Rainbow Alliance News

Woo hoo! Our new radio ad is running on three stations (98.5 KRZ, WILK, and 102.3 The Mountain).
You can also see our print ad in this week’s issue of Diamond City and Electric City!

You can listen here!

Special thanks to our Media Sponsors Diamond/Electric City and Entercom Communications Pocono Northeast.

Cool huh? Leave a comment.

June 15, 2007 - Wilkes-Barre — The Board of Directors of the NEPA Rainbow Alliance announced today that tickets are now available for the 2007 Summer Soiree to be held on Thursday, July 19 at the Woodlands Inn and Resort from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

The event, sponsored by Prudential Financial’s Northeastern Pennsylvania Agency will include:
5:30 p.m. (Cash Bar & Visit Exhibits)
6:30 p.m. (Dinner & Annual Report)

“This is the third annual event we’ve done and attendance has grown substantially each year,” according executive director John Dawe, who reports attendance exceeded 100 attendees last year.

According to Dawe, this years event will fuse together several programs including a business and organizational exhibit, Pride Guide release, and kick off for the inaugural Eastern Pennsylvania Gay & Lesbian Film Days.

Cost for individual attendees is $30. Tables of 8 are available for $220, and 10 for $275.

Exhibit space is available for a modest fee for businesses and community groups. Contact Dawe at 570-606-4410 or john@gaynepa.com for more information.

Tickets can be purchased online at this link.

The NEPA Rainbow Alliance will be co-sponsoring an end-cap at Barnes & Noble at the Arena Hub Plaza in Wilkes-Barre from mid-June to mid-July to celebrate Pride Month and the release of the 2007-08 Pride Guide. We are looking for suggestions on favorite gay-themed books, both fiction and non-fiction. We are also looking for suggestions of musical artists (CDs) and gay-themed DVDs to showcase. Please submit your suggestions to John Dawe at john@gaynepa.com.

Friends,

The Northeastern Pennsylvania Rainbow Alliance needs your help on a few upcoming projects.

1. Welcoming Communities of Faith Project
In the next few weeks, we will be sending surveys out to houses of worship and communities of faith in Northeastern Pennsylvania. We’ll take the surveys we get back and provide you with a report on churches, synagogues, and other faith communities in our region who are welcoming (or not). If you have an experience (positive or negative) with a church, etc. please e-mail faithproject@gaynepa.com with that resource so we can make sure they receive a letter and survey.

2. Committed Couples Project
We are currently seeking stories for a feature on committed couples. Have you been with your partner for an extended period of time? Have you had a commitment ceremony? Have you traveled to another state or country and gotten a civil union or marriage? We want to hear about it. Send your story to stories@gaynepa.com.

3. Business Support / Pride Guide Time
Do you have a business? Do you know of a business who could benefit from reaching the gay community? Do you want to support the LGBT community? It’s time for our team to launch work on the 2007-08 Pride Guide. Last year the guide hit 64 pages of sponsors, advertisers, and patrons. If you’re interested in helping out identify possible companies to invest in our community, please write to prideguide@gaynepa.com.

Thanks in advance for your help,

The Rainbow Alliance Board of Directors
John W. Dawe, Executive Director

By Donna Talarico Weekender Correspondent

Within every bustling metropolis therein lie smaller communities, and not just geographically speaking, but communities made of groups of people.Today, the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) community in Northeast Pennsylvania is quite significant.

In this issue, we will explore what it is like to be “out” in NEPA. We’ll talk to John Dawe, executive director of the NEPA Rainbow Alliance, Scott Preisel, an HIV educator and board member and past president of NEPA Pride, and even clergy who are supportive of the gay community.

The changing climate of NEPA: Does homophobia or discrimination exist?

Scott Preisel, who is out at work and in the community, says discrimination lies not so much in social settings, but more within corporate policies. Even that is changing, however.

“I haven’t really had too much experience with discrimination in the community or workplace,” he said. “There’s not a lot of hostility. (The gay community in NEPA) is not in a bad place.”

The prejudice he has encountered was out of ignorance, not malice, the most notable being a troubling experience he had at a local hospital. Preisel was in the emergency room, and a nurse denied his partner of 10 years access to visit him. Meanwhile, other patients had several relatives at their bedside, he observed.

“She asked how he was related to me, and he said, ‘partner.’ She said, ‘Well, that’s not family,” said Preisel. “That was her personal feeling, not the hospital’s. When the doctor got wind of it, he let him visit me.”

