{"id":393,"date":"2021-02-04T21:01:54","date_gmt":"2021-02-04T21:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/?p=393"},"modified":"2021-02-04T21:07:54","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T21:07:54","slug":"a-history-of-the-breaking-the-ice-gay-and-lesbian-pride-festival-at-odu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/2021\/02\/04\/a-history-of-the-breaking-the-ice-gay-and-lesbian-pride-festival-at-odu\/","title":{"rendered":"The History of the “Breaking the Ice Gay and Lesbian Pride Festival” at ODU"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Mel Frizzell, Special Collections Assistant<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"breakingtheice5\"<\/a>\n<\/div>
Our Own, January 1995, page 8: https:\/\/dc.lib.odu.edu\/digital\/collection\/ourown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Breaking the Ice Gay and Lesbian Pride Festival was first held February 2, 1991 in ODU Webb Center.  It was sponsored by the ODU Gay and Lesbian Student Union (GLSU) and the Hampton Roads Lesbian and Gay Pride Coalition (HRLGPC).  The event was envisioned as a winter pride event to supplement the annual Out in the Park pride picnic held each summer.  It was also a fundraiser with proceeds going toward Breaking the Ice expenses and toward the summer picnic.   The main event took place from 9:30am to 5pm and was followed by the play \u201cI\u2019m Positive\u201d at 8pm and a dance in Webb Center from 10pm to 1am.  Daytime events included a showcase of vendors and organizations, as well as workshops \u201con healthy gay and lesbian relationships, being single, addiction, political activism, coming out, minorities, and the dilemma of gay men and lesbians in the military.\u201d  Guest speakers that year included Robert Bray of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) who led a workshop on \u201cThe State of the Gay and Lesbian Nation: 1991\u201d and Kate Dyer, an aide to U.S. Representative Gerry Studds (D-MA) who led a workshop on gays in the military.  Tickets to the main event were $5 in advance and $7 at the door.  Attendance to the evening play and the dance were free. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The format stayed fairly consistent in subsequent years, though there were some changes.  The daytime hours shortened to 11am to 5pm the following year and by 1997 the main event ran from 12noon to 5pm.  Admission costs were lowered to $3 general admission and $1 for students, and only went up by $1 by the late 1990s.   Early evening events varied year to year.  Some years featured plays, most years an evening film festival, and a few years featured other entertainment.  1997 featured one act plays by ODU students, followed by country dancing performed by the OtherSiders country dance troupe, and music by local singer and songwriter Julie Clark.  1998 featured Lesbian comedian and musician Lynn Lavner and music by the Hampton Roads Men\u2019s Chorus.  The late evening dance in Webb Center remained a fixture each year.   In 1997, there was an \u201cAll Faiths\u201d continental breakfast held in Webb Center before the day\u2019s other activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"breakingtheice-workshops1995\"<\/a>\n<\/div>
Breaking the Ice 1995 Workshop Schedule from the ODU Gay and Lesbian Student Records, Box 2, Folder 1: https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/oduwiki\/2018\/06\/25\/gay-and-lesbian-student-union-glsu\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A number of prominent guest speakers were featured over the years.   Guest speakers often represented current events related to the LGBT community.  The 1992 guest speaker was Karen Thompson who had recently been awarded guardianship of her lover Sharon Kowalski in the Minnesota Appeals Court.  Kowalski had been \u201cseverely disabled\u201d in a car accident in 1983. Guardianship had initially been awarded to Kowalski\u2019s parents who barred Thompson from visiting.  After nine years of court battles, Thompson finally won custody in December 1991.  The 1993 guest speaker was Crae Pridgen — a gay man who had been beaten outside a gay bar in Wilmington, North Carolina by three Marines in January 1993.  This happened only a week before his appearance at the 1993 Breaking the Ice.  In 1995, Rev. Mel White of the Metropolitan Community Church was guest speaker. White had been an Evangelical writer who ghostwrote autobiographies for televangelists such as Jerry Falwell, Sr., Pat Robertson, and Billy Graham.  White came out as gay in 1994, transferred his credentials to the gay-affirming Metropolitan Community Church, and devoted himself to serving gay Christians.  The week following the 1995 Breaking the Ice, White led a peaceful protest on Pat Robertson\u2019s Christian Broadcasting Network in Virginia Beach.  White had requested a meeting with Pat Robertson to discuss how the televangelist\u2019s anti-gay rhetoric was harming gay people \u201cin the name of God.