Rep David Howard (R, Park City), notorious bad speller and apostrophe misuser has done it again- used Facebook to bash the gays, and highlight his horrible spelling and punctuation:
Sigh.
His Facebook page is like that creationism amusement park in Kentucky– not a fact in sight.
Donations accepted but never required!
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.
Don’t forget- tonight Inlaws and Outlaws will be screened at Plymouth Congregational Church at 7pm! Filmmaker Drew Emery will be introducing the film and staying around after for a Q&A. Copies of the film will also be available for purchase.
What do you get when you fall in love?
Inlaws & Outlaws cleverly weaves together the true stories of couples and singles— both gay and straight — and all into a collective narrative that is as hilarious as it is heartbreaking.
At the top of the film, you meet real people one on one. You don’t know who’s gay or straight or who’s with whom. As their stories unfold and stereotypes fall by the wayside, you won’t care because you’ll be rooting for everybody. With candor, good humor, great music and real heart, Inlaws & Outlaws gets past all the rhetoric to embrace what we have in common:
We love.
Montana Pride 2012 (full disclosure: I’m on the committee) and Wet Paint Studios are working to bring a quality film about Montana diversity to life.
But we need 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”, including “Producer” credits. It’s an amazing opportunity- and I’ve already kicked in $50 bucks.
To see how you can be a producer, click here: http://www.indiegogo.com/montanapride2012
Could you imagine this even two years ago? We have two very public videos about marriage equality by Montana Congressional candidates. You’ve probably seen Dave Strohmaier’s video- but here’s another one from Rob Stutz:
Cool.
For the second year, Bozeman will be hosting the 2012 Montana Pride Celebration on the weekend of June 15-17. Montana Pride is a statewide celebration of diversity and equality, which attracted thousands to Bozeman in 2011 for a weekend packed-full of community fun, education and celebrating diversity. The Pride Celebration is an annual event implemented and developed by the Montana Pride Network, a 501(c)3 non-profit volunteer organization with board members from across the state.
The Pride Celebration gathers local, state-wide and regional friends of the LGBTQ Community (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Intersex, Queer and Questioning) as well as the Native American Two-Spirit Society.
For 2012 Pride, Bozeman has expanded their venues and weekend activities to accommodate even greater participation and involvement. Venues include the Ballrooms at Montana State University, various business locations in Downtown Bozeman, The Bozeman Public Library and more. Pride Weekend will include a schedule of dynamic entertainment from all around the mountain west including our Friday night concert with Jessie and the Toy Boys, a Saturday morning Pride Parade on Main Street, thoughtful weekend workshops, panel discussions, music by Katie Goodman of Broad Comedy on Saturday Night, with local and regional drag talent both evenings, hosted parties and evening dances. The Bozeman planning committee continues to welcome friends of all ages and backgrounds to celebrate Pride, honesty and equality with us.
Our highly-attended Pride Parade on Main Street, Saturday morning June 16th is open for all ages to attend and/or participate, as it will be a community and family-oriented event with Grand Marshals from Montana’s own Legislature, Diane Sands, Christine Kaufmann, Bryce Bennett and from the Montana Human Rights Network, Jamee Greer. The Pride Parade will begin at West Main Street and South 3rd Ave and will end at the Bozeman Public Library Lawn, with an Equality Rally and Festival following for the whole family. Parade registration forms are available on our website, and must be completed in advance for approval.
We’re excited to have featured members of our community openly participating during Pride, which includes Electra Sexton and various Drag Performers from Montana, Christian evangelist Kathy Baldock will be presenting a vision of LGBTQ-inclusive Christianity, Roberta Zenker will be sharing excerpts and stories from her recently-published memoir, Trans-Montana and a number of talented local DJ’s will be keeping the rhythm primed at our evening dances.
Free HIV Testing will be available throughout the weekend.
Weekend General Admission passes and VIP packages are for sale online at www.montanapride.org, seating at certain weekend events will be limited so early-ticket purchases are greatly encouraged. Youth Activities for ages 15-18 have been scheduled along with our regularly planned 18+ mature audience events Friday& Saturday night, with childcare also being available during our day time activities.
In 2011 regional business and organizational sponsorships were a huge aspect of our success and gave us the ability to grant over $10K back into Montana’s growing momentum for quality and diversity. For 2012, we’d like to welcome back the support not only of our vibrant community, but also the businesses and organizations, big and small, that daily contribute so much to making Montana a beautiful place to live. Please visit our website if you or someone you know is interested in sponsoring this year’s event. The Montana Pride website also has lists of local hotels for weekend-rates, Volunteer Opportunities, and resources for our Saturday Festival.
So please save the date, mark your calendars, and JOIN us for another ground-swelling year of celebrating Pride, honesty and the pursuit of happiness in Montana.
See you there!
From NAPWA: Recently released supplemental federal funding is slowly bringing state waiting lists down – 2,552 this week. Regional disparities are troubling, though. Ninety percent of Americans on ADAP waiting lists are in the South. The only non-Southern state with comparable numbers is Nebraska. The South is where HIV is spreading fastest, and providing HIV drugs to those who need them would help prevent new infections.
