Jim Andris, Facebook

The Magnolia Committee

Draft 3, Completed by Jim Andris, June 7, 2012.

The Walk for Charity and Rally that occurred on Sunday, April 20, 1980 in St. Louis, Missouri as a part of the week-long Celebration of Lesbian and Gay Pride was conceived and engineered in large part by the Magnolia Committee—a brainchild of Glenda Dilley. It was composed of more than 10 members, and had a working core of five or six people. We know a lot about the Magnolia Committee and its workings because we have interviews of four of its members and a folder of its minutes and other working documents accumulated in the early months of 1980.

Background: The Roots of the Magnolia Committee

Understanding the emergence of the Walk for Charity and Rally requires attention to at least three preconditions. First of all, in 1977 the Save Our Children anti-homosexual campaign emerged as the first systematically organized and effective blowback from the steady gains of gay men and lesbians of the first half of the 1970s. Throughout the country, and particularly in Missouri, gay men and lesbians were at first shocked and terrified by this hate-filled attack, but quickly mobilized to fight back.

Second, on October 14, 1979, there had been a National March on Washington for Lesbians and Gays. This march served to nationalize the gay movement, and it inspired local gay and lesbian leaders who had attended it to organize similar actions in their home cities and states. When Bill Spicer, secretary to the Magnolia Committee was asked in an interview how he got involved in the developing Pride activities in St. Louis in 1979-80, he replied that because of his attendance at the National March with two others from St. Louis—he rode there with two others, including Rick Garcia—

… I came back and I was changed inside, because of just looking at all these people, realizing that they had come from all over the country, and realizing that I was part of something, and it was bigger than me, and it was going to turn out as some kind of political movement. It was a political movement; I was just now introduced to it.

Third, Glenda Dilley was a seasoned activist in many causes, particularly the issues of women and gays. In 1971 Gay Lib, a student organization at the University of Missouri, Columbia had brought suit against the University for refusing to allow them official status or permission to meet on campus. Gay Lib ultimately prevailed in a U.S. Eighth Circuit Court decision in 1977, which the U.S. Supreme Court let stand. Glenda had played a prominent role in this struggle for homosexual rights in its last few years. When she came to St. Louis in 1979 to begin her professional career, she brought this experience with her, and a continued desire to see injustice righted.

November and December: Formation of the Magnolia Committee

In a 2010 interview with Jim Andris, then (1980) Glenda Dilley, now Cea Hearth stated her specific motivation for founding the Magnolia Committee. Obtaining her masters as a teacher and coming to St. Louis to start her career, she felt compelled to go "back into the closet, and then was so aggravated by the circumstances that made that necessary, that I decided to make another gay organization in St. Louis." At that time, Glenda adopted the activist name of "Adrienne Rae," and called a meeting of interested individuals together in her basement apartment on Magnolia Avenue, she thought perhaps in October of 1979. Later a copy of the original letter of invitation to the initial meeting of the Magnolia Committee was found in the papers of Rev. Roy Birchard. The letter is dated 11/12/1979, and the proposed meeting date and place is 8:00 pm, Nov. 20, 1979 at 3949 Magnolia #15, the basement apartment of Glenda Dilley. By coincidence, the first meeting was held in an apartment building that faces the site of the current St. Louis Pride celebrations. [Note: After 2013, PrideFest moved from Tower Grove Park to downtown St. Louis.]

A copy of the "unofficial minutes" of the Nov. 20 meeting has been found in the papers of Roy Birchard. We know from these minutes exactly who attended that first meeting. Rev. Birchard has expressed the opinion that members wished to keep their membership on the committee confidential, and at this point that will be honored. There were seven men, three women and one person of undetermined gender present, a total of eleven. Of the eleven, four were designated as organizational representatives. Those organizations were Dignity-St. Louis (Catholic), Lutheran's Concerned, Affirmation (Methodist) and Concerned Lesbian and Gay Students of Washington University. The assembled

"met to discuss the possibility of a St. Louis Gay March. Purposes of the march were set:

1. Positive visibility of the gay community
2. Raise the consciousness of St. L. community toward an acceptance of gay people
3. To support several charitable organizations
4. To counteract oppression of gays in St. Louis

Members volunteered to secure permission from charitable organizations to be sponsored, to come next time with organizations and names for a mailing list and ideas for flyers. The representatives were to report to their groups and ask for support.

A meeting was set for Wednesday, Dec. 12 at 7:30 at Glenda's apartment. Participants were to introduce themselves to the Committee, and emphasize their experience in gay and/or feminist organizations.

