Get Healthy at the Pride Festival

From Pride Houston
June 3, 2009

Pride Houston is proud to announce it will once again host the annual GLBT Health & Wellness Pavilion at the 2009 GLBT Festival, from 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM Saturday, June 27, 2009.

This Health and Wellness Pavilion is part of the region's largest single day event, the GLBT Pride Festival, with expected attendance of more than 100,000 people. Admission is free.

The Health & Wellness Pavilion, sponsored by Walgreen's, will feature a full slate of presentations by physicians and other practitioners on essential health issues, such as Men's, Women's and Transgender Health, HIV/AIDS, Pediatrics, Vision Care, Nutrition, Training and Diabetes, among others.

Visitors of the pavilion can also participate in limited free health screenings, provided by Walgreen's. For those interested in a more private and personal screening, Legacy Community Health Services will feature on site scheduling for participants to schedule time with a physician on a future date.

In addition, various healthcare providers for the GLBT community will be on site to answer questions, provide demonstrations, handout important literature, have on hand resources for more detailed examinations, information, and questions.

Other leading GLBT healthcare providers include the Houston Buyer's Club, Montrose Counseling Center, City of Houston Department of Health, and Lesbian Health Initiative.

Each healthcare provider will be featured in an Open Forum discussing general topics most important to the GLBT Community, as well as Straight allies of the community. The list of times and providers will be posted closer to the event.

Details: 713-529-6979

2009 Grand Marshals Announced

From Pride Houston
March 28, 2009

The Grand Marshals for the 2009 GLBT Pride Parade have been announced! Each nominee for these positions were selected based on their tireless efforts, commitment, and outstanding contributions to the community; areas such as social, political, health, welfare, education and business. It is their continued mentoring, volunteer efforts, generosity and leadership that ushers our community in a better future, and over 1,200 members of the Houston GLBT Community helped in determining who, amongst the fourteen outstanding individuals and four amazing organizations, shined brightest over the past year in representing the core values that make up our community at large.

Grand Marshal - Organization: Legacy Community Health Services

Legacy community Health Services is a full-service, Federal Qualified Health Center that provides comprehensive, primary healthcare services to all Houstonians in a cultural sensitive, Judgment-fre and confidential environment. Legacy has a 30-years history of providing Healthcare services to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender community and contines to focus may of its services on this community, specializing in HIV/AIDS testing and treatment. We accept Medicaid, Medicare, and most health insurance plans and offer slidig fee scales at three locations in Houston. Generous financial support from individual, business and charitable foundations allows Legacy to provide no-cost or low-cost healthcare service to over 20,000 men, women and children each year.

Grand Marshal - Honorary: Mike and Linda Bratsen

"After finishing Lobby Day in Austin, 2001, my husband I drifted off to Austin's center for gay youth which was having an open house. There we met a young man from Houston, Steven Bratsen, who had recently been outed to his parents who were distressed at learning their beloved son was gay. They had been encouraging him to attend counseling to help turn him around.

We spoke to Steven about our many years of involvement in PFLAG-Houston and suggested that he try to get his parents to come.

Steven appeared at the next meeting, and he brought his parents, Mike and Linda Bratsen, to the following one. They were distraught about Steven and Linda cried throughout this first meeting. The following month, Linda marched with Steven in the Pride Parade.

Linda soon volunteered to take over the PFLAG library, and when the next year's Pride Parade came near, Mike built the float. Each year, Mike and Steven, along with several Santa Fe , TX citizens, continue to build the float's frame and with the help of Linda and other PFLAG members, they assemble and decorate each float, several of which have won awards.

Linda has been PFLAG's librarian for seven years, writes book reviews for the newsletter, served on the PFLAG board for five years, supported the establishment of a GSA in Santa Fe High School, and represented PFLAG at the Texas Counselors Association convention. Mike and Linda have participated in the Easter fundraiser for Bunnies on the Bayou and have been PFLAG representatives at Empower and the International Festival. They are also members of PFLAG's Speakers Bureau.

Linda and Mike Bratsen have given nearly eight years of dedicated service to PFLAG's goals in the Houston and Santa Fe communities with their unconditional love and continuing affirmation of GLBT people."

- Sue and Jim Null, PFLAG-Houston
Honorary Grand Marshals 2004

Grand Marshal - Male: James Knapp

For eight years, James Knapp has been the Artistic and Managing Director of the Bayou City Performing Arts, a choral umbrella organization that includes Gay Men's Chorus of Houston. Men's Chorus of Houston had been struggling with waning numbers prior to his appointment in 2001 with the average audience size was below 300 for concerts. Under Knapp's leadership, the chorus has grown to over 100 singers and has moved from local churches for performances to downtown venues; first the Wortham Center, then to the Hobby Center and, for the last three years, in residence at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, home of the Houston Symphony. The average audience size is now 1200. Under Knapp's direction GMCH has been called by Mayor Bill White "the best face of diversity" of Houston in his presentation of "Gay Men's Chorus Day" on June 13, 2004.

