Oral history interviews with Kevin M. Kelly conducted by Dennis McBride on September 08 and 22; and November 10, 2000 for the Las Vegas Gay Archives Oral History Project. In the interviews, Kelly talks about his family and early life in Boston, Massachusetts with a focus on his Catholic upbringing. He recalls his law education, serving in the United States Army during the Vietnam War for eleven years, and discovering his sexuality in 1966 while working in the Boston City Hospital. Kelly then describes being discharged from the military due to allegations of being gay, and his family's reaction. He then recalls moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1978, where he was involved in a robbery and shooting incident with a male sex worker in 1982. Kelly goes on to recall the trial that proceed the incident and how it publicly outed him. He details how he was charged with felony sodomy and ultimately lost his job as a result of the trial. Finally, he talks about serving on a task force to investigate bias in Nevada's court system in 1992 and being honored in 1994 by the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada for his work.
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Oral history interview with Ellen DeLand conducted by Dennis McBride on January 19 and 20, 1996 for the Las Vegas Gay Archives Oral History Project.
Archival Collection
The Reno Gay Rodeo Collection comprises organizational records collected by Dennis McBride that document the National Reno Gay Rodeo from 1977 to 1988. It includes newspaper clippings, notes, and ephemera, as well as legal documentation from two lawsuits fought unsuccessfully in 1988 to retain the Reno rodeo. The two lawsuits were the Silver State Gay Rodeo Association vs Lawlor Events Center (1988), and the Lantry, et. al. vs Third Judicial District Court, NV (Nevada Supreme Court dismissal, 1988).
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Oral history interview with Lee Martin conducted by Dennis McBride on May 01, 2013 for the Las Vegas Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Archives Oral History Project. In this interview, Martin discusses his involvement with the Nevada Gay Action League and the Pacifica Hotel, an effort to open a gay resort in Las Vegas, Nevada during the mid 1980s. He describes managing Paradise Bookstore, a bookstore for gay literature, in downtown Las Vegas. Lastly, Martin discusses other gay businesses that he was involved with in Las Vegas.
Archival Collection
Kendall Stagg oral history interview conducted by Dennis McBride on January 11, 2002 for the Las Vegas Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Archives Oral History Project. In the interview, Stagg discusses his early life in Utah, his religious upbringing, coming out as gay, and his involvement with the gay community in Reno, Nevada. He also talks about running for Nevada State Assembly District 32 in 2000 as one of Nevada's youngest openly gay politicians. Lastly, Stagg recalls his time as president of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Student Union in University of Nevada, Reno and co-founding Reno’s first Gay Pride parades in 1999.
Archival Collection