January: Initial Steps and Coordination with Other Groups

Glenda kept careful written minutes of the Committee's work and accomplishments. Bill Spicer came to work on the Committee in January, 1980 as a designated representative of the St. Louis Dignity chapter and soon became an integral part of the workings of the Magnolia Committee. He served as public figure and secretary of the group and has preserved his copies of the minutes.

When the Magnolia Committee gathered for its first meeting of 1980, on Jan.9, it was already composed of representatives of ten groups: Gay Academic Union, St. Louis Organizing Committee, Citizens Against Violence, Affirmation, Lutherans Concerned, Brothers for Change, Dignity, Concerned Lesbian and Gay Students of Washington University, and Integrity. Bill Spicer, who represented Dignity, has made the clearest statement I have encountered about those early days in January:

I didn’t show up to the meetings until January. They had … Glenda actually was the brain behind the entire walk. She wanted to have a pride march. People were reluctant to follow her because of the political [situation] … and the fear that we were in St. Louis. … She then morphed the pride march into a walk for charity, and that seemed to be more palatable to the various leaders of various other organizations, and they thought they could pull that off. When I showed up at the meetings, and we used to go from … we met at a church on ah it was on Arsenal?

The church on Arsenal, as Bill soon remembered, was St. John's Episcopal Church. At that time, their rector was Dorman F. (Bud) Ball, and he was a controversial, progressive thinker on these and other matters. He saw gays and lesbians as just another group seeking redress for denied civil rights. In fact, this comment of Bud Ball's is found in the announcement section of St. John's service leaflet for Palm Sunday, Mar. 30, 1980:

ANOTHER WALK (reminding us of the Palm Sunday procession) will be held on April 20th "A Celebration of Lesbian and Gay Pride" from Maryland Plaza to Washington University. Your rector will walk that day and I encourage all members of St. John's to do so. If you need reasons for not supporting these people all the excuses we used against blacks and women apply here.

Frank Sprayberry lived nearby on Arsenal and was not only a member of the Vestry at St. John's but also a member of the St. Louis chapter of Integrity on the Magnolia Committee. Integrity was the organization representing gay and lesbian Episcopalians that had been founded six years earlier by Louie Crew at Rutgers, and had rapidly formed chapters all over the nation. Bill Spicer has stated in an interview that "Frank took care of all the correspondence, and took care of all the letters that went out. Frank was kind of gifted actually at writing letters to people. … Frank was really good with details, and really good making sure that … we stated what our objective was."

Glenda (now Cea Hearth) has articulated the philosophy implicit in this Walk for Charity on several occasions in both oral and written form. The word "walk" had a less militant sound than the word "march." Glenda was concerned about being misinterpreted by a media hostile to gay concerns. Anyone familiar with GLTB history in the 1970s knows how much the movement was torn between those activists who used an "in your face" approach to making demands and those activists who very much wanted to work within the political system for change. Glenda was a rare combination of both, with a sense of humor thrown in.

By showing that lesbians and gays could raise money for good non-gay minority charity causes, such as the Abused Women's Support Project and the Catholic Worker Community, people could see that lesbians and gays were responsible, productive members of the community. Yet, in dealing with negotiations with the mayor's office, as we shall later see, Committee representatives used a tougher approach. Glenda had the vision to not only secure broad-based participation from the entire community, gay and non-gay, but to also think carefully about how to do positive image-management. In several places, she uses the term "liberal causes" to describe the outreach of the Walk and Rally.

Another person who joined the Magnolia Committee in January, possibly as a representative from Dignity, was former Roman Catholic Priest, John Hilgeman. Hilgeman was an important presence on the committee for several reasons. He joined Dignity in April, 1974, and occasionally said mass for the group in the ensuing years up to the Walk for Charity. His memories of this work will be documented in a separate article on Dignity St. Louis. John Hilgeman was also one of the group of four Magnolia Committee members, along with Bill Spicer, Bill Trotter and Chris Guerrero, who met twice with Mayor James Conway's office to negotiate the details of the Walk for Charity and subsequent Rally at Washington University. Additionally, Hilgeman wrote the press and interacted with the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Louis.

The Magnolia Committee met on Jan. 17, 1980 with the Dean of Christ Church (Episcopal) Cathedral, the Rev. Michael Allen. We have the minutes, and apparently, this was like any productive business meeting. Four things were decided:

• the Walk will focus on the charity component,
• the route will go from the fountain in Maryland plaza, south on Euclid Ave., west on Lindell Ave., and end at the Washington University Quadrangle (a distance of over two miles),
• next steps are to get a parade permit and identify and train marshals for the walk,
• contributors will write their check to the charity of their choice, but mail the check to the Magnolia Committee.