James Knapp's commitment to outreach in the GLBT community includes several fundraisers with the men's chorus for groups such as AIDS WALK/Foundation of Houston, Bering Omega House, Black Tie Dinner, Human Rights Campaign, EPAH, Bayou City Boys Club, Houston GLBT Chamber of Commerce, Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church, Legacy Clinic and Montrose Counseling Center. Always dreaming of a women's chorus and his commitment to the Lesbian community he started the Bayou City Women's Chorus (BCWC) in 2005. The group started with 12 singers at the first rehearsal and now has grown to over 50 singers of lesbian, bisexual and straight singers. Realizing the beautiful relationship between the singing men and the women of the GLBT community and its supporters, Knapp founded the Bayou City Chorale combining the talents of the men and women together. This group premiered at Jones Hall in 2007 with a benefit performance of SING FOR THE CURE for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Over 130 performers received a very favorable review from Houston Chronicle critic Charles Ward.

Knapp has served on GLBT panels at local community colleges regarding GLBT issues in the arts, and in 2006 was named the Artistic Director of GAY GAMES VII, Sports and Cultural Festival in Chicago, Illinois. He artistically represented the City of Houston and conducted a chorus of 300 singers from all over the world. Knapp has been the driving force for so many of the distinguished contributions of Bayou City Performing Arts to the GLBT community. James Knapp has embodied the mission of excellence in music while providing a nurturing Environment for its membership and offered a tremendous source of pride, unity and support to the Houston GLBT community and beyond.

Grand Marshal - Female: Fiona Dawson

Fiona Dawson is a professional event planner, marketer, fundraiser and leader of volunteers in the Houston community. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from The University of Essex, Colchester, England. Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Fiona volunteered and worked in Bangladesh and Portugal before making Houston home in 2000. Fiona's entry into the LGBT community was the following year when she worked for Casa de Esperanza de los Nios as a caseworker for abused, neglected and HIV-positive children in foster care and adoptive homes. From 2002, while working for the Houston Area Women's Center, Fiona volunteered in Omega House helping provide compassionate care to people with ends stages of HIV/AIDS. It was when Fiona came on staff at Bering Omega in 2003 and soon started volunteering for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) her LGBT activism took off. Fiona has formerly chaired the Houston HRC Gala and the Houston HRC Volunteer Committee. She currently holds five volunteer leadership roles in HRC, three at the National level (National Board of Governors (BOG), BOG Executive Committee and BOG Performance Management Co-Chair) and two locally; Federal Club Co-Chair and 2009 Gala Table Captain Co-Chair. The combination of these roles demands more than 500 volunteer hours and a significant personal financial commitment each year. Fiona travels to Washington DC three times a year for meetings and has participated in lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill. As Co-Chair of the Houston Federal Club, Fiona shares the responsibility of annually raising and maintaining over $350,000, which directly facilitates lobbying on the Hill and the election of fair-minded candidates at the national, state and local level. Further, Fiona's HRC volunteer work supports research, educational efforts and outreach, to encourage lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans to live their lives openly and seek to change the hearts and minds of Americans to the side of equality. Fiona has been honored with Outsmart's Gayest and Greatest Awards in 2006, 2007 and 2008 when she was awarded Female Volunteer, Female Fundraiser and runner-up Female Community Hero. In addition to her primary volunteer commitment to HRC, Fiona is known for giving her time and financial support to many local LGBT community events whenever possible. In January 2008, in order to gain the right to vote, Fiona became an American citizen and celebrated with a voter registration party, raising funds for local organizations. Alongside her support of the LGBT community, Fiona has been on the board of the Houston Association of Volunteer Administrators (HAVA) since 2002. Her expertise in volunteer management has led her to teach at Rice University, the University of Houston, the Texas Governor's Volunteer Leadership Conference and at the City of Houston's Neighborhood Leadership Institute. Fiona has worked at BBVA Compass since January 2008, recently joining the department of Corporate Reputation and Responsibility. She is the lead of diversity and environmental issues, bringing her passion and knowledge in these areas to help the company make an impact in the communities where it does business.

Details: 713-529-6979

Episcopal Church Sues Breakaway Texas Diocese

By The Associated Press
04.16.2009 9:19am EDT

(Fort Worth, Texas) The Episcopal Church has filed a lawsuit seeking to regain control of church property from the breakaway Diocese of Fort Worth.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Tarrant County district court. Defendants include Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker, who led the theologically conservative diocese to split from the national church over issues including gay clergy and women in the priesthood.

The Iker-led group voted last year to join a more conservative province of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Episcopal Church maintains that its rules prohibit dioceses from breaking away and that church properties are held in trust for the denomination.