\u201d  Robertson refused the meeting and White was arrested for trespassing.  White refused bond and fasted three weeks in the Virginia Beach City Jail until Robertson finally agreed to meet with him on March 8.  At that time, Robertson dropped the charges against White.  Guests speakers for other years included Mandy Carter of the Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF); Barbara Grier, CEO and Founder of Naid Press; Kerry Lobel of the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce (NGLTF); David Perry of Virginians For Justice, and Lesbian comedian\/singer Lynn Lavner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A variety of workshops were held at Breaking the Ice with some themes remaining consistent over the years.  Given the huge military presence in Hampton Roads, it\u2019s not surprising that \u201cgays in the military\u201d was a frequent workshop theme.  Coming out was also a frequent theme, as were Lesbian and Gay relationship issues, LGBT affirming-spirituality (including alternative spiritual beliefs like Wicca), and LGBT politics and activism.  Other topics included LGBT youth, bisexuality, diversity within the LGBT community, addictions, safer sex, Lesbian and Gay Unions, LGBT legal concerns, finances, child custody, Lesbian and Gay literature, and dealing with grief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"breakingtheice1\"<\/a>\n<\/div>
Breaking the Ice Photo with Caption, Our Own Community Press, March 1991, Page 1 : https:\/\/dc.lib.odu.edu\/digital\/collection\/ourown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Each year ODU\u2019s Webb Center cafeteria was filled with LGBT vendors and organizations.  Vendors included bookstores such as OutRight Books, Phoenix Rising, Lambda Rising, The Tidewater Women\u2019s Bookshelf, White Rabbit Books and Things, and others.  Other vendors sold pagers, candles, clothing and jewelry, health products, and Pagan spiritual supplies, among other things.  Organizations included political and activist organizations like the Human Rights Campaign Fund, Virginians for Justice, and even People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).   Local service organizations included Tidewater AIDS Crisis Taskforce, AIDSCare, Full Circle Hospice, and American Red Cross.  LGBT-affirming religious organizations were represented.  These included New Life MCC, All God\u2019s Children, Dignity (Catholic), Honesty (gay Baptists), Unitarian-Universalists, Integrity (Episcopal), and Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns.  Support, social, and recreational organizations with tables at the event included Youth Out United, Transgender Pride, Gay Games, Mid-Atlantic Amateur Softball Association, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Primetimers, Lambda Car Club, Gay Men\u2019s Chorus, and Tidewater Bears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breaking the Ice couldn\u2019t happen without the support of its sponsors and those organizations that provided volunteers and workshop facilitators.  The two main co-hosts for Breaking the Ice were always the Hampton Roads Lesbian and Gay Pride Coalition and the ODU Gay and Lesbian Student Union (later renamed ODU Gay Lesbian Bisexual Students and Allies).  Over the years other community sponsors and supporters included: Mandamus Society, Hershee Bar, Coral Sand Motel, Don\u2019t Tell Mama restaurant, New Leaf \/ Quarberg Gallery, Mitch\u2019s Cut-ups, OutRight Books, Out of the Dark, Out and About, Out in Virginia, Our Own Community Press, New Life MCC, Mac Graphics, Virginian\u2019s for Justice, Youth Out United, Bi-Choice, All God\u2019s Children Church, the Unitarian Church of Norfolk, Tidewater AIDS Crisis Taskforce, Tastebuds Supper Club, Taylor Rental, B&B Exxon, and many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breaking the Ice continued at ODU through the late 1990s, and possibly into the early 2000s.  The exact date of the last classic Breaking the Ice is unclear as our primary sources for the festival in the ODU Special Collections and University Archives only go up to 1998.  ODU Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) brought Breaking the Ice back to ODU in 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mel Frizzell, Special Collections Assistant The Breaking the Ice Gay and Lesbian Pride Festival was first held February 2, 1991 in ODU Webb Center.  It was sponsored by the ODU Gay and Lesbian Student Union (GLSU) and the Hampton … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3954,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[24,51,5,23,52,4],"tags":[142,143,99,95,59,140,141],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3954"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":397,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions\/397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/scua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}