Video Interview, Patti Evans, April 11, 2012
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Ignore the camera, ignore all the lights.
- It's just a conversation between you and I, OK?
- And if you start talking and you lose your train of thought
- or you say, oh, I could say that better, just stop and say,
- let me do that again.
- You don't have to whisper.
- PATTI EVANS: OK, I'll try.
- Somewhere in this at the end, in how to be remembered,
- is as one who overcame some things like introversion.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah, that's fine.
- I totally understand.
- And let's just pull you down.
- I want to make sure that you look good.
- So that's what I'm doing.
- And this is very lightweight material.
- I don't want it to look like you're being pulled down
- by this microphone.
- But it's a great color, I've got to tell you.
- I'm so glad you wore it.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Here's some water if you need it.
- PATTI EVANS: Thank you, that will be helpful.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Also keep in mind that in the documentary,
- the viewers are not going to hear my questions to you.
- So if I ask you a question, in your answer
- refer to the question that was asked.
- If I ask you today, Patti did you
- notice that the sky was blue today, your answer to me
- would be, I noticed today that the sky was blue
- because I looked up and--
- that kind of thing, OK?
- PATTI EVANS: OK, I'll try my best.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Are we rolling?
- I can see we're rolling.
- So the first thing I want to do is-- put the cap down.
- The first thing I want to talk to you
- about is you as a seventeen-year-old girl
- in New York City, your coming out experience.
- But more specifically, talk to me
- about your experience with the Stonewall riots.
- Talk to me about being a seventeen-year-old girl in New
- York City coming out and what happened at Stonewall.
- PATTI EVANS: Well, that was the initial experience.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Again, start off your answer with something
- like, when I was seventeen, I was living in New York.
- PATTI EVANS: OK, when I was seventeen,
- I'd just graduated high school, I
- was still living in New York at the time of the Christopher
- Street incident.
- I was trying to get to know a woman who had just been
- kicked out of the Air Force.
- She heard about the gay bar being raided the night before
- and asked me to accompany her.
- And so we wound up in one of the Christopher Street riots.
- It started as a peaceful candlelight march.
- But the police were lining the sidelines of the whole thing.
- And I thought we'd get through it
- all right until there was a sound of breaking glass.
- CREW: I'm sorry, I have to stop.
- Her shoulder--
- PATTI EVANS: The what?
- The microphone again?
- KEVIN INDOVINO: The microphone is still
- pulling on your shoulder.
- PATTI EVANS: Can I do anything to adjust it, I mean, myself?
- CREW: No, I was just wondering--
- PATTI EVANS: If I close the buttons?
- CREW: Will that be all right like that?
- KEVIN INDOVINO: If you button them all, yeah.
- CREW: OK, let me do that.
- I don't want anything to distract from your story.
- Unless you want me to hide it in there, in the collar.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: No, I think that's better
- It keeps it from pulling.
- CREW: Yeah, you look good.
- I'm very sorry about that.
- PATTI EVANS: OK, can I pick it up from where I was?
- KEVIN INDOVINO: No, because now you look different.
- PATTI EVANS: Oh, dear.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: But you were on the right track.
- So let's pick it up again.
- You were seventeen years old in New York.
- PATTI EVANS: OK, when I was seventeen years old,
- I was still in New York City.
- I had just graduated high school.
- And I was trying to deal with this issue of my feelings
- for women.
- So I found a gay bar called Gianni's.
- And in that bar, I met a woman who
- had just been kicked out of the Air Force for being a lesbian.
- It was at the time of the Christopher Street riots.
- And the bar had been raided the night before.
- She heard about it and she asked me to accompany her.
- So we were involved in that Christopher Street
- riot that followed the day after the bar raid.
- And it started out as a peaceful candlelight demonstration
- that the police lined the sidelines.
- But they left us alone until there was
- the sound of breaking glass.
- And then it was pandemonium.
- And the police were running around hitting people
- with their billy clubs, arresting people.
- And a policeman grabbed me by my collar.
- And I said something like, "Don't you
- see we're just fighting for the right to love?"
- And he looked me in the eye and he just
- said, "Go home little girl."
- And he shoved me out and I ran away.
- So my experience of that riot was a little bit--
- the way I remember it was just, wow,
- in the middle of this riot, a policeman had a human moment.
- And we had a human moment together.
- So that was the start, for me, of any knowledge
- of gay activism.
- There hadn't been very much.
