Tommi avicolli mecca biography

As an tommi avicolli mecca biography editor of PGN, Avicolli Mecca said he brought activism to his journalism in ways his college professors had explicitly said could not be done. He hired Lori Kim and Shilpa Mehta. Kim is Korean-American, Mehta an Indian immigrant. Avicolli Mecca was also an archivist. The archives at the William Way Center are built on his work: compilations of photographs, newsletters, memorabilia that he carefully maintained over 20 years — all to create a historical record of the early LGBTQ movement.

His parents had both died within months of each other in The daily intensity of covering the AIDS crisis was too emotionally draining. He expected only to take a break, but San Francisco has been home since Gay teachers clippings, records, and photographs concerning recommendations to the Philadelphia Board of Education from the Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force Box 5 Folder 3.

Gay Theater Alliance materials including newsletters of the Alliance, undated. Box 5 Folder 4. Giovanni's Room clippings, flyers, press releases, catalogs, book lists, bookmarks, shopping bags, from Giovanni's Room bookstore; also information concerning controversial pamphlet, "How to Have Sex with Kids," carried by the store in, undated.

Box 5 Folder 5. Box 5 Folder 6. Wilson Goode, undated. Box 5 Folder 7. Hart, Samuel clippings and notes concerning Philadelphia minister nominated by President Reagan to Civil Rights Commission, forced to withdraw Box 5 Folder 8. Box 5 Folder 9. Hill, Pat clippings, press releases, and court documents concerning the case of Hill v.

Crawford, Washington and the City of Philadelphia US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvaniawhich alleged discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation Box 5 Folder Homophiles of Penn State HOPS flyers, membership lists, press releases, newsletter of the student gay organization, undated. Box 6 Folder 1. Box 6 Folder 2.

Box 6 Folder 3. La Salle University clippings from the student newspaper La Salle Collegian on various gay issues on campus Box 6 Folder 4. Labyrinth correspondence and flyer concerning the Philadelphia women's newspaper, Box 6 Folder 5. Legislator's Gayzette proposal and mockups for special issue of Weekly Philadelphia Gayzette issued to members of Philadelphia City Council Box 6 Folder 6.

Lenox, Ray clippings concerning the prosecution of a Pennsylvania Lottery winner and owner of Philadelphia bars Quincy's Tavern and Maxine's Bar Box 6 Folder 7. Lesbians and Gays at Penn clippings, flyers, press releases, photographs concerning the student group at the University of Pennsylvania, undated. Box 6 Folder Maciejewski, Stephen clipping and paperwork concerning a Philadelphia city employee's complaint of discrimination based on sexual preferences, specifically the denial of access to spousal equivalent benefits Martin, Dan clippings, flyers and program books for the production of Xposed: A Male Reviewmusic and lyrics by Dan Martin Box 7 Folder Miscellaneous clippings, Box 7 Folder 3.

Miscellaneous mailing lists, undated. Box 7 Folder 4. Box 7 Folder 5. Miscellaneous papers press releases, notes, postcards, brochures Box 7 Folder 6. Miss America clippings concerning the pageant and controversies such as the stripping of the title from Vanessa Williams and rules barring the participation of transexual contentants Box 7 Folder 7.

Molesters clippings regarding perpetrators of child sexual abuse Box 7 Folder 8. Mother Rage correspondence, flyers, bibliography, informational material on the lesbian activist music and poetry duo Mother Rage, members Kathy Fire and Barbara Ruth, undated. Box 8 Folder 1. Murders clippings on murders in the gay community, undated. Box 8 Folder 2.

Box 8 Folder 3. Box 8 Folder 4. Box 8 Folder Box 9 Folder 1. Box 9 Folder 2. New Alliance Party clippings, press releases, and flyers of an alternative political party formed in, undated. Box 9 Folder 3. New Gay Life correspondence, forms, advertisements, and submissions of poetry and short stories, undated. Box 9 Folder 4. Box 9 Folder 5.

