PFLAG Tulare and Kings Counties is a volunteer group of parents, family and friends of people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT). We welcome members of the GLBT community to our meetings and membership. We meet on the third Sunday of each month.
Location:Family HealthCare Network
305 East Center Street (Corner of Bridge Street)
Visalia (Use the courtyard entrance on Bridge. Pedestrian gate is in the alley.)
Date: Sunday, January 17, 2009, 3 - 5 pm
Program: Brief presentations from local gay and gay-friendly groups , including Queer Visalia, Gay Visalia, Ted G, Dining Out For Equality, Lions Club, Hanford Rainbow Pride, COS Pride.
Prop 8 Trial Will Be Seen Online Only, After The Fact
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.
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.
Have you heard about the Prop 8 trial starting on Monday?
There is some urgent and important news about the trial. I just took action and hope you will join me.
U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker -- who will be overseeing a federal court challenge to Prop 8 starting this Monday (January 11) -- is considering whether or not to open the court room to TV cameras. The court just announced that it is seeking public comment on the proposal to televise the trial -- and that all comments must be submitted to the court by a Friday deadline.
We have just this one chance to make our voices heard -- thousands of Americans calling for equality, transparency and accountability. That's why the Courage Campaign Institute is teaming up with CREDO Action to collect as many signatures as possible asking Judge Walker to televise the case.
I just signed a letter, asking Judge Walker to televise the Prop 8 trial. Will you join me? They need your signature by FRIDAY at 9 a.m.:
If you know other people who believe this trial should be televised as well, please forward this message to them. On Friday, Courage and CREDO will hand-deliver all of our signatures to Judge Vaughn Walker before the deadline.
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, orgulloypoder@crla.org
Lisa Cisneros, lcisneros@crla.org (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
OVERVIEW To increase our exposure and visibility in the larger comunity, we are going to try a series of monthly lunches on the town. We will gather in a different community each month. The more PFLAG t-shirts we can have, the better. Any diversity or civil-rights oriented clothing is okay.
WHEN Sunday, January, 24 2010 12:30 pm
WHERE Mandarin House in Exeter at 163 E. Pine Street
ACTION REQUIRED We hope to be a fairly significant “presence”. We will need an accurate approximate number of diners, so we can make arrangements with the restaurant. If you can attend, please RSVP to Dr. Kathryn Hall (Kathryn.Hall@PFLAG-Tulare-Kings.org) by January 17, with the number of guests in your party, including yourself.
The year started off rough as many of us were still reeling from the ginormous loss at the polls. We quickly were able to find some hope as Barack Obama was sworn in as our President. He was supposed to be our shinning light and our “fierce advocate”. Although he has made some progress, I am still waiting on the fierce part. He did say fierce and not farce, right?
Many of us got pumped up at Camp Courage in Fresno. We were ready to hit the ground running and get our rights back with the Courage Campaign. The whole year, camps were held in many cities around the state, telling us we can and WILL do this. They stood behind their members and listened when we said we were ready to go back, heck they even willingly took a quarter of a million dollars from us to do so. Funny, that this is the same organization that just recently pulled out of 2010, letting down a lot of people including myself and other area teams. (insert boo and hiss here)
We all held our breaths waiting on D-Day and the Supreme Court ruling, only to be let down once again. The small ray of sunshine was those married couples who were allowed to remain so. We gathered our broken spirits and we met in the middle. So many hours and so many people contributed to pull this off. It was a huge success and showed just what LGBT people and our allies can do when we commit and pull together. (Something larger organizations could learn from)
We protested, vigiled, we walked bridges and marched on the mall. We then moved onto the battle of 2010 or 2012. Confusion, tempers and egos ran amok for several months. That's several months of wasting valuable planning time. This is when I really became disenchanted. Together we are strong and this tug-o-war made us look bad and look really weak to our adversaries. Finally, the 3 largest equality groups in California back out of 2010 and a small grassroots organization steps forward to carry on the fight. As it stands now, they continue gathering signatures to hopefully get marriage equality back on the ballot. Who knows how this will turn out without the backing of the larger groups. In my opinion, shame on everyone for dividing us. Whether you agreed or not, you should have stood in solidarity. How is anyone supposed to vote with us and believe in a campaign when our own community does not?
We also witnessed the formation of the Visalia Pride Lions Club with whom I am so proud of. They were big supporters of our toy drive and I know great things are going to come from them in the new year. Please join this club or at the very least support their community outreach efforts. PFLAG gained a monthly lunch group for visibility and a library. They continue on full steam ahead. 2009 saw the death and resurrection of the RAINBOWlers. It's uncertain whether this great group will reconvene in 2010 but hopefully so. I think TEDG really took off and continues to add new diners each week. They even made the paper on a few occasions. You can get your grub on with them every Tuesday evening at various restaurants in town. I'm sure I'm forgetting to mention groups and accomplishments but please forgive me. It's been a crazy year both community wise and personally. If you would like to call me out and let me know what I have missed, by all means, please do so and I will add the update, thanks!
Gay Visalia has done a lot of evolving this year and hopefully will continue to do so. We are now an official non-profit organization as is the whole Gay Central Valley network. I will be starting more fundraising efforts to help cover the costs for more community events, just like our successful Family Fest that was held for the first time this year. We had over 100 people in attendance with 12+ groups represented. 2010 will bring a bigger and better festival, with more activities and vendors planned. The new year will include us hosting monthly social outings, more community outreach/involvement and hopefully much, much more! We are still planning on forming a softball team for the spring league so be sure to get in touch with me if you are interested. Stay tuned for all of the latest news and happenings. Be sure to join our email list and you can sign up for text alerts, too. As always, I welcome community involvement however you are able to contribute. Also, I’m always open to your feedback, good or bad. I’m here as a forum for our community and want to serve you the best that I can. I can always be reached via email (brooke@gayvisalia.com) or on the Gay Visalia hotline (559) 697-5GAY.
In closing, I want to thank everyone who shared a part of your year with us; it has been quite a year indeed. A very Happy New Year to all, may your blessings be many and your hardships be few. Please remember, DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE! The life you endanger is not just your own.
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.
Please join First Congregational Church, UCC for our Christmas Eve Service at 5:00 pm. It is a festive evening of carols, music and scripture. A reception will follow with Christmas treats. We are an Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ. Hope to see you soon.
We are located at 220 West Tulare Ave in Tulare (Tulare and H Streets). Our phone # is 686-5528.
Don't forget this Sunday is the PFLAG meeting. It is the holiday potluck and gift exchange. Fun is sure to ensue! This is a perfect time to come if you never have. Get more info at their WEBSITE.
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.
Well, all the toys we collected have been delivered to much appreciative social worker elves. I give my heartfelt thanks to everyone who donated and supported this cause. A special thanks goes out to the Visalia Pride Lions Club for their support. I would also like to especially thank someone for a very generous monetary donation, they deserve a big PAT on the back!
With every ones help, in total, we were able to provide the children with 88 toys! That's 88 smiles, 88 happy hearts, and hopefully 88 kids who had a little something to be thankful for this holiday season. Thank you all for making a difference, having the compassion and willingness to reach out to those in need. Someone once told me, "those who bring sunshine into the lives of others can't keep it from themselves". You have touched my heart as well and I'm sure your good deeds will not go without reward. Thank you one and all from the bottom of my heart!!
I look forward to what we can accomplish next year!