- There was the Mattachine Society,
- I guess, before then and the Daughters the Bilitis.
- But they weren't very politically active.
- So it was the start of a whole brand new movement in society.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Eventually, you wound up here
- in Rochester at the university.
- Talk to me about your first experience with Rochester.
- What were you finding here in regards to the gay community?
- What was Rochester like?
- PATTI EVANS: OK, it was a Puerto Rican friend of mine at the U
- of R, a street-wise guy, who when I told him
- about my feelings for women he said, "Well, Patti,
- we'll ask the nearest cab driver to take us
- to the nearest gay bar.
- You'll be OK, you know?"
- And I discovered the Riverview.
- And as we developed a gay movement here,
- we started to fit more in to the Riverview which
- was a little old school.
- There was a little more role playing
- then and also who tended to come from the U of R
- GLF were more educated perhaps, whereas the rest were
- more street--
- I don't know how to categorize just a working class group.
- And we started to meld together as time went by.
- We became a community.
- And all types started to attend the U of R GLF.
- And we had a very active social thing to offer.
- We had beautiful dances.
- And they did so much to educate more than just our community.
- Because all the students on campus,
- whether it's the black students--
- they would all come to our dances.
- And it was a real fun time.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Let me take you back just a little bit.
- I need you to set up for me--
- what was the GLF?
- And how did you get involved?
- PATTI EVANS: All right, the Gay Liberation Front
- was the first gay organization in Rochester.
- And it was at my college, my university I was attending,
- the University of Rochester.
- And it was started by Bob Osborn who
- was a genius in his own right.
- I mean, he was a PhD physicist and a man way before his time.
- He had been involved in the civil rights movement, been
- on the march to Washington, et cetera, before that
- was a popular liberal cause.
- And he felt it was time for society
- to address the gay issue.
- And he recognized that as part of his own feelings about life
- and started the Gay Liberation Front.
- So that's how I got involved in it.
- There was a planning meeting, they saw me at the Riverview,
- gave me a leaflet, come to this planning meeting for the Gay
- Liberation Front.
- And when I went to the first meeting,
- I did walk through the room.
- Because it was just the one flamboyant gay man
- on campus and maybe a couple other guys.
- Bob hadn't gotten there yet, Bob Osborn.
- And then there was Karen Hagberg and her girlfriend.
- And they both had pigtails and dresses.
- And I mean, that thing just looked so conservative
- or something.
- And the flamboyant gay man--
- everybody on campus saw him coming.
- He was an actor.
- He was very active in campus theater and stuff.
- But I was like, oh, I don't think I can relate to this.
- So that was the first planning meeting.
- Next morning, Bob Osborn's knocking on my door
- and insisting, "We're having another planning meeting, come
- there."
- And I did.
- And Bob Osborn, I'm very grateful to him.
- He was somewhere between a brother and a father
- in my life.
- We lived together for many years on Fuller Place
- where Bob Crystal, who you'll be interviewing,
- Bob Osborn, and myself were all roommates.
- And very often, that apartment became kind of a center.
- When we were moving to various locations as a gay movement,
- at times we didn't have a home.
- And we would do it at Fuller Place.
- Lots of interesting things happened there.
- For instance, Lieutenant Urlacher
- who became the police chief--
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah, let's not jump that far forward yet, OK?
- Just talk to me a little bit briefly
- about the kinds of discussions that you were
- having with the GLF, with Bob.
- What was being discussed?
- What were you guys hoping to achieve?
- PATTI EVANS: I think we all recognized
- that a positive experience of being gay
- doesn't happen in an exclusive bar scene kind of atmosphere.
- And I realized pretty early on after Bob
- got me activated that it was very effective to focus
- on education, dealing with politicians,
- being helpful to them in their campaigns.
- There's no way to make the powers that
- be more responsive to you than helping get them in office.
- And of course, the other important thing
- is education and having as much media input
- as you can to get your message out.
- So those things were all made clear to me
- as a young woman there working with Bob Osborn
- who was a veteran of activism and who knew these things
- and helped me to see them.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Actually, talk to me about GLF
- getting kicked off of campus.
- What happened?
- And where did you eventually go?
- PATTI EVANS: OK, yes, the Gay Liberation Front
- did get kicked off the U of R campus.
- And the reason was a nonpolitical one.
- The reason was that we were funded
- by the Student Association.
- However, we attracted hundreds of people to campus,
- but only a handful of us were students at the U of R.
