With PrideFest well grounded, the year 2011 will see the return of the annual dinner and we need your help to identify those individuals, organizations and businesses in Northeastern Pennsylvania who have made an impact on creating a welcoming, inclusive environment in NEPA, as well as being a champion for equality, both locally and beyond.
Please take a moment to make your nomination(s) in the following categories, noting that not all categories may be awarded each year:
- Outstanding Program of a Nonprofit or Community Organization
- Outstanding Public Official (Elected)
- Outstanding Community Leader or Volunteer (Individual)
- Outstanding Ally from the Faith Based Community (Clergy)
- Outstanding Student Leader (College or High School Student)
- Outstanding Youth Advocate (Individual)
- Outstanding Business
We will recognize the honorees at a special celebration event, slated for mid-April 2011. The Rainbow Alliance Advisory Board will select awardees from nominations received.
Nominations may be completed using the attached form and are due December 15, 2010.
]]>Key elements and concerns within the gay community are the right to be accepted for who they are; the right to be treated fairly at school and work, in church and in public; the right to quality health care; and, the right to be respected by public servants, including those in law enforcement.
According to the 2009 GayNEPA Community Assessment Survey 50.3 percent of gay couples are in a monogamous relationship; 16.5 percent have had a same-sex commitment ceremony or wedding; 77 percent would want a same-sex civil union, marriage or domestic partnership; 43 percent are parents; 57 percent were raised in the Catholic Church. However, only 16 percent are still practicing – although respondents stated that the “abandonment” rate is much lower in the Protestant church and almost non-existent in the Unitarian, Unity and Episcopal churches.
Furthermore, of the 150 randomly polled Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender respondents, 95 percent are registered active voters; most have some form of college education including a Masters Degree or Doctorate.
Joining Correspondent Suzanne Kapral-Kelly in the Sordoni Theater at WVIA will be John Dawe from Dawe Consulting and Executive Director, NEPA Rainbow Alliance; Jeff Brauer, Associate Professor & Director for the Center for Service Learning at Keystone College and Board Member, Equality Pennsylvania, and Rev. Daniel Gunn, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Wilkes-Barre.
The show will also include comments from International Aids Activist, Cleve Jones, who is also founder of the Aids Memorial Quilt. Actor Emile Hirsch in the 2009 Oscar Nominated Film, Milk, portrayed Cleve Jones.
To be part of WVIA’s live studio audience in the region’s only High Definition Theater Studio, call (570) 602-1150 or visit http://stateofpa.eventbrite.com.
Viewers may call in questions during the show at 1-800-326-9842 or go to www.wvia.org to submit their questions online.
]]>Please join us for a CANDLELIGHT VIGIL TO SUPPORT LGBT PERSONS AND OUR ALLIES,
WHO ACKNOWLEDGE THE NEED FOR EQUAL MARRIAGE
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2009
COURTHOUSE SQUARE, SCRANTON
8:00 PM
Bring your friends, family, and neighbors to show support and solidarity for this critically important issue.
SPONSORED BY LOCAL CITIZENS THAT ARE ADVOCATES OF EQUAL MARRIAGE.
For more information contact Vanessa at vanessaw@gaynepa.com.
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The campus of Misericordia University is buzzing after Bishop Joseph Martino blasted a guest speaker. The school invited Keith Boykin to campus. Boykin has written on homosexuality.
Martino says the author’s beliefs are “disturbingly opposed to catholic moral teaching.”
Misericordia has issued a response to Bishop Martino, saying: “Misericordia University is committed deeply to its Catholic mission. Inseparable from that mission is our identity as an academic institution where ideas and positions are explored critically and freely.”
A video segment, including a few words from GayNEPA advisory board member Rev. Daniel C. Gunn from St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Wilkes-Barre can be found at http://tinyurl.com/d59rou or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxCxHh41-mE.
Please take a moment to e-mail Misericordia University President Dr. Mike MacDowell and thank him. Tell him that there are members of the greater NEPA community who appreciate Misericordia’s position of educating both its students and the community at large on often controversial topics related to the area of diversity and inclusiveness. You may send an e-mail to misericordia@gaynepa.com and Dr. Macdowell will receive it.
