LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
In Brief |
Catch the CAMP Millennium Bus to the DC March On Sunday, April 30, 2000, the Project Advisory Committee of CAMP Rehoboth will sponsor a Bus to the Millennium March and Rally in Washington DC. March organizers are calling upon all gay, lesbian, bi and transgendered people and their friends, families and allies to come together to march for equality. The CAMP Rehoboth bus, which does have a bathroom, is scheduled to depart the Rehoboth area at 6:30 a.m., and will leave Washington to return to Rehoboth at 9:00 p.m. that same evening. The bus will travel to an assigned Washington Metro Stop and the passengers will be given a Metro Day Pass to carry them right into the heart of the March area. Passengers will meet in the parking lot of County Bank, 4299 Highway One in Rehoboth, where parking will be provided while on the excursion. "Why drive?" said Maggie Ottato, event cochair. "Just park your car, sit back, relax and leave the driving to us. Besides," she says. "It's a great way to travel with your friendsor meet new onesor just take a nap to get ready for all that walking." Marchers from previous national events suggest comfortable shoes, lots of bottled water, plenty of heavy duty sunscreen and as much rainbow gear as you can wear or carry. The cost of the bus trip is $10with financial assistance available in the form of "CAMPerships" for those who can't afford the cost. Your payment includes the D.C. Metro's "Day Pass." Reservations, with payment, are required in advance, and may be made by calling CAMP Rehoboth at 3022275620, or come by the CAMP Rehoboth office, 39 Baltimore Avenue, next to Lambda Rising. Don't miss the bus! SCAC Community Workshop & Forum On Saturday, April 8, the Board of Directors of SCAC (the Sussex County AIDS Committee) invite community members to participate in a Workshop and Forum to be held in the fellowship hall of Epworth United Methodist Church, 20 Baltimore Avenue in downtown Rehoboth. "It is our goal," said Board President Murray Archibald, "to provide a time and place for a community voice in the work of SCAC. We want to give all those involved in the HIV/AIDS community in Sussex County the chance to share their ideas with us as we seek to create the programs and policies of the future. SCAC has always been a community effort," he says, "and we don't want to lose that. Also, with our new Executive Director Greg Kenyon having started the first week in March, it's a good way for him to meet and talk to people involved with SCAC." The Workshop/Forum is open to all who wish to participate, including volunteers, clients, staff, community members and medical personnel. Participants will not be asked to disclose their HIV status unless they choose to do so. The Workshop will begin promptly at 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning and will conclude with a lunch at noon. There is no cost for the event, however, reservations are required. They can be made by by calling SCAC, or stop by the office at 107 South Street, Rehoboth Beach. For more information or to make a reservation call 302-644-1090. International Gay Spirit Conference 2000 Seeks Papers Tumescence and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center will jointly sponsor aday of personal, community, and spiritual renewal for gay men on Saturday, May 20, 2000. This day-long conference, which will feature workshops, performances, and lectures, will take place at the Village in Los Angeles. Papers dealing with Gay Spirit are being solicited for review to be presented in afternoon sessions. Subjects may include Western, Eastern and Native American people's spiritual beliefs and their relevance to gay men. Papers related to myth, personal and community renewal, Shamanism, and soul making are also welcome. Deadline for submission of papers is April 15, 2000. This day of gay soul making will feature speakers including Mark Thompson, author of Gay Spirit, Myth and Meaning, Will Roscoe, Ph.D., author of Changing Ones, and Christian de la Huerta, founder of QSpirit, and author of Coming Out Spiritually. An evening performance based on the work of visionary gay poet Walt Whitman will be presented by acclaimed actor David Cohen. Dr. Don Kilhefner, moderator of the conference, is the founder of Tumescence, a gay men's spirituality group, and a co-founder of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. For further information about attending the conference or for paper submission guidelines, contact Jim Magary, Ph.D., Conference Coordinator, at Tumescence, PO Box 461144, Los Angeles CA 90046, or call 323-735-5092, or email THWAPP@aol.com. KSAP "Sister to Sister" Conference The Fourth Annual "Sister to Sister" Conference for Communities of Color and Faith will be held on April 29th from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Conference will take place in the Price Building at Delaware State University in Dover. Admission is free. In addition to lectures on various topics, several skits will be performed by "Sister to Sister" members. A special workshop will be included for the youth. Featured speakers will be Rev. Alberta Ware, from "Balm in Gilead, Inc.," Valerie Reeder-bey and granddaughter, Annisha. They will be on hand to autograph their new book, entitled, Grandma has AIDS. For more information, contact Debbie Cheatwood, Kent Sussex AIDS Program, 302-856-2388, ext. 151., or write 410 S. Bedford, Georgetown, DE 19947. Youth United DC Demonstration A coalition of Washington, DC student and youth groups have announced plans to organize a youth demonstration to coincide with the Millennium March on Washington in April. According to organizers, YouthUnited will take place on Sat., April 29th in the center of DuPont Circle. This demonstration will provide a centralized meeting place for