- So that was why they felt it wasn't appropriate to call it
- a student organization.
- And they had a good point.
- So we were ready for growth.
- Now sometimes, things take a little while.
- And in between, we'd wind up with meetings at Fuller Place
- and all sorts of meetings.
- And I want to get to the police issue.
- Because that is so important as a way that we effected
- change in this community.
- I met Urlacher who became police chief finally,
- when he was on the vice squad.
- And he may have been a Sergeant at that point, I don't know.
- But he was on the vice squad.
- And they were entrapping gay men in the parks.
- So Bob Osborn decided that we should
- go leaflet the men milling around in the parks.
- So we did.
- And I went up to each of them and just said,
- "The police have been entrapping people here,
- you're going to have to wind up with a police record,
- please go home."
- And I did it to Urlacher I didn't know he
- was one of the police people.
- But when we left this place where
- the men were milling around, he followed me to my car.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: OK, we're just going to fix your mic again.
- So hold that thought.
- PATTI EVANS: OK, he--
- CREW: I'm sorry, just put your collar in just a little.
- The other side-- your collar, just pull it in, just yeah.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah, this side keeps falling down on you.
- CREW: You're very animated.
- PATTI EVANS: I'm sorry.
- CREW: I just know this is very important to you.
- So I want you to--
- KEVIN INDOVINO: OK, so let's pick it
- up from meeting Urlacher in the park.
- Tell me about that.
- PATTI EVANS: OK, well, he was, I think,
- a sergeant, Urlacher, on the vice squad at that time.
- Bob Osborn's idea was to, one--
- CREW: I'm sorry, the cable, the mic cable.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: It's not you Patti, it's us.
- PATTI EVANS: Don't mind me, I just want
- to get this over with.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: All these wires and stuff.
- PATTI EVANS: I've got to stop moving this side, right?
- KEVIN INDOVINO: No, you're fine.
- It's the microphone.
- It's just a natural thing.
- PATTI EVANS: OK, Sergeant Urlacher, he
- was on the vice squad.
- And he was a sergeant at that time.
- So Bob Osborn's idea was to warn the men so that they didn't
- get trapped and arrested.
- And we leafleted, him and I. And we happened
- to leaflet Sergeant Urlacher.
- He was on the vice squad and they were doing a sting.
- But he did run after me when I was getting back
- into the car with Bob Osborn.
- And he said, "It's not because they're gay that we're here.
- We're here because this is a public park."
- And he said, "I really want to invite you to come in and talk
- to me about the issue."
- And I did do that.
- And he was a very personable host.
- He's a good man.
- I mean, I know there were controversies
- involved with him later.
- And that's not our business.
- But as far as the way he ran things,
- he went from being a sergeant, he
- went to being head of the downtown section.
- And one of the things that happened at Fuller Place
- was that Lieutenant Urlacher would
- send his new recruits for consciousness
- raising on the gay issue.
- And I think that was an excellent kind of way
- that we evolved with the police department.
- And of course, he went on to become
- a lieutenant in the downtown section and then police chief.
- And I think our relationship to the police department
- has consistently been a good one as a result
- of those early years.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: OK, I want to jump back a little bit.
- We're still at the beginnings of the Gay Alliance
- where you just got kicked off campus.
- Can you talk to me about the formation of the Lesbian
- Resource Center and your involvement with them?
- PATTI EVANS: Well, after GLF got kicked off the campus,
- we decided to go separate ways for a bit.
- Some of the women wanted to have an all women's group
- and vice versa I guess with the men.
- So the men went on to their Gay Brotherhood place
- that they opened.
- And we moved to the Genessee Co-op
- and started what was first called
- Gay Revolution of Women, GROW.
- But then there was a senior group, Greater Rochester Older
- Workers or something like that, that threatened to sue us
- for using their acronym.
- So that's when we renamed it the Lesbian Resource Center.
- And at some point, the Gay Brotherhood moved in next door
- to us in the co-op.
- So we had the men's group and the women's group
- both in the same place.
- And we started the Gay Alliance of Genesee Valley.
- And that was meant to be an umbrella group where
- we could all join together.
- At the same point in time as that one,
- I started something called the Rochester Gay Task Force.
- And that was something to direct at getting
- involved in political campaigns, getting to know politicians,
- and trying to effect change by contributing and being
- a part of their--
- fulfilling their needs.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So let's move on a little bit
- then into politics.
- You became actively involved in politics in a couple
- different ways.
