| October E-Newsletter |
| Volume III / Issue 10 / October 7, 2007 www.respectsacramento.org |
| 2. Next meeting October 10 at The Lavender Library Our regular monthly meetings have returned to the Lavender Library Archives and Cultural Exchange at 1414 21st Street. Our meetings will continue to be held on the second Wednesday of the month at 6:30 pm. Hope you can make it! |
| 6. GSA Network News GAYLA Postponed - Work to Advocate for Safer Schools Will Continue Earlier this school year, GSA Network announced that we would hold the first-ever GAYLA (GSA Advocacy & Youth Leadership Academy), a three-day intensive training camp devoted to training youth activists in key policy advocacy and leadership skills to help them prepare for leading the statewide fight for Safe Schools For All. Unfortunately, due to recent financial setbacks and a resulting organizational restructuring, we've made the difficult decision to postpone GAYLA until further notice. To read more about what has happened with the organization, please go to: http://www.gsanetwork.org/news/sept2007.html Thank you to all of the students who applied to participate in the event this year and to all of the GSA members, advisors, and community partners who helped to spread the word and agreed to volunteer their time. The fight for statewide policies that provide clear guidance to school districts and the California Department of Education will continue. GSA network is committed to helping GSAs defeat homophobia and transphobia in their schools and communities and across California. We will continue to inform GSAs of the progress of pending legislation and create and promote trainings, networking opportunities, and other resources to assist youth in becoming politically active on the state and local level. If you have any questions or feedback about GAYLA or GSA Network's advocacy program, please email advocacy@gsanetwork.org or call 415-552-4229. Re-register your GSA today - Get New Resources & Keep Informed!! Before you plan any events for your GSA, remember to register or re-register your group with the GSA Network. Do it NOW to make sure you receive our student resource sheets, campaign resources, and notifications of future GSA Network or LGBT-related events. (Mailings will go out only to California GSAs in middle and high schools.) Register online at http://www.gsanetwork.org/register/index.php If you have any questions or concerns contact: info@gsanetwork.org or 415-552-4229 |
| 5. Community Announcements PFLAG Service of Remembrance, Sunday October 21 Sunday, October 21 at 4:40 pm at St. Francis Assisi Catholic Church, 26th and K Streets in midtown Sacramento. This service is held each year to remember those who have died violently because they were (or were perceived to be) gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex. You are invited to join with other people of faith to honor the memory of those who have died, bear witness to the atrocity of their deaths and affirm together that violence and hatred must end. For more information, please contact Sacramento PFLAG at info@pflagsacramento.org or visit www.pflagsacramento.org. Job Announcement - Golden Rule Services Resumes now being accepted for HIV Prevention Coordinator (Part-time) for a peer-based HIV prevention project serving Black gay men & youth. Involves group facilitation and community outreach. Should have strong knowledge of HIV/AIDS prevention and other STI's, computer skills including PowerPoint development and presentations, Word (2003 & 2007), Excel, data entry, Access, and Outlook. Responsibilities include (but not limited to): 1. Project workshop planning 2. Meeting attendance 3. Conducting community outreach 4. Assist with the monitoring and tracking of grant project & participants 5. Assist with providing client referral 6. Quarterly follow-up activities with participants 7. Assisting with project marketing and promotion activities 8. Completion on weekly progress reports and data entry Black gay men and youth are strongly encouraged to apply Salary: TBD Contact Golden Rule Services Mr. Clarmundo Sullivan, CEO 4433 Florin Road "Suite 760" Sacto, CA (95823) (916) 427-4653 Lavender Library author event, Thursday, October 25 The Lavender Library is pleased to announce the October 25 appearance of author Paul Cain, hosting a discussion of his book Leading the Parade, now available in paperback. This event will be held at the Lavender Library on Thursday, October 25, 7-9 p.m. Refreshments will be served. The library is located at 1414 21st Street in midtown Sacramento. For more information, call (916) 492-0558 or visit www.lavenderlibrary.org. Lambda Players presents "Last Summer at Bluefish Cove" through Nov. 17 Jane Chambers' zesty and heartfelt landmark play revolves around eight women dealing with issues of love, romance, monogamy, infidelity, and family. Alternately hilarious and poignant, this is much more than a "lesbian play." Tickets are $16.50, $13.00 55+ or student w/ID. There is a Benefit matinee performance for Breaking Barriers and Susan Komen for the Cure on Sunday, October 28th at 2:00 p.m. Matinee Tickets $15.00, $13.00 55+ or student w/ID. Visit www.lambdaplayers.com. |
| That's enough for now. Did I leave anything out? Please drop me a line. Do you have an announcement or item that you'd like to include in our newsletter? Would you like to write an opinion piece about something in the LGBT education area? Tell us about what's going on in your GSA! Send complaints, comments, or submissions to admin@respectsacramento.org and I will be happy to place it in our newsletter, which is composed at the end of the current month and sent out in the first week of the subsequent month. Make this your newsletter by contributing to it! See you at our next meeting on October 10 at the Lavender Library, 1414 21st Street at 6:30 pm. Jerry O'Connor Respect Sacramento Board Member Respect Sacramento PO Box 191678 Sacramento CA 95819 (916) 733-2135 info@respectsacramento.org www.respectsacramento.org |
