2025 Mid-Season Newsletter

2025 Mid-Season

Dear LGBTQ+ and Friends Community,

Hello to everyone! This is our mid-season newsletter. It’s going out a little early this time so that we can give you the information about the Documentary Film “Mary: Her Journey from Pain to Purpose” which is being shown Week 3. This e-mail is going to everyone who signed up to be on our e-mail list for LGBTQ+ and Friends at Chautauqua. It details LGBTQ+ and Friends activities and events planned for the remainder of the 2025 season.

Documentary Film: “Mary: Her Journey from Pain to Purpose”

Thursday, July 10 at 5:00 pm at the Chautauqua Cinema

So, this is going to be a very cool event. It’s an award-winning film about a transwoman’s journey to become her authentic self, and it was partially filmed at Chautauqua last summer! Mary, herself, and the documentary team will be on hand for a talk-back discussion after the film. Free admission with gate pass. We are so delighted that the Chautauqua Cinema is back up and running, and that they are showcasing so many amazing films this summer!

Chautauqua Belle Pride Celebration
Tuesday, July 15 at 6:00 pm, departing from the Chautauqua Bell Tower at 6:30 pm. This is really fun so we are doing it again. To celebrate Pride, we have booked the entire Chautauqua Belle Steamship for a 2-hour tour of Chautauqua Lake. Tickets are $75 per person, which includes appetizers and the boat ride. Drinks are available for purchase. There will be a maximum of 75 tickets sold, so if you will be in Chautauqua Week 4, buy your tickets now. And wear your best Pride T-shirt! Note that this year there will be a rain date on Thursday, July 17 in case there is super bad weather on Tuesday, July 15.

Our own Sarah James will be playing at 3 Taps after the cruise to keep the party going. We are so looking forward to hearing her perform her Pride anthem “Take It or Leave It” (video available on YouTube) and her newest “Back Home to You” which will be released on all streaming platforms mid-July. Thank you, Sarah! We are so proud to call you our own and truly enjoy your amazing talent.

Tickets for the cruise will be sold through Eventbrite. Click the following link to go to the page to buy tickets: Pride on the Belle. Or you can find the same link on our website at: LGBTQ+ and Friends at Chautauqua. Please note that the boat leaves at 6:30, so it is important to be at the Miller Bell Tower early to show your ticket, and fill out a name tag. Thanks to Barbara Britton and Catie Miller for arranging things with the Belle and managing the event!

CTC’s Execution of Justice and Afterwords Gathering

Tuesday, July 22 at 6:00 at the Afterwords Wine Bar

First of all, note the change of venue. Intermezzo is not open this summer, so we moved it to the Afterwords Wine Bar above the Bookstore. In any case, this annual event is really, really fun. We all buy our own tickets to the 4:00 pm performance of Chautauqua Theater Company’s “Execution of Justice” and then gather after the show at Afterwords to meet the cast and crew and share food and drink. Cash bar. No RSVP needed. For questions, e-mail Terry Horner at terry.horner@mac.com. You can find details about the play and purchase tickets through the Chautauqua Institution website, but just let me say that this play is a doozie. Many thanks to Terry Horner for organizing this event!

Panel: Book Bans: Fighting Censorship and Celebrating our Diversity
Friday, August 8 at 12:15 pm at Smith-Wilkes Hall

This panel discussion will focus on the impact of banning books on the LGBTQ+ community. Maria Lowe, Assistant Deputy Director at Buffalo-Erie Public Libraries, and Jamie Lyn Smith, Ohio Chapter Lead for PEN America will be our panelists. This topic couldn’t be more timely given current events. Many thanks to Rhoda Schulzinger and Steve Rozner for organizing this!

Sunday Community Activity Fairs
Sundays (on Weeks 3, 5, 6, 7) from Noon to 1:30 in Bestor Plaza. Informational tables about the various Community Groups at Chautauqua are set up in Bestor Plaza on Sundays at noon. We have a table (and a rather handsome banner) but we need volunteers to mind our table and answer questions about LGBTQ+ and Friends activities and events at Chautauqua. It’s a really nice hour and a half on a Sunday, and you only have to commit to one Sunday. Bree Dietly is the volunteer coordinator and says we still need volunteers for July 20 (Week 5) and August 3 (Week 7). If you would like to volunteer, please e-mail Bree at bdietly@gmail.com. Many thanks to Bree for coordinating our volunteers! This is actually a very cool program and is especially beneficial and welcoming to first-time visitors to Chautauqua.