- And the first way I want you talk to me
- about is you actually at that point
- decided to run for office, a delegate office.
- Talk to me about that choice that you made
- and why you made it.
- PATTI EVANS: Yes, I was the first on the Rochester voting
- ballots as a delegate running to be able to attend
- a Democratic Convention.
- And following that, Tim Mains did the same thing.
- And it was at that point that I suggested to Tim Mains,
- because he was so articulate and so well
- versed on what was happening in Rochester as far as education,
- and politics, on and on--
- so he was also a very handsome, and just well-spoken,
- and a good role model I thought.
- So I suggested that he really should consider running
- for actual political office.
- And I was very happy to see that he eventually did do that.
- And I was his volunteer coordinator in his city council
- campaign through the primary where he did indeed
- become a candidate, and as you know
- was successful, and contributed many years in our city council
- here.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: We'll get into it a little bit deeper.
- But very generally just tell me why politics.
- Why was it important for you to get so politically involved?
- And we're going to have Michael fix your microphone again
- for you incidentally.
- CREW: Yeah, sorry about that.
- Yeah, that's fine, your fine.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Let me ask you this way.
- What were you hoping to achieve, not only personally,
- but also community-wide in getting involved politically?
- PATTI EVANS: Equality is achieved by total involvement
- in your community.
- And people's ignorance is not going
- to be overcome if they don't have exposure.
- And who to better focus on than the people who
- are the powerful people, the people who
- hold political office?
- And as I've mentioned, I think it's
- most effective to educate by offering positive input
- into their campaigns.
- You're working side by side with them.
- They get an education on the issue in the process.
- I remember I had one labor leader
- on that slate of delegates that I
- was running with on the ballot.
- And anyway, he said something to me.
- We were doing a mailing together.
- And he said, "God, it's really true that politics
- makes strange bedfellows."
- He said, "Never in my life would I
- have expected to be here with a lesbian doing a mailing."
- And that makes the point.
- It illustrates the point of how important
- it is to be active and open.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So you were running openly as a lesbian,
- right?
- PATTI EVANS: Right.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Again, talk to me a little bit more about what
- the community's reaction-- what kind of reactions
- were you getting about that?
- PATTI EVANS: Oh, everybody was very supportive.
- It's too bad our candidate dropped out.
- Because then it becomes an unfinanced slate.
- However on my slate of candidates
- who were supporting Hubert Humphrey I think
- or someone, because Birch Bayh had dropped out, OK?
- So it was an unofficial slate that was unfinanced.
- So it wasn't going to get tremendous numbers.
- But the numbers it got--
- I was ahead of labor leaders, judge's wives,
- all the other people on my slate.
- And I had somebody high up in the Democratic Party here
- say that they realized from that,
- that I had a constituency.
- So it made a point.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah, good.
- CREW: You keep going--
- PATTI EVANS: Did I do it again?
- Did I do it again?
- I'm really not going to wear this shirt no more.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: For your next interviewer.
- CREW: I'm just going to tape it to you.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah, you just have this one wire
- that keeps popping up.
- So he's going to tape it underneath your shirt.
- PATTI EVANS: Is this just a looks thing?
- Because I can deal with it.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: But I can't.
- CREW: Yeah, and I will hear about it.
- Yeah, but you look--
- you have a great story.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: OK, so you found yourself eventually in Albany
- is a lobbyist.
- And you were getting not so nice reactions while you were there.
- Talk to me about your experience there.
- PATTI EVANS: Well actually, that wasn't a bad experience.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: OK, give it to me in the beginning--
- PATTI EVANS: I'm sorry, yeah.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Again, I wound up in Albany as a lobbyist.
- PATTI EVANS: I did wind up in Albany
- for New York State Coalition of Gay
- Organizations as a lobbyist.
- Our issue was not considered a priority by many.
- However, we did have access to a WATS line
- by one of the sponsors of the bill.
- And I was able to call around the state
- and also visit the representatives
- from around the state and try to get their constituents to do
- mailings.
- Via WATS line, I'd call lists of people from around the state.
- But when it came down to the actual vote,
- the Democratic Party just felt like it wasn't
- the time historically yet.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: OK, I'm going to stop you there.
- Because I need you to set up for me
- what bill are we talking about?
- What legislation are we talking about?
- PATTI EVANS: God, I don't even remember.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Well, they were voting on something.
- And you guys were in Albany asking
- them to vote on something.
