“We have so much to learn from each other, and this is a great way to connect,” says Savannah Hopkins, the Rockport High School junior and leader behind a free intergenerational Halloween Drag Bingo party at the Rose Baker Senior Center, this Thursday, Oct. 23, from 5 to 7 p.m.
It’s not the first instance of community outreach aimed at the city’s older gay population. Last November, SeniorCare hosted a listening session at Cape Ann Savings Bank Community Room to foster collaboration for elders in the city’s LGBTQIA+ community.
Historically, Gloucester has been home to some illustrious gays — most prominently, revolutionary interior designer Henry Davis Sleeper, whose Beauport, Sleeper-McCann House is a National Historic Landmark and popular tourist destination. Sleeper, who was famed for his parties, would be right at home at Thursday’s event, starring ‘Victoria Obvious’ (Miss Gay Worcester) and “Your Girl Ariel Monroe. “
Bingo, Savannah told the Times, was her father’s idea. Her father, Stephen Hopkins, had experience working with the elderly and knew that bingo was always a hit with them. Together, the father-daughter team approached Senior Center Elder Services Director Elise Sinagra with the idea.
“Elise is a hard read,” Stephen Hopkins told the Times. “We weren’t sure what she was going to say.” But Sinagra, who grew up in Gloucester, and knows its people from the ground up, said, “I love it.”
And so “The Wickedest Storm,” as the evening has been dubbed, went into planning stages, emerging with two outrageous queens running what may be Gloucester’s first ever Drag Bingo party.
Drag Bingo has been the subject of controversy in recent times, particularly in regards to children’s parties. But seasoned by long lives, seniors do not shock easily. Also, Gloucester is a city famed for its colorful characters. “It’s like a come-as-you-are party,” Savannah says. “It welcomes you just as you are.”
Savannah, who says she was 12 when it began to dawn on her that she might be gay, says her parents were “incredibly supportive” of her right from the beginning.
“Our concern,” Stephen Hopkins told the Times, was the lack of resources in place for her at that time. So the family, including Savannah’s brother and sister, got going and got together with a group of concerned citizens. There were five of them — Jai Fields, Mary Benard, Matthew Murray, George Grattan, and Stephen Hopkins himself.
They called themselves the Cape Ann Pride Coalition (CAPC), and with the support of the Greater Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce, they grew into a social engine for Cape Ann’s gay community at large.
Then teens being being teens, there arose among Savannah and her friends the desire to do their own thing. And so, calling themselves Cape Ann LGBTeens, and with the help of an Awesome Rockport grant of $1,000 secured through a presentation by Savannah, they began doing just that, first with a Halloween Mystery Movie Night then a crafting event, both at Cape Ann Community Cinema in Rockport, followed by a MarioKart Tournament at Harbor9 in Gloucester, a Teen Pride Dance at MAGMA in Gloucester, and an appearance in the Horribles Parade with Ward 2 Councilor Dylan Benson.
Now, with another $1,000 grant, this one from Awesome Gloucester, comes Thursday night’s Drag Bingo, Halloween-themed, which is not surprising considering Savannah spent much of her childhood in Salem, so “Halloween is in my blood.”
Salem is also the birthplace of NAGLY (North Shore Alliance of LGBTQ Youth), the mothership of resources for regional LGBTeens.
“Salem has many more resources for kids like Savannah,” Stephen Hopkins says. But, he says, Cape Ann is catching up. “When you get organizations like the Chamber of Commerce, Awesome Gloucester and Awesome Rockport behind you, you’re on your way.”
Gloucester’s Younity Center, a drop-in resource for teens and young adults at 6 Elm St. in downtown Gloucester, is a case in point. “I can’t,” he says, “say enough about what they’re doing.”
And a lot remains to be done.
According to The Trevor Project , a suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ+ youth, 12% of LGBTQ+ young people ages 13–24 attempted suicide last year nationwide. The best antidote to date? Connection. De-stigmatization. Creating environments where people feel safe to share their experiences without fear of judgment. Reducing the distance between “us” and “them” by promoting understanding.
The senior center’s venue can accommodate up to 80, and all are invited. Seats for the free party are filling up fast though, so RSVP ASAP to Natalia at 978-325-5812.