DeFrank Center’s boss knows a challenge when he sees one in San Jose
Paul Wysocki was about to show me the drop-in center for youth at the Billy DeFrank Center when the silent burglar alarm went off. Wysocki fiddled with the box to accept his code and wound up calling the alarm company, telling them all was fine. “There’s usually a little lag time before they call the police,” he explained. The situation bore more than a little irony. As interim executive director, Wysocki is sounding the public alarm for the center, San Jose’s gathering place for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. But he has no lag time. Last week, he dispatched an e-mail that bluntly said the center would have to close its doors by Sept. 1 unless it raises $50,000. Wysocki hopes to coax backers to sign up for continuing contributions that would total $20,000 a month. “We had been talking about what we needed to do to get people’s attention,” said the red-haired 60-year-old, an exuberant and funny man who has become an expert in turning around nonprofits. “We decided we had to hit them right between the eyes.”
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/defrank-cente…
Local media swallows ‘bathroom bill’ rhetoric
On July 14, the day of a legislative hearing on the transgender rights bill currently on Beacon Hill, WCVB’s NewsCenter 5 ran a story about the bill on its evening newscast. Anchor Liz Brunner introduced the story by saying, “It’s being called the bathroom bill, [and it] is essentially meant to end discrimination based on transgender status.” Behind Brunner was an image of the traditional male and female stick figures found on restroom doors, positioned next to the State House dome and above the tagline, “Bathroom Bill.” Yet the only people calling the trans rights bill, House Bill 1728, a “bathroom bill” are its opponents, and the label is a misnomer by any objective criteria.
H.B. 1728 adds trans-inclusive language to the state’s non-discrimination laws in the areas of employment, public accommodations, credit, housing, and education, as well as to the state’s hate-crimes laws, going far beyond simply allowing transgender people to use bathrooms that match their gender identity or expression. Opponents of the legislation, led by the Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI), claim that the bill will allow male sexual predators to masquerade as women and sneak into women’s restrooms and locker rooms. WCVB’s coverage of the transgender rights bill, as well as the coverage by some other local media outlets, suggests that the work of the bill’s opponents to label the legislation a bathroom bill in public discourse has been at least somewhat successful. See Local media swallows ‘bathroom bill’ rhetoric Bay Windows
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/local-media-s…
San Jose gay center warns it may have to close
The interim executive director of a gay community center that serves Silicon Valley says the 28-year-old gathering place will have to close its doors unless he can raise $50,000 by September.
Paul Wysocki sent a newsletter to supporters of the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center on Tuesday warning that dried up government funding and declining corporate support had created a hole in the center’s $310,000 budget. The center provides HIV testing, support services for youth and seniors, and career and recreational programs.
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San Jose’s Billy DeFrank Center embarks on ambitious fundraising campaign
For 28 years, the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center has been the go-to place for Silicon Valley’s diverse gay community. But on Tuesday, interim executive director Paul Wysocki sent out a desperate plea: the DeFrank Center will close its doors unless it raises $50,000 by Sept. 1. “Our government funding has ended, and in today’s economy, we can’t count on corporate support,” read a weekly newsletter that is e-mailed to supporters. “Our current income from memberships and events no longer meets even the most basic level of Center operations.” The DeFrank Center has three main programs: support services for youth, another for seniors, and an HIV/AIDS testing program. But funding for the HIV testing from Santa Clara County and for the senior program from the city of San Jose have dried up as both the county and the city struggle with their own budget deficits. The Center has cut expenses and now has an annual budget of $310,000, down from $800,000 a few years ago. Wysocki became interim executive director four months ago after former executive director Aejaie Sellers and former board President PJ Matarese were ousted amid internal power struggles over the center’s long-term vision and escalating financial problems. “I have a lot of empathy for Barack Obama,” said Wysocki. “You inherit a situation where a lot of things were done poorly.”
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/san-joses-bil…
Silent partner’ examines what happens when people ‘don’t tell’
The last thing he expected was to have to put a part of himself back into the closet. But if the military were to find out about his love for a sailor, a man with years of honorable service would face a dishonorable discharge.
One of the rarely discussed effects of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” rule is the burden it places on the civilian partners of gay and lesbian service members. When their loved ones go to war, they do not have access to any of the counseling, financial assistance or support networks offered to heterosexual spouses. And if their loved ones die, no one will come knocking at their doors to notify them.
On Thursday, gay veterans and their partners shared their experiences at the local premiere of “Silent Partners,” a 30-minute documentary offering a glimpse into the lives of three gay “military spouses” waiting for their partners to come home.
“This film, I believe, is telling a story we haven’t heard before,” said Lt. Daniel Choi, who introduced the film.
See Silent partner’ examines what happens when people ‘don’t tell’
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Redding officials ban gay pride group’s screening of ‘Milk’ Record-Searchlight
Redding officials won’t allow the Academy Award-winning movie “Milk” to be shown at a city-owned outdoor theater Friday as a part of a local celebration of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month.
The showing was banned because “Milk” is an R-rated film.
“I think it’s common sense,” said Gerry Kersten, Redding’s director of support services. “If you’re going to show a movie anyone can see, obviously it needs to be appropriate for all ages.”
Mary St. John, director of community services for Planned Parenthood: Shasta Diablo, said she was disappointed in the decision made Wednesday, but she doesn’t think it was political pressure that led to the city’s order.
“It’s our mistake, really,” St. John said. “We were unaware of the city’s policy that says movies shown outdoors must be (rated) G.”