Pedophilia controversy transcripts of testimony before the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Select Sub-Committee to investigate the manual "How to Have Sex with Kids," which had been sold at Giovanni's Room bookstore Box 9 Folder 6. Pennsylvania Caucus of Gay Nurses Alliance brochure, photographundated. Box 9 Folder 7. Pennsylvania Council for Sexual Minorities clippings, correspondence, minutes, reports of the Pennsylvania Council for Sexual Minorities, undated.

Box 10 Folder Pennsylvania Department of Health clippings, brochures, proposals from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, concerning AIDS treatment, reporting, and surveillance Box 10 Folder 3. Box 10 Folder 4. Pennsylvania State Legislature clippings, petitions, position papers, and text of proposed state legislation concerning gay rights in Pennsylvania Box 10 Folder 5.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court opinions in unrelated cases Commonwealth v. Banadinoand Commonwealth v. Mumma Box 10 Folder 6. Box 10 Folder 7. Philadelphia City Council bills, ordinances and resolutions clippings, correspondence, press releases, and legislation concerning the civil rights of lebsians and gays in Philadelphia, undated. Box 10 Folder 8.

Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations correspondence, press releases, brochures, reports and court cases involving the Commission, undated. Box 10 Folder 9. Philadelphia Daily News primarily clippings on gay and lesbian topics from the Philadelphia Daily News ; also information on protest against the paper for repeated sexist comments by one of its columnists, undated.

Box 11 Folder 1. Philadelphia Equal Rights Coalition clippings, press releases, flyers, brochures, endorsements from the Philadelphia gay political group, undated. Box 11 Folder 2. Philadelphia Gay Coffeehouse contains correspondence, notes, by-laws, board minutes, personnel lists, press releases, flyers, artist bios, photographs for the various incarnations of the gay coffeehouse operated in the Gay Community Center of Philadelphia, undated.

Box 11 Folder Philadelphia Lesbian Coffeehouse organizational materials and flyers for the various incarnations of the women's coffeehouse operated in the Gay Community Center of Philadelphia Box 11 Folder 5. Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force correspondence, press releases, flyers, reports, photographs, court cases involving the Task Force Box 12 Folder Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force correspondence, press releases, flyers, reports, photographs, court cases involving the Task Force, undated.

Box 13 Folder Box 13 Folder 5. Box 13 Folder 6. Box 13 Folder 7. Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force clippings Box 13 Folder 8. Philadelphia LGBT rights legislation press releases, flyers, testimony, notes, regarding the Philadelphia gay rights bill Bill ofas well as other local legislation pertinent to the gay community Box 13 Folder 9.

Box 14 Folder Police Committee clippings, meeting minutes and other records of the Philadelphia Advisory Committee on Police-Gay Community Relations, materials from other community relations groups Harrisburg and Torontocourt documents for cases concerning police harassment and civil rights violations of gay men Williams v. Robinson and the City of Philadelphia ; Daszkiewicz and Simerson v.

Perea and City of Philadelphia ; Foley v. Box 15 Folder 1. Police: Trials primarily clippings concerning cases involving Philadelphia police officers accused of extortion Box 15 Folder 2. Box 15 Folder 3. Prison rape mainly clippings Box 15 Folder 4. Box 15 Folder 5. Radical Queen issues nos. Box 16 Folder 1. Religion clippings and magazine articles, not specifically LGBT related, undated.

Box 16 Folder 2. Saxe, Susan, Defense Fund clippings, correspondence, information sheets, and newsletters concerning the lesbian fugitive of a Vietnam War-era bank robbery that precipitated the murder of a policeman, undated. Box 16 Folder 3. Science clippings and other materials concerning tommi avicolli mecca biography gay and lesbian scientists as well as the science of being gay or lesbian; organizations represented include Gay and Lesbian Orange County Engineers and Scientists, Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Scientists, Lesbian and Gay Associated Engineers and Scientists, the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex, undated.

