Billy Mencer Ackerly interview

Interview with Billy Mencer Ackerly by Madeline Montgomery. Mencer Ackerly is one of the group that organized and participated in the first R.I. Pride parade in 1976. He is a white gay man; a retired mental health worker and gay rights activist. Topics in order of discussion include: relationship with biological father; difficult childhood; coming out as a teenager in the 1960s; getting arrested; bullying; dropping out of high school and leaving home; gay nightclubs and bars in Boston and Providence; domestic abuse from first boyfriend; Metropolitan Community Church of Providence and Reverend Joseph Gilbert; harassment; communal living; organizing the first Gay Pride march in Rhode Island as part of the Bicentennial celebration and the legal case that ensured the march could occur; support from his mother during Pride March; description of subsequent Pride parades and events; coming out while working at the Bulova Watch Company; getting married and attending high school reunion. This interview was created as part of the Queering Oral History course - an oral history course at Brown University in Spring 2020 and taught by Dr. Virginia Thomas. Students were trained in oral history practices and interviewed members of the Rhode Island LGBTQIA community.