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Helena Art Party to Raise Money for Grants and Scholarships in Montana
The Turman Larison Contemporary Art Gallery in downtown Helena will host a fundraiser for Pride Foundation’s grants and scholarships on Thursday, Aug. 9, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The event is free to attend, but donations are encouraged. Co-hosts include: Clark &Toni Broadbent, Attorney General Candidate Pam Bucy, Linda Carlson and David Hunter, Tom and Lisa Cordingley, Pam Dale, Clayton Elliott, Laura Fix,Ginny Furshong, Jamee Greer, Cindy Lewis, Pat Kemp and Sen. Christine Kaufmann, Terry Kendrick, Wendy and Sarah Nicolai, Linda Reed, Mike Wessler and Bobbie Zenker.
Seattle-based Pride Foundation has made a big splash in Montana since hiring on-the-ground staff in 2011, sextupling the number of active donors in less than two years. A board of 12 volunteers, including Helena residents Ginny Furshong, Pat Kemp, Mike Wessler and Bobbie Zenker, helps lead the organization’s efforts. Pride Foundation has increased from $19,000 to nearly $50,000 the amount of grants and scholarships given out in the state over the past year.
According to Regional Development Organizer Caitlin Copple, who is also the first openly gay member of the Missoula City Council, Montana is part of a larger national trend toward greater acceptance of people, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.
“From the city ordinances protecting the community from non-discrimination to the increase in the number of high school Gay-Straight Alliances around the state to the changes in both the Republican and Democratic Party platforms, Montana is rapidly becoming a friendlier place for gays and lesbians,” Copple said. “Most importantly, more of our heterosexual family, friends, and colleagues are also ‘coming out’ as supporters of full equality in our state.”
Founded in 1985, Pride Foundation is dedicated to inspiring a culture of generosity to connect and strengthen organizations, leaders, and students who are creating LGBTQ equality across the Northwest states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. To learn more, visit www.pridefoundation.org or email Caitlin@pridefoundation.org.
Beach-themed fundraiser to raise money for Montana grants and scholarships
Join me on a Flathead Lake cruise!
Pride Foundation aims to “make waves” with the first-ever Flathead Lake Equality Cruise on Sunday, Aug. 12, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The boat will depart KwaTaqNuk Best Western Resort at 4 p.m. sharp, so guests are encouraged to arrive by 3:45. Tickets are $45 for individuals and $80 per couple and can be purchased online at www.pridefoundation.eventbrite.com.
Seattle-based Pride Foundation has made a big splash in Montana since hiring on-the-ground staff in 2011, sextupling the number of active donors in less than two years. Pride Foundation has increased from $19,000 to nearly $50,000 the amount of grants and scholarships given out in the state over the past year.
According to Regional Development Organizer Caitlin Copple, who is also the first openly gay member of the Missoula City Council, Montana is part of a larger national trend toward greater acceptance of people, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.
“From the city ordinances protecting the community from non-discrimination to the increase in the number of high school Gay-Straight Alliances around the state to the changes in both the Republican and Democratic party platforms, Montana is rapidly becoming a more friendly place for gays and lesbians,” Copple said. “Most importantly, more of our heterosexual family, friends, and colleagues are also ‘coming out’ as supporters of full equality in our state.”
Indeed, co-hosts for the upcoming cruise include Rep. Ellie Hill (D-Missoula) and Dr. Tyler Smith of Missoula, Cathy and Ned Cooney of Bigfork, Mary Stranahan of Arlee, and Beth Frazee, Paul Vestal, and Bryony Schwan, all of Missoula.
Special thanks to event sponsors KwaTaqNuk Resort, Mamalode Magazine, and FlatheadEvents.net. If you would like to sponsor or co-host, please contact Caitlin@pridefoundation.org.
And yep, I’m gonna be there.
Founded in 1985, Pride Foundation is dedicated to inspiring a culture of generosity to connect and strengthen organizations, leaders, and students who are creating LGBTQ equality across the Northwest states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. To learn more, visit www.pridefoundation.org or email Caitlin@pridefoundation.org.
An exploration of Pride Parades as indictors of liberty from Good.is:
Click for larger version
Pride Foundation, The Northwest’s largest LGBT community foundation is accepting Letters of Inquiry for its 2012 Grant Cycle. Pride Foundation is proud to support LGBTQ equality in Montana. Building on our first Montana grant awarded in the 1990s supporting a LGBTQ youth conference, we have been growing support for Montana organizations and scholars thanks to donors and volunteers with more than $300,000 awarded to date. For Every $1.00 given in Montana, $3.80 comes back to the state- allowing Pride Foundation to make major investments in Montana Equality.
The simple online Letter of Inquiry application is available here. If you are a previous applicant, please log in using your email address and password. If you are a new applicant, please select “Create New Account” on the registration page. Only successful Letter of Inquiry applicants will be invited to submit a full application. However, all applicants will receive notification.
