Local Events

November 4, 2009

Event title: The 50th Annual Central California Band Review
Event Date/Time: 14 November 2009 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Event description: This year the Central California Band Review, affectionately called CCBR, will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. There will be competition in street, jazz and field show. The date for CCBR is Saturday, November 14th, in Merced. Hosting this event is the Golden Valley Cardinal Regime (street/jazz) and the Atwater Falcon Band (field). Judging will be by the Northern California Judges Association.

Event title: Merced Veterans Day Parade
Event Date/Time: 11 November 2009 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Event description: The Merced County Veterans Council will hold the 5th Annual Veterans Day Parade on November 11, 2009. The parade will be the centerpiece of the celebrations held that day. Local veteran service organizations will begin by holding a ceremony at the Courthouse Park Veterans Memorial at 11:00 a.m., followed by the opening ceremony with speakers and music at Bob Hart Square starting at 12:00 p.m.; the parade follows at 1:00 p.m.

Event title: 15th Annual Holiday Parade
Event Date/Time: 5 December 2009 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Event description: Break out the Hawaiian shirts, put on that Jimmy Buffet CD of carols and slather on the sunscreen for the annual Downtown holiday parade. The theme this year is packed with holiday fun — “Sand, Surf and Santa.”

The parade will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5 on Main Street from G to N street with floats, marching bands, old cars, new cars, and, of course, that jolly old man from the North Pole.

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LGBT Paralegal

November 4, 2009

LAW OFFICES OF CALIFORNIA RURAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE, INC.

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT – PLEASE POST

BILINGUAL (Eng-Span) COMMUNITY WORKER – FRESNO

The CRLA Proyecto Poderoso of California Rural Legal Assistance is now recruiting for the position of: Full time regular Community Worker in the Fresno CRLA office. This union position starts ASAP. Please see www.crla.org for more about CRLA and our Proyecto Poderoso program. The Proyecto Poderoso Community Worker will increase access to justice for low-income lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in rural California, particularly LGBT farm workers. The Proyecto Poderoso community worker will focus on the needs of the rural poor LGBT population, aggressively pursue goals in community education and client leadership building, and provide investigative support in LGBT-related cases.

§ Community Education: The CW work with the Proyecto Poderoso attorney to educate rural communities about LGBT rights, and inform them that CRLA is a resource for poor LGBT people who need legal assistance. A special emphasis will be placed on reaching low-income and farm worker audiences. The CW will conduct education through community presentations, media appearances, and the development of outreach partnerships and materials.

§Leadership Building: The CW will be responsible for identifying and cultivating rural, low-income LGBT leaders, including current and former CRLA clients. These leaders will be equipped to 1) participate in community education efforts, 2) support efforts to expand resources for rural LGBT people, especially those who are poor, and 3) take leadership roles within CRLA’s comites and board structure.

§ Investigative Support: The CW will provide investigative support as necessary for CRLA’s LGBT-related cases. This support will include, but not be limited to interviewing clients and witnesses.

Please see general job description attached.

Qualifications:
Proven leadership skills, though not necessarily in LGBT activism.

Strong understanding of challenges facing LGBT and poor people.

High comfort level in talking about LGBT issues with media, non-LGBT audiences and LGBT audiences, including large and small audiences, and one-on-one.

Strong ability to work both collaboratively and independently.

Experience in rural communities is a definite plus.

Willingness and ability to learn new information quickly.

Willingness to travel is required. Must have access to a reliable car. Travel costs, including mileage are reimbursed.

Dependable: Strong ability to follow through on tasks, good communication and organization.

Language skills: Fluency in spoken and written Spanish; proficient in English; knowledge of Indigenous language a plus!

Computer skills: Must know how to operate a computer and use the internet.