Preisel later received a formal apology from the hospital, and the hospital made a formal change to their official visitation policy.

“Businesses and agencies are becoming more aware (of the gay community) and are addressing things that may be discriminatory by amending policies,” he said. He reiterates that policies weren’t drawn up to exclude the GLBT community or to be malicious; it’s just that perhaps the situation was never encountered.

Preisel says that NEPA is experiencing many cultural changes, such as the influx of the Latino population in lower Luzerne County. He says that any “different” group can enrich the culture of the area, but says that acceptance doesn’t always come right away. There may be a period of resentment.

Preisel says that the GLBT community, the Latinos in Hazleton or even the French city his sister lives in that has an influx of Algerians may experience discrimination necessarily because of culture, but rather for simply being an outsider, as in “Hey, you’re not from around here.”

“I think people are willing to accept you once they know you. It seems that if you are not from this area, it generates hostility - you’re an outsider,” said the Cleveland native.

“It is very easy to hate someone you know nothing about. But once you get to know someone, it’s harder to say that all people like XYZ are wrong.”

Domestic partner benefits promote workplace diversity

“My partner of 10 years and I cannot get car insurance together because we are two unrelated people living under one roof,” said Preisel. “So the same privilege of a married couple putting two cars on one policy and saving money is not available to us.”

He added that with tax time coming around again, he and his partner will not - or cannot - file together. Preisel said that he and his partner met with Matt Anderson, a local financial planner, to talk about survivor rights. When someone in a marriage passes away, the surviving spouse does not have to pay inheritance taxes. However, in a domestic partnership, the survivor does, just as if he were a stranger. Financial advisors like Anderson can assist those in same-sex domestic partnerships in making plans to be sure the surviving partner is taken care of.

Healthcare benefits

Another concern for members of the GLBT community living in domestic partnership relationships is being covered under a partner’s health insurance. However, this is something else, as Preisel acknowledged, that’s being changed due to awareness.

Lotus (now part of IBM) was the first major company to offer “spousal equivalent” benefits to those in same-sex domestic partnerships. Now, according to the Urban Institute, over half of Fortune 500 companies and 7400 other companies have joined, among them, the “big three” automakers. Monica Emerson, director of diversity for Daimler-Chrysler, told the Washington Post last year that offering the new benefits, aside from being “the right thing to do,” was an effort to remain competitive in attracting the best workers.

GLBT-Friendly businesses open doors to change

“It’s a really good feeling to know there is a safe person, a safe space,” said Preisel of walking into a business and seeing an Ally sticker posted. “There are local colleges with religious affiliations that have them … I am very impressed with that.”

The NEPA Rainbow Alliance and Lehigh Valley Pride publishes an annual 60-page Pride Guide, a showcase of gay-friendly businesses. Preisel says these ally business make a difference.

“When a business supports a pride group, in turn we support them back. The ally businesses are saying, ‘Hey, we welcome you and your partner and your business.’ That is definitely a step in the right direction.”

He adds, “I don’t have to be worried about who I am (when going into these businesses). Covering it up can be bad for your mental health,” he says.

John Dawe, publisher of the Rainbow Journal and executive director of the NEPA Rainbow Alliance said in a recent Journal story, “The gay and lesbian community is the largest ‘minority’ community in the region, and often the most disenfranchised. One bad experience because a salesperson, waiter, receptionist makes a not-so-gay-friendly comment, and it doesn’t take long for the rest of the community to proverbially boycott that establishment.”

PlanetOut Inc. owns several GLBT magazines and websites. Its media kit explains the gay community has higher spending power and more brand loyalty than their heterosexual counterparts. It cites that:

• Gay people are twice as likely to be in management positions

• Twice as likely to have household income over $250,000

• Gay adults are less likely to be parents (meaning more discretionary income and more leisure time)

• 94% of gays and lesbians go out of their way to purchases products and services marketed directly toward them.

Seeing the GLBT community as a lucrative market led to major companies creating advertising campaigns specific to the community.

Churches are gay-friendly, too

It’s not just businesses that are welcoming the GLBT community. Father Daniel Gunn of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Wilkes-Barre says his place of worship recognizes domestic partnerships.

“We recognize gay couples. We list them in our bulletins as a couple,” he said, adding that about 10 percent of his congregation is of the GLBT community.

