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INT'L SLASHER FILM FEST OPENS SALT ROCK AUTUMN FESTIVAL
by: Nancy Lawson, SRAF Inc
Salt Rock is located between Charleston and Huntington, West Virginia and things are beginning to happen to bring the eyes of the world on this sleepy rural unincorporated town. The people and this community have been chronicled in the humorous blog "Salt Rock, WV Where Nobody Says, Hello!." Now Scott "Cody" Regan has been working to create in Salt Rock the International Slasher Terror Film Festival to coincide with the International Terror Arts Juried Competition Exhibition & the National-Local Acceptance Juried Art Exhibition all as the center of this forth week of October Salt Rock Autumn Festival. This year as a one day event on October 23rd. With all of this Scott "Cody" Regan an Out Republican is also running for Governor of West Virginia 2012, and is embroiled in traveling the State and being in events to fundraisers for his campaign.
"I have lived all over the world and been involved in cultural heritage advisement creating community events. In White Sulphur Springs I was used to having the best films entertainment at The Greenbrier & surrounding community. In Salt Rock where there is not even a real restaurant or sidewalk, unless you are a school parent or a member of a church congregation there is very little way to meet your neighbors. You ask yourself, what is here to keep new generations to stay or move into this community? Like most of West Virginia this community is demographically mature. We need to come together to create funds and things within this community to bring in younger residence and have the children want to stay in his area when they graduate from school. One program we are looking to create is a Community Center for those eighteen to hundred plus providing an indoor lap pool and exercise equipment for the entire adult community. An Arts Center with numerous galleries. As well as a center for all community gatherings. We have a Senior Center, but it does not cover those between the ages of eighteen to fifty five. It might be great to have a kitchen where that can be used to make baked and canned good sale items. A plot of land for a community greenhouse. A public sales space for local arts, crafts, foods, and fund raising. Possibly artist working spacing and commerce space. We have an internationally known historic cave that we can focus on to create attractions and products.The film industry has taken West Virginia and it people as caricatures in is Slasher Terror films. We get a kick from this stereotype. In Acceptaance we deal with stereotypes frequently. As a LGBTQ based non profit we also deal with hate, assault, lack of understanding. This all comes together to make a great festival. So why not bring the world to us? This is an opportunity to bring newness to the area as well as giving the community neighborhood a reason to all gather together."
[9/2/12]
NBJC CONVENES OUT ON THE HILL
NBJC Convenes OUT on the Hill – A Gathering of Black LGBT Activists in the Nation's Capitol during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's
40th Annual Legislative Conference, Sept. 15-18, 2010 > Full Story. [9/1/10]
HIV TESTING AT THE CENTER BEGINS SEPTEMBER 27
We are pleased to announce that Columbus Aids Task Force (CATF), in partnership with Stonewall Columbus, will offer weekly HIV testing at the Center on High starting Monday, September 27. Testing will be available each Monday, beginning Sept. 27, from 1-6 pm upstairs at the Center on High, 1160 N. High Street. No appointments required or taken, walk-in service only. > Full Story. [9/1/10]
CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS! CATF ART FOR LIFE 2010 2010
The Columbus AIDS Task Force (CATF) will be presenting Art for Life 2010, its biennial gala fundraiser with all proceeds raised going to support CATF's direct-service programs to those living with HIV/AIDS in Central Ohio as well as testing and prevention efforts. Art for Life 2010 will be held on Saturday, September 25.
Volunteers are vital to the success of Art for Life 2010! More than 200 volunteers are needed to assist with a variety of efforts leading up to the event and the day of the event. To sign up for volunteer opportunities, please visit http://bit.ly/cQbZ9o
> Full Story. [9/1/10]
GATEWAY FILM CENTER OUTTAKES SEPTEMBER FILM
The film "Is It Just Me?" will be presented on Thursday, September 2 at 8pm at the Gateway Film Center.
Enjoy a special encore screening of this film on Friday, September 3 at 8pm.