Box 16 Folder 4. Sexuality and sex roles clippings and articles on sexual identity, gender roles, masculinity, masturbation, undated. Box 16 Folder 5. Sports clippings and articles on gay national sports figures, and press releases, flyers, and schedules of Philadelphia gay athletic groups including Frontrunners Philadelphia, Gay Outdoor Club, Master Batters, Philadelphia Flames volleyballPhiladelphia Gay Bowling League, Philadelphia Gay Softball League, undated.

Box 16 Folder 6. Supreme Court primarily clippings and flyers concerning gay rights issues at the US Supreme Court Box 16 Folder 7. Box 16 Folder 8. Box 16 Folder 9.

Tommi avicolli mecca biography

Temple University discrimination cases court documents for the following cases: Brown and DeLoggio v. City of Philadelphia and United States v. Box 16 Folder Box 17 Folder 1. Thompson, Rick clippings and correspondence concerning child sexual abuse accusations against a Cedar Crest High School Lebanon, Pennsylvania teacher acquitted by jury Box 17 Folder 2.

Transexuals clippings, articles, bibliography on the medical, legal, and societal issues surrounding the process of sex change, undated. Box 17 Folder 3. Box 17 Folder 4. Box 17 Folder 5. Violence, anti-LGBT reports and other material on anti-gay and -lesbian violence, including transcripts of testimony before the Subcomittee on Criminal Justice of the House Judiciary Committee, undated.

Box 17 Folder 6. Wages for Housework Campaign press releases, flyers and photographs relating to the women's movement for counting unpaid work in the Gross National Product, undated. Box 17 Folder 7. Washington, DC, scandals clippings primarily about congressional sexual misconduct scandals, but also on recognition of student gay group at Georgetown University, undated.

Throughout the s and s, Avicolli Mecca was involved in many Philadelphia-area Gay rights organizations. He was an organizer of the first Philadelphia gay pride march inwas a founder and organizer of the Gay Coffeehouse of Philadelphiaand served in several capacities for the Gay Community Center of Philadelphia GCCPincluding as member of the Building Maintenance Committee, the Policy Council, and the Board of Directors.

Many of his early poems have been reprinted in the iBook, Defying You Still He founded the multiracial queer theatre troupe Avalanche which performed in Philadelphia and one summer toured colleges throughout the Northeast coast courtesy of a grant from Philadelphia Foundation from And with Alison C. For nearly a decade he worked at A Different Light bookstore Today, he is active in the housing rights movement, having organized with Jim Mitulski three shelters, a weekly food program, and a shower project for homeless queer youth,in the Castro.

He works for the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco and dedicates much of his energies to tenant and affordable housing advocacy. Tommi Avicolli Mecca collected these materials throughout the s and s in Philadelphia. For the most part materials come from one of tommi avicolli mecca biography sources: 1 from Avicolli Mecca's own participation as a member of an organization or as an attendee at an event; 2 from individuals and organizations solicited by him for inclusion in the collection; 3 as part of his work as a journalist for the Philadelphia Gay News and other media outlets.

For years Avicolli Mecca kept the collection in a growing number of filing cabinets at his apartment in Center City first at Pine St. Avicolli Mecca donated the majority of the collection to the Archives in the summer of before moving to San Francisco. Additional materials including slides and photographs were sent to the Archives in subsequent years.

At John J. Parts of the original Avicolli Mecca donation were distributed into the general files of the Archives soon after being donated. Inventories of the collection by folder title were completed in and and exist today in the file "Collection documentation,undated" Box 1, Folder 1. He was one of the founders of the Tom Ammiano write-in campaign that made international news when Ammiano, a gay man, made it into a runoff against incumbent mayor Willie Brown in three weeks' time.

He helped mobilize campaigns to save rent control, to defeat a statewide anti-immigrant measure, to save affirmative action, to create district elections, to elect progressives to the Board of Supervisors. He was also involved in organizing against racism at a Castro bar called Badlands. He is an organizer of the annual "Dumping Columbus" event that features Italian American authors speaking out against the legacy of Columbus.

He writes regularly for the online newspaper, beyondchron.