Each year the Shepherd Express’ LGBTQ Progress Awards honors people and organizations that have worked and taken risks to improve conditions for LGBTQ people in Wisconsin. Past winners have been active in many areas of life from health issues to politics and culture, and have included Si Smits, Plymouth Church, the BestD Clinic, the Saturday Softball Beer League and Carl Bogner and many others.
The fourth annual Progress Awards dinner and ceremony will be held Thursday, Aug. 9, at Renaissance Place, 1451 N. Prospect Ave. Tickets can be reserved by visiting shepherdtickets.com. The Cream City Foundation is this year’s presenting sponsor.
Photo credit: Lila Aryan
Tanya Atkinson LGBTQ Progress in Health and HIV Awareness
Tanya Atkinson has worked with Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI) for 14 years and is in her second year as the organization’s president and CEO. “This award is 100% for Planned Parenthood,” she insists, “and we really appreciate it. PPWI is a trusted place for sexual and reproductive health for anyone who needs us. It’s important for people to know that we serve all genders. We stand strong, we stand proud and we stand always with the LGBTQ community. I should also say that I have some understanding of the negativity that can be thrust on the community and, more importantly, I understand the progress that can be made when we work together.”
A social worker by training, she grew up on a small dairy farm in southwest Wisconsin where accessing health care could be difficult. She settled in Milwaukee to work with the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, then joined PPWI as a community organizer and worked all across the state in public affairs, education and communication. “PPWI was one of the first organizations to sign on in opposition to anti-LGBT legislative efforts in Wisconsin. Whenever those initiatives come up, we stand beside the LGBTQ community. Not only is it right for social justice; we also see firsthand the effect that discrimination and marginalization can have on a person’s and their family’s health. We believe it’s incredibly important to get the politics out of reproductive and sexual health so people can live their most authentic lives without interference.” (John Schneider)
Mark Behar Progress in Activism
Mark Behar
Mark Behar’s work on behalf of the LGBTQ community from the 1970s to the present has taken many forms. “In looking at it all,” he says, “what stands out is that these were not stereotypical activist things. You see a need and instead of just sitting back and being aghast, you call people; you find out how to change things. That’s political activism. It’s going out and doing something that will hopefully have a benefit, a positive outcome somewhere along the line.”
Behar has worked with the National Association of Black and White Men Together (NABWMT) since the 1980s. From 2012-2016 he was national co-chair and he’s just created with NABWMT a smartphone app, Resist Racism, available on Androids and soon iPhones. Brilliantly constructed, it helps viewers understand everyday racism, especially as experienced by gay men of color. Also in the 1980s, he co-created the Milwaukee Lesbian and Gay Cable Network and its programs “Tri-Cable Tonight” and “New Tri-Cable”—award-winning magazine shows on local LBGTQ issues, events, people and histories—and the comedy series “Yellow on Thursday.”
In 1977, he transformed the Milwaukee Gay People’s Union VD testing center into a functioning clinic as its first director; it’s now BESTD where he volunteers. In 1979, he helped produce and disseminate the first risk reduction guidelines in the nation for HIV/AIDS prevention. A physician’s assistant by profession, he’s worked for the Governor’s Council of Gay and Lesbian Issues in health care for LGBTQ people across the state. And so much more. (John Schneider)
Challenge Party Philanthropy
Like many aspects of Milwaukee’s LGBTQ community, funding its various causes and organizations has relied on activists within the community itself. Early on, when LGBTQs founded their own health clinics, social service agencies, arts groups, athletic leagues and other entities with their respective missions to serve the greater LGBTQ population, few philanthropic or government resources provided crucial financial support. So it fell upon the generosity of those who could financially contribute in the interest of the greater good. But individuals can only do so much. It was, however, soon recognized that a unified effort to underwrite those many deserving projects would produce a greater impact. Thus, three decades ago, a group of philanthropically minded individuals, the Challengers, joined to create The Challenge Party as a fundraising event.
The idea was to host an annual gala in the home of a community member with all amenities donated. The Challengers invited a broad spectrum of attendees, offering them the opportunity to donate to selected organizations with 501(c)(3) status. Donors would give directly to the recipient and thereby avoid the administrative costs that would otherwise reduce the actual amount given. The Milwaukee LGBT Community Center and the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin were designated permanent recipients. Additionally, each year a committee selects a third organization, and sometimes a fourth, to receive Challenge Party support.
Over the years, the Challengers have distributed more than $1.1 million to dozens of organizations and thereby significantly contributed to Milwaukee’s LGBTQ progress towards equality. (Paul Masterson)
Mark Mariucci Progress in Business
Mark Mariucci
2018 marks the 25th anniversary of QUEST, Wisconsin’s longest continuously published LGBTQ lifestyle and entertainment magazine. Since 1993, owner-editor Mark Mariucci has provided a media platform for expression of local culture, proving the community its voice and celebrating its identity.
When printers refused to print QUEST because of its LGBTQ content, Mariucci bought his own offset printers, enlisting the help of friends to run them. He personally delivered each edition, driving 14 hours throughout the state, dropping off bundles of magazines at distribution points.
Over the two and half decades of publication, QUEST showcased all aspects of the queer world from the drag, leather, fetish and pageant scene, to the arts, politics and athletics as well as everything in between. During the HIV/AIDS crisis QUEST promoted safe sex and victim support. Mariucci sought out writers and photographers to document Wisconsin’s alternative lifestyle and, in the process, gave them the opportunity to practice their craft.
With rare exception, like President Barack Obama’s signing the end of DOMA, QUEST covers featured local personalities from beefcakes and drag queens to community leaders like Maria Cadenas and philanthropist Joe Pabst. For one Mother’s Day, the cover honored the proud moms of LGBTQ children.
