ShoutOut Special Edition 2021

Meet Your Resource Center Board:  Barbara Talkov

A few years ago, Barbara Talkov had a life coach ask her to write down her mission in life. She wrote: “Support Feeling Communities”

A relative newcomer to the Resource Center board of directors, Barb has been living up to that mission through her dedicated service not only to the board but to the entire LGBTQ community.

She brings extensive experience working on public policy issues and direct services to improve the communities and lives of women, children and youth. She has worked with not-for-profit agencies and coalitions of them, with municipal government, and with both the legislative and executive branches of state government.

Her community involvement has included serving on a variety of not-for-profit and local government boards, as well as various advisory committees. These have focused on LGBTQ issues (especially those effecting youth), the arts, health and human services, sustainable agriculture, and professional associations.

Over the course of her career, she was the executive director of the Children’s League of Massachusetts; Director of the Massachusetts Smoker’s Quitline/American Cancer Society; program manager of the Office for Treatment Improvement/Boston Health & Hospitals; Executive Director, Caucus of Women Legislators/MA Legislature; Community Representative, Massachusetts Office for Children/Framingham, MA; and executive director, Natick, MA Youth and Human Resources Committee. She says perhaps the most rewarding was when she worked for the state Caucus of Women Legislators. And that one of her best memories of all her jobs was working on a farm.

Barb has received numerous professional and community honors including: Local Officials Human Service Council of the MA Municipal Association: Peter Kirwin Award 2015, Children’s League of Massachusetts: Children’s Choice Award 2013, John McManus Leadership in Human Services Award 2012 and the Germaine Lawrence, Inc., Woman of Excellence Award 2007.

Barb was born in 1946 and grew up in the Boston area. Her grandparents were Russian Jews who immigrated to escape persecution. Her grandfather went on to become one of the founders of Brandeis University. She says her parents were involved in their community as well. She says that because she was the oldest grandchild, she got used to attending many community organizing meetings…her introduction to a life and career dedicated to social activism.

Barb laughs when she describes her coming out to her parents in 1977. “I was 21 and had my own apartment,” she recounts. “I burst into my parents’ home at 6:30 in the morning and proclaimed ‘I’m Gay’” Since she had had relationships with men before and after, she says her parents really didn’t put a lot of stock in her announcement.

Barb is currently a resident of Gloucester, Massachusetts, but she hopes to become a seasonal resident, spending her winters here in Gulfport. She says she became aware of the Resource Center when she was visiting Gulfport and learned about and attended the Lesbian literature festival “ReadOut”. She currently sits on the planning committee for that event, scheduled for February 2022. While the pandemic certainly has had its challenges, Zoom has allowed her to be an active organizer and board member for the Resource Center. She says she is very proud to be part of our unique and award-winning organization.

A New Story:

ReadOut and the LGBTQ Resource Center of the Gulfport Public Library

It may take a village to accomplish changes with lasting social impact, but every village needs a leader. The LGBTQ Resource Center of the Gulfport Public Library is blessed with several.

At 85, Edie Daly is a force of nature. Tech savvy and with energy to spare, Edie was part of the Womyn’s Energy Bank that seeded the Gulfport Library’s LGBTQ Resource Center with a donation of 200+ lesbian-themed books. Today, the Resource Center offers more than 8,000 books, CD and other media on LGBTQ topics to patrons across Pinellas County. It is the only such center in a public library in Florida.

When the Resource Center organized ReadOut: A Festival of Lesbian Literature in February 2020, Edie and her 90-year-old wife, Jackie, donated travel costs for Nia and Ness, two young Black lesbians from New York City, who complement their powerful written messages with dance. It was the last live event held at the Gulfport Library, attracting a capacity crowd of 145, including 23 authors, before COVID restrictions took hold.

Undaunted by the Library’s closure, Edie teamed up with Susan Gore, the Resource Center board president, to strategize how to expand connections among authors and readers during the shut-down. Library Director, David Mather, also stepped forward in his dual role as IT Director for Gulfport. Together with just five other Resource Center board members and past ReadOut participants, the festival morphed into 26 hours of Zoom-based programming that reached almost 1,000 participants from 22 countries, with 101 authors speaking on everything from writing across communities to the relationship between Queer Theology and Christianity.

With a growing cadre of volunteers, Edie and Susan expect continued growth in 2022 as the LGBTQ Resource Center of the Gulfport Library again sponsors ReadOut as a virtual event that creates a new story for lovers of lesbian literature, reaching across Tampa Bay and the world.

Christine Grossman 2021-22 Scholarship Winner

Christine Grossman, a USFSP psychology and entrepreneurship student, has been selected to receive the LGBTQ Resource Center’s second annual $1000 scholarship to support her education.

“At its best, education enables students to deepen their knowledge and hone skills necessary to meet the diverse needs of their community,” said Resource Center Board President Susan Gore. “Christine’s devastating experiences in a private rural high school only strengthened her resolve to create safe, growthful spaces for others. She demonstrates that commitment as a Peer Coach for new students at USFSP and as President of the USF PRIDE Alliance. In addition, Christine makes a difference as the Outreach Coordinator for ALSO Youth, which provides Advocacy, Leadership, Support and Outreach for LGBTQ+ at-risk youth. As her USFSP supervisor in the COMPASS Student Experience Office wrote, ‘While Christine has the academic record, experience, and training to be an outstanding scholar, additionally she is a great person. Her positive energy, genuineness, and sense of humor are an added bonus to our team.’ We are honored to acknowledge Christine Grossman’s contributions and support her future leadership with the 2021-2022 LGBTQ Resource Center Student Scholarship.”

Resource Center Showcased

The LGBTQ Resource Center of the Gulfport Public Library has been selected by the Tampa Bay Association of Fundraising Professionals as one of five area nonprofits to be showcased during the Association’s annual Philanthropy Week, November 15 – 19. A video highlighting Resource Center donors and the work of the Center will be posted online starting this Thursday.

Watch it on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/EpfwIHlIuN0 Feel free to share this brief and spectacular telling of our story widely!