It seems likely that the Episcopal lesbian and gay organization, Integrity, St. Louis chapter, had maintained a dialog on the matter of inclusion of gays and lesbians within the Church as well as matters of their welfare and civil rights. However the negotiations came about, Dean Allen was quite supportive and helpful to the cause of the Magnolia Committee and appeared and spoke at the Rally following the Walk for Charity on Sunday, April 20 at the Washington University Quadrangle. According to the reflections of Jim Andris, who attended the rally, Dean Allen made the point that day that "we will be judged not by the amount of violence we produce, but by the love that we bring into the world."

The Magnolia Committee met a second time in January on the 23rd. That we have the minutes of this meeting is important for a couple of reasons. After mailing only 24 solicitations to out of town organizations, they ran out of stamps. Discussion turned to fundraising, a problem that they had not yet solved. The second item on the agenda is perhaps the most significant one. The minutes, in Glenda's handwriting, say:

"Policy was set for upcoming Gay Pride Week Mtg. at MCC, Sun. Jan. 27:

1. To present ourselves in a cooperative, conciliatory manner
2. To establish the seriousness and quality of our work to date
3. To secure a workable date for the walk"

This terse policy summary conceals a situation of major importance for the ongoing development of the Celebration of Lesbian and Gay Pride that was emerging early in 1980. The situation is complicated, but in simplest terms, Glenda Dilley, leading the Magnolia Committee, was not the only person in St. Louis that had decided that some kind of display of pride was a good idea. There was another group that was being led by Jim Thomas, and possibly others, that was talking not about a Walk for Charity, but rather, A Celebration of Lesbian and Gay Pride. The St. Louis Organizing Committee (SLOC) continued to function after its initial involvement in the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights and would eventually morph into Iris during a month after the completion of the 1980 Pride Celebrations in April. To make matters even more complex, the Washington University group, Concerned Lesbian and Gay Students, had sponsored a Gay Pride Weekend in 1979. Various religious and women's groups were also quite active in 1980, as were the bar, bath and bikes scenes.

Jim Thomas had himself been a regional organizer for the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Perhaps even more than Spicer, he had come to St. Louis with thoughts of organizing Pride activities. And he set about to organize a group for developing a Pride celebration. Jim gave an interview to Lisa Cohn in 2003 in which he discusses in some detail his involvement with the pride activities in 1980. Anyone interested in sorting these things out should read Jim's comments. One thing is relatively clear, however. Jim was attempting to organize pride activities and then discovered the Magnolia Committee, early on. He mentions NOW, Integrity, Dignity, and The Gay Academic Union as groups he was working with to organize a coalition. We know from another source that Jim's group was the St. Louis Organizing Committee.

Apparently, there was some concern about what to do about the independently forming groups. Roy Birchard, the pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church, suggested that all concerned parties meet at the church on Jan. 27 in order to forge a working relationship. There are hints that one big issue was the date for whatever march/walk was to take place. The Magnolia Committee had originally wanted their Walk for Charity to occur on March 30, which was Palm Sunday. Jim Thomas, and possibly some of his group, whoever they might be, perhaps were aware that pride celebrations around the country had been occurring for a decade towards the end of June, in order to commemorate the Stonewall Riots of June, 1969. Still a third set of possible dates was that of April 20-22. This was the precise weekend in 1979 on which the Washington University Celebration of Gay and Lesbian Pride had been held (Apr. 20-22). What came out of that meeting at MCC apparently was at least two results: a new committee, the Celebration Committee, which would coordinate activities, and an agreement that the weekend of April 18-20 would be when the Walk for Charity and Rally would occur (on Sunday) and also would cap off a week of activities with a day of workshops and other celebrations of pride. Over the next two months, out of this nucleus of agreement would grow a fabulous week of pride celebration hosted by several more organizations, including a picnic, a movie nite, a bookstore open house, a dinner and entertainment, and two dances that would be attended by hundreds of people.

As it turned out, this successful meeting at MCC towards the end of January would allow a simple solution to what might have been a big problem for the Magnolia Committee. They turned their attention fully to having a well advertised and attended Walk for Charity and Rally which was well received by the media and St. Louis in general, and which attracted broad support from both the St. Louis and surrounding gay and lesbian community and from the "liberal causes" Glenda often referred to. The potential problem was this. Representatives of the Magnolia Committee would slowly and steadily cultivate a productive relationship with officials in St. Louis, the mayor, the police, and other city officials. All these officials were quite concerned with potential security issues and "problems" that might occur with a controversial demonstration. The fact that this Walk for Charity could take place peacefully in a reasonable length of time and deposit a large number of participants at an institution that was willing to host the Rally (Washington University) and not the City of St. Louis was a relief to everyone, and made the task at hand much more manageable. The police could be present, help provide order and security, and then go home without worrying what was going to happen next.

