Video Interview, Ove Overmyer, May 23, 2012

  • CREW: I am rolling.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: OK.
  • So Ove, just for soundcheck, give us the correct spelling
  • of your first and last name.
  • OVE OVERMYER: The name is pronounced Ove Overmeyer, O, V,
  • E, O, V, E, R, M, Y, E, R.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: My main focus with you
  • is going to be the work that you've done with labor unions,
  • and how that transformed into getting things
  • like gay marriage passed, all that stuff.
  • But we need to set that up a little bit.
  • How did you start getting about politically?
  • And I think from going over our pre-interview,
  • one of the things that really stuck out
  • was getting involved with Tim Mains campaign.
  • OVE OVERMYER: Yes.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Tell me a little bit about that story,
  • about how that was maybe one of the first initiatives of you
  • getting involved politically and getting involved with Tim.
  • OVE OVERMYER: Well, 2005, in Rochester,
  • was a very exciting time.
  • We were about to elect a new mayor in Rochester,
  • the city of Rochester being a primarily democratic city.
  • We had three extraordinary people
  • who were running for office, Tim Mains, Bob Duffy,
  • and a twenty-year city councilman
  • named Tim Mains, who, incidentally,
  • was the first openly elected gay official in New York State.
  • We vetted the candidates--
  • the party, the Democratic Party--
  • vetted the candidates extensively.
  • They all got on the petition.
  • I did not join Tim's campaign until much later in the year.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Hang on a second.
  • Playing tricks on you.
  • There's a plug in the wall, you just unplug it.
  • CREW: It's off.
  • OK, then.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: It's just recycling through condensation.
  • OVE OVERMYER: Should I start over?
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: No, we can pick it
  • up to where Tim was a twenty-year veteran at the city
  • Council.
  • OVE OVERMYER: OK.
  • In any event, they spent a lot of time going to forums,
  • and I went to about forty forums that year.
  • I remember it very well.
  • But I didn't join a campaign until I
  • was convinced that one of these guys
  • was going to be the best mayor.
  • And I have to say that I certainly
  • believed with all my heart that Tim Mains was the best
  • candidate in 2005, and if he was elected,
  • he would have been a great mayor.
  • It had nothing to do with Tim being openly gay
  • as a candidate.
  • I supported him because I truly believed he
  • would have been the best mayor.
  • When we look back on that election,
  • I certainly believe that it certainly
  • put to rest the notion that gay people could
  • serve in higher office, especially in Rochester.
  • We have people in the State legislature.
  • We have Supreme Court justices.
  • We have all sorts of people from Rochester
  • who serve in higher office.
  • Tim's race really was a benchmark for local history,
  • with regards to people understanding collectively
  • in the community that, absolutely, gay people
  • can serve.
  • And it was really a wonderful time, a very exciting campaign,
  • and something I'll always remember.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Well, and there's
  • one thing I want to touch upon here, too,
  • that even when Duffy threw his hat in the ring,
  • you stayed with Tim.
  • Can you talk to me a little bit about that, and why?
  • OVE OVERMYER: It's true.
  • In September, when the primary rolled around,
  • Wade Norwood was the endorsed candidate for the party.
  • Bob Duffy did win the primary, but Tim Mains
  • received the Working Families endorsement,
  • so he was on the ballot in November.
  • I still believed in my heart that Tim
  • was the right candidate for the city of Rochester.
  • No one thinks quicker on their feet.
  • He was on the Finance Committee for City Council.
  • New He was just the most remarkable financial mind
  • I've ever met.
  • So for those reasons, and more, that I just
  • thought that he was the best candidate, so in my heart
  • I knew I was doing the right thing.
  • Regardless of the way the party went,
  • I knew that Tim was the best candidate.
  • And again, it had nothing to do with his identity
  • as an openly gay candidate.
  • If you looked at the makeup of the people who supported him,
  • people from all walks of life.
  • I mean, there were all ages, all races.
  • It was just an amazing collection
  • of people who supported him.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: And you hear a lot of people
  • say that, we're not supporting him
  • because he's a gay candidate, we're supporting him for what
  • he can do for the city.
  • But yet, at some point, or a small percentage
  • of that support, needs to be a little bit
  • about a sense of pride, or the sense of coming out,
  • that we have a gay candidate running.