Sunday Night Meet and Greet Social Hour
We will be having our weekly Meet and Greet Social hour each Sunday from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm on the porch of the Athenaeum Hotel. The hotel lobby bar will remain open until midnight, but our event ends at 9:30. This year (due to popular demand) we are also going to do a Meet and Greet Week 10, which is Sunday, Aug 24 from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm at the Athenaeum. We are still looking for hosts for August 3 (Week 7) and August 24 (Week 10). As host you will sponsor the cheese board that the hotel puts out. This year it will be about $220 plus tip so it might be a good idea to share hosting duties. As host you will welcome people to the porch, assist with name tags, help those who look a little lost find a connection and direct people to our website to sign up to be on our e-mail list if they are not already on it. Please contact Karen James at karenjames@me.com if you would like to host a Meet and Greet. Many thanks to Karen for managing this!

LGBTQ+ and Friends Discussion Group. Bring your lunch.
Our weekly discussion group will be held each Tuesday at 12:15 in the Garden Room of the Literary Arts Center. Catie Miller will facilitate. Big kudos to Catie for facilitating all these years. We appreciate you! The themes for the rest of 2025 are as follows:

Week 3: Creativity and Community: Art as Medicine (Literary Arts Center Ballroom)

Week 4: Humanity’s Struggle to Create an Exceptional Future for All

Week 5: Questioning the Intention of Capitalism

Week 6: What You See Is What You Get: Resisting the Authoritarian Mindset

Week 7: A Week of Literary Delight

Week 8: Middle East Rising

Week 9: Moving Beyond History Simply Repeating Itself

History of LGBTQ+ at Chautauqua

Molly Merchant, Deb Manzella and Jack Kenny are co-leads on this project. The team has collected information from local archives and would like to add individual stories and experiences. Your story is our history. If you wish to share yours or you would like to be a recorder for someone else’s story, please contact Mollie Merchant at mb.merchant@gmail.com.

Baseball Shirts
Jeff Currier has a super idea of selling LGBTQ+ and Friends at Chautauqua baseball shirts this season. He is going to offer sizes S, M, L, XL and XXL in the following colors: Cardinal, Royal Blue, Forest, Purple, Black and White. “LGBTQ+ and Friends at Chautauqua” will be embroidered on them and they will be piped in rainbow piping. Cost will be $50 per shirt, including tax. He will donate $5 per shirt sold to LGBTQ+ and Friends. This is a terrific way for us to remain visible at Chautauqua this summer, expressing our sense of identity and right to exist, without overtly threatening anyone else’s sense of identity. Also, be sure to wear the Rainbow Lanyards that Terry Horner worked so hard to provide us with last year! E-mail Jeff Currier at jeffreyscurrier@gmail.com for more information, pre-orders, or to volunteer to help Jeff with this. Thank you, Jeff!

Brick

Yes, we bought a Brick! It’s an 8x8 brick that says “LGBTQ+ and Friends at Chautauqua.” Many thanks to Terry Horner for facilitating this. Look for it up near the Welcome Center!

Financial Oversight Committee

As we continue to grow, we want to make sure that all of our financials are fully transparent and the accounts are in order. Many thanks to Karen James, Christopher Griffith, Janet Hinkle, Terry Horner, Tim Holland, MJ Johnston, and DeDe Hughes for serving on the committee.

Fundraising
LGBTQ+ and Friends at Chautauqua is totally self-funded and we appreciate any donations you can make to the group to help fund our Special Events and weekly activities as well as our website maintenance costs. Donations to LGBTQ+ and Friends at Chautauqua are not tax-deductible. If you would like to donate, please make out your check to:

LGBTQ+ and Friends
And then mail the check to:

Hughes/Britton
P.O. Box 1367
Chautauqua, NY 14722

Or you can venmo us @lgbtq-chq

Thank you and see you all soon!

LGBTQ+ and Friends at ChautauquaDear LGBTQ+ and Friends Community,