February: Security, Mailings, Coupons, Initial Negotiations with City

One other thing seems clear. With some general agreement in the St. Louis lesbian and gay community that the Walk and Rally was the provence of the Magnolia Committee, they proceeded to tackle these goals with great gusto and ingenuity. At their first February meeting on the 3rd, the planned activity of developing a timeline was put aside, and they began to deal with three major concerns: Walk participants needed to be secure, negotiations with the City of St. Louis needed to begin in earnest, and many details of encouraging participation needed to be ironed out. A very clear plan for dealing with crowd control and security was stated in the minutes:

It was decided to ask the motorcycle clubs to help provide marshalls for the walk. Two women with martial arts training have already volunteered. Volunteers will go to the mtgs. of the cycle clubs to ask support. Marshalls will go to a training session to receive instruction and necessary other data. [Ed. note: other records show that two clubs were Spirits Club and Blue Max Club.]

Bill Spicer has explained very clearly the strategy that the Magnolia Commitee had devised to encourage a broad base of participation in not only the Walk and Rally on Sunday, but also, the considerable other Pride activities being devised by other groups: an open house at the Women's Eye Bookstore and an evening film "A Very Natural Thing" at Wash U. on Friday, and a day of workshops at Forest Park Community College on Saturday.

We decided that we were gonna come out with coupons, and we were gonna make it like a weekend … The walk was gonna be on Sunday, April the 20th, so we thought that on the 19th, we thought well, we’d have like various, um, activities at various bars, because we thought well maybe that would get the people interested in showing up on Sunday. So, we went to a bunch of different bars, and we got, and we went to uh a lot of different organizations, and we had them … give us stuff. So, for instance, we’d go to Clementine’s, and it would say, “Redeem this coupon for one free drink. Good on April the 18th and the 19th, 1980.” … And then we made up these coupon booklets, kinda like the forerunner of those … booklets where you pull out the coupon. We made up like a gay coupon booklet, and we sold ‘em for two dollars. … This friend of mine did the paste-up for these coupon booklets, … and we distributed, oh, I don’t know, we had like a hundred of them, and we sold these.

Another terse paragraph from the Feb. 3 minutes is interesting: "A committee of three volunteered to handle the parade permit arrangements. They will wear suits and ties and act tough." Also in the folder was the actual parade permit for the Magnolia Committee to hold the Walk for Charity on April 20. The permit is dated February 21, and is issued care of William Spicer with his name, address and phone number. This must have taken quite a bit of courage. The February 21 date for the parade permit is kind of surprising, since, as a matter of fact, negotiations with the mayor's office, as mediated by an official named Mr. Duffe*, went through a relatively fragile period. If, in fact, the February 21 date is accurate—as we must assume unless proven different—the whole process of securing the blessing of the mayor and the full cooperation of the police was much more complicated and protracted.

At the Feb. 11 meeting, the Committee continued to work hard on their major concerns. This was a real working group. They were soliciting participatory support from both St. Louis gays and lesbians and "out of towners." The Committee mailed sample coupon booklets to out of town endorsers and requested that they order a number of these booklets. It is important to remember that gay activist organizations in the 1970s tended to keep mailing lists. For example, when in 1977 the Save our Children campaign held rallies across Missouri in Joplin and Columbia featuring Anita Bryant, groups from St. Louis were mobilized to travel this considerable distance and protest. While we do not have the actual mailing lists that the Magnolia Committee used, it is probable that there were quite a few out of towners present at Pride 1980 activities.The Committee had set a deadline of Feb. 20 "so that we may have them duplicated, cut and stapled for mailing March 1." [There were several pages of coupons.] They continued to solicit sponsors through the first part of February. Bill Trotter worked on a map showing coupon stops, parade route, and other relevant stops. Bill Spicer continued to work on securing parade marshals, and was planning a training session for them on March 2, "hopefully staffed by police."

In fact, what the Magnolia Committee had accomplished by the time they sent out a Valentine's Day letter to friends soliciting still more support is impressive, and that letter is worth studying closely. They explained their purpose, how they fit into the expanded pride activities being planned by the Celebration Committee, and how they had refocused their Walk on charity. By this time, the list of charity organizations was more or less set, and a look at some notes the Committee left, shows that they were pleased that within the list of charity organizations was represented the concerns of women, blacks, gays and lesbians and the poor. Here is the list

• The Abused Women's Support Group
• The Women's Self Help Group
• Catholic Worker Community
• Matrix, Inc.
• The Ad Hoc Committee To Save Homer G. Phillips
• Gay Academic Union Hotline

The letter continued with a paragraph on the purpose of the Walk which explained that this was not just a Walk for Charity, but that it was for positive publicity for the gay and lesbian community, for consciousness raising, for expanded support for civil rights, unity, and increased pride and dignity. The final paragraph reached out to "liberal" and religious organizations for support, and explained the parade route, the rally with speakers and the coupon booklet. A checklist was included so that organizations and individuals could respond to show their level of support.