  • Can you talk to me a little bit about the personal feelings
  • about, OK, you're not supporting him because he's gay,
  • but yet, there is that factor that he is gay.
  • Any feelings regarding--
  • OVE OVERMYER: Sure, I think that was certainly an element that
  • made it a little more exciting.
  • There's no question to have someone
  • on a stage for an office as important of mayor
  • be able to deliver the goods on a daily basis, was incredibly
  • exciting.
  • It proved to most people that--
  • he changed the perceptions of maybe some people.
  • He changed hearts and minds.
  • There's no question in my mind, because of his visibility,
  • because he was confident in his performance.
  • I think for all those reasons, it really
  • was an important race besides just the fact
  • that he was a gay candidate.
  • It was just more significant than that.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: That, then, kind of prompted
  • you to start realizing that you can start making changes
  • in legislation and have some sort of political influences
  • by working through the labor unions.
  • OVE OVERMYER: That's correct.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Let's set that up a little bit first,
  • how you came to the realization that maybe this is
  • the direction we need to go in to make changes
  • in this society.
  • OVE OVERMYER: OK, well, I moved to Rochester from New York City
  • in the mid-'90s.
  • I became employed at the City of Rochester
  • at the public library downtown.
  • I immediately recognized that colleagues and friends
  • were struggling with workplace rights issues.
  • I had, for some reason, and I'm not quite sure
  • why it is the case, people felt comfortable confiding in me,
  • whether if it was something about the dress code
  • or something about the contract language
  • not being inclusive to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender
  • people.
  • A light went off.
  • I knew I had an opportunity.
  • I had the ability and the desire to make changes
  • in the workplace, because the contracts weren't inclusive.
  • There was no language for sexual orientation in a lot
  • of the policy handbooks.
  • So I knew that there was an opportunity
  • there to move the ball forward in the greater movement.
  • In 2004, I became a local officer in Monroe County,
  • and I'm also the president of my local,
  • where I've negotiated more than three contracts to make sure
  • that contracts are inclusive with this kind of language.
  • So 2007, friends of mine, Bess Watts and Tom Privitere,
  • we got together and created a chapter of Pride at Work.
  • Pride at Work is an organization that bridges the gap--
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Hold on to that thought for a second.
  • We'll pick it up from there.
  • Are these the-- that's the twelve bells.
  • We've got to wait for twelve bells here.
  • OVE OVERMYER: OK.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: For the development of private work.
  • OVE OVERMYER: OK
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: How did you get into that?
  • I don't remember.
  • OVE OVERMYER: I don't, either.
  • I was rambling.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: You became president.
  • You both read contracts.
  • OVE OVERMYER: Right.
  • OK, I'll just dive right in there.
  • In any event, I found great opportunity in order
  • to effect positive change.
  • The city of Rochester was always a great employer.
  • As far back as 1994, we had domestic partner benefits
  • legislation that was written into the City of Rochester
  • language that, actually, City councilman Tim Mains,
  • is responsible for.
  • So the City of Rochester as an employer
  • wasn't much of a fight, but certainly
  • at the county level for all the twenty-one units
  • that I represent in Monroe County,
  • it is still a huge issue.
  • They still, to this day, do not have domestic partner benefits.
  • So we still have a lot of work to do.
  • In 2007, I joined some friends of mine, Bess Watson and Tom
  • Privitere, and we formed a chapter of Pride
  • at Work, which is a national organization affiliated
  • with the AFL-CIO.
  • It's an organization that bridges labor
  • and gay folk who want to make changes in the workplace.
  • The agendas that we pursue, obviously,
  • deal with the workplace.
  • NDAA, as a national policy, we're
  • looking to overturn, or to actually get passed,
  • and, of course, repealing DOMA, which
  • is the Defense of Marriage Act.
  • The great thing about Pride at Work
  • is that it was instrumental in making marriage equality happen
  • in New York State.
  • It's not to say that I don't want
  • to minimize the contributions of all the other organizations,
  • because social change doesn't happen in a bubble.
  • It doesn't happen in a vacuum.
  • It is the confluence of many, many people
  • in many organizations coming together in a perfect storm
  • to create social change.
