History
The history of origin of our name, “Molly Tommy” dates to the late 18th and early 19th century England, where gay men would refer to themselves as “Mollies,” and gay women were referred to as “Tommies.” During this period, when same-sex activities were considered illegal and heavily prosecuted, Mollies would meet at underground places called a “Molly House” to dance, commune, and celebrate their culture with their community. We decided to combine both names to honor and celebrate LGBTQ+ history.
Everyone’s ambition at some point in their lives should be to make a difference impacting lives. An idea can come from past memories long forgotten, a conversation, a dream, old pictures, or new friends. The idea of Molly Tommy came from a mixture of family and friends in the LGBTQ+ community, along with seeing old 1980’s videos of my dear friends, Ed and Ronell, who are no longer with us. I met them both in Southern California while I was working on my degree at California State Fullerton.
Ronell had recently moved from Detroit, and we became friends instantly. He was about five years older than me, a gospel singer with an amazing voice, and 6 feet, 130 pounds of sharply dressed man. He introduced his partner to me as his uncle. My future wife, Ronell and his “uncle” would hang out often. Dinners, clubs, staying at his place in Palm Springs, but not once would their sexuality be discussed. Ronell was the singer for my wedding, and to this day 33 years later I still watch my wedding video to see him and hear his amazing voice.
Ed had moved from a small town in Penn to CA and was about ten years older than me. As a history major, he became a very good friend to my family, helping tutor my brothers, coming over to all our family events, and taking trips with my wife. Ed had a “partner” whom we never met, as Ed did not want anyone to really know he was gay.
As I look back, I know both Ronell and Ed were troubled by the burden of not being able to be themselves, playing the part our society would accept. Unfortunately, both Ed and Ronnell contracted AIDS during the darkest years of the epidemic in the 1980s and passed away. I wish they were still with us so they could have enjoyed the inclusive diverse LGBTQ+ community that it is today.
It was in Ed and Ronell’s memory that I had the idea of Molly Tommy. My vision was to create a totally unique social media platform for the LGBTQ+ community, allies, and supportive businesses. The Molly Tommy platform gives the LGBTQ+ community the opportunity to unite with a sense of purpose and use their voices to engage and support each other. Molly Tommy gives each user the ability to surf feeds and groups with news, events, perks, chat, and much more! We’re excited to encourage local groups to continue their discussions and community support online on Molly Tommy. We are working diligently to make it the most fun, exciting, talked-about, safe, thought-provoking, and change-making social media platform.
Steve Kaudy, Founder – Molly Tommy, LLC