Finally, the groups represented in the Magnolia Committee were listed:

• Gay Academic Union
• St. Louis Organizing Committee
• Citizens Against Violence
• Affirmation
• Lutherans Concerned
• Brothers for Change
• Dignity
• Concerned Lesbian & Gay Students of Washington University
• Integrity
• The Women's Eye Bookstore

It is interesting to note that when the updated status of the Walk for Charity and Rally was announced in a March 6 letter to "Sisters and Brothers," The Women's Eye Bookstore had been removed from this list and the Metropolitan Community Church had been added.

We have a letter in Glenda's hand to Magnolians which contains the minutes of a Feb. 20 meeting. These minutes make it clear that the Magnolia Committee was also coordinating their activities with what she calls a "super meeting," including funding [No doubt with the governing committee that emerged from the Jan. 27 gathering at MCC]. Meanwhile, the Magnolia Committee continued on the many details of the activities being planned. A timeline was presented from Magnolia's Timeline subcommittee that maps out various important dates and deadlines.

March: City Negotiations, Collection Cans, Meeting the Mayor

It's not clear exactly when, but some time between the middle of February, 1980 and March 21, 1980, a four person subcommittee of the Magnolia Committee met up with a Mr. Duffe, executive assistant to Mayor James Conway. Bill Spicer remembers that they had two meetings with Mr. Duffe—a man Bill describes as a "gruff" individual. The first meeting did not start off well.

So we show up to his place, and I had just gone to this … sales seminar where they said to get what you want, you need to basically tell people what you want. So I basically said, we need a parade permit, and we need to meet with the mayor .… And we need a proclamation that says that our group is donating money to charity, and is a good, upstanding group in the community, and the mayor needs to get on the right side of this. And he kind of looked at me and he said well, you’re not gonna get a parade permit, your not gonna get a declaration from the mayor, and you’re not going to get the items that you want.

However, this group, who had been instructed to "wear suits and act tough," composed of Bill Spicer, Chris Guerrero, then Father John Hilgeman, and Bill Trotter, did not take no for an answer. Here is a sample of the dialog, again as remembered by Spicer.

And I said wait a minute. We got… our alderman who’s on our side, he doesn’t have a problem with it. Why do you have a problem with it? Are you prejudiced? And it kind of caught him off guard. … And he basically said “We’re just not ready.” And at that time Chris Guerrero goes, “Well, why aren’t we ready? Aren’t we a big city?” … . He goes like, let me talk to some people, and we’ll call you back, and we’ll set up something.

John Hilgeman also remembers that he had a part in this assertive dialog between the mayor's staff person and the committee:

We wanted a proclamation, or some kind of recognition for the Walk, and he didn't want to issue a proclamation for just some kind of celebration, and as I recall, I mentioned something to him, "Oh, what about the St. Patrick's Day proclamation?" but he kind of, whatever.

A note found in Bill Spicer's Magnolia Committee folder gives some insight of how the Mayor's Office viewed things. While the context of the note is not entirely clear (perhaps it represents the content of a phone call or a report of a council meeting) it does give some indication of matters never appearing in formal communications:

3:20 PM The Magnolia request for the mayor's proclamation was discussed at the council meeting this morning 3/3/80 (Cabinet)

Our request was denied not because of any hidden personal feeling in the Mayor's Office. Only because of the inappropriateness of the Mayor issuing a proclamation concerning sexual preference—a personal matter.

My response: That certain(ly) demonstrates to me that the mayor must meet with a subcommittee of the Magnolia Committee really soon.

Not possible to put us on the calendar. Refer to Bob Duffe—Mayor's Executive Aid, he will call me. 1 John Hilgeman-subcommittee.

After they left the meeting, they were agreed that they were probably going to meet the mayor, but according to Bill Spicer, only he was not surprised. It's by no means certain, but somewhat probable that this first meeting with Mr. Duffe occurred near Feb. 21, the date on the parade permit. They simply went to City Hall after the meeting with Duffe and applied for and got the permit. But they were asking for a lot more than a parade permit. They wanted a meeting with the mayor to discuss lesbian and gay issues and they wanted a proclamation. A month later they got their meeting with the mayor, and a laudatory letter from him followed later.