  • And that's what happened when we passed
  • marriage equality in 2011.
  • But I would like people to know that we should never
  • underestimate the connection that labor had
  • in getting marriage passed, because the politicians who
  • actually voted for that bill knew damn well that they better
  • support union's position on this issue,
  • or they probably wouldn't receive the support of labor.
  • And it's pretty hard to get elected in the Rochester area
  • if you don't have labor support.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: So I'm going to pull that back a little bit.
  • How did you get the labor unions, or labor,
  • to come to the realization that gay marriage is a good thing
  • to support?
  • OVE OVERMYER: The challenge of getting
  • into my own union, with regards to the issues
  • that I care about, that I think most workers care about,
  • which is equality in the workplace, it was really,
  • really a difficult challenge.
  • I look back in the mid-2000s.
  • You could not find the word gay anywhere in any document,
  • in Civil Service Employee Association, website,
  • handbooks, anything.
  • They didn't even say the word.
  • So we knew we had a difficult fight.
  • But I think visibility is the most important thing.
  • When we formed Pride at Work, we were everywhere.
  • We were at every church, every street
  • corner, every conference.
  • We were talking about our issues and changing hearts and minds
  • at these venues, and explaining to people, look,
  • this is what we look like.
  • I have a family.
  • I need to take care of them.
  • I need workplace rights.
  • And over time, people began to understand that their fight was
  • our fight, that the labor community
  • and the LGBT community really have the same issues in mind,
  • and we need to collectively fight
  • for equality for all people.
  • Hold that thought.
  • This is where we have to go through
  • their musical entourage, right?
  • CREW: Camera's ready.
  • Camera's rolling.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Let's just go back just a little bit
  • to reiterate, the importance of getting the labor unions
  • to understand that gay rights, equal rights for gays
  • and lesbians, is a workplace equal rights issue.
  • Just talk to me just again a little bit more about that.
  • OVE OVERMYER: Well, the argument for me,
  • when I went in front of a lot of people
  • that necessarily didn't agree with everything that I
  • represented or what I stood for, the conversations
  • went something like this.
  • If you look at the mission of what labor unions represent--
  • inclusiveness, and injury to one is an injury to all,
  • the idea of everyone contributes and everyone succeeds.
  • All of these notions that drive labor unions was
  • consistent with the idea that marriage equality, that
  • equal rights in the workplace, regardless of how you identify,
  • are really important values that any union,
  • any progressive union, would honor.
  • And it was in our best interest, in order
  • to form a coalition, to make positive change happen
  • in the lives of the people they represent.
  • When you talk about an injury to one is an injury to all,
  • it really matters to the people who you sit next to at work.
  • And because they're heterosexual,
  • they can get a good pension, and their economic security
  • is stable.
  • But yet, the person next to him who's doing the same job
  • doesn't have the same rights.
  • It's just not fair.
  • And I think people began to see the discrepancies.
  • And until you make an awareness of the problem,
  • there's going to be no action.
  • There's going to be no movement on these issues.
  • It took a long time to convince people
  • that there was an issue here, that gay people needed
  • to stand up, be visible at work and say, hey, you know,
  • we've got to fix this.
  • There's a problem here.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Talk to me about some of the conversations
  • you've had to have with some of these people.
  • I mean, you're talking about union leaders here.
  • They're kind of rough and gruff, and you
  • had to go out and have beers with them.
  • OVE OVERMYER: Yes.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: And talk to me about some
  • of these conversations.
  • OVE OVERMYER: I'll tell you an interesting story.
  • In 2009, I actually went to the region's Women's Committee
  • to try to get a resolution passed,
  • along with some friends of mine, Bess Watts who
  • is a good friend of mine in Civil Service Employees
  • Association.
  • And I wrote some language, two resolutions,
  • to produce before our annual delegates
  • at a meeting in Buffalo.
  • There was about 1,500 people there,
  • and I wrote language for dignity for all students,
  • and a marriage equality resolution
  • for the collective body to support these issues.
  • Now, most of the people who know me well
  • said, you're out of your freaking mind.
  • There's no way that the entire body is
  • going to support these issues.