$5 admission, with all profits benefitting Stonewall Columbus.
> Full Story. [9/1/10]
MISS GAY AMERICA VIRGINIA CROWNED
On Saturday, August 28, Lacountress Farrington became the newest Miss Gay America Virginia. This is the first pagent in ten years for the Virginia title. > Full Story. [9/1/10]
GAY SEX STING OPERATIONS SPARK CONTROVERSY, RAISE QUESTIONS
LGBT groups continue to seek answers in the fatal police shooting of Defarra "Dean" Gaymon in a popular cruising area in a Newark, N.J., park on July 16, but this case is the latest in a series of incidents in New Jersey, New York City, Boston and other cities that have shed a harsh spotlight on sting operations that opponents maintain unfairly ... > Full Story. [8/31/10]
FIRE DESTROYS DETROIT HIV/AIDS CENTER FOR YOUNG BLACK GAY/BI MEN
Very unfortunate news to report from Detroit. A fast-moving electrical fire destroyed the R.E.C. Boyz Center, "considered one of the top five HIV prevention programs nationwide" targeting young Black men who have sex with other men, reports PrideSource.com. > Full Story. [8/30/10]
HATE FLIERS TRY TO INTIMIDATE KENTUCKY NEIGHBORHOOD AFTER STRING OF HATE CRIMES
Dozens of anti-gay fliers were posted on poles and placed on windshields in MainStrasse, Covington, Kentucky on Thursday. The fliers come just around a week after the arrests of Timothy Searp and Devlin Burke after they attacked a pair of women in that area. The fliers come also after a long string of anti-LGBT crimes targeting the lesbians and gays of that neighborhood. > Full Story. [8/30/10]
GLBT NIGHT AT ZOOMBEZI BAY - SATURDAY AUGUST 28, 2010
Don't wait! Get your tickets for GLBT Night at Zoombezi Bay NOW! > Full Story. [8/25/10]
SHERYL LEE RALPH - ORIG B'WAY CAST OF DREAMGIRLS - NIGHTLIFE / CABARET /MON. SEPT. 20, 2010
The Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation (REAF) presents a special
One Night Only Cabaret > Full Story. [8/24/10]
PHILADELPHIA HOSTS POST-VIENNA AND NATIONAL AIDS STRATEGY UPDATES
BEBASHI presents AIDS IN BLACK AMERICA: At The Crossroads-Successes, Challenges and Opportunities. > Full Story. [8/24/10]
NOM FAILS IN LAWSUIT TO HIDE MAINE ELECTION ACTIVITIES
Federal judge upholds majority of Maine law requiring public transparency of campaign activities; HRC calls on NOM to play by the rules and disclose its anti-LGBT political efforts
WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, today called on the National Organization for Marriage to stop its radical national strategy of hiding its election activities and eviscerating public disclosure laws, in the wake of today's federal court ruling in Maine upholding the state's campaign finance framework against NOM's challenge.
"Time and again NOM has tried to evade or eviscerate popular disclosure laws that provide the public with critical information about who spends money on campaigns, and as usual they've come up short," said Fred Sainz, the Human Rights Campaign's Vice President of Communications. "It begs the questions: what does NOM want to hide about their efforts to strip millions of Americans of their basic civil rights, and why are they fighting so hard to hide it?"
Today, a federal judge in Portland, Maine ruled against NOM by upholding laws requiring organizations engaged in Maine elections to register as political action committees, disclose their independent expenditures and provide disclaimers on campaign advertisements. The court found two lesser legal provisions defective but noted that they could likely be cured by new legislation.
In rejecting most of NOM's lawsuit, Judge D. Brock Hornby ruled that "Maine… has a compelling reason for compiling information about PACs – the goal of providing information to Maine voters about the interest groups that spend money referring to candidates in an election – and indeed Maine has polling data demonstrating the public's interest in such information." The judge found that "NOM's desire to limit campaign finance disclosures … would yield perverse results, totally at odds with the interest in 'transparency' recognized in Citizens United," the recent Supreme Court decision that allowed for unlimited corporate spending in elections but accepted the government's compelling interest in requiring public disclosure.