| 1. From the Editor Urge the Governor to sign SB 777 and AB 394 to keep students safe Governor Schwarzenegger has until October 14 to decide whether or not he will sign SB 777 (Student Civil Rights Act) and AB 394 (Safe Place to Learn Act) into law. These important bills will help to make it clear how schools and the California Department of Education should protect LGBTQ and ally students from harassment and discrimination. SB 777 would help clarify the laws protecting students from harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It would help to ensure that all students in CA-funded schools and educational programs-including students at alternative schools, charter schools, community colleges, and regular public schools-would be protected equally. Read more about this bill, which is sponsored by Equality California at EQCA's website. AB 394 would help This seeks to provide school districts with specific steps they can take to ensure that they are protecting students from harassment and/or discrimination based on real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity and implementing the CA Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000. Read more about this bill, which is sponsored by EQCA & Asian Americans for Civil Rights & Equality (AACRE) at EQCA. Call today! One call from you will help Governor Schwarzenegger decide: (916) 445-2841. The message is simple: "Students deserve safe schools. Please sign SB 777 & AB 394." Sac City Schools LGBT Task Force One of our organization's most important contributions has been participating on the Sacramento City Unified School District's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Task Force. Indeed, it was several of our members - both student leaders and adults - who asked that the Sac City School Board create such a task force to ensure the safety and enhance the acceptance of all students regardless of real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. The District has seen several changes in its administrative staff, and its representative to the Task Force has now been selected. The Task Force will be meeting again soon, and students, parents, teachers, and community members who would like to continue the work of furthering the acceptance and educational success of sexual minority youth should contact our board member on the task force, Mark Scanlon-Greene, at mark@respectsacramento.org. |
| In this edition 1. From the Editor: Contact Arnold and tell him that students deserve safe schools; Sac City Schools LGBT Task Force 2. Next meeting October 10 at The Lavender Library 3. Anti-gay slurs hurt both straight and gay youth 4. Sacramento International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival 5. Community Announcements 6. GSA Network News |
| 4. Sacramento International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival The 16th annual film fest runs Thursday, October 11 to Saturday, October 13, only at the Crest Theater. It's here, it's queer, and it's one of the highlights of the LGBT arts scene for the year - the Sacramento International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival! This year's beneficiaries of the event are Breaking Barriers and the Sacramento State LGBTIQQA Pride Center. Come out to support these great organizations and see some fabulous film. Thursday is the Shorts Program starting at 7:30 pm... 13 short films ranging from 3 to 20 minutes in length featuring comedy and drama, foreign and domestic. Friday's Feature Program at 7:30 pm spotlights the men: two short films and a 90-minute feature, Shelter. Saturday's Matinee Program at 2 pm focuses on trans themes, with one short film and the 106-min feature from France, Un Autre Femme (Another Woman). Saturday's Feature Program at 7:30 pm showcases the women: three short films and the 90-minute feature from the UK, Nina's Heavenly Delights. There are receptions and parties galore! Visit SIGLIFF at www.sigliff.org. Tickets at the Crest, The Beat, and Tickets.com. |
| October 11 is National Coming Out Day. If you can, tell someone you're gay and happy about it! |
| 3. Anti-gay slurs hurt both straight and gay youth URBANA, Ill., Oct. 5 (UPI) Being called anti-gay names significantly predicts higher levels of trauma -- regardless of sexuality, a study of junior high students in Illinois found. V. Paul Poteat and Dorothy L. Espelage of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign studied 143 seventh graders and examined the extent they were the target of anti-gay name-calling over a 1-week period. The students were surveyed again a year later. In addition, the students reported their level of anxiety, depression, school belonging and social withdrawal. The study, published in The Journal of Early Adolescence, found being the victim of homophobic name-calling was significantly linked with anxiety, depression, personal distress and a lower sense of school belonging, while for females, being the object of name-calling was connected with higher levels of social withdrawal. The researchers recommend that although name-calling may appear to be harmless banter among students, "teachers and administrators should intervene during these occurrences, and school policies should specifically address and seek to decrease these occurrences." |