  • But doing a little politicking behind the scenes,
  • I have managed to convince the statewide officers
  • that this was something that they needed to do.
  • When I stood up on stage and started
  • talking about these resolutions, I
  • was expecting eggs to be thrown at me.
  • I was expecting to be spit at.
  • That didn't happen.
  • People sat and listened to the testimonies of the friends
  • that we lined up all throughout New York state,
  • in Syracuse, in New York, on Long Island.
  • They all stood up very proud and explained who they are
  • and that they deserve equal rights, and it happened.
  • It was an amazing thing.
  • It really was.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: But you had to lay some
  • of the groundwork for that.
  • OVE OVERMYER: That's right.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: So talk to me a little bit
  • about that, about laying that groundwork with these people,
  • one-on-one, having a beer with them.
  • OVE OVERMYER: Yeah.
  • It was difficult, because most of the time they
  • said, oh, they're here again.
  • They're going to be talking about the same issue.
  • And again, I think if I could explain it in simple terms,
  • activism is about showing up.
  • Advocacy is about being there.
  • When the conversation happens, you have to be present.
  • 90 percent of a good activist is showing up and being there
  • and having that conversation.
  • That's where the work happens.
  • And oftentimes, people don't want to hear your message,
  • but you have to be persistent.
  • And I think at some point, when people understand your passion,
  • they understand who you are, that you're just
  • trying to support your family like anybody else,
  • that we have more things that are in common that make us
  • different, that they begin to realize that, hey, this
  • is something I need to do.
  • Most of the people that I interact
  • with in the union movement represent other people.
  • They get it.
  • They understand that to be a good officer,
  • to be a good labor leader, you need
  • to represent all people, not just some of the people,
  • regardless of how they identify.
  • And I think it took a long time.
  • It took a lot of repeated exposures and conversations,
  • but soon it happened.
  • The tipping point came around 2009, 2010
  • when the New York State AFL-CIO sent out
  • a document stating that all the central labor councils in New
  • York support marriage equality.
  • And that's when the snowball happened.
  • And it wouldn't have happened without the people
  • in Rochester.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Let's talk a little bit, specifically
  • about changing the mindset of an individual,
  • and I'm speaking specifically about Alesi.
  • Talk to me a little bit about how that came about.
  • How did we get him?
  • How did you get him, not we.
  • OVE OVERMYER: Well, convincing the state legislators,
  • especially a Republican majority in the Senate,
  • to support this issue, I knew going in on the previous vote
  • that it wasn't going to happen.
  • There were some issues about how it would play out.
  • But there were even Democrats that
  • did not support the bill when it first came up
  • for a vote in the Senate.
  • When it passed in 2011, I think everybody
  • that voted yes really began to understand the issues.
  • And it really took a collaborative effort.
  • Again, a perfect storm of not only labor,
  • but of every community group, of every right-minded person,
  • to call their legislators, especially in the Rochester
  • area, that this is a good thing.
  • There's no downside to equality.
  • It's something that I think Senator Alesi probably--
  • I don't want to speak for his mind,
  • but I certainly believe that he wanted to vote
  • yes the first time around.
  • Having several conversations with him after the fact,
  • he knew he did the right thing.
  • And it just was a matter of time.
  • It was persistence and trying to explain to them our family
  • dynamics that were no different than any other American family,
  • and we need the rights and protections
  • like any other citizen.
  • And I think they got they got the message.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: But you also got the message
  • through to him because of that union support that you now had.
  • OVE OVERMYER: There's no question
  • that unions play an important role, in politicians becoming
  • incumbents or getting elected.
  • It's very difficult in Monroe County,
  • or the City of Rochester, or this district,
  • whether the assembly seats or the Senate
  • seats, to actually win without labor support.
  • We put tons of people on the street.
  • We donate financially.
  • We make the phone calls.
  • We make the connections.
  • If you're going to run for state assembly, or for state Senate,
  • in this area, if you don't have labor support,
  • you're going to have a hard time winning.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: So wrap it all up for me then
  • with what you just said, if you want to win,
  • you've got to have labor support, labor support
  • and gay marriage.
  • Bring that all together for me.
  • OVE OVERMYER: Well, and this was the great part,
  • that when the labor community finally
  • got on board with supporting resolutions
  • that we crafted back in 2009, a light went off
  • in my head saying, you know what?
