The Anthony Mascioli Rainbow Dialogues demonstrate how LGBTQ+ history and archival documents are relevant today and contextualize LGBTQ+ life in Rochester against the backdrop of local and national social justice issues.
The annual program grew out of a partnership between the Out Alliance and the library to preserve LGBTQ+ history. To date, more than 45 LGBTQ+ archival collections have been transferred from the Out Alliance to Central Library’s Local History & Genealogy Division to ensure their long-term preservation and public access. These collections — one of the largest LGBTQ+ archives in New York State — provide the intellectual foundation for the Rainbow Dialogues.
Anthony (‘Tony’) Mascioli (1930 – 2013) grew up in Rochester and went to Catholic schools. He knew he was gay as a young man, but when he came out to his family, his father was not very supportive.
After graduating from Brockport and then Columbia University, he opened the Wall Street Spa and Sauna, followed by the East Side Sauna, and then a guest house on Long Island.
He boldly celebrated being a gay man at a time when it wasn’t socially acceptable or safe. He provided a place for men — in and out of the closet — to socialize and find fulfillment in their identity. Tony lived his life openly and with pride.
Tony was socially and financially invested in The Out Alliance, the Rochester Public Library, the Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library, SUNY Brockport, and ImageOut, organizations that have continued Tony’s support of the Rochester LGBTQ+ community and the community-at-large.
Held at Central Library, the 2024 Anthony Mascioli Rainbow Dialogues featured Keynote Speaker Chanel Lopez, (she/her) the first transwoman gubernatorial appointee in NY, serving as Governor Hochul’s Deputy Director of LGBTQ+ Affairs.
The event focused on the theme: “Fight for Trans Rights: Making History Then and Now.”
Presented by Shoulders to Stand On, a program of the Rochester Public Library.
Sponsored by the Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library, ImageOut, and Rochester LGBTQ+ Together.
William A. (Bill) Johnson, keynote speaker 2021 (left); Jackson Davidow, keynote speaker 2022 (center); Jeffrey Q. McCune, Jr., keynote speaker 2023 (right)
Held at Central Library, the 2023 Anthony Mascioli Rainbow Dialogues featured Keynote Speaker Jeffrey Q. McCune, Jr.
In his talk, Disobedience: A Politics for Radical Queer Life, McCune offered disobedience as an intentional refusal of the traditional narratives of queer life, and an invitation to lean into ways of knowing which privilege the marginal voices on which so much of LGBTIA+ storytelling relies. McCune is director of the Frederick Douglass Institute of African & African-American Studies and Frederick Douglass Associate Professor of African American Literature and Culture in the Department of English at the University of Rochester.
Following the Keynote address was a conversation about “The Importance of Inclusion and the Dangers of Erasure,” featuring: Tamara Leigh, facilitator; Samuel Antonio Brett Sanchez; Javannah J. Davis; Rohsennase Dalton LaBarge; Pari Faison-Lucas; and Kristen R. Walker.
Rainbow Dialogues 2023 was presented by the Central Library of Rochester & Monroe County, and was sponsored by the Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library and ImageOut.
LGBTQ+ Archivist and Shoulders to Stand on Founder Evelyn Bailey (left), accepts the first-ever Shoulders to Stand On: the LGBTQ history of Rochester NY ‘Founders Award’ from the Anthony Mascioli Rainbow Dialogues committee; Triangle Awards (pictured, center) were given to Susan Anne (Sue) Cowell, Gary English, Thomas Warfield, Dr. Bill Valenti of Trillium Health, and Dr. Steve Scheibel. Photographer and librarian Gerry Szymanski (right) addresses participants at MAG’s Cutler Union.
Held at the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester during the Up Against the Wall: Art, Activism, and the AIDS Poster exhibition (which was on view at MAG at that time), the 2022 Anthony Mascioli Rainbow Dialogues explored Rochester’s response to the AIDS crisis from its beginning in 1981 to the present, through both local and global lenses.
The keynote Address: ‘History, Theory, and Criticism of Art and Architecture,’ was presented by Jackson Davidow, Postdoctoral Fellow, Translating Race Lab, Center for the Humanities, Tufts University
Presented by the Central Library of Rochester & Monroe County and the Out Alliance in partnership with the Memorial Art Gallery. Sponsored by Shoulders to Stand On, Humanities New York, and the Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library.
The 2021 Rainbow Dialogues confronted the double pandemic of COVID-19 and racism in its 2021 program (held virtually, via Zoom).
The theme, Lessons Learned from an Unequal World, took an intersectional approach to understanding and addressing longstanding and continuing inequality facing the Rochester community. Keynote speaker William A. Johnson reflected on his experiences confronting racism and supporting the LGBTQ+ community as head of the Urban League, mayor of Rochester, and co-chair of the Commission on Racial and Structural Equity (RASE). Panelists shared their own experiences of inequality and discussed efforts—personal and community-driven—to overcome the challenges.
Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., Rainbow Dialogues keynote speaker 2018 (left); Dr. Beck Orr, keynote speaker 2019 (center); Stanley Byrd, Ed.D., keynote speaker 2020 (right)
‘Intersectionality in Social and Political Change: A Historical Perspective’ was presented by Central Library of Rochester & Monroe County and the Out Alliance, in partnership with Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library and Image Out.
Keynote speaker: Stanley Byrd, Ed.D., Vice President for Diversity, Inclusion and Human Resources, Empire Justice Center.
Break Out Sessions included: ‘Interesectionality in AIDS Activism: A Catalyst for Change,’ facilitated by Paul Scheib and Jeremy Tjhung; and ‘Intersectionality and Trans Equality: How Cisnormativity Affects Us All,’ presented by Milo Obourn, PhD, Associate Professor & Chair, Dept. of Women & Gender Studies, The College at Brockport, State University of New York.
Central Library’s Local History & Genealogy Division, FFRPL, and the Out Alliance presented the second annual Anthony Mascioli Rainbow Dialogues as part of a year-long community-wide commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the uprising at the Stonewall Inn in New York City in 1969 that launched the gay liberation movement.
One notable highlight: the keynote speaker, Bek Orr, Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies at the State University of New York, College at Brockport, gave a fascinating talk, ‘(Re)telling the Past and (Re)shaping the Future: Community Building at the Lesbian Herstory Archives in a Post-Stonewall Era,’ which also highlighted the importance of intergenerational exchange when working with archival materials.
The focus of the inaugural program was the LGBTQ+ special collections that had recently been transferred to the Rochester Public Library as part of a multi-year project with the Out Alliance. The collections included documents, newspapers, videos, books and ephemera. RPL will serve as the permanent home for the collections, providing the community-at-large with greater access to the content.
One notable highlight: the keynote speaker: Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., Archivist, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian recognized the impact of local efforts to preserve, promote, and utilize the LGBTQ+ collections. “I think that the community in Rochester is far and away at the forefront of preservation of LGBTQ culture,” he noted.
Robinson actively collects for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Collection at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
View Robinson’s thank you letter following the Rainbow Dialogues here