Please feel free to add your own thoughts in a professional manner. Please be sure to state why you are e-mailing and sign your e-mail completely with your first and last name.
Thank you,
John Dawe
Executive Director
The Diversity Institute at Misericordia University will host Keith Boykin, a New York Times best-selling author and founder of the National Black Justice Coalition, for two events to be hld on campus on Feb. 17 in conjunction with the organization’s Annual Dinner.
Boykin is a familiar face as a frequent contributor to CNBC and as the editor of The Daily Voice online news site, as well as a law school classmate of President Barack Obama. He will discuss Proposition 8 during a talk to be held at 2 p.m. in the McGowan Room of the Bevevino Library.
Boykin will also host a public forum at 8 p.m. in the Lemmond Theater at Walsh Hall. He will speak about this country’s first black president and what the country can expect from the Obama administration. Both events are free and open to the public and although no tickets are needed, seating is limited, and will be filled on a first come, first served basis.
Boykin has recently been featured on CNBC discussing the qualifications of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and the scandal surrounding Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Educated at Dartmouth and Harvard, Boykin attended law school with then U.S. Senator Barack Obama and served in the White House as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton. He has been actively involved in progressive causes since he worked on his first congressional campaign while still a student in high school. He is a veteran of six political campaigns, including two presidential campaigns, and he was named one of the top instructors when he taught political science at American University in Washington.
In 1997, President Clinton appointed him, along with Coretta Scott King and Rev. Jesse Jackson, to the U.S. presidential trade delegation to Zimbabwe.
He was a star on the 2004 Showtime television series “American Candidate” and has since appeared on numerous national media programs, including “Anderson Cooper 360,” “The O’Reilly Factor,” “The Tyra Banks Show,” “The Montel Williams Show,” “Judge Hatchett” and “The Tom Joyner Morning Show.’’
A founder and first board president of the National Black Justice Coalition, Boykin delivered a landmark speech to 200,000 people at the Millennium March on Washington and he gave a stirring speech about the AIDS epidemic in front of 40,000 people in Chicago’s Soldier Field in July 2006.
Each of Boykin’s three books has been nominated for a Lambda Literary Award, including his most recent book, “Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies and Denial in Black America.” Keith won the Lambda Literary Award for his second book, “Respecting the Soul,” while his first book, “One More River to Cross,” is taught in colleges and universities throughout the country.
For more information, please contact the Misericordia University Box Office at (570) 674-6719.
]]>A cash bar and music will be provided. Cost is $26.00 per person. See above for menu selection. Reservations must be made by December 8.
The maximum capacity of Really Cooking is 75 persons so reservations will be on a first come first served basis. For more information and to make reservations please e-mail Jen at Jen G.
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View all Photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11316441@N02/sets/72157606685777616/show/
]]>Open is the Gay-Straight Alliance at Keystone College; LaPlume, Pa.
Contact: Jeff Brauer – jeff.brauer@keystone.edu for info.
Rainbow Stickers/Letters
On-Going
Fall 2008
Club Fair
September 11
Giants’ Grill Patio
Voter Registration Drive Service Project With Obama Campaign
September 11
Giants’ Grill Patio
Poster Sale Fundraiser
September 16
Giants’ Grill Patio
Regular Club Meeting
September 18
MTV’s Syrus (Real World), “Decision 2008”
September 23
Evans
Regular Club Meeting
September 25
Obama Campaign Visit
LGBT History Month
October
O.P.E.N. Forum I
October 9
National Coming Out Day
Philadelphia Campus Pride College Fair
October 11
OutFest Philadelphia**
October 12
Homecoming Parade
October 18
Regular Club Meeting
October 23
Regular Club Meeting
November 6
Regular Club Meeting
November 20
Holiday Bake Sale Fundraiser
TBA
Holiday Party/Sleep-Over – Weekend Activity
TBA
Evans
Spring 2009
O.P.E.N. Forum II
Day of Silence
Environmental Project
Car Wash Fundraiser
Equality Forum Conference
Year-End Picnic
Pride Pins for Graduates
*Unless otherwise noted, meetings and events are held at 12:45pm in Library 215
**FYI
The PrideFest committee will be getting together to review the recent PrideFest, and start planning for next year. Please leave your suggestions here: Click Here to take survey
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