youth who have come to Washington from all over the country in order to participate in the March, which will occur Sun., April 30. With the program starting at 3pm and ending at 4:30pm, organizers are hoping to see DuPont Circle filled with energized young gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and their allies in anticipation of the following day's march. "With the hundreds of thousands of people descending on Washington, DC for the March, it is only appropriate that there be a forum for the younger members of our community," said GWPride Administrative Chair and YouthUnited coorganizer Josh Meyer. GWPride is The George Washington University's GLBT student group. "The rally's program will include guests and speakers from the many facets of our extremely diverse community." "The mission of this rally is to highlight the role youth participants play in the queer civil rights movement, and to create a unified model for the movement based on the principles of inclusion, civility and respect," said YouthUnited co-organizer Josh Siegel. "We hope that our demonstration will empower gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth, our families and allies, to take action in their own communities." YouthUnited has issued an open call for speaker nominations for the rally. Organizers encourage youth to dream big and nominate individuals who will be inspiring, moving and empowering to them personally. Submissions should include a brief description of the person and contact information for both the person nominating and the person or persons being nominated. The nominations must include full name, address and phone number for verification. Nominations may be mailed to YouthUnited, in care of Josh Meyer, 2100 F Street, NW #901, Washington, DC 20037, or email: youthunited2000@hotmail.com. The deadline for submissions is March 24. YouthUnited is a coalition of youth activists, based out of the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area. Founded by local organizations, their goal is to empower youth to affect change within society. For more on the YouthUnited rally, call 202-332-9262. NABWMT Endorses NAACP Boycott The National Association of Black and White Men Together, the oldest national, multicultural gay organization, released a resolution supporting the NAACP-initiated boycott of South Carolina. The boycott asks individuals and organizations to avoid traveling to, or holding meetings in the State of South Carolina. It took effect January 1, 2000. At the heart of the boycott issue is the fact that South Carolina is the only state that still officially recognizes the Confederate battle flag. The flag flies atop the South Carolina Capitol in Columbia, and hangs in the South Carolina House and Senate chambers. In recent years, civil rights leaders have called on South Carolina to relegate the Confederate battle flag to a place of historical, rather than official context. But the South Carolina legislature has resisted these calls. In response, the NAACP called for the travel and tourism boycott. The aim of the boycott is to impose economic sanctions on the state that will prompt South Carolina's legislature to lower the flag. The NABWMT is the first national gay organization in the country to publicly endorse the South Carolina boycott. Accordingly, the NABWMT endorsement signals a growing concern about the Confederate battle flag issue among LGBT people in general, regardless of racial identity. Commenting on the endorsement, Paul Hawkins, NABWMT Recording Secretary, stated: "Much of the publicity about South Carolina has focused on how the Confederate battle flag offends African-Americans. But as a primary symbol of the false doctrine of white supremacy, the NABWMT believes the flag is also offensive to all Americans, including whites and other people of color. And because racism and heterosexism are both historically rooted in white supremacist doctrines, so the time has come for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans of every ethnicity to be visible in the fight to remove that flag." In addition to endorsing the boycott, the NABWMT is taking a leadership role in the LGBT community. The NABWMT is currently sending formal letters to more than sixty other national LGBT organizations, inviting them to join the boycott initiative. Regarding this, Ed Brown, NABWMT Co-Chair stated: "In recent years the NAACP has been increasingly supportive of LGBT rights. So we hope other national organizations in the sexual minority community will join with us in supporting the NAACP's leadership of this boycott. Beyond the fact that the Confederate battle flag is an affront to LGBT people, supporting this boycott is a way for us to build solidarity with our straight allies. We need to do more of this if our ultimate goal is to dismantle all the 'isms' and ensure that everyone's rights are secured." Philly HRC Dinner Served March 25 The Philadelphia 2000 Human Rights Campaign Dinner is scheduled for Saturday, March 25, 2000, in the Crystal Tea Room at the Wanamaker Building, 10 Penn Square East, in Philadelphia. A Silent Auction and Cocktail Reception will take place before the dinner. Speakers for the after-dinner program will be Elizabeth Birch, Executive Director of the Human Rights Campaign, Terry Gross, Producer and Host of Fresh Air on National Public Radio, Billy Bean, former Major League Baseball player, US Representative Barney Frank, and Chris Matthews, Host of Hardball on MSNBC. Tickets are $150 per person, or you can be a Patron for $500 which includes two tickets, entrance to the VIP reception and recognition in the program. Tickets can be purchased directly through Box Office Tickets at 1-800-494-8497. Visit www.HRCphilly.org for more information on the dinner. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 10, No. 2, Mar. 10, 2000. |