- Describe for me what was your purpose there in Albany.
- What were you trying to get the legislators to do?
- PATTI EVANS: I'm trying to--
- God, where's my scrapbook?
- Can you get my scrapbook?
- I'll see what the name of the bill was.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: It doesn't need to be the exact name, just
- say what it was in general.
- EVELYN BAILEY: Was it a civil right's
- bill, an unemployment bill, housing bill, sodomy laws?
- PATTI EVANS: I'm blanking on that, what it was stated as.
- But the New York State Coalition of Gay Organizations
- thought that we needed education.
- And when our bill did come up for a vote,
- that was very disappointing.
- Because people whose staff had told me would be in support,
- like Louise Slaughter--
- her staff said, "Don't waste your time.
- Louise is supporting it."
- And then the Democratic Party--
- Louise Slaughter later explained when I confronted her
- about that, she said that the Democratic leader had said
- "It's a controversial issue.
- You don't want to damage your chances of re-election."
- So they didn't support it.
- It got some votes, but it was very far from being passed.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: All right yeah, take a quick look
- through there.
- See if it refreshes your memory.
- PATTI EVANS: I left my reading glasses inside, too.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Wait, wait, you've got a microphone.
- PATTI EVANS: Oh, yeah.
- Thank you.
- Do you want to see if you'd see it faster than me?
- It just says something like "Patti Evans
- is going to be a lobbyist."
- Maybe it says "Evans Takes Job."
- I think it's when I was working at the Alliance.
- "Assembly Kills Gay Rights Bill," that has so be it.
- So you can read out loud to me if you want.
- I can't see that.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah, it was just
- known as the Gay Rights Bill.
- Yeah, that's all it was called.
- So let's just talk--
- PATTI EVANS: I guess we didn't get as specific in those days,
- you know?
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So again, just talk to me very briefly
- about your time in Albany and what you
- were trying to achieve there.
- PATTI EVANS: Again?
- In Albany, I was trying to achieve education
- through exposure to the issue and through someone who was not
- trying to be confrontive as much as I was trying to show them
- that we're just like any other community of people
- and that they can't stereotype a whole group of people
- or judge us unfairly.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: And so you ran into some challenges
- there and had some disappointments.
- And again, talk to me a little bit
- about the delegates, the representatives
- not being so supportive.
- PATTI EVANS: Well, it was a mixed bag.
- But people like-- his son is in there now--
- but Roger Robach were very condescending.
- But there was also support, and I really want to stress that.
- For instance, Gary Proud--
- and I feel kind of bad about this.
- We had a difference because Gary Proud wasn't pro-choice.
- And so some in our community didn't
- want to wish to support him.
- However on the gay issue, that man was so supportive.
- And in fact, he would offer me rides down to Albany
- to be able to save money and to be
- able to be present more consistently in my lobbying
- effort.
- But there were disappointments like Louise Slaughter deciding
- to leave the floor when it came to voting on the Gay Bill.
- She later explained that here Democratic chairperson
- had suggested it was too controversial,
- didn't have a chance at passage in his view,
- and that she shouldn't jeopardize
- her future political career.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: We're going to jump gears
- here just a little bit.
- Talk to me about Lesbian Nation.
- PATTI EVANS: OK, I love Lesbian Nation.
- A lot of radio stations can use some of their time
- for community service programming.
- So that is how we were able to start two shows.
- Lesbian Nation for the women and Green Thursday, that you will
- talk to Bob about, for the men.
- And I really did enjoy that.
- I thought it was so important that we developed a culture.
- And it was difficult back then.
- Because it was before Olivia Records
- which was an all woman's recording company.
- That made it a lot easier.
- While I was still doing the show, they started.
- But before then, the only way I could
- get music that was appropriate was
- to sit hours and hours each week in the WCMF music library.
- And what I would do is go through.
- And every time I saw a woman's name on a woman's album,
- I listened to the song to see if it was appropriate.
- And I did find a small bunch of lesbian-oriented kinds
- of songs that way.
- And it was nice.
- The Lesbian Nation program was myself, JoAnne Nelson
- and Cathy Thurston.
- The three of us got along well.
- And we had a variety program.
- We would invite in speakers of interest to the community,
- and it was music, and it was news.
- We'd read sections from The Advocate
- or whatever was happening that week.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Why did you think
- a show like that was so important for the Rochester
- community?
