by Rick Cullen

TEXTS AND CONTEXTS:
AN INTERVIEW WITH CHOLI's
WALT RATUCHNY

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"Mr. Murdoch, what was that?"
Capt. Edward J. Smith

INTRODUCTION: The best introduction to the history and purpose of Community House of Long Island (CHOLI) is a review of its original Mission Statement. "The mission of Community House of Long Island is to obtain and operate a physical site where all gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people and their supporters can meet in fellowship to promote the cultural, economic, social, and physical welfare of our Community through prideful affirmation, community, fun, education, and services."

In the Fall/Winter of 1997-98, initial discussions among then Community activists were held in regard to the Community's need for a physical center in view of the loss of PWAC's building in Lindenhurst. Those members included, among others, Ron Soper, Harold O'Brien, Walter Ratuchny, and Al Lawrence. As a result of those discussions, it was decided to form a new organization to solve the Community's "space" problem.

It was in or about Spring, 1998 that the initial organizers began to search for interested Community members to help in this massive undertaking and to form a corporation with an official Board. Though growth was initially slow, some of the most talented and dedicated activists in the Community eventually became members of the first Board, which included, inter alia, Harold O'Brien, Steve Flynn, Paul Paquette, Ron Soper, Al Lawrence, Louis Trapani, Walter Ratuchny, and mois.

In the first four months of CHOLI's existence, it raised over $25,000.00 under the leadership of its then Financial Director, Clifford Markey. Simultaneously, members of the Board engaged in a massive search for an appropriate physical site for CHOLI to open and operate. Finally, in or about November, 1999, the current site in Deer Park was located and a lease subsequently entered into by Harold O'Brien, then President. Thereafter, in or about June, 2000, a changing of the guard took place when Walt Ratuchny was elected President of CHOLI and a new Board, comprised of mostly new Board members, took over. The rest is history. I recently had the opportunity to interview the current President of CHOLI, Walt Ratuchny. For those interested in the mission, goals, and success of CHOLI, this interview will prove interesting and informative.

RC: Walt, it's my understanding that you were elected to your current position of CHOLI President in June, 2000, after the opening of the current CHOLI site in Deer Park?

WR: Yes.

RC: Can you tell us why you were attracted to the CHOLI organization?

WR: Well, I was originally on the Board of the L.I. Center and left many years ago because of differences there. The L.I. Center was formed to get a center for the Long Island LGBT Community and it was a long time coming. But the L.I. Center did what it was supposed to in the beginning: it organized our community. It used a place where people could come together, they had their dances and everything, and it was the beginning of a center, even though they didn't have a building. I felt it was more important to have a building and that wasn't where the L.I. Center was going, so I left. I got involved with Community House and we got together with several of the community members, including Ron Soper, Al Lawrence, Harold O'Brien, and several other people. We spoke about the need of a physical community center for the LGBT Community. As you know, PWAC had closed and our Community lost the place they were able to call their home. PWAC had moved to Catholic Charities so many of the groups began meeting in people's homes rather than PWAC and their numbers started to dwindle. Its hard to bring people into homes as you don't want to advertise your address. So we said we do need a place that we can call home and we started looking and searching and found several places.

We had a few problems with the idea we wanted to be a GLBT center so many of the landlords approached backed away from us at the time and that's the way it was - and is. But we finally found a place in Deer Park, our current location, and the landlord was and is very open to having the CHOLI center there. We signed the lease for the Deer Park location in November, 1998. The lease was signed ceremoniously at the Film Festival that year by Harold O'Brien, the then President of CHOLI. It's not the greatest place, but its still a place we can call home. It was at this point that I think the first groups began to migrate toward and use the CHOLI premises. I believe the first two groups to meet at CHOLI regularly were Out on L.I. and GOAL, the Gay Officers Action League. Then came the L.I. Trans Experience and we now house about 14 different GLBT groups at the Deer Park site.

RC: So the reason you first got involved with CHOLI was to insure we had a physical place to actually meet. What do you view as the goals of CHOLI? What is the purpose of CHOLI as you see it?

WR: The purpose of CHOLI is to have a home, a center: I think center is a good word because a center indicates bringing everyting together. And my vision is that as organizations become more and more involved with CHOLI, it strengthens our power because it shows our numbers and also helps us focus: as we come together we get to know each other better and we begin to realize that a lot of our issues are the same issues. Our civil and human liberties are the same issues whether you are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered. And the only way we're going to secure those liberties is through unity: its not going to happen if we splinter. So I think having a place where we can unify and a safe place where we can begin to educate other people as to who we are, just by being out and public, I think that's the most important thing. Further, it gives people an avenue where they can come out more comfortably. Once you come out, who you are is not hidden any longer and the mystery of who you are is out in the open - its not hidden any longer.

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