  • Marriage is going to happen, because I
  • know this will be the tipping point, when I can convince,
  • or when the community can convince,
  • our state leadership to not just sign on to a resolution,
  • or not just say, OK, we support it, to actually be champions,
  • to go to press conferences, to talk to the people who
  • and make it happened, to talk to the donors
  • to get the advertising dollars to get on TV.
  • I have to give a shout-out to Mary Sullivan and Danny Donohue
  • from CSEA, two of our statewide officers.
  • CSEA is the largest public employee
  • union in the New York State.
  • We have well over 300,000 workers.
  • We were very instrumental in getting marriage passed,
  • and without the leadership of these folks,
  • I just don't think it would have happened.
  • And again, when it comes time for people
  • who want to serve in public office at the State,
  • in the State capitol, they come to us.
  • They want our endorsement.
  • And I think when we sided with what fairness means,
  • or what equality means, they realize that they've
  • got to move to that side.
  • I'll say this, not everyone has come that far,
  • but we're still working on them.
  • And that doesn't mean that they won't support
  • gay and lesbian issues or equal rights issues in the future,
  • because we're still working on them.
  • We have a lot of work to do.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Let's switch gears a little bit,
  • because you're also a librarian, a historian,
  • you've done a lot of work with The Empty Closet.
  • OVE OVERMYER: Yes.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Let's just start from there.
  • How did you get involved in writing with The Empty Closet,
  • and why?
  • OVE OVERMYER: OK, well, when I moved here in the 1990s,
  • I was really happy to see, at a coffee shop I stopped in,
  • and I saw The Empty Closet.
  • And I go, what is this thing?
  • And I picked it up, and I said, oh, it's an LGBT newspaper,
  • what a novelty.
  • And I was fascinated with it.
  • And there was an article about something political.
  • I can't remember exactly what it was, but I picked up the phone
  • and I called the editor, Susan Jordan.
  • And I said, you know what?
  • I have a really huge need to complain,
  • so is it OK if I send you a letter in response
  • to this article that's in the newspaper?
  • And she said, sure, go right ahead send me something.
  • So it began a relationship with Susan Jordan that began,
  • I think, in 1993 or '94.
  • After I wrote the letter, she asked me
  • if I wanted to be a reporter.
  • So I said, well, I'm really busy,
  • but I'll see how I can manage my time, and I will go ahead.
  • The first thing that I reported on
  • was the third year of the Image Out film festival.
  • And I interviewed Susan Soleil on Monroe Avenue
  • in her book bindings shop, and it was a great experience,
  • and I'll always remember it.
  • It was a wonderful experience.
  • And I began writing consistently as a columnist
  • and as a reporter and a photographer
  • for The Empty Closet since 2000, and I've
  • been writing ever since.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: And from your point of view,
  • talk to me about the importance of documenting month to month
  • the things that are going on in our community,
  • about documenting that.
  • Every month, there's history being made.
  • OVE OVERMYER: Yeah, it's been a huge privilege to witness
  • and to report the news that happens in our community.
  • People say that's a lot of work, the newspaper.
  • I said, yes, it is, but it's important work.
  • And I explain to them that the gay press is
  • so important in our community.
  • Not only our community, but in the nation, in the world.
  • The last thing we need are conservative talk show
  • hosts, mainstream media, defining who we are.
  • We need to tell our own meaningful stories
  • and to make sure that our community understands
  • who we are, and we need to be telling those stories.
  • So it's been a huge privilege to be
  • able to do that for the past twelve years.
  • I have reported on deaths, beatings of people.
  • I have reported on political events that have been
  • just spine-tingling at times.
  • It's been a remarkable ride for the past twelve years
  • to see so much history happened in Rochester,
  • and it's just been a privilege to report on it.
  • I just hope I have done justice to the people
  • that I stand on the shoulders of.
  • And hopefully the people that follow us can do the same,
  • because there's a huge, huge labor-- or I'm sorry,
  • there's a huge history arc that we're only--
  • can I start over again?
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Mm-hm.
  • OVE OVERMYER: OK.
  • That right now, we are only stewards of a short period
  • in history here in Rochester.
