Nashville GLBT Newspaper

Feature by Deb Clark

Two Women and a Poodle: A Cross Country “Gay Into Straight America” Trip  
 
Why would two women leave their home and travel across the United States in a 1994 donated purple Suburban, pulling a thirteen and one half foot 1984 donated Scotty trailer? They want to talk to people about issues affecting the GLBT community.
 
Dotti Berry and Roby Sapp left their home in Washington with their poodle, Rylee Joy, on November 9, 2005, and they haven’t been home since then. They were in Nashville on March 1 and 2.
 
The couple read an article in the Advocate magazine about a Lutheran pastor, Lars Claufen, who unicycled across America. He asked himself,  “What’s it like to be gay in America?”  He wanted to find out and unicycled 1000 miles and made the Guinness Book of World Records. When Lars first became ordained as a pastor, he was asked to sign a document that he would preach against homosexuality. The only way he could become a pastor was to sign the document, which he finally did, but he has never stopped working for gay rights.

Berry and Sapp with their poodle, Rylee Joy
Photo by Don Shrubshell

Dotti and Roby read his blog online and they both knew that they had to do it. On May 9, 2005, they committed to do the journey. They call it “Gay Into Straight America.” Roby said that they wanted to do something about polarization. “Our goal is to engage hearts and minds, create authentic connections and discuss the differences that separate us.” They want to inspire the GLBT community and their allies.
 
The two were legally married on March 7, 2004 in Oregon. Oregon issued 3000 licenses that day, then they closed it. A year later they got a check for $60 from Oregon, declaring their marriage null and void. On July 30, 2004, Dotti and Roby had their spiritual union. They had 130 friends there, but only four family members. Even though their parents lived ten minutes away, they refused to come. Several neighbors did come, but a week later Dotti said, “I was driving home and I felt like I was driving into a cloud.” She knew something was wrong. The developer in the neighborhood told her that he was receiving phone calls that too much gay activity was going on there.
 
Dotti went out, bought red roses and went to each house in their neighborhood, offering a rose and a dinner invitation. She received no confirmed acceptances, so next she presented a written invitation. On Sunday the whole neighborhood showed up for dinner. Now several gay couples live there and feel comfortable showing affection for each other. Roby said, “We met fear with love.”
 
They attended a panel discussion on gay marriage where a member of the Baptist church did the rebuttal.  He stated, “There is no room in my theology for same-gender marriage.” He stated that the Bible was against it and that he could not condone it. Dotti suggested to him that he meet her and Roby for lunch for the next six months, not to debate beliefs, but just to be friends. They did this and one day their Baptist friend said, “Ya’ll, I don’t know what to do with you.” They had become good friends and he could see the love between them. He couldn’t be against it anymore.
 
The couple is getting the message out that GLBT people are just like everybody else. Dotti said, “We don’t want special rights, just equal rights.” They speak to groups everywhere they go and enjoy just meeting and talking with people.
 
Offering hope and inspiration to people in the GLBT community, they feel that most of the fear is in their own community. Statistics show that only seven percent of gay people are out in every situation. It took Roby eighteen years to come out of the closet. They feel that things are a lot better than they used to be for GLBT people. Differences don’t have to separate people and people really do want to connect. Dotti and Roby are connecting every day as they continue their journey across America. Two women and a poodle are getting the message out.
 
To learn more about their journey, you can read it every week at: www.gayintostraightamerica.com .