NOM's lawsuit is part of escalating tensions between the group and ethics officials in Maine. NOM remains under investigation by the Maine Ethics Commission for failing to register with the state as a ballot question committee and disclose the donors to its campaign to overturn Maine's marriage equality law in 2009. NOM provided more than $1.9 million of the $3 million spent by opponents of marriage equality to pass Question 1 – but it failed to disclose where the money came from. The organization has stonewalled the ethics investigation over its Question 1 involvement, which is the subject of a separate ongoing lawsuit.
Today's decision follows similar defeats in Washington state, where NOM's lawyers fought the state's public records law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court – and lost. A federal court in California similarly rejected NOM's efforts to hide its donors in the wake of Proposition 8.
"NOM's agenda of hiding their political activities from legitimate scrutiny and accountability has gone on long enough," added Sainz. "The public has a right to know who is behind their efforts to take away the fundamental rights of people living in Maine, California, Washington and elsewhere across the country. It's time for NOM to own up and play by rules that serve the public interest."
The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
> Full Story. [8/20/10]
RAINBOW BOWLING LEAGUE PREPARES FOR NEW SEASON
From Jay Squires at GayRichmond.com: > Full Story. [8/19/10]
NJ COURT AVOIDING GAY MARRIAGE
In late July, the New Jersey Supreme Court declined to hear a case brought by Lambda Legal on behalf of six same-sex couples following the rejection of a marriage equality bill in January by the state senate. > Full Story. [8/16/10]
NEW 6-WEEK AFRO-RHYTHMS CLASS STARTS AUGUST 18
Pat Funderburg's Exercise to Afro-Rhythms. Live Drumming!
New 6-week class begins August 18. Class hours are from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at Stonewall Columbus Center on High, 1160 N. High Street, 2nd Floor.
Class fee is $50.00 for a 6-week session (paid in advance) or $10.00 per class walk-in rate.
For information and to enroll, call Pat Funderburg at (614) 258-5465 or email patronburg@msn.com > Full Story. [8/11/10]
NEW 6-WEEK BALLROOM DANCING CLASS STARTS SEPTEMBER 9
Another 6-week Ballroom Dancing Class begins on Thursday September 9, 2010 at the Stonewall Columbus Center on High, 1160 N. High Street.
The Beginners class will meet at 6:30 pm and the Intermediate class will meet at 7:30 pm.
$30 per person, $50 per couple. > Full Story. [8/11/10]
SWC IS CELEBRATING IT'S 30TH ANNIVERSARY AND NEEDS YOUR HELP!
We are looking for Stonewall Columbus and Columbus Pride photos, video, printed materials, and memorabilia from the last 30 years to showcase our 30th anniversary in 2011. > Full Story. [7/28/10]
FORMATION OF NATIONAL ORGANIZATION TO LINK STATE AND LOCAL TRANSGENDER ADVOCACY GROUPS IS ANNOUNCED
Columbus, OH -- 07/23/2010: A group of state and local transgender leaders are pleased to announce the formation of the Trans Advocacy Network. The Trans Advocacy Network held their first meeting in Memphis, Tennessee on July 10, 2010 with the purpose of defining their mission and goals for the upcoming year. > Full Story. [7/26/10]
DETROIT BLACK GAY PRIDE FESTIVAL CELEBRATES ITS 15TH ANNIVERSARY
This weekend, Detroit will play host to one of the gay community's largest Black Pride events in the country. > Full Story. [7/23/10]
FEDERAL MONEY TO GO TO VERMONT LGBTQ YOUTH GROUP’S ANTI-BULLYING CAMPAIGN
There is an old truism to politics that what is pork to you is necessary spending to me. It is the same with earmarks. Basically, people love pork and earmarks if they are flowing into their state, but hate them if they are flowing into someone else's. Representative Peter Welch of Vermont secured some twenty-nine earmarks for Vermont, which is quite low to be honest. One of those earmarks is going to Outright Vermont, a Burlington-based queer youth advocacy organization. It is the first time that any Vermont LGBT group has been given a federal earmark. In August, the nonprofit received its first installment of a $100,000 appropriation that will be given to them over the next three years. > Full Story. [7/22/10]
SOUTH BEND, IND., CONSIDERS LGBT EMPLOYMENT PROTECTIONS
South Bend Common Councilmember Oliver Davis has co-sponsored a measue that would ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression in Indiana's fourth largest city. > Full Story. [7/22/10]
8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION - OUTTAKES FILM SERIES THURSDAY AUGUST 5TH
Columbus premiere! One screening only!