- PATTI EVANS: It was important that we
- did build a sense of culture and a sense of belonging
- to a wider culture developing in our country.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: OK, hold that thought for a second
- while these bells go off.
- CREW: You probably want to have the answer.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah.
- Those bells are signaling that we
- are close to the end of your interview.
- PATTI EVANS: Good.
- That's OK by me.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Could you talk about Lesbian Nation?
- Throw it back at me this way--
- a radio show like Lesbian Nation was
- important for the community, and then you fill in the blanks,
- got it?
- PATTI EVANS: A show like Lesbian Nation
- was important to our community in many ways.
- It helped to establish a culture.
- And it helped to form a bond with a wider culture that
- was developing all over the US and at that point started
- throughout the world.
- And to make us more cohesive as a group,
- that show was important.
- It was important.
- I heard from people throughout the years--
- somebody would say something like, "Well, I was a teenager.
- And I used to have to listen to you on my earphones
- under my covers."
- Or another woman I remember telling me
- that she bundled her infant child up,
- because she couldn't make the call,
- because she was still married.
- But she bundled her infant child up
- and went to a public payphone to call the Lesbian Nation show.
- So we'd get calls every week like that.
- And I just think it was an important way for us
- to penetrate that we were a part of this community
- and to reach out to those who needed us.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: When people look back
- at your life and everything that you've
- done from the Gay Alliance and Lesbian
- Nation, your political aspirations and all of that,
- what is the one thing that you really want people
- to know about you and what--
- what do you think was your greatest accomplishment?
- PATTI EVANS: I feel like the things
- that I've been trying to talk about today are
- the important things in terms of my contribution--
- to recognize the importance of education,
- of political involvement, and of media attention to the issue.
- And it wasn't easy for me.
- Because I had to overcome things in my own life.
- I come from a background of poverty.
- And even when I got here to the U of R,
- I was very introverted kind of person.
- And it's never been easy to do the sort of thing
- that we're doing even today.
- I find it nerve wracking, always did, always will.
- Every week I get out there on CMF radio, one of the biggest
- stations at that time, to do a radio show,
- and I quaked inside every week.
- But I did it.
- And we can all do it.
- We can all contribute and persevere.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: What can today's young generation
- learn from what you did?
- PATTI EVANS: That it's effective.
- I think, if you judge the difference from 1970 to now,
- there's a lot more acceptance and understanding
- and less ignorance regarding lesbians and gay men
- in our country and the world.
- So we've come a long way.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: OK, I'm going to keep digging
- here just a little bit, just another minute or two
- after the quarter hour bell.
- Like we need to know where we are every fifteen minutes.
- PATTI EVANS: That really comes up in here, huh?
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah.
- Are they going to play a whole sonnet out there or what?
- CREW: It is new, I'm going to guess.
- PATTI EVANS: Is it the new (unintelligible)?
- CREW: I'm going to guess.
- PATTI EVANS: Yeah, they're more extended.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Oh my God, come on.
- PATTI EVANS: You know what I don't do enough--
- I don't know.
- Are you filming right now?
- I don't smile enough on these things because I'm too nervous.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: No, no, you're fine.
- CREW: Do you know the words?
- You could at least sing it.
- PATTI EVANS: They are treating us to quite the tune.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah, come on.
- That sounded like an end.
- PATTI EVANS: Ta-da.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: OK, same kind of question
- but a slightly different take on it.
- Again, in everything that you've done for this community
- whether it be socially, politically, or whatever,
- what are you most proud of?
- PATTI EVANS: What am I most proud of?
- That's a loaded question.
- I don't know what to say.
- I think that I'm most proud of affecting change, developing
- relationships with people in this community, outside
- of the gay community, in fact like Midge Costanza who
- deserves a great deal of credit with me
- from the time at the U of R. When
- she was at a Susan B. Anthony dinner, she was the speaker.
- And I got up and asked the question of do
- you support gay civil rights?
- And her answer right from the start
- was "I support equal rights for everyone."
- But she didn't take it too seriously.
- I mean, it came across as a joke.
- But she remembered me from that in our next interactions.
- And I went through so many stages with her.
- And she became a friend.
- And she did a lot for our community.
- And she did a lot in terms of her own personal evolvement
- on the issue.
- And that's all I'm going to say about that.
- And it was good for me to see that all you have to do
- is be yourself.
- And people learn and grow with you on an issue
- and overcome their ignorance.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: OK, that's it.
- PATTI EVANS: Alright.
- CREW: Don't go far.