Although his business model may not have always been financially sound (he often donated advertising space to non-profits, wrote off debts or rolled with the punches of competitors), his business mission was an undeterred belief in the LGBTQ community, its inherent pride and dignity. (Paul Masterson)
Carmen Murguia Progress in Arts and Culture
Carmen Murguia
Writer/activist Carmen Murguia’s parents planted the seed of her activism. The family worked on behalf of civil rights, LGBTQ rights and Latinx rights. At age 7 in Catholic elementary school, Carmen says, “I walked into church, went to the front pew and said to God and Our Lady of Guadalupe, you made me Mexican, you made me a girl and you made me a girl who likes girls, so now please protect me!” LGBTQ children, she believes, have exceptional insight because “we’re on the fringes, we observe and learn, and we think and feel deeply.”
In her 20s, she devoted herself to poetry and fiction. “I didn’t sit down to write about gay Latina Catholic politics, love and culture,” she says, “but my writing was activism. It’s me. I write about what happens around me.” She became arts editor of In Step magazine in the 1990s and covered LGBTQ culture. “I would slowly incorporate into the magazine stories about people of color in the community, visual artists who were activists in their own right and people in the HIV community. We didn’t have that strong a voice. I figured the voice would be through these articles and through my poetry. She published her first book, The Voices Inside: Mi Alma, Mi Cuerpo y Mi Spiritu, in 1993 and her fifth book, A Poem for All My People, last year. In it, she addresses her lesbian and Mexican ancestors in the poem “I Come from Greatness.” The title says it all. (John Schneider)
Tommy Salzsieder Progress in Struggle for Equality
Tommy Salzsieder
Forty-plus years ago, when a small group of Milwaukee gay men decided to play softball with the losers providing a keg of beer for the after party they not only established a local tradition, the Saturday Softball Beer League (SSBL), but also a national legacy, the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance (NAGAAA). The idea was simply to have fun and form friendships through team spirit. Among the founders was Tommy Salzsieder.
Salzsieder (familiarly known as Tommy Southsider since he’s from the South Side and naturally people heard “South Sider” when he introduced himself) believed America’s favorite pastime should be shared by his community as well. With Salzsieder’s encouragement, SSBL invited teams from major cities like Los Angeles and New York to play in a local tournament. The establishment of NAGAAA followed with Salzsieder as its first treasurer. NAGAAA has since grown to more than 46 leagues in cities throughout the USA and Canada with more than 17,000 athletes playing for 1,000 teams.
SSBL and NAGAAA propelled lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identity beyond the stereotypes and today they continue to encourage pride, inclusivity and diversity. In fact, you didn’t even have to play that well.
For his commitment and contribution to international LGBTQ sports, Tommy Salzsieder was inducted into the NAGAAA Hall of Fame in 1998 and into the SSBL Hall of Fame in 2005. Today we recognized his role in Milwaukee’s LGBTQ Progress towards equality. (Paul Masterson)
DeShanda Williams and Adrienne Strelcheck Progress in Youth Services
Twenty-40% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ. Adrienne Strelcheck works the streets doing outreach and DeShanda Williams manages the Pathfinders Drop-in Center serving 11-26-year-olds. Strelcheck parks the Street Beat truck in neighborhoods from 92nd and Brown Deer to 27th and Oklahoma on a predictable weekly schedule and provides immediate services and information. Williams welcomes them to the Center, offering services like hygiene, clothing, meals, showers, lodging, storage or simply a safe space. “They can choose to talk to someone or choose to just be here and build community and relationships with other youth,” Williams explains. “We give them a family that is non-judgmental and very protective. A lot of young people who identify along the LGBTQ spectrum don’t feel safe checking that box. Others feel strong about who they are and are willing to continue to learn and grow in that.”
“Our space is one of the few places I’ve known where LGBTQ people are completely part of the community,” Strelcheck adds. “LGBTQ and straight people make friends with each other. Their minds open up. They see one another as the individuals they are. They’ll correct themselves if someone is derogatory. And we see that continue into the community to make it safer out there, across those barriers in the rest of Milwaukee. They understand who they are because they were able to explore those aspects in a really safe space with people who love and care about them.” (John Schneider)
Celeste Guse Progress in Youth Activism
While pioneers of LGBTQ progress are usually identified by their long-term service, often over decades, others must be recognized for their brief yet effective engagement and impact in the struggle for equality. Celeste Guse, a Senior at Shorewood High School, is one such individual.
A passionate and compassionate young adult, Guse represents leadership for a new generation. Newly appointed as President of Courage MKE's Junior Board of Ambassadors, she is responsible for working with her peers to create events for LGBTQ+ youth. With her team, her role is to educate youth on issues including HIV/AIDS, bullying, coming out and transgender awareness and acceptance.
Guse is extremely passionate in ensuring youth are part of the decision making process in designing effective programming and resources for residents of the Courage House. Her conviction is founded in the belief that while adults may focus on issues like therapy, programming and administration, youth must provide insight into those aspects and activities that allow them the autonomy of addressing their own needs.
Guse’s motivation is founded in her adamant commitment to learning and developing a broad range of experience. While at Shorewood High School, she has engaged in a very rigorous curriculum, including many Advanced Placement courses, extracurricular activities in music and languages, as well as racial and mental health initiatives with other activism-based clubs. Guse also helped found the Diversity Club at Shorewood Intermediate School and served for two years as President/Co-President of the Gay-Straight Alliance at Shorewood High School. (Paul Masterson)
