Penny, Pollard

Interviewer

Sarah Winn, University of Southern Maine

Files

Description

Penny Pollard is a 71-year-old lesbian, who grew up in a middle-class Catholic family in Massachusetts and is the youngest of three children. She discusses her coming out process, her experiences in the LGBTQ community in San Francisco during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and her career path which included various jobs such as furniture making, and speech-language pathology. Penny describes facing some discrimination and backlash when coming out, particularly from old friends and coworkers but also finding acceptance and community, especially after moving to Portland, Maine. She shares the story of how she met her now-wife when moving to Portland Maine. She talks about her chosen family of close friends, some of whom she considered buying a property with. She talks about her involvement in the local LGBTQ community, including helping organize a lesbian and gay film festival in the early 1990s. She was also shortly involved in the Maine Lesbian Gay Political Alliance and expressed how important this organization was for Maine. She also shares her experiences in underground gay bars in Portland Maine. Towards the end, Penny expresses a desire to do more to make young queer people feel safe as they explore their identity. Overall, the interview provides a detailed personal account of Penny's life experiences as a lesbian navigating different communities and relationships over the decades.

Citation

Please cite as: Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer+ Collection, Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine, University of Southern Maine Libraries.

Publication Date

11-27-2024

Publisher

University of Southern Maine

City

Portalnd, Maine

Keywords

Lesbian, Queer, Queer Community, LGBTQ, Marblehead, Massachusetts, San Francisco, Portland, Maine, Chosen Family, Social Class, HIV and Aids Epidemic, gay community, East Coast, West Coast, Sexual Identity, Activism, Profession, Workplace, Refinished Furniture, Film and Video, Speech Language Pathology, Coming Out, Relationships, Margie Equality, Heterosexual Relationship, Diane Elze, Barb Wood, Mary Bonato, Jenny Reagan, Cheryl Lewis, Norine Kotts, Culture and the Arts, Film, Performance Arts, Maine Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, 1990’s, Underground Bar, Good Egg, Joleen McGowan, Political Organizations, Southern Maine, 1980’s, Equal Protection

Disciplines

History of Gender | Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies | Oral History | Women's Studies

Recommended Citation

Winn, Sarah, "Penny, Pollard" (2024). Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection. 137.
https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/querying_ohproject/137

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.