1978

On May 9, a gay rights ordinance is defeated in Wichita, Kansas. Dignity/Wichita, a chapter in formation headed by Martin Mendoza, joins forces with the Catholic Worker movement and asks Dignity national and regional to help fight the ordinance. Dignity/Chicago responds by printing 50,000 pamphlets. Region VI brings in a busload of volunteers to help leaflet Wichita churches the Sunday before the election. Dignity National Officers Madeline Ritchie and Carla Kaesbauer fly in along with Bud Guiles, National newsletter editor, and Jim Wolfe, Social Action Committee Chair. Sister Jeannine Gramick and Father Robert Nugent come from Washington DC. Dignity/Los Angeles sends Father Jim Fleck and a check to pay for an ad in the Wichita paper the day before the election.