  • I stand on the shoulders of people
  • who came before me who kept this paper going for thirty years
  • before I got here, and I just hope
  • I'm doing justice telling the stories of the people who
  • live in this community.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: And expand on that
  • and the importance of doing that for future generations.
  • OVE OVERMYER: Well, I think it's so important to get it right.
  • And I often tell people that when
  • I put my fingers on the keyboard,
  • and when I start writing about a story about a person
  • or about an event that's happened in our community,
  • it's really important to get it right,
  • to bring out the human qualities of the people who
  • live in this community, because we are a remarkable place.
  • I've done a lot of traveling in my life,
  • and Rochester is such a progressive community.
  • There are so many unbelievable people
  • who work and live and play here, and those are
  • stories that need to be told.
  • It's part of who we are culturally,
  • and how we identify it and in what makes Rochester work.
  • We are so interwoven into the huge fabric of what Rochester
  • is, the gay community, whether if it's culturally,
  • our university centers, our history.
  • It's everywhere.
  • And it's just a blessing to be able to meet
  • the people who are the newsmakers in our community.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Can you give me a short sound bite of, again,
  • same type of question, but the importance of documenting
  • these stories, so that these stories are available for--
  • OVE OVERMYER: Generations?
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: For generations, to look back at our history?
  • OVE OVERMYER: Sure.
  • Oftentimes, when I'm reporting or doing a story,
  • I absolutely write for perpetuity.
  • I write for the idea that future generations
  • are going to look back on this time
  • and say, hey, that was a huge time of social change.
  • And I know historians in the future
  • will want me to get it right.
  • They'll want to say, hey, that was great reporting,
  • and I have all the information I need.
  • This told the story of what was going on at the time,
  • and I appreciate what that writer did for me.
  • So again, as a librarian, as a researcher myself, I mean,
  • I can appreciate the fact that stories
  • are told in a concise and meaningful way.
  • And I can't think of anything more important
  • than recording and documenting Rochester's history.
  • It's just been a huge privilege.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Now I want to move into your work
  • at the library, because I remember talking to you about
  • you will have people come into the library, and come to you
  • and ask you about resources available
  • for the LGBT community, the resources
  • available for that person to try and figure out
  • what's going on with them.
  • OVE OVERMYER: Right.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Again, talk to me about the importance
  • of having a resource like the library, here in Rochester,
  • and how fortunate we are to have our library
  • and what it is, because not every city has
  • a library like our central library system.
  • OVE OVERMYER: Well, I have to say,
  • I came to the library profession as a second career in life,
  • and I am so fortunate to be able to land
  • in an urban library like the Central Library of Rochester
  • and Monroe County in downtown Rochester.
  • It's no secret that I'm an openly gay person.
  • In the community, I'm kind of well-known,
  • so it's not uncommon for people to come up to me at work,
  • while I'm working in the library,
  • and ask me incredibly sensitive, personal questions
  • about identity issues, about a problem they're having at work
  • or with their family, or legal issues,
  • especially youth, transgendered youth.
  • And they're looking for resources.
  • They're looking for companionship.
  • They're looking for someone to connect with.
  • And where else can that happen but the public library?
  • I know we have great resources in Rochester
  • with the Gay Alliance, the MOCHA Center, and a lot of other--
  • they're doing just phenomenal work.
  • But for some reason, people like to congregate
  • at a public library.
  • And I think it's so important to have someone there
  • that they can connect with, and for some reason,
  • it just happens to be me.
  • People seem to come and look for those resources.
  • And again, I consider it a huge privilege
  • to be able to provide information
  • to affect such positive change in people's lives.
  • And I'll tell you a small story.
  • I've worked with a woman who was well
  • into her '60s at the public library,
  • and I've known her since I began there in the mid '90s.
  • And it took her every ounce of courage
  • to come up to me one day and explained to me
  • that she thinks that she is a lesbian,
  • and she didn't know the next step,
  • but she wanted to make sure that I knew.
  • And I merely picked up the phone and called my friends
  • at the Gay Alliance, and we put her in a coming out workshop,
  • and she's really doing wonderfully.
  • She's living a very happy life right now.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: I want to touch upon something that you touched
  • upon in what you just said, the importance of being
  • out of the closet at work.
