Obama Administration Adds Gender Identity Protection For Federal Workers
Written by Chris Jarvis
Wednesday, 06 January 2010
WASHINGTON – Beginning in 2010, the
Obama administration, through the Office of Personnel Management, has started
to list gender identity among the classes protected by federal Equal Employment
Opportunity (EEO) policies. By including gender identity as a protected class,
the federal government is stating its commitment to protecting transgender
employees and has taken a significant step toward ending employment
discrimination of LGBT people in the federal workforce.
Although
a long-standing federal law prohibits any federal employment decisions that are
not based on merit and another law prohibits sex discrimination, the new EEO
policy marks the first time that gender identity discrimination has been
explicitly banned from the federal workplace. The policy is now on the federal
government’s jobs Web site as a link from more than 20,000 current federal job
listings. The American Civil Liberties Union praised the Obama administration
for initiating the change in EEO policy and urged Congress to continue to work
for further protections for LGBT Americans. Read
the rest of the story here.
Video Of Prop 8 Trial Will Be Available Online Only
Written by Chris Jarvis
Wednesday, 06 January 2010
From MercuryNews.com...A judge today approved a limited form of broadcasting the trial in the legal
challenge to California's ban on same-sex marriage, concluding it is the type
of case that warrants breaking with traditions that generally ban cameras in
federal courts.
Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker approved court-operated cameras in
his courtroom for delayed release on YouTube, but rejected a bid by media
organizations to televise the proceedings themselves for live broadcast.
Walker, by approving some broadcast of the Proposition 8 trial, became the
first federal judge in the West to make use of an experimental program put in
place recently by the 9th Circuit Judicial Council, which sets policy for
federal courts in nine states, including California.
Walker rejected the arguments of Proposition 8's defenders, who opposed any
broadcast of the proceedings outside the San Francisco federal building. It was
not clear from Walker's remarks how long the delay would be for the video to be
posted on the Internet.
The trial is scheduled to begin Monday in a challenge to Proposition 8,
approved by voters last year to restore California's ban on same-sex marriage.
Same-sex couples sued in May 2009 to overturn the law. The trial is expected
to last several weeks.
Gay Central Valley is
pleased to announce that we have joined as a sponsor for the Proyecto Poderoso’s “Orgullo
y Poder Latino” Leadership Conference, which will be held in Fresno on
Saturday, January 23rd. Below you can find all the details of the event,
courtesy their official website...http://www.crla.org/index.php?page=orgullo-y-poder-latino-conference
Proyecto
Poderoso’s “Orgullo y Poder Latino” Leadership Conference - Your
Voice is Your Power! A leadership conference for
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
people in rural California, and our allies.
Conference
Overview: Our goal is to empower
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and allies, in particular those
who speak Spanish, to build understanding and support for LGBT people and their
families in rural California. The central theme of the conference is “Your
voice is your power.” The conference will inspire and train leaders to share
their stories and build peer support networks in rural communities. The
conference dovetails with California Rural Legal Assistance’s new speakers
bureau — a bilingual (Spanish and English-speaking) pool of LGBT people and
allies, who will share their personal stories with community groups, agencies,
schools, churches, and media outlets in order to humanize LGBT people and their
families. Personal story-telling and social networks of LGBT people and
supportive friends and family members can dispel anti-LGBT myths and
stereotypes to promote greater inclusion in otherwise socially conservative
communities.
Our day-long conference
will train 75 leaders from the following California communities: Fresno, Salinas,
Watsonville, El Centro, Bakersfield, Coachella, Delano, Visalia, Madera,
Stockton and Modesto. You can learn more about
CRLA’s LGBT focused program, Proyecto Poderoso, by
visiting our website at http://www.crla.org/index.php?page=orgullo-y-poder-latino-conference. This
program is a joint project with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and has
received widespread recognition for its success in improving LGBT-related legal
services and advocacy in rural California.