Please review our grant guidelines before applying.
2012 Application Process
Letter of Inquiry
Full Application (By Invitation)
(Funds will be disbursed in December 2012)
All of Pride Foundation’s granting decisions are made by teams of local volunteers knowledgeable in their community’s needs.
Questions?
If you need more information regarding this process, contact your area’s Regional Development Organizer.
In Montana, that’s Caitlin Copple. She can be reached at 406.546.7017, by email: Caitlin@pridefoundation.org
For general grant assistance or questions, please email our Director of Grants Programming or call 206.323.3318 or toll free at 800.735.7287.
Sign up for Pride Foundation’s monthly eNewsletter to receive notification of future grant and scholarship deadlines, and other Pride Foundation news.
The President is making good on his promise to finally repeal the Defense Of Marriage Act- an act designed to smugify people who can get married (and have- some of them four or five times) and alienate those who can’t (like this couple, who have been together for 48 years). From the Atlantic Wire:
Washington DC: United States Supreme Court (Photo credit: wallyg)
The Department of Justice is asking the Supreme Court to hear appeals for two different cases to finally decide whether or not DOMA is constitutional.
Metro Weekly’s Chris Geidner reports David Verelli filed a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court asking them to review the law’s controversial Section 3 to see if it “violates the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection of the laws as applied to persons of the same sex who are legally married under the laws of their State.” The question is connected to the Golinski v. Office of Personnel Management case. In a ruling in February, a U.S. District Judge ruling on the case said that DOMA was unconstitutional. It’s currently slated to be heard in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, but now it’ll be presented to the Supreme Court before the Ninth Circuit can even make a ruling.
The other case the DOJ asked SCOTUS to look at is Massachusetts v. Department of Health and Human Services. A judge from the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled against DOMA in the case in May. Another judge from the First Circuit Appeals Court ruled that DOMA was unconstitutional at the beginning of June.
The Associated Press reports the “earliest the justices might decide to hear the case is in late September.” Arguments would be made over the winter, with a final decision coming in late June. So basically, DOMA is the new blackAffordable Care Act.
This administration is taking the dignity of LGBT persons to an all-time high, politically speaking. We are closer to being equal citizens than we have ever been, and today- despite the miles left to go- I’d like to celebrate that.
Click here for an exhaustive list of the Obama administration (and Congress’) accomplishments.
This photograph appeared in the front page of The New York Daily News on Sunday, June 29, 1969, showing the “street kids” who were the first to fight with the police. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Today marks the 43rd anniversary of the Stonewall Riots which began on June 28, 1969. It was a watershed moment for LGBT persons- when a few people at the Stonewall Inn in New York City decided they weren’t going to be pushed around anymore by a bullying city police force.
It was the beginning of the modern day gay rights movement. A movement which, I believe, has culminated in more progress in the last three years under the Obama Administration than it has in the last forty. Marriage equality, civil unions and domestic partnerships in some states and sovereign nations; partners’ rights upheld; local non-discrimination ordinances; repeal of don’t ask, don’t tell; passing of the Shepard/Byrd Hate Crimes Act; enormous Pride celebrations all over the land…. Much of the credit goes to activists all across the country whose tireless efforts against second-class citizenship have been rewarded by a population who now often sees discrimination against LGBT persons as archaic, draconian and just plain mean. The 5,000 people participating in Montana Pride 2012 among them.
We have a lot to be proud of, but this is no moment to rest on our laurels. The Montana Republicans may have removed the homosexual criminalization plank from their platform, but it was hardly touted as a move for equality:
According to state Rep. Keith Regier, who chaired the party’s crime committee at its convention last weekend that ultimately voted to remove the line, people were having a tough time getting the nuances of the law and subsequent court cases.
While the court’s decision in 1997 “addressed homosexuality between consenting adults,” Regier said in an e-mail, “it is still illegal with concern to solicitation, children, etc.”
“There has been confusion with this issue,” he said. “I felt the committee wanted to just remove the homosexual reference because of the confusion it caused as it was worded.”
But he added that “Removal of the reference to homosexual behavior does not mean Republicans condone that behavior.”
Like I said- not concerned with equality at all. Don’t get me wrong: I’m delighted it’s gone- but Montana Republicans have a long way to go to prove that they stand for equality- chief among them is taking the obsolete sodomy law of the books during the next legislative session. Oh, and not making homophobic ignorant remarks during testimony.
Sigh.
Oh, and the double anniversary? Today is the 21st anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. Ironic, huh?
There’s only 1 week left!
Montana Pride 2012 and Wet Paint Studios are working to bring a quality film about Montana diversity to life- and we want your help. Films are expensive to make- and every contribution is important. From their Indiegogo webpage:
The LGBTQI community is coming out of the woodwork. With political gains such as the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and the Obama Administration’s affirmation of promoting equality for the LGBTQI community, more and more people are coming out and showing their true selves to the world.