After the first meeting with Mr. Duffe, and while they were waiting for the response of the mayor's office to their considerable requests, the Magnolia Committee still had plenty to accomplish in a very short time. In a March 6 letter addressed to "Sisters and Brothers," the Committee gave a status report on the Walk. The letter contained a coupon booklet, a map, and a checklist for indicating the level of support of these activities for each organization mailed to. One other interesting statement in this March 6 letter cries out for further explanation: "City Hall has given us our parade permit, and the St. Louis police have promised sufficient escort and security." One plausible, but unconfirmed, explanation is that police did appear at the scheduled March 2 training meeting for the parade marshals, and some discussion and negotiation occurred there, resulting in the confident statement of the March 6 memo.

At the March 10 meeting of the Magnolia Committee, much good planning and decision making occurred. Bill Spicer reported that he and the mayor's office had not had further contact. This resulted in a determination to write a formal letter to Mayor Conway requesting a meeting with the Magnolia Committee and the issues to be discussed. Finances also were a continuing concern. A budget was made up to submit to the Finance Committee (probably of the entire Celebration).

Another story that needs telling is of the so-called "collection cans." The March 10 minutes show that the Committee was just beginning to work in earnest on raising a goodly sum of money for the charity causes they supported and to cover expenses. The plan was to make collection cans out of one pound coffee cans with covers, and to put them in all the bars and indeed in any public place where lesbians and gays meet with some regularity. These would be placed together with flyers, posters, and pledge forms. But Bill Spicer has described the whole process much more vividly:

One of my assignments that Glenda gave me for the week was to come up with the containers and come up with the labels for them. [The minutes show that Bill Trotter was also working on this.] I knew somebody who could paste things up, so we pasted them up and got some printing done, and we came up with these jars, and the idea of the jars was, we were gonna try to get the word out, we were gonna try to raise money, for the Abused Women’s Shelter, that was one of the things we wanted to do.

We also wanted to come up with the awareness. And the idea was, well, if they won’t let us put up a poster, then let us put a canister on the bar where, when you pay for your drinks, then you’ll have some change, and when you look over here, and you see something that would say “Walk for Charity,” and then it would say, “April the twentieth, 1980,” and then you would take and put your change in there. We only had this handful of six, eight people who were trying to contact as many people as we knew. We didn’t know how many people would show up, and we thought that if we had these change containers, that it might help us get the word out that that there was an event and what the date was.

Bill Trotter and Bill Spicer at the Walk for Charity. (Will Wegener photo courtesy of the Missouri Historical Society)

Spicer describes in detail the trips to the various gay bars. He also noted in the interview that he and Bill Trotter were assigned this task at the bars, while Glenda and Frank Sprayberry contacted the religious organizations.

We went to all the bars in town, and at that time, I remember the, there was a bar that was, ah, I guess, Martin’s was a bar, there was also a bar called the Bijou, there was Herbie’s, there was a number of bars that were … I think there was a couple in Soulard [and E. St. Louis, he mentioned Schrader's]. We would call the bar, we would talk to the bartender, and we would ask to talk to the owner, then we would leave our name and number, and we’d leave the can there, and then we’d ask them to call us back, and then we’d ask them if we could put up a poster in the window

We tried really hard to … get the bartender to come and walk with us, and say, well, can you show up at the event, and do you know any of your patrons who will come to the walk, and yeah, we went to all the bars, and we gave ‘em all posters, and we all distributed these donation cans.

As this steady, determined solicitation of funds, support and walkers was going on parallel to a lot of other preparations by other groups and individuals, the movers of the Magnolia Committee were determined to have their day with the mayor. That day seems to have been March 21, 1980, although this is subject to a slight amount of uncertainty. Here are what the March 21 minutes say (apparently the minutes were partially written and then continued after a meeting):

Bill T., Bill S., Chris G. and Father John will see Duffe, then mayor's aide, on Friday at 4:15 p.m. They will have a written agenda, letter and the express purpose of seeing the mayor. [Results: Group made impressive presentation and was received cordially and seriously. The group presented other mayoral endorsements in other cities and the religious recognition of gays to underscore the legitimacy of our request for city endorsement, i.e. Conway. The aide is to phone this week. The group anticipates a mtg. with the mayor.]

We have a copy of the letter the group carried to the mayor's office. We also have Spicer's account of the second meeting at the mayor's office. Here is part of it:

When we went back the second time we waited a long time to see Duffe. And I had taken off for the afternoon, ‘cause I figured it would take a while. So we waited, and I wasn’t upset, I don’t know, yknow I worked for a company and things come up and you end up waiting. But I think the other people in the community were kinda, I think they took it personally. And I was like, I don’t know, what the hell, we’ll get to meet him.