Training
Tracks:
1. How to share your story
2. How to create a peer
support group
3. Developing positive
self-identities as LGBT Latinos
Conference
Date & Time: 9 am to 5 pm, Saturday, January 23th
Conference
Location: First Congregational Church of Fresno,
2131 N. Van Ness Blvd.
Fresno, CA 93704
Contact
Information: Angeles Jimenez,
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Lisa Cisneros,
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(831) 757-5221
Conferencia de lideazgo: “Orgullo y Poder Latino” de Proyecto
Poderoso
La Conferencia: Nuestra
meta es empoderar a lesbianas, gays, bisexuales, transgéneros (LGBT) y aliados,
en particular aquellos que hablan español, para crear entendimiento y apoyo por
las personas LGBT y sus familias en California rural. El tema central de la
conferencia es “Su voz es su poder”. La conferencia inspirará y entrenará
líderes para compartir sus historias, además de crear networks de apoyo en las comunidades
rurales. La conferencia se complementa con el nuevo foro de voceros LGBT de
CRLA - un
grupo bilingüe (español e ingles), de personas LBGT y aliados, que compartirán
sus historias personales con grupos comunitarios, agencias, escuelas, templos,
y medios de comunicación para así humanizar a las personas LGBT y sus
familiares. Las historias personales y networks sociales de personas LGBT
además de familiares y amigos que apoyen pueden disipar mitos anti-LGBT y estereotipos
para promover su inclusión en comunidades que de otra manera fueran
conservativas socialmente.
Nuestra
conferencia que durará un día, entrenará a 75 lideres de las siguientes
comunidades: Fresno, Salinas, Watsonville, El Centro, Bakersfield, Coachella,
Delano, Visalia, Madera, Stockton and Modesto. Puedes
enterarte más acerca de Proyecto Poderoso, el programa de CRLA enfocado en la comunidad LGBT, visitando
nuestra pagina de internet http://www.crla.org/index.php?page=conferencia-orgullo-y-poder-latino.
Este programa trabaja en colaboración con el Centro Nacional por Derechos
Lésbicos (NCLR) y ha recibido una
gran cantidad de reconocimiento por su éxito en mejorar los servicios legales
relacionados a la comunidad LGBT, además de su apoyo en las zonas rurales de
California.
Entrenamientos:
1.
Como compartir tu historia.
2.
Como crear un grupo de apoyo mutuo.
3.
Desarrollando identidades positivas como latinos LGBT.
Fecha de la Conferencia: 9am a
5pm, sábado, enero 23 de 2010
Lugar: First Congressional Church of Fresno,
2131
N. Van Ness Blvd.
Fresno,
Ca 93704
Contacto: Angeles Jimenez,
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Lisa
Cisneros,
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Give A Day - Get A Disney Day is a
new program, spearheaded by the Disney Parks, to celebrate and
inspire volunteerism. The program, which starts January 1st, has set a goal of
enlisting one million volunteers throughout the nation to help nonprofit
organizations in 2010. In return, the volunteer receives a free pass to a
Disney park.
It works
like this...individuals sign up on the Give A Day - Get A Disney Day Official
Website, then search and select from a list of eligible volunteer
opportunities with participating organizations. Once the volunteer
participation with the selected group is completed, the individual obtains
verification from the organization, provides it to Disney, and receives a one day
pass for a Walt Disney World® or Disneyland® theme park, absolutely FREE!
Disney Parks is operating the
program in cooperation with the HandsOn Network, which has 250
on-the-ground volunteer action centers across the country and connects volunteers
to more than 70,000 nonprofit agencies that need their help.
Gay Central Valley has joined the list of nonprofit
organizations which will participate in this important program.
Gay Central Valley is looking for
volunteers to participate in such areas as...
Graphic
design Our organization is
in need of logo redesign and also new logo creation. This volunteer opportunity
can be completed from home.
Information distribution Seeking assistance with distributing business cards and brochures. Items
will promote our nonprofit organization. This will mainly occur in the tower
district, but also other local book stores, etc. Literature to distribute can
be picked up and the time frame is flexible.
Online outreach Assistance needed with expanding our online outreach via Twitter, MySpace, Facebook,
etc.
Our goal is to expend our reach outside of the Fresno/Clovis area to other
communities in the central valley. This opportunity would include working in an
office environment and mainly contacting existing "friends" on social
networks to become involved and to expand the existing network of
"friends".
Online research As a new nonprofit organization, we are seeking assistance in locating
donations of items to raffle. This volunteer opportunity would involve working
in our office and contacting local and national organizations (mainly online
via forms and email) to secure needed items to fundraise.