Same-Sex marriages: The heated debate

In 2004, President George W. Bush said in regards to a proposed Constitutional amendment: “The union of a man and a woman is the most enduring human institution, honored and encouraged in all cultures and by every religious faith. Marriage cannot be severed from its cultural, religious and natural roots without weakening the good influence of society.”

The debate on same-sex marriage has been a heated one for many years, with outspoken supporters on either side. Without a national law, the decision is up to the state. In 1996, Pennsylvania adopted the PA Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits same-sex couples from being legally married in the state. It will also not recognize same-sex marriages entered into in another state or country.

What’s the gripe with same-sex marriage being prohibited? Equality Advocates identified 683 Pennsylvania laws and 1,138 federal laws provide benefits or protections to married couples that are not available to same-sex couples. Despite DOMA, there are ways for same-sex couples to have some of these rights, privileges and responsibilities through obtaining legal forms, such as a Power of Attorney and wills.

A board member of the NEPA Pride was married in Massachusetts. They phoned Preisel on their trip home.

“He said, ‘We just drove over the state line. We’re not married anymore!’ That’s silly. They’ve been together twenty-something years. (Getting married) is a nice thing to be able to do,” he said, adding that it doesn’t necessarily have to be religious - it’s just civil; a way to get the same legal rights as opposite-sex couples,” Preisel said.

The commitment ceremony

While DOMA prohibits legal marriage, same-sex couples are taking part in commitment ceremonies, a public affirmation of the couple’s commitment to one another. These commitment ceremonies can be very much like a wedding with rings, reception and all - there is just no legal document.

The Woodlands in Plains Township advertises that it hosts commitment ceremonies and receptions. Wedding resource websites show that there are plenty of non-denominational ministers who also will preside over commitment ceremonies. Gay-friendly churches, such as Father Gunn’s could also preside and host the ceremony.

“There are certain ceremonies under certain circumstances (we can preside over),” said Father Gunn. He invites couples thinking about a commitment ceremony to talk to him individually.

Local Groups serving needs of GLBT community and allies

• NEPA Rainbow Alliance - www.gaynepa.com

The NEPA Rainbow Alliance is a nonprofit advocacy and education organization. The group hosts a centralized website to inform the community of GLBT news/issues and offers links to support and social services. Also, the Alliance publishes the Rainbow Journal, Pride Guide, hosts several annual social events. Executive Director John Dawe says 2007 will be another year of growth for the Alliance.

“Plans are underway for a summer expo event and fall film festival,” said Dawe. “On the advocacy side we will still work towards passing an inclusive non-discrimination act in Harrisburg, and combat any constitutional amendment limiting same-sex couples from state-recognized domestic partnerships.”

He adds that the best thing friends and allies can do to show your support is joining the group’s e-mail list and being a MySpace friend at www.myspace.com/gaynepa.

• Pride of NEPA - www.prideofnepa.org

A social organization providing a meeting and social room, a diverse lending library inside Pride Place at ArtsYouniverse, outdoor recreational events and more.

• Other Links:
www.equalitypa.org
www.pflag.org
www.libertypa.org

COMMENTARY by Matthew Anderson
Board Member, NEPA Rainbow Alliance
(originally appearing in The Weekender)

For gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals, reaching financial goals can often present unique challenges. As a community, there are legal and tax issues we need to make sure are addressed. Many of us now live in states that have passed civil rights legislation protecting us from discrimination in housing, employment and credit. Many of us are unaware of the penalties that exist for domestic partners when applying for Medicaid, Social Security, and pension plan survivor benefits. There may be grave problems such as estate tax due, the loss of our partner’s pension, and the loss of social security benefits. Even though we may be married or have a civil union under state law, this does not supersede federal laws. Not to mention estate tax concerns upon the death of a spouse. The following are financial strategies for you to consider with your legal and tax advisors that could mean thousands of dollars in taxes saved.

During the most vulnerable time of our life a potential crisis is lurking. We have just lost our life partner. We did a will before we bought our home so we do not have anything to worry about right? The amount of assets to be inherited from our partner may be subject to estate taxes. That is why it’s important to prepare for this with generally income tax free vehicles such as life insurance. (See IRC Section 101(a).)

Unless the law is changed, the estate tax applicable exclusion amount will be reduced to $1,000,000 in 2011. This could force the remaining partner to sell the home in order to pay off the tax burden to the IRS. Products like life insurance can be used to help pay estate taxes. There are ways to structure ownership and beneficiary arrangements to reduce estate taxation.