Kersten said the city was originally told by the organizers that the movie was to be a youth- or teen-friendly flick. It was only when city officials picked up the Wednesday’s Record Searchlight that they learned that the planned movie was the R-rated “Milk.”
See
Redding officials ban gay pride group’s screening of ‘Milk’
Record-Searchlight
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Both black and gay: Internal rights fight
It was already challenging enough for Cornelius Jones Jr. to grow up being black in the racially-tense South.
But facing the prejudices of the people outside the African American community wouldn’t be the hardest struggle of his life. Even from the young age of 5, Jones had a sense of the obstacles he would face on the inside.
“I didn’t want to be associated with the weakness and nastiness that gay people were defined by in my neighborhood,” Jones remembers of his time growing up on a predominantly black street in Richmond, Va. “In my neighborhood, church and school, gays were constantly shunned, ridiculed and picked on.”
When he was 15, Jones moved to Washington, D.C. to stay with family friends and attend a performing arts high school — “and also to get away from the constant bullying I received,” he said. But they soon learned that he was gay and he was kicked out of the house. It was then that he had to confront his parents with his real identity.
His mother gave him one piece of advice: “Do what you do behind closed doors.”
It would be a lifetime of pain and struggle that would teach him that his mother’s advice was no way to awaken a black community deeply rooted in religion to the rights of gays. And it would be events like the passage of Proposition 8 — the anti-gay marriage measure in California that 70 percent of blacks voted for — that would be a platform for him to open the doors.
See Both black and gay: Internal rights fight
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‘Milk’ Oscar Winner: My Emotional Voyage Home to High School
Editor’s Note: On May 9th, Academy Award-winning “Milk” screenwriter Dustin Lance Black returned to his high school in North Salinas, CA, as part of Live Out Loud’s Homecoming Project. Aiming to inspire a new generation of role models, the program brings lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) leaders back to their high schools to share their personal stories with today’s students. In this exclusive submission to the MTV Movies Blog, Black tells us about his first time returning to the school since that powerful Oscar night speech, when he had spoken of his struggles as a gay teenager.
by Dustin Lance Black
My palms got a little sweaty as I turned off East Alvin Drive in Salinas, and onto Kip Drive.
For the first time in 17 years, I saw the entrance to my old high school, the same one where I was once called “gay” by my peers. And it wasn’t said as a compliment — it was said with hate, anger, and on one occasion I was honestly afraid of getting my butt whipped.
So, I did what so many kids still do — I tried to vanish. I didn’t get great grades, I didn’t excel, I shrunk and hid, and I did my best to disappear at lunch. High school is tough for almost everyone, but for LGBT kids, it can be truly frightening. And as much as I know that I’m all grown up now, and that I can stand up for myself, I still got a little knot in my stomach as we pulled up to the front doors of North Salinas High and the camera crews closed in.
Before my speech, I hung out in a back room waiting to be announced, but I could hear the crowd inside the gym. It sounded big. Then I heard them play my Oscar speech, and if you haven’t heard it yet, it’s pretty clear that I’m a gay guy fighting for the LGBT kids out there. The room got very quiet; I got a little nervous. But when the Principal called my name and I came through those doors, I was greeted by a standing ovation from the over 1000 students who chose to show up. That was my first clue that something had changed at North High. See ‘Milk’ Oscar Winner: My Emotional Voyage Home to High School
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Equality California Launches Historic Win Marriage Back: Make it Real! Campaign
Grassroots mobilization and statewide ad buy announced
Los Angeles –Equality California (EQCA) today is launching the largest grassroots mobilization campaign of its kind in state history: Win Marriage Back: Make it Real! The new campaign features TV commercials, faith outreach, on-the-ground organizers, door-to-door canvassing and online activism. Over the next 100 days, the campaign will reach more than 300,000 Californians in person and millions online and over the airwaves.
“This is exactly the kind of person-to-person, peer-to-peer outreach we need to be doing to change minds and win support for the freedom to marry for same-sex couples,” said Mayor Gavin Newsom.
EQCA is a plaintiff in the current legal challenge against Prop. 8. The Court is scheduled to issue its ruling between now and June 3rd.
“While we remain hopeful that the court could invalidate Prop. 8, we cannot wait another day to take action. We are launching the most extensive campaign of its kind to talk openly and honestly with Californians on their front porches, online and over the airwaves in order to achieve full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community members,” said EQCA Marriage Director Marc Solomon.
As part of today’s launch, EQCA released the first two in a series of television ads that feature same-sex couples and Californians hurt by the marriage ban. The first ads are scheduled to air statewide starting Monday.
Over the next hundred days, volunteer canvassers will knock on 40,000 doors in targeted communities as well as enlist 100,000 activists to serve as Equality Ambassadors, who will pledge to have conversations about marriage with at least 300,000 California residents.
To help meet the campaign’s ambitious goals, EQCA is currently hiring and placing 25 full-time field organizers throughout the state, including the Central Valley, the Inland Empire, San Diego, Sacramento, Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Six organizers have already been hired.
“This campaign is for every person in every community in every part of our state, and it will empower our diverse community and allies to win marriage back together,” said Andrea Shorter, EQCA coalition coordinator. “We will also enlist 1,000 clergy in the next 100 days to help spread the word that marriage equality is a spiritual value as well as a civil right.”
EQCA will also organize major outreach events with faith, grassroots and community leaders as part of the campaign specifically working with African American and Latino communities.
To view the television ads, click here: www.eqca.org/realstories
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/equality-cali…
Gay teen nonprofit closes doors
Gay teen nonprofit closes doors
Tags: Doors, Gay Teen, Nonprofit, Teen Gay
