Ron Frazier and Tom McCulley were one of the early openly gay couples in Bloomington. Together they raised Ron’s biological daughter, Heidi, in what was considered at the time, a unique family situation. In the late 1990s, the family was featured in a People Magazine article and several articles in The Pantagraph which focused more on the normalcy of the family rather than the differences. Included in the collection are several newspaper clippings from The Pantagraph “Letters to the Editor” from some citizens expressing their dismay and condemning the newspaper for publishing such an article. Also included are letters supporting open mindedness of The Pantagraph for good reporting rather than passing judgment.
The collection includes a family picture; copy of People magazine in which the family was featured in 1996; copy of Alternative Family, where the family was also featured in 1998. Two newspaper articles about the family appeared in The Pantagraph in 1985 and 1997 which generated many negative letters to the editor to the point where the editor published a letter stating no more negative letters would be published.