Sometimes annuities may be appropriate to lessen current income tax burdens, but payments made to your partner beneficiary will be subject to income tax in addition to estate tax (although an income tax deduction is available for the federal estate tax paid on the annuity). Working with an attorney, ownership of assets can be put into the form of a trust. Let’s try to keep as much of our hard earned money as possible for either our partner, children or other persons of our choosing upon death.

Many GLTB couples are under the illusion that our current savings will adequately meet our retirement needs. Oftentimes the loss of pension plans and social security survivorship benefits are not factored into what we need to save. Even in states that recognize marriage to gay and lesbian couples, many traditional employer pension plans do not allow for survivor benefits to domestic partners. The money that your partner receives could be completely gone upon his or her death. Working with a financial professional, strategies can be put in place to help maximize contributions to employer sponsored plans and starting Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). These strategies can help sustain incomes for today’s longer retirement lifespan.

For married heterosexuals, if a spouse is in a nursing home and applies for Medicaid, the healthy spouse can remain in the house if jointly owned. However, for domestic partners, a healthy partner cannot remain in a jointly owned home unless the remaining partner buys out the ill partner’s share of the home. Medicaid treats the home as an asset that must be “spent down” before coverage begins. In many instances, you may be eligible for food stamps before becoming eligible for Medicaid. Also, 80% of gay and lesbian households do not have children, who are traditionally the key provider of long-term care (Gay Penalties of Aging Looks to Long Term Care Insurance, Frits Abell, April 3, 2001). For those of us who are single, nearly one-third will exhaust their assets after 13 weeks in a nursing home (Gay Penalties of Aging Looks to Long Term Care Insurance, Frits Abell, April 3, 2001.) This is why long-term care insurance should be evaluated when preparing for our later years.

Some helpful hints to look for when interviewing a financial professional is seek an individual sensitive to and educated about our needs. Also, consider doing business with companies that support our causes such as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLADD), which promote fair and inclusive representation of the gay community in all media to help eliminate discrimination. Look for companies that offer spousal discounts for domestic partners that are the same as married couples. Also seek companies that offer domestic partner benefits for their employees.

Even if you are currently single and concerned about protecting your independence and meeting your distinct needs now and in the future, being prepared will help you enjoy a future that you envision. Perhaps you are in a committed relationship and want to help ensure that your wealth works hard for you and your partner. Because of the lack of federal recognition of homosexual marriage, it’s even more important that we seek out financial professionals. This action could help save you a great deal of unnecessary taxes and needless burdens later in life.

Prudential and its licensed financial professionals do not provide tax or legal advice. Please consult your tax and legal advisors regarding your personal situation.

Annuities are designed for long term and retirement planning purposes. Income taxes are payable upon withdrawal. A 10% federal income tax penalty may apply to withdrawals prior to age 59 ½.

(Matthew Anderson, is a Financial Services Associate)

By Donna Talarico

“We brought the power to pride!” -electrician
“We offer domestic partner benefits to our employees.” -insurance company
“Are you and your partner thinking of moving?” -realtor
“We offer domestic partner financial planning.” -financial planner

These are just a few of the taglines from ads targeting a rapidly growing market: the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community. John Dawe, executive director of the Rainbow Alliance, says the LGBT community is alive and thriving in the region– and has money to spend. That is, on businesses that are welcoming.

“The gay and lesbian community is the largest ‘minority’ community in the region, and often the most disenfranchised. One bad experience because a salesperson, waiter, receptionist makes a not-so-gay-friendly comment, and it doesn’t take long for the rest of the community to proverbially boycott that establishment,” he said. “On the other hand, when LGBT consumers are clearly supported by business, the reverse is often the case.”

Being gay-friendly is not just a way for companies to be more open to social change, but also a way to cash in. PlanetOut Inc., a media company which publishes several LGBT magazines and websites, explains in its media kit that the gay community has higher spending power and more brand loyalty than their heterosexual counterparts. They cite that gay people are twice as likely to be in management positions, twice as likely to have household income over $250,000 and that gay adults are less likely to be parents (meaning more discretionary income and more leisure time.) Also, PlanetOut states that 94% of gays and lesbians go out of their way to purchases products and services marketed directly toward them.