Duffe came out, and he goes, “We’re gonna go to the mayor’s office.” I don’t think we thought we were going to go to the mayor’s office, I don’t think we had, and we walked into this beautiful room with beautiful pictures and beautiful chairs. There was the mayor of St. Louis. I don’t know, I wasn’t particularly … I didn’t think of it as any kind of a groundbreaking event, like it happened. Uh, looking back on it, I guess it was probably the first time that a mayor of St. Louis had ever met with a gay group.

We basically pitched our Walk. We all kind of talked, we … introduced ourselves, we all said that we were part of this group, and we wanted to have a charity walk, we wanted to have the permit, and we wanted to meet with the mayor, and we wanted to have a proclamation from him, and the mayor telling us that we were a legitimate organization. And the mayor, if I remember correctly, seemed … Duffe sat to his side, Duffe did most of the talking, the mayor kind of listened.

They were a little bit hesitant because they said that the police won’t like it. And we were like, it’s a Sunday afternoon, all, we’re not asking for … they wanted to know how many people were gonna show up. They were very concerned about that. And we had no idea how many people were gonna show up. We didn’t know whether there were gonna be fifty people or 500 people, we didn’t think it would be 500, but we said, we kind of puffed ourself up, we said we represent a number of organizations, there is a lot of interest in this, and we basically gave them a number, I think it was like 250 or something, we just pulled out of our hats; we didn’t know how many people were going to show up.

But then we turned around and we said to them, can you block off the streets? And they said, like, well, we can block off the streets, but what happens if somebody … causes trouble. And we’re like, well, who will cause trouble? And I said, “We will make sure that nobody in our organization causes any trouble, and you make sure the police don’t cause any trouble. And they were like, the police [?] aren’t gonna like it. And we’re like, no, that’s not our question, whether the police like it or not. You make sure the police protect us, and then they were like no, we can’t guarantee that. And we’re like well, what can you guarantee?

Questions remain about the exact timing of these events. The fact is, the Magnolia Committee did get a parade permit, did arrange to have police support and protection during the walk, did staff and train parade marshals, and did get a short, supportive letter for their efforts from Mayor Conway on April 4, 1980. They did not get an official proclamation, and it is unclear to me at this point if they ever had their further conversation with the mayor about their concerns for the welfare and reputation of the lesbian and gay community in St. Louis. Still, even if they didn't scale the mountain of official civic recognition, they did build and inhabit successfuly a base camp of that lofty goal.

There were so many details to attend to that they couldn't sit around waiting for the mayor to call back. Toward the end of March they were concerned with return buses and vans, equipment, speakers for the rally, marshal training, policies for such things as picture taking and people walking with bags on their heads, placing and monitoring the collection cans, more mailings and responding, radio announcements, housing for out of towners, as various agendas for meetings show. This train was rolling, and there was no way to slow it down!

April: Letter from Conway, They Came Together, They Walked, They Talked … Their Way into History

On April 4, the Magnolia Committee received c/o secretary, Bill Spicer, its one documental reward for its efforts: a brief but positive letter from James F. Conway, Mayor of St. Louis. It says it is a response to the Magnolia Committee regarding their recent meeting concerning a Walk for Charity, it says the mayor was pleased about successful negotiations with the police and offers help with unforseen problems, and it offers a commendation to the organization for this event designed to raise money for charitable organizations.

The words "gay" or "lesbian" do not occur in the memo, and were we not aware of the context, we would not get that this had anything to do with gay and lesbian causes. In retrospect, however, it would appear at least possible that the receipt of this letter is a vindication of the Magnolia Committee's concern to wrap this pride celebration up in a charity package which was then more socially acceptable and less subject to criticism and subject to reactions of fear or anger.

The more general story of the 1980 Celebration of Lesbian and Gay Pride, a week long event from April 12 to April 20, has been described in another article on this website. The walk and rally itself is the subject of one rather personal eyewitness report by Jim Andris (myself), Even Alexander the Great, and reading that account has brought the event alive again more than once for me. I took some pictures at the Walk, as did Will Wegener, and included these pictures in my article. As the crowd of walkers was gathering in Maryland Plaza that day, I snapped a picture of Bill Spicer (pink shirt) which also has Frank Sprayberry (red ballcap) in it, and I include it here.

Bill's memories of the Walk for Charity and Rally are still vivid. Here is how he recalled the start of the walk:

the police were talking to Glenda and saying, “When do you want to get this thing started; we want to get outta here.” … When we started walking down the street, and we crossed, we went from Maryland Plaza, and we walked down Euclid. We turned right on … Lindell, and we walked over Kingshighway, and there was a police car there that stopped traffic, and we got everybody across Kingshighway. I think I looked over at Frank and Bill Trotter and I just kinda like exhaled, and said, oh, it’s gonna work out!