Sponsorship assistance Seeking assistance with making telephone calls to potential advertisers.
Also making phone calls to build an LGBT friendly community directory.
Listen to Bill O'Reilly introduce Adam Lambert as "that gay guy" then excuse it because he says "that's what he trades on" when talking to Barbara Walters about her choices for her "fascinating people" special, which aired just last week...
This
is a video montage of Gay Central Valley's first
fundraiser as an official 501(c)(3) organization. The event took place at The North Tower Circle
on Saturday, December 12th, 2009. Complete videos of the night's events can be
seen on our YouTube Page starting on
Monday, December 14th.
On Saturday night, December 12th, the North Tower Circle
hosted HOLIDAY BREAKAWAY, a fundraiser for Gay Central Valley, which has just
acquired it's official nonprofit status as a 501(c)(3) with the IRS. The night
was a huge success, and we want to give a BIG THANK YOU to the community for
coming out and supporting us at our very first official fundraising event.
The night included performances from DivaLicious, Angelina
and Alicia, as well as Go-Go Dancers Robert, Kenny and Skylen. Sculpted holiday
gift cakes and chocolate truffles were provided courtesy of Indulgence Fresno. We
gave away free raffle prizes and gifts at the door and due to a generous
donation, we were able to raffle off two tickets to see Lady GaGa in San
Francisco. We'd like to thank James and the staff of the North Tower Circle and
all the volunteers who came out on their own time to put the evening together
and to keep things flowing perfectly all night.
Gay Central Valley operates the websites Gay Fresno,
Gay Visalia and Gay Hanford with an all
volunteer staff. We provide an online base of operations for all residents of
Fresno and the Central Valley. As we grow and expand we strive to bring more cities
in the Central Valley online to reach out to the community at large. We have,
and will continue to, sponsor and financially support groups and organizations in
need of assistance. We are an open forum for all residents of the Central
Valley to participate and interact.
Gay Central Valley looks forward to a firm and continued
dedication to supporting vital and important needs within the Central Valley
community.
We're extremely pleased to make the formal announcement that Gay Central Valley, which operates the websites Gay Fresno, Gay Visalia and Gay Hanford has officially been granted non-profit status under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Gay Central Valley has been classified as a public charity and is qualified to receive bequests, devises, transfers and gifts.
We owe a great deal of gratitude to local attorney J Stanley Teixeira, who organized, worked and guided us through the entire process. We could not have done it without him. Stan has, from the very beginning, been a great partner and resource. He's generous, professional and most of all, a pleasure to work with. We cannot recommend him highly enough.
Gay Central Valley's non-profit status has been declared by the Internal Revenue Service to be retroactive back to January 20th, 2009. Any person or organization that has generously provided donations or contributions since January 20th, 2009 and in the future, will be able to claim them for tax purposes under section 170 of the IRS code.
Gay Central Valley's Board of Directors:
Jason Scott - CEO/President
Chris Jarvis - CFO/Treasurer
Vickye Ashton - Secretary
All members of the Board of Gay Central Valley, as well as all those who operate and contribute to our websites do so on a strictly volunteer basis. We can't thank everyone enough for all your help over the years and look forward to working together in the future.
We invite everyone to come celebrate with us on Saturday, December 12th at the North Tower Circle@2777 N Maroa in Fresno for our HOLIDAY BREAKAWAY PARTY, a fundraiser for Gay Central Valley. The night includes 3 Exclusive Holiday Drag Performances, Go-Go Dancers (male and female), Free Raffle Giveaways (Boy/Girl Secret Santa Gifts), Holiday Drink Specials, Live DJ and ComplimentaryTopsy-Turvy Sculpted Cake courtesy of Indulgence Fresno. There's a $5 Cover Charge at the door, which includes a free gift.
We've added a DONATION button below for anyone wishing to support Gay Central Valley at this time. We can also be contacted by clicking on our ABOUT US page.
Fresno LGBTQ returns to Christmas Tree Lane. This evening the lane will be closed to cars (walking only).
We will sing a mix of traditional holiday favorites and some very special holiday songs with unique "equality" themes to them. Please review the following PDF for the songs list: http://tinyurl.com/EqualityCarols
We will be providing a FREE hat or scarf to a limited number of participating carolers!