  • OVE OVERMYER: Yeah.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: And your situation, it's
  • out of the closet in a public venue.
  • The importance of that because other people
  • can then have someplace or someone.
  • OVE OVERMYER: Yeah.
  • I think if I was to impart any kind of--
  • my experience walking this earth with being an openly gay person
  • with high visibility in a place like Rochester,
  • I would have to say that a couple of things come to mind.
  • One of them is be confident in the fact
  • that you need to be true to your authentic self,
  • that you need to be confident that your opinion matters.
  • You need to find a sense of peace
  • in your life, where you can be comfortable in your own skin.
  • All of those personal qualities matter,
  • because it's really hard to navigate this world
  • without a sense of confidence.
  • And I think people perceive that when they see you,
  • and they understand that you're a happy, functioning person
  • in a family, in a community.
  • I think that's something that they like to look up to,
  • that they feel confident their own ability that maybe I
  • can do that, too.
  • So in a way, I mean, certainly for the younger people
  • that I interact with at work, it's important to me
  • to be a good role model.
  • It's important for me to be able to perform
  • at work in a competent way, where they can say,
  • I can do that, too, that I can be a contributing
  • member of society.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Before I lose this train of thought,
  • Susan Jordan.
  • Susan Jordan is certainly someone shoulder's
  • who this whole entire community has stood
  • upon for many, many years.
  • You're a perfect person to speak about Susan.
  • Talk to me about Susan.
  • Who is she?
  • Why is the work that she does so significant for this community?
  • OVE OVERMYER: Susan Jordan and I have a really interesting
  • relationship.
  • I can't quite describe it, but it's not
  • like a sister or brother.
  • I'm not quite sure how to define it, but for the life of me,
  • I could never let the woman down.
  • If she asked me to do something, I would absolutely do it.
  • I think we both understand.
  • We have this understanding and relationship,
  • about how important the work we're doing right now.
  • Recording, documenting the history of our community
  • at this time in history is so important.
  • She's kind of an enigma.
  • She's kind of hard to pin down, like in adjectives,
  • or to describe her.
  • But she's just this bundle of knowledge and energy
  • and deadlines, and just an incredibly competent person
  • who has done a remarkable job, just pumping out stories month
  • after month and doing some great job editing,
  • especially when I do sloppy work,
  • and she kind of cleans up the mess
  • and she makes me look good.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah, you work in the unions.
  • You work at the library.
  • You work with The Empty Closet, all of that.
  • And this is an unfair question to ask,
  • but if you were to single out one particular thing, what
  • are you most proud of?
  • OVE OVERMYER: The single most thing I guess I'm proud of it,
  • and I automatically have this defense mechanism where
  • I think about my family.
  • I think about my kids, and the people
  • that are important in my life, being a good role
  • model to them, being a good provider,
  • that's what I'm most proud of.
  • If I can say anything to future generations
  • about getting older, or are getting on,
  • I would say, be true to yourself.
  • Be confident.
  • Be visible.
  • Be active.
  • Act up.
  • Be proud.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Along those lines,
  • what do you think the challenges are that still lie ahead?
  • OVE OVERMYER: I think the challenges that lie ahead
  • for our community is really to address the complacency,
  • that some people may think that we have arrived,
  • and we have not.
  • There is so much more work to be done.
  • We need employment nondiscrimination
  • in the entire country.
  • We need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.
  • We need rights in the workplace for all Americans.
  • It's not happening right now.
  • The last thing we can do is be complacent.
  • We have so much more work to do, and everyone
  • needs to sacrifice in order to make this happen.
  • It doesn't happen with just a bunch of activists in a corner.
  • This is going to require everyone
  • to go out into their community and talk to the people that
  • may not agree with them.
  • Change their hearts.
  • Change their minds.
  • Tell them who you are, and explain to them
  • why these things matter to you.
  • That's the way we'll get full equality.
  • That's the way we're going to change the world.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: And that will call it a wrap.
  • OVE OVERMYER: OK.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Thank you.
  • OVE OVERMYER: How did I do?
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: You did excellent.
  • If you didn't, we'd still be talking.
  • OVE OVERMYER: OK.