Advertisers have taken notice to those numbers. The Commercial Closet Association, an organization which educates and influences corporations to understand and respect the LGBT community, says that nearly a third of all Fortune 500 companies have developed marketing and advertising geared toward the gay community. The Gay Financial Network touts IBM, Subaru and American Airlines as some of the top companies reaching out to LGBT consumers. According to the Commercial Closet Association, a quarter of a billion dollars was spent last year advertising 800 brands to the gay market. And, several of those companies feature gay themes in their ads including the Greater Philadelphia Marketing Companies, which features a travel ad with a gay couple, hand-in-hand visiting the Liberty Bell. In fact, one of the hottest submarkets is gay travel, for which San Francisco-based Community Marketing reveals $65 billon was spent last year.

Online travel agencies like Orbitz.com, which offers a Gay Rewards program, are catering to the community with sections dedicated to gay-friendly cruises, resorts and destinations. “Gay-only” travel company RSVP’s website touts that they, “create an atmosphere where differences become insignificant and camaraderie prevails.”

Local travel agents are reaching out, too. Lehigh Valley-based VIP Vacations, Inc. is opening an office in the Wilkes-Barre area this summer. While not exclusively catering the LGBT market, vice president Lailani Augustine says that about two and a half years ago, they began marketing their services to the gay community in what she describes as an effort to bring a level of comfort to those who often feel slighted by the travel industry.

“I was truly inspired by some friends,” she said of gay friends who confided in her their travel concerns. “Unfortunately, many members of the gay and lesbian community turn to the internet [for travel needs] because they don’t feel comfortable talking to an agent. But then who do you turn to when you have a problem? ”

Augustine says that without an agent to fall back on, if there is a transfer issue or a problem with a room, travelers could be stuck. And, if travel agents are judging gay and lesbian travels, that awkwardness could make or break a vacation as an integral part of the problem-free travel experience– an agent — is gone.

“Everybody should have the chance to travel and to travel safely. Everyone should feel comfortable speaking to a travel agent,” she said.

Augustine explained she had a lesbian couple who were at first a bit hesitant, but when she suggested a couple’s massage, the couple realized her openness to help plan a romantic getaway.

“I called the resort’s GM to make sure they would not be judged in any way at the spa,” said Augustine. “We do that leg work for our clients to make sure. It’s a trust exchange between an agent and the gay community. You want to give them that level of comfort, and that openness.”

As a travel wholesaler, her company can make sure all vendors and destinations booked for her LGBT clients are indeed friendly to the community. She names Boston and Vermont as hot destinations in the United States, Curacal in the Caribbean and overseas its Amsterdam, Iceland and Spain.

Augustine says VIP has sponsored Pride events in the Lehigh Valley area and has advertised in publications targeting the LGBT community. In fact, many local business are trying to attract LGBT customers through such mediums. The Rainbow Journal, released by the Rainbow Alliance, attracts advertisers like Barnes and Noble, The Tudor Book Shoppe, Marquiw Art and Frames, Saturn of Wyoming Valley and Wilkes University.

“The Rainbow Alliance competes for advertising dollars in a fairly saturated market. Those who have advertised have seen varied success from very limited to 300 to 400% returns,” said Dawe.

Also, the Rainbow Alliance, along with a similar organization in the Lehigh Valley, in 2005 published a 64-page Pride Guide highlighting gay-friendly businesses in Eastern PA. The publication explains to readers in a statement: “Saying yes to our request for advertising is a tribute to their respect for our community and organizations.”

Additionally, as a fundraiser members of the LGBT community can purchase the Pride Pass, a discount card offering savings at places like the Woodlands, Gelpia’z, Outrageous and Uno Chicago Grill. Uno has also played host to many Rainbow Alliance meetings.

Dawe says a gay-friendly business can be defined many ways.

“The Rainbow Alliance can identify them through self-identification, meaning they come to us or ask us for information….Two, consumer-identified. An LGBT person or couple refers us to contact them to join our directory. Three, marketing to LGBT. Those companies with specific marketing campaigns targeting LGBT consumers or, four, LGBT owned or managed,” he said.

But what about offending people who aren’t approving of gay rights? Dawe explains that in some cases this could occur.

“There have been some cases of this, but none that we are aware of locally. The businesses ask themselves, ‘Would we rather lose one or two anti-gay customers, or gain hundreds of gay and gay-supportive ones?’” said Dawe.

He adds that some types of gay-friendly businesses in demand locally are healthcare, financial services, legal services and communities of faith.