Come and sing with the group or come to cheer us on and be supportive.
Directions:
If you are on N Van Ness Ave, we will be in the front of the empty lot on the west side of Van Ness, between Indianapolis and Holland.
About Us: Founded in 2005, we are a social activity group for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and allies. We get together once a month to interact socially and have fun. Get out from behind your keyboard, have a nice conversation in a non-bar atmosphere. This is a fun time, once per month to get together with like minded people.
We Have 5 Months To Gather Signatures To Repeal Prop 8
Written by Chris Jarvis
Monday, 16 November 2009
The campaign to collect signatures in order to qualify a ballot initiative
for the 2010 election has officially started. On Monday, November 16th, Love Honor Cherish
launched Sign For Equality,
an online site dedicated to gathering enough signatures to place an initiative
on the ballot in November of 2010 which, if successful, will repeal California's
Proposition 8.
The site offers Training
Videos, ways to organize
and find teams locally and downloadable
petition and signature forms. While the website offers the resources,
signatures cannot be gathered online or through email, all signatures must be
obtained in person, pen to paper. Gathering of signatures will not be driven by
major gay groups as has happened in the past. This campaign will rely on an all
volunteer army of signature gatherers, working locally on their own or in
teams. This appears to be a much smarter approach, rather than a select group
of volunteers standing post at shopping malls.
In order to be eligible to be placed on the ballot next year, 700,000 valid
signatures are required. Since there are always signatures which are
disqualified during the approval process, about 1,000,000 signatures need to be
gathered. The deadline for signatures to be gathered and submitted is APRIL
5TH, 2010.
The approved language of this ballot initiative is the following...
We, the undersigned, registered, qualified voters of California,
residents of __________ County (or City and County), hereby propose amendments
to the Constitution of California and petition the Secretary of State to submit
the same to the voters of California for their adoption or rejection at the
next succeeding general election or at any special statewide election held
prior to that general election or otherwise provided by law. The proposed
constitutional amendments read as follows: This amendment would amend an
existing section of the California Constitution. Existing language proposed to
be deleted is printed in strikeout type. Language proposed to be added
is printed in underlined type.
Section 1. To protect religious freedom, no
court shall interpret this measure to require any priest, minister, pastor,
rabbi, or other person authorized to perform marriages by any religious
denomination, church, or other non-profit religious institution to perform any
marriage in violation of his or her religious beliefs. The refusal to perform a
marriage under this provision shall not be the basis for lawsuit or liability,
and shall not affect the tax-exempt status of any religious denomination,
church or other religious institution.
Section 2. To provide for fairness in the
government’s issuance of marriage licenses, Section 7.5 of Article I of the
California Constitution is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 7.5. Only
marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. Marriage
is between only two persons and shall not be restricted on the basis of race,
color, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, or religion.
If you plan to help the campaign, be advised that there are strict
guidelines for forms and signatures gathered. Signatures can be disqualified if
all procedures are not followed, so please visit Sign For Equality
and read all the details.
LGBT Legislation Status Update: DADT Repeal Likely Next Year
Written by Chris Johnson - Washington Blade
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
The effort to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will likely
come next year as an amendment to the Defense Department spending bill, rather
than through a standalone bill, according to gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). Frank
said in an interview with the Blade that repealing the 1993 law barring gays
from serving openly in the military would happen as part of the fiscal year
2011 defense authorization bill.
“The House will take up and the Senate will take up ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
repeal,” he said. “That will again, like hate crimes, even more so, will have
to be done, I believe, in the context of the defense authorization. You can’t
do the standalone bill. It belongs in the defense authorization.”
Frank said lawmakers would seek to amend the defense measure to include a
provision repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Such a move would mimic the way
Congress recently enacted the hate crimes measure.
Event: Advent Lessons and Carols with the Fresno Gay Men's Choir
When 5:00pm November 29th
Where: 519 Douty Street Hanford, CA
Event Cost: FREE
Ticket purchase location: No tickets necessary
Event Contact Name: Kyle Anderson
Event Contact Email:
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Event Contact phone: 559-584-7706
Website address: www.saviourweb.com
Come and join us for a traditional service of readings, carols and choral pieces. The Fresno Gay Men's Choir has been providing quality choral performances since its founding in 2005