Iker told The Dallas Morning News by e-mail that the lawsuit was expected.

VT Program Helps Students Explore Gender

By The Associated Press
06.08.2009 12:07pm EDT

(Burlington, Vt.) Like plenty of other high school students, a group of about a dozen Vermont teenagers trundled into a youth center one day every week this spring to participate in an after-school program.

But their program was different; it focused on gender.

The nine-week program, partially funded by the Burlington School District, was held at Vermont's Queer Youth Center and called "Gendertopia."

Gay, lesbian and straight students discussed a wide range of topics, from the characters in the book and movie "Twilight," to taking photos around the city that show the different ways gender is portrayed in popular culture.

"Most people come into it thinking, 'Oh, there's two genders and two sexualities'... ," said David Kingsbury, a 16-year-old junior at Burlington High School who signed up for the program. "People assume it's boy and girl, but it's so much more than that. There's a whole world out there full of different genders."

The program is among the first of its kind to be funded, in part, with tax dollars, said Christopher Neff, the executive director of Outright Vermont, the social service organization running Gendertopia.

Neither the program nor the school district's participation triggered any objection. The tempered reaction locally to the program shows how far Outright Vermont and the issues it raises has moved into the main stream of youth social service organizations.

"It's got queer in its name. It scares the heck out of people. It's so important that people be able to see beyond any concerns or misconceptions that they have," said Eliza Byard, the executive director of the New York-based Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, which has 35 chapters across the country. "Outright Vermont is fulfilling its mission in the most wonderful way."

The program was designed to help young people identify the subtle signals used to express gender and how not being aware of those signals can lower self esteem and possibly lead to an increase in at-risk activities like substance abuse or dropping out of school, Neff said.

"We often see a lot of homophobia or transphobia that happens on the basis of how someone looks," Neff said. "If you are making fun of me because I am wearing a pink shirt and that's sort of expressing my femininity, my feminine side, that translates into homophobia, but it has nothing to do with whether I'm straight or whether I'm dating boys or whether I'm dating girls. It has to do with the fact that I'm wearing a pink shirt."

Neff said the significance of the program is more than the money and the relatively small number of young people who participate.

"It's incredibly symbolic and very powerful," he said. "I was incredibly proud to be associated with them and I thought this partnership, this very unique partnership, between a queer youth center and a school district to run a gender identity based program was a new national model."

Burlington School Superintendent Jeanne Collins said no one has objected to the program.

"The district has been in the forefront on this topic for at least a decade, if not longer," Collins said. "We are very sensitive to celebrating the differences in people and accepting people for who they are and what they bring to the table."

She said a factor that helped keep the program non controversial was that it was voluntary.

"We have very robust after school program," Collins said. "This is one of the options for the students who are interested. They get a lot out of it that will help them be much more inclusive and accepting of differences in their own future, which can only help them be successful."

Steve Cable, of Rutland the founder of Vermont Renewal, an organization that promotes what he calls traditional family values, said he wasn't familiar with "Gendertopia," but he knew Outright Vermont. He said he was supportive of the group's anti-bullying efforts, but not what he said was its focus on adolescent sexuality.

"It just makes me really nervous that sexuality and these very complicated social behaviors are being normalized and talked about with kids who haven't figured out even their life yet," Cable said. "I know that Outright Vermont promotes all gender identities and expression of gender identities, no matter how weird that might be."

In 2000, Vermont was the first state that passed civil unions for same-sex couples and earlier this year was the first to pass gay marriage without being required to do so by the courts. It's also in the forefront with laws to protect gender identity and sexual orientation.

Outright Vermont describes itself as "one of the longest standing queer organizations in Vermont" and the only one focused on young people. Neff said that for years his organization has done anti-bullying presentations related to sexual orientation and gender identity in schools across the state. He said the presentations have been universally well received.

Byard said a number of national organizations have programs for girls that help them deal with the pressures that can lead to eating disorders or pressures that girls feel to be thin or beautiful.

"Now it's only relatively recently that there has been real focus on the damaging effect of these same expectations on young men," Byard said.

About 40 students signed up for the program, Neff said, and about 12 attended the weekly program. Sometimes the group watched a movie or had food. Much of the discussion was led by the students themselves, and it wasn't just for gay and lesbian students.

"I'm straight, but I don't like using that word because then it feels like if you're gay then you're crooked, you're not meant to grow up in a certain way," Sophia Manzi, 15, a Burlington high school freshman, said during this year's final "Gendertopia" meeting. "I come because it's a really good program. The people, it doesn't matter what sexual orientation you are, they totally come in with open arms."

Neff said "Gendertopia" wasn't about sexuality or who people are attracted to.

"We're really clear that gender and gender identify is separate from sexual orientation," Neff said. "