I asked Bill about a Post Dispatch article by Geof Dubson entitled Fear and Pride In Step In Gay March Here. To my surprise, he informed me that

I was really angry that the people who were covering the event for the Post seemed to think that they could kind of go throughout the crowd, they were kind of wanting people to out themselves. And you have to remember, Jim, in those days for a lot of people it was really risky … to walk in a gay pride march.

Bill, with the Magnolia Committee, lined up the speakers for the Rally in the Washington University Quadrangle. Putting his interview together with my first-person account, it appears that at least the following people, not necessarily in this order, spoke at the rally: Bill himself; Art Wirth, of P-Flag; Byron Davidson, of the Hotline and GayTalk, a radio show on KADI; Ellen (Dunning) Sweets, Executive Director of the City of St. Louis Civil Rights Enforcement Agency; and Rev. Michael Allen, Dean, Christ Church Cathedral. Since Chris Guerrero had handled the arrangements with Washington University's hosting of the Rally and other events, she introduced some people from there. The keynote speech of the Rally by Larry Davis, I Can't Do It, was preserved in the Magnolia Committee folder donated by Bill Spicer.

Andris has described the conclusion to this Rally:

"Now Adrienne [Rae, then public persona of Glenda Dilley] gathers a group of singers to the audience, and starts to sing her songs. Adrienne has been a main moving force behind the Magnolia Committee. She's done this in spite of danger to her job. With floppy, wide-brimmed hat, Kiss-style black and white star covering her face, and granny dress and guitar, she brings this rally to a great conclusion. She sings

You ask me to live in shame
You ask me to hide my name
If I did that to you,
You'd be singing with me too.
And still I like you
I know you're just a human being too
Maybe don't you suppose you ought to like me too,
Cause I'm here to say I'm as good as you.

Most of the crowd is listening, but I'm singing along with tears in my eyes and heart bursting with emotion."

It was the end of an almost perfect event, completely conceived, planned and executed by the dedicated members of the Magnolia Committee.

Concerns about the Magnolia Committee Folder

The folder of materials preserved by Bill Spicer was an invaluable resource for reconstructing the emergence of the Walk for Charity and Rally which occurred in St. Louis, Missouri on April 20, 1980. However, its existence raises a number of problems and concerns.

Confidentiality

By far the most troubling aspect of being in possession of a document of historical significance is that there may be names and alleged facts contained in it which, if they are released in some general, non-secure way, may have untoward consequences. While I do not propose to attempt to settle such issues here, I do wish to present a couple of examples.

What if it seems plausible that the general release of a name found in a document or folder as associated with saying or doing certain thing in the past will or could result in life altering consequences for the individual in question, say, the lost of a job or of professional status? Indeed, the whole philosophy of "outing" a person has been discussed in detail, pro and con, and need not be rehashed here. However, I merely wish to report that I am being cautious about this matter, and that there is a name or two in these documents that should not be released without at least an attempt to secure the person's awareness and perhaps, permission. Simple human courtesy seems to require this, and all the more so as the relative historical significance of the person's activities diminishes.

Another question emerges about lists of individuals. There is a roster of current names for the organization, Dignity. Clearly this is significant for historical purposes, but it is perhaps not appropriate to release the information. Still other items provide information about various individuals in City of St. Louis government at the time: business cards, phone messages with names and numbers—please call back,

Items of uncertain date or status which seem to contain significant information

This folder contains several documents in one or more person's handwriting. It is not always clear whose handwriting is being read. The status of the handwritten document is not always clear. There are memos, notes, prep sheets for significant meetings, official minutes, drafts, fragments of documents, and copies. The order of the documents is not at all clear. They were definitely not in chronological or any detectable logical order. What to do about these documents?

The folder contains several multiple-page, stapled and hand written documents which appear to have been put together as forceful talking points for the desired meeting with the mayor and/or his executive assistant. One of them, however contains a date 4/1, another, 3/21. These documents contain information already familiar to us. However, they may ultimately provide further pieces of the puzzle of what happened back in 1980.

References

Andris, Jim, Interview of Cea Hearth, August 10, 2010.

Andris, Jim, Interview of Bill Spicer, October 30, 2011.

Andris, Jim, Interview of Frank Sprayberry, January 16, 2012.

Andris, Jim, Interview of John Hilgeman, February 16, 2012.

Conversations with Roy Birchard and Wayne Huber.

Kohn, Lisa, Interview of Jim Thomas, Dec. 1, 2003.

Magnolia Folder, Bill Spicer's. Donated to Jim Andris, Oct. 31, 2011.

Thomas, Jim, "St. Louis Activist Group for Lesbian, Gay Rights Founded ." No Bad News, June, 1980, pp. 1.

Footnote

*William C. Duffe, Director of Personnel, according to Mayor Conway's papers, stored at Washington University.