This is the third installment of member stories the Social Justice Committee collects for a special publication, “The CVUU Connection,” devoted to social justice. Do you have a story about a personal experience in the effort for Justice? Send us your stories, either of your own struggle for justice or your experiences within freedom movements. Please submit to Lianne Smith, SJC Co-chair lilismith13@gmail.com, and/or Sheila Dinwiddie at sheiladinwiddie@aol.com.
Gay Information Line
By Fred Osgood
The UUGC was one of the earliest LGBTQIA+ organizations in the Tidewater area. It was organized in 1976 at the Unitarian Church of Norfolk in Ghent.
The UUGC was ambitious and involved itself in many aspects of Lesbian and Gay men’s lives. The Gay Information Line, which started in 1977, was an important outreach that provided community members with immediate help when someone called.
We staffed the Gay Information Line each evening from 6 to 10 o’clock. I still remember the phone number (625-1130) but not the area code.
The telephone was in the offices of Our Own Community Press on the Church’s second floor.
My shift began like a typical night. I’d taken several calls for bar information and when the phone rang again. I answered it, and there was a young male voice, probably a young teen’s voice, on the other end. He called because he and his boyfriend had an argument and his boyfriend was mad at him. He called to ask for advice on how to patch things up. He wanted to know what he could say to improve things between them. He said they met at the neighborhood pool and would usually spend their days there. We talked for a while about some things he could do. He seemed satisfied that he now had a plan to make things right with his boyfriend.
The rest of my shift was uneventful, so I closed the office and headed home. As I walked home, I thought back to the phone call with the youngster, and it brought a smile to my face. I thought how great it was that now there was a place gay teenagers could call for nonjudgmental advice.