And yet, in rural Montana, sometimes their only opportunity is at annually held Montana Pride. In a state of just a million people, ideas come in slowly. For some, Montana Pride, held annually in June, is what affirms themselves in the LGBTQI community, as well as the greater community.
“Outside The Lines” explores what it means to be an LGBTQI in Montana, and why pride is more than a weekend celebration in diversity. Using Montana Pride as our anchor, we plan on exploring how attitudes towards the LGBTQI community has changed in Montana, how Pride brings people together for a weekend of celebration, and how that celebration needs to carry on through everyday life.
Our filming will take place during Montana Pride, held in Bozeman once again June 15-17. We are also currently lining up interviews with prominent members of the gay community, such as leaders of PFLAG (Parents, Family, Friends, of Lesbians and Gays), representatives of our legal system, teachers, and activist college students.
Plus, every contribution over $10.00 gets a “perk”- which includes Producer credits (you have to be in for more than 10 bucks to get that). It’s an amazing opportunity- and I’ve already kicked in $50 bucks.
If they get five more donations today, I’ll kick in an extra $50.00. Come on- even $10 will get us closer to our goal!
To see how you can be a producer, click here: http://www.indiegogo.com/montanapride2012
A rerun of last year’s column…
New York Pride?
Check.
San Diego, Seattle, Vancouver, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco, Boston, Portland, Kansas City, Dallas, L.A., Denver, Philly?
Double check.
Bisbee, Anchorage, Bozeman, Wichita, Boise, Flagstaff?
Well, uh….
I know, not exactly the top of the list for most of you. Many of us actively fled rural life to get to urban safety. I get that- I was one of them. For a while, anyway. But I want you to consider going to a gay pride event in an out-of the-way place this summer.
Click for schedule!
Why? Because we need you.
LGBT people live in rural America. We work here, go to school, own property, pay taxes, raise families, attend churches, shop and donate to charity. We don’t have a lot of gay bars, LGBT sports clubs, drag shows and neighborhoods where we can hold hands with our partners. Nonetheless, we live here. We love here. We have friends and families here.
Sometimes we do it under a great deal of stress.
I work with a lot of LGBT persons who have really good reasons for living in rural America. We don’t get a lot of support. Far too often, the strongest reason to leave is to find a greater sense of community. Sometimes, that is the only reason- the driving reason, that makes them pack up the car and head to Denver or Seattle or Portland.
Creating community in a small town isn’t always easy. There are a lot of obstacles to overcome- fear, shame, stigma- all the old tapes. We don’t have a large pool of organizers, and often the same people are the ones organizing every event. Burnout is common. Sometimes we just need some encouragement.
And that’s where you come in.
The fight for LGBT Equality is not going to be won in the cities. It’s already mostly won there. It’s going to be won in small-town America, where people need to see gay people as human, normal and neighbors- not just some characters on television. It’s going to be won when the lady who runs the local Holiday Inn meets real-live lesbians and finds them to be just like any other guests. When the casual onlooker comes to the parade to see “freaks” and walks away disappointed, when he sees families and friends laughing and cheering. When a bi kid is accepted and loved instead of encouraged to “get off the fence”. When locals see their gay neighbors in the light of day, paying our own way, as deserving of love, respect and commitment as anyone else. When drag shows and AIDS charity events are just as normal and accepted as karaoke, rodeo and the county fair. When our rural and small-town legislators, see us simply as citizens with the same rights as every other constituent. When kids don’t say “gay” as an epithet of scorn and derision.
When we are seen as part of a larger community. That’s when full equality will happen.
We need your encouragement to continue the struggle for that equality. It can be pretty lonely out here, sometimes. And I’ve come to believe that, as important as the work in the cities is, those who work to improve the lives of LGBT persons in rural America are the real heroes. The drag queens in Butte or Bisby may not be as glamorous as the Key West queens, but they’re certainly just as brave- braver even. The HIV activist in Anchorage has just as many concerns as the activist in Atlanta. We want to know you have our backs when we’re working to educate legislators and local politicians and school boards and businesses. We want to know that it’s okay to stay here, even when it’s hard.
We need you.
So look up a rural Pride event this summer. Go to it. Let us know you support us. Clap at the little parade, dance in a barn, make out with a hot cowboy, cowgirl and/or farmer, encourage a teen, hug a drag queen, listen to an elder, give money to a PFLAG chapter. Just go- we need you.
Because you need us, too.
The screening of Inlaws And Outlaws was received with great delight last night in Helena. One audience member told me “I’ve never laughed so hard one minute and then in the next moved so naturally to such empathy. Never. I loved it.”
And you can, too.
The filmmaker and director of Inlaws and Outlaws, Drew Emery, was on Montana This Morning to give viewers a taste of his film screening tomorrow night at the Bozeman Public Library.
From Eternity To Here 