Here are the latest numbers from our friends at NASTAD:
Pride Foundation launched a new website this week, making it much easier to focus on the great work we are doing throughout the Pacific Northwest. And yes, I say we. And so should you.
Since 1985, Pride Foundation has been promoting a culture of philanthropy and generosity among LGBT people and our allies- most recently supporting Marriage Equality in Washington State. And we’re not stopping there.
Pride Foundation is proud to support LGBTQ equality in Montana. Building on the 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 is returned to Montana by Pride Foundation. Seriously. That’s a firm and amazing commitment.
As a donor-supported community foundation and a catalyst for change, we support transformative philanthropy, programs, and individuals in the Northwest that help people find joy and strength in who they are and where they are—in urban, rural, and remote communities.
Caitlin Copple is Pride Foundation’s full-time Regional Development Organizer in Montana, based in Missoula. But Caitlin travels throughout the Treasure State meeting donors, volunteers, grantees, and scholars—building a community to move LGBTQ equality forward in Montana. She’s on the road for Pride Foundation every week.
Contact Caitlin to learn more about Pride Foundation’s work in Montana and to find out how you can get involved. Be sure to sign up for Pride Foundation’s monthly eNewsletter to learn more about our supporters, grantees, and scholars. You can also read all of Caitlin’s Montana stories online.
Local Leadership: For Montana, By Montana
Local leadership makes Pride Foundation’s work meaningful and relevant as local Montana volunteers help award our grants and scholarships in Montana. Montana’s Leadership Action Team is one group of volunteers that provides guidance and advice to staff. I am proud to be a part of this group of amazing individuals. With representation from Arlee, Billings, Bozeman, Helena, Kalispell and Missoula, the members of the 2012 Leadership Action Team are:
An excellent article from Science Daily:
In the United States, where blacks bear a disproportionate burden of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, black religious institutions could help turn the tide. In a new study in PLoS ONE based on dozens of interviews and focus groups with 38 of Philadelphia’s most influential black clergy, physicians and public health researchers find that traditional barriers to preaching about HIV prevention could give way to faith-friendly messages about getting tested and staying on treatment.
The public health community has long struggled with how best to reduce HIV infection rates among black Americans, which is seven times that of whites. In a new paper in the journal PLoS ONE, a team of physicians and public health researchers report that African-American clergy say they are ready to join the fight against the disease by focusing on HIV testing, treatment, and social justice, a strategy that is compatible with religious teaching.
“We in public health have done a poor job of engaging African-American community leaders and particularly black clergy members in HIV prevention,” said Amy Nunn, lead author of the study and assistant professor of medicine in the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. “There is a common misperception that African American churches are unwilling to address the AIDS epidemic. This paper highlights some of the historical barriers to effectively engaging African American clergy in HIV prevention and provides recommendations from clergy for how to move forward.”
The paper analyzes and distills dozens of interviews and focus group data among 38 African-Amereican pastors and imams in Philadelphia, where racial disparities in HIV infection are especially stark. Seven in 10 new infections in the city are among black residents. With uniquely deep influence in their communities, nearly all of the 27 male and 11 female clergy said they could and would preach and promote HIV testing and treatment.
That message, delivered by clergy or other influential figures, would provide a needed complement to decades of public health efforts that have emphasized risk behaviors, Nunn said. Research published and widely reported last year, for example, suggests that testing and then maintaining people on treatment could dramatically reduce new infections because treatment can give people a 96-percent lower chance of transmitting HIV.
“For decades, we’ve focused many HIV prevention efforts on reducing risky behavior,” said Nunn, who is also based at The Miriam Hospital. “Focusing on HIV testing and treatment should be the backbone of HIV prevention strategies and efforts to reduce racial disparities in HIV infection. Making HIV testing routine is the gateway to getting more individuals on treatment. African American clergy have an important role to play in routinizing HIV testing.”
The barriers clergy members face
Many religious leaders acknowledged that they’ve struggled with how best to combat the epidemic, particularly with challenges related to discussing human sexuality in church or mosque, according to the analysis in the paper.
“One time my pastor spoke to young people about sex, mentioning using protection,” the paper quotes a clergy member as saying in one example. “I was sitting in the clergy row; you could feel the heat! I was surprised he said that. Comments from the clergy highlighted they were opposed to that. It’s a tightrope walk.”
Many clergy members also said they face significant barriers to preaching about risk behaviors without still emphasizing abstinence.
“It’s my duty as a preacher to tell people to abstain,” one pastor told the research team, “but if they’re still having sex and they’re getting HIV, there has to be another way to handle this.”
What clergy can do
Many clergy members suggested couching the HIV/AIDS epidemic in social justice rather than behavioral terms, Nunn said. They also recommended focusing on HIV testing as an important means to help stem the spread of the disease and reduce the stigma.
“We need to standardize testing,” one pastor told the researchers. “One thing that we could do immediately is to encourage our congregations — everybody — to get tested. … We’re not dealing with risk factors. And we’re all going to get tested once a year. That’s the one thing that we could do that doesn’t get into our doctrine about sexuality.”
In general, many of the religious leaders said they could encourage discussion of HIV not only in main worship services, but also in ministries and community outreach activities.
From Eternity To Here 