know a community that she had never

been exposed to before.

She rode a motorcycle, but she was in a small little area

in Pennsylvania.

So she came to our festivals, then

she joined our motorcycle club, Moving Violations,

and continued to come to every one of our festivals.

In fact, she was the first to register--

GINNY SHEAR: Yeah.

SUE SLATE: --at our festival.

And when she got breast cancer, the wealth of resources

that she had at her disposal in the motorcycling community,

women's motorcycling community was incredible.

GINNY SHEAR: And she had always been a bit

of a loner and not a joiner.

But the motorcycle club and the festivals

caught her imagination.

And she enjoyed that.

And she said that when she got cancer,

she had no idea how many friends she had.

Because the motorcycle community just came to her aid and said,

"What can we do?

How can we help?"

And it changed her life.

As well as ours.

We saw that happen.

And there's been so many women that

were at our festivals that are now lifelong friends of ours.

Just a lot of them that were close,

some that are not close, living nearby or in Massachusetts,

or Pennsylvania, or Ohio, is just a long list of people

that we cherish, that are friends,

because of getting to know them at those events.

SUE SLATE: But also, the number of women that

came such as members of our ball team--

GINNY SHEAR: Yeah.

SUE SLATE: --who never thought of getting on a motorcycle

or partners of people who came to the Women's Motorcycle

Festival and weren't riders, and then got

caught up in the possibilities for themselves.

So I think to me that was huge to see people

take those healthy risks and move forward

on two wheels on their own, instead of just a passenger.

You know, there's nothing wrong with being a passenger.

But you're certainly much more in charge of your own destiny

when you're piloting your own machine.

EVELYN BAILEY: Now, prior to the motorcycle gatherings,

you had some experience, though, in organizing large events.

Because I think you and Ginny both organized the Gay Prom

for a number of years--

SUE SLATE: That's right, yes.

EVELYN BAILEY: --prior to the motorcycle festivals,

prior to those gatherings.

Right?

SUE SLATE: Oh, absolutely.

And it's just by nature we're organizers.

And we're a good balance for each other.

Some people say of us that I'm the kite, and she's the string.

I can come up with some pretty insane ideas.

GINNY SHEAR: I rope her in every now and then.

(Laughter)

But it's a good yin and yang.

It truly is.

SUE SLATE: Yeah, it works well.

GINNY SHEAR: And it's two different skill sets

that we bring to it.

And they're both needed.

I think our strongest skill is recognizing

how to tap into the talents of other people.

And we firmly believe that most people

want to contribute to society if you just

find the right fit for them.

And then once they get involved, they're hooked.

And that's what we've seen with the festivals.

That's what we've seen with the Pony Express rides.

That's what we're seeing now with our Adventure for the Cure

Series, that you find the right people for the right job.

Passion is-- passion is a far greater motivator than money

when you find the right fit.

SUE SLATE: Yeah.

And once people see that we're normal human beings who,