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The Rainbow Alliance supports a variety of programs and services for the LGBT community.
(Some content coming soon)The NEPA Rainbow Alliance is a member of the Value All Families Coalition of Pennsylvania and supports Equality PA.
For more information about our public policy and advocacy partnerships visit one of the following organizations:
Gay travelers consider Houston after Parker victory
Though Houston tourism officials have long sought to attract LGBT travelers to the city, the election of Annise Parker, an out lesbian, has “clearly benefitted” that effort, according to one city official interviewed by EDGE contributor Joseph Erbentraut, who writes:
Many media pundits clamored that Parker’s election in Houston marked the advent of the city’s venture to cash in on gay and lesbian visitors - a particularly attractive market in these economic times.
But the city – the fourth-largest in the country - had begun their campaign years ago. The ad campaign had been years in the making. The timing, it turns out, was almost entirely coincidental with Parker’s election, which electrified LGBT Americans.
Parker’s victory makes Houston the largest city in the U.S. to elect an openly LGBT mayor.
Coming out to California’s social conservatives
State Sen. Roy Ashburn doesn’t just represent a red district. Locals call it “Texas meets Orange County,” a place where an unknown local pastor got elected to the school board because he had “Pastor” in front of his name on the ballot, and where the anti-gay Prop 8 was approved by a 3-to-1 margin.
San Francisco Chronicle reporter Demian Bulwa traveled to Kern County, Calif., to talk to local residents about Ashburn’s admission this week that he is gay. He came out on a local radio talk show after being arrested in Sacramento for driving under the influence. He had just left a downtown gay bar.
Bulwa writes:
Conservative leaders call him a sinner, while gay-rights activists say he wielded anti-gay votes as a shield to protect his secret. But in cafes, salons and saloons, many regular folks voiced the same opinion: It’s better to have a gay politician voting against gay rights than to have a straight one voting for them.
While lauding him for being a politician who could set aside his sexuality, however, many voters admitted they couldn’t do the same.
They said Ashburn never would have been elected if voters knew he was gay – not even to the Kern County Board of Supervisors, where he started out in 1984. Whether that makes Ashburn a liar or a pragmatic politician who knows his constituency is the subject of hot debate.
“He votes, more or less, along Kern County lines,” said Mel Lawrence, a 68-year-old country musician, as he prepared to take the stage Monday night at Trout’s bar on the edge of Bakersfield. “I know he might have voted against how he truly felt at times. I don’t know if you’d call that hypocritical or just doing his job.”
Like many people, Lawrence described his outlook as deeply rooted but complicated. He grew up in Texas and Phoenix, attending conservative Pentecostal churches, but he also has a lesbian stepdaughter he loves.
“I just don’t believe in it,” he said of same-sex marriage.
Across the bar, Vince Edwards, a 29-year-old electrician and ex-Marine from Texas, said he had no problem with what gay people did “behind closed doors,” but admitted he was “just prejudiced against gays. I’m just not comfortable with them.”
Read the full article here.
2010 Victory Fund Champagne Brunch sells out
With six weeks left to go, the 10th annual Victory Fund Champagne Brunch has just sold out. Organizers have now started a waiting list.
“This is an amazing response,” said Jason Mida, vice president of development for the Victory Fund. ”Our table captains and sponsors deserve a lot of thanks for this early sellout. I guess next year we’ll need a bigger venue.”
More than 625 people are slated to attend this annual fundraiser that celebrates the previous year’s success electing openly LGBT candidates to public office, and offers attendees a chance to hear from some of the country’s leading LGBT officials. This year Houston Mayor Annise Parker and Congressman Barney Frank will speak. The Victory Fund is also planning a special toast to D.C. City Councilman David Catania to recognize his work securing marriage equality in the District.
Learn more about the event here and add your name to the waiting list.