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JANET ZINKA Tampa writer organized the event to demonstrate the importance of the gay community' s contributions to society.
Fear, confusion, insecurity, love and pride.
These were some of the themes presenters explored at the second annual "Loving in Fear" literary showcase Saturday at the John F. Germany Library in downtown Tampa.
Tampa writer Steven Reigns organized the event to honor the gay and lesbian written word. More than 75 people attended.
"So many people there just proves the importance of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender programming," said Reigns, author of Your Dead Body is My Welcome Mat, a collection of poems and short stories.
Local entertainer and transsexual Apple Love introduced the four speakers, beginning with Wendy Ceccherelli, Tampa's director of arts and cultural affairs.
"It is most fitting that today's event be held in a public library, a place where the written word provides a window on the world to people from all walks of life," Ceccherelli said.
Words, she said, have tremendous power. They can hurt, she said, but they also can heal, educate, inspire and bring understanding to a world different from our own.
Featured authors included Kim Hanna, who wrote the play Hypoxia Zone, set to run July 8-28 at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. She read an excerpt from her upcoming novel, The 24th of July. The book explores the struggles of a Mormon woman who must reconcile her life as the fifth wife of a Morman man with her feelings for other women.
University of South Florida history professor David Johnson read several passages from The Lavender Scare, his book about the Cold War persecution of gays and lesbians by the federal government and the origins of the gay rights movement.
Reigns finished the program by reading four poems.
Audience member Cathy Prince, 36, said the event was important to boost pride in what "people in our community accomplish and recognize those things."
Many of the topics covered, she noted, are universal to all people
Said Lance Burnette, 23: "It was a positive, uplifting experience."