Compensation: $23,300 – $42,750 based on experience, calculated according to the requirements of the collective bargaining agreement, determined according to the union requirements. Excellent benefits. Resume with letter of application to: Patricia Beardsley, Human Resources Director (Fresno Proyecto Poderoso Position); e-mail: pbeardsley@crla.org, (attachments only as pdf or in Word or WordPerfect, or copy and paste resume into the body of the e-mail ); fax: 415 358-9551; mail: California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc., 631 Howard Street #300, San Francisco, California 94105 Closing Date: October 21, 2009


The Center for Women and Culture

A Welcoming Place for Diversity and Gender
Francine L. Oputa, Director
Central Valley Cultural Heritage Institute – 559.278.6946

Fax: 559.278.7358

California State University Fresno

5241 N. Maple Ave. MS-TA35

Fresno, CA 93740-8023


Post Election Round Up

November 4, 2009

As you may have heard there was an election yesterday. Washington voted to keep their everything-but-marriage law, a town in Michigan approved a Non-discrimination act, a gay man was voted Mayor of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Yet for all that, Question 1 (AKA Proposition 8 part 2) passed. Around the interwebs today though was a growing trend of queer folks expressing their increasing dismay at how the DNC and the Obama administration handled gay issues this year. From the Advocate:

Following the loss of Proposition 8, many equality advocates soured on then-candidate Obama’s unwillingness to take a strong stand against stripping people of their right to marry the person of their choosing.

Tuesday, longtime LGBT activist David Mixner wrote a blistering blog post that impugned President Obama for once again failing to speak out decisively for equality.

“Tragically,” Mixner wrote, “if we lose closely, that defeat almost can be laid at the steps of the White House for their refusal to stand by our side in the battle for freedom.”

Bloggers Jon Aravosis and Andrew Sullivan also marveled at the lack of help offered by the Democratic National Committee and Obama’s spinoff arm of the DNC, Organizing For America (OFA).

“It is staggering to me that the message discipline from the DNC is so tight that they even forbade OFA from telling Obama-supporters which way to vote on the referendum,” wrote Sullivan.

“Tell us again why any gay voter should help the DNC ever again?” wondered Aravosis.

Their call to arms might foretell a rising anger within the LGBT community over the Obama Administration’s seemingly tacit acceptance of a separate and unequal status for gay relationships.


INTEGRATION Anniversary

November 2, 2009

Birthday


Obama Signs Hate Crimes Prevention Act

October 28, 2009

Today President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which was part of a larger appropriations bill. Rather historic in that, as far as I can tell, this is the first federal level gay rights law. Check out the video of Obama’s remarks here or read them in full after the jump.

Hat tip to AMERICAblog.

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Word of the day

October 28, 2009

conflate \kuhn-FLAYT\, transitive verb:

1. To bring together; to fuse together; to join or meld.
2. To combine (as two readings of a text) into one whole.

This word and definition taken from:  Dictionary.com


INTEGRATION Halloween Party!

October 26, 2009

Halloween 2009


INTEGRATION!

October 20, 2009

IntegrationWinter2009


Starline Cancels Saturday Night Event

October 16, 2009

This is hot off the press folks: Starline accidentally double booked us with a five band event at their venue this Saturday night. We were asked on short notice to throw a special INTEGRATION, which we appropriately dubbed One Night Stand, this Saturday because Starline thought they had an opening in their schedule. We found out less than an hour ago of this scheduling debacle. After brainstorming with Starline’s management it was decided that we should cancel tomorrow night’s event.

We honestly and truly appreciate the support from our community and let us be the first to apologize on behalf of our venue sponsor, Starline, for any inconvenience this may cause. We strive to put on safe, clean and friendly events for our local GLBT community and we know that we would not be where we are as an organization without our readers and supporters.

So please help us spread the word, tell your friends, post it on Myspace and Facebook and make sure and stay tuned because an Queer Fresno 18+ gay part on a Saturday night is coming soon. We promise. :)


Lesbians in History

October 14, 2009

1) Gertrude “Ma” Rainey

2) Mabel Hamptom

3) Barbara Gittings

4) Jane Addams

5) Gladys Bentley

6) Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon

7) Eleanor Roosevelt

8. Lilli Vincenz

9) Jerre Kalbas

10) Ethel Merman

11) Ellen Degeneres

12) Melissa Etheridge

If you want to add any names to the list, feel free to add any names. Read more about lesbian life in the about.com section LESBIAN LIFE –> http://lesbianlife.about.com/