Thursday, August 5 at 8pm.
Presented as part of OUTTakes, a monthly screening partnership between Gateway Film Center and Stonewall Columbus.
Director Reed Cowan initially planned on making a documentary about gay teen homelessness and suicide in Utah but soon realized that the homophobia that prompts otherwise loving parents to kick teenagers out of their homes is deep-seated in current Mormon ideology. Cowan, with his fellow filmmakers, experienced first-hand what it was like to grow up gay in Utah in the Mormon faith, then turned their attention to the historic campaign by the Mormon Church to pass Proposition 8 in California believing that it was the cornerstone of an ideology that has worked for decades "to damage gay people and their causes." The film is their emotional outcry to what they found.
WATCH THE TRAILER at http://www.stonewallcolumbus.org/outtakes
Gateway Film Center is located at 1550 N. High Street in South Campus Gateway. For more information, call 614.545.2255 or visit www.gatewayfilmcenter.com.
> Full Story. [7/21/10]
FREE AND CONFIDENTIAL SCREENING OPPORTUNITY
The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina is very excited to be participating in the inaugural Triangle Black Pride.
The Alliance will be providing free and confidential HIV/STD testing during the Triangle Black Pride Expo on Saturday July 31, 2010, 9:30am-1:30pm. Please come out, get tested, and join us in welcoming the first annual Triangle Black Pride.
Triangle Black Pride takes place July 29th - August 1st in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, NC. The host hotel and location of the Triangle Black Pride Expo is the Raleigh Marriott Crabtree Valley, 4500 Marriott Blvd., Raleigh, NC 27612 (Across from the Crabtree Valley Mall)
Discounted room rates are $99/night, with group code TSPTSPA. Book your room today via http://tinyurl.com/TBPMarriott or by calling toll free (with group code). All persons registed with this group code is automatically entered into a drawing for a 1 week resort stay in Central Florida. Additional raffle tickets may be purchased to increase your chances of winning.
> Full Story. [7/21/10]
STONEWALL DEMOCRATS OF CENTRAL MARYLAND PAC ANNOUNCES ENDORSEMENTS
On July 14, 2010, members of the Stonewall Democrats of Central Maryland PAC (SDCM) met to vote on their first round of endorsed candidates for the 2010 Primary Election. > Full Story. [7/20/10]
MAINE MAN WINS $1 MILLION GAY DISCRIMINATION SUIT
A jury has awarded a Maine man more than $1 million in a discrimination case based on sexual orientation -- the largest such award to date in Maine. > Full Story. [7/16/10]
VANDALS TEAR DOWN OHIO’S FIRST GAY HISTORIC MARKER
Police are searching for vandals who tore down the only Ohio historical marker for a gay or lesbian person.
The marker recognizing Natalie Barney was knocked down in Cooper Park some time before Wednesday, July 7, said John Gantt, executive director of the Greater Dayton LGBT Center. The park is next to the downtown Dayton Metro Library.
"A friend noticed it had been torn down and told me about it," Gantt said. "I called police and they came and took a report."
Barney was a literary patron and lesbian author who was born in Dayton in 1876, but lived most of her life in Paris.
> Full Story. [7/12/10]
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