How long have you been a member of Times Squares?
I graduated Mainstream in the 1990-1991 class. Others from my class who are still around include Bill Sic, George Voorhis, and Mark Doyaga.
Why did you join? Who convinced you?
I joined to expand connection with people, and become open to more diversity, in the time of AIDS.
Where did you grow up?
Born in Brooklyn, and lived in the Bay Ridge section into my late teens. Spent the summers with my grandparents and other family members in the Shenandoah Valley (Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, West Virginia) where the Osborne Family and other lines had settled in the early 18th century.
What is something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know?
Hosting enormous Christmas celebrations in my apartment for large numbers of friends.
Who inspires you?
I would say my parents, who were loving, generous, upright, stable, responsible. May beloved father said to me, “whatever you do in life Jimmy, be happy”.
What else do you enjoy beyond square dancing?
Genealogy! My 5x great-grandfather David Ozburn most definitely came from Ulster in Ireland ca. 1720s, entering at Philadelphia and coming across the Potomac into Frederick County, Virginia in the late 1720s. His house dates from 1737. David was a farmer, and also served as a county constable in the 1770s. Other lines came across even earlier. Thomas Petitt from Nottinghamshire arrived in Massachusetts in 1630. This Norman family, from the Pas-de-Calais region, dates back to the 10th century, Cornelius Comegys arrived in New Amsterdam in 1654 in 1654 from the Manor of Laxmond in the Provence of Holland. Johannes Homerigshausen arrived at the port of Philadelphia on 15 Sept 1748. He came from Syan-Wittgenstein in Germany; a valley is named after this family. Their descendants, along with other lines, eventually arrived in the Shenandoah Valley. My mother was an immigrant from Norway, arriving with her parents in 1906 as a two-months old baby. Her ancestors I have traced back to the 17th century and one line to the 15th.
I am also a member of Dignity/USA, a Catholic Gay community founded in 1969. I am a member of the New York chapter, serving on the steering committee and singing in the choir. Our social action for civil justice in the 1980s brought us into conflict with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New YOrk. Three years of public witness led to dialogue with then Cardinal John O’Connor who signaled to the Albany legislature that the Catholic Church would not oppose protection for gays and lesbians in housing and employment, thus leading to the passage of Intro 2 (aka Gay Rights Bill) in 1986.
What do you enjoy reading?
Historical works, biographies, social issues.
Where would you go in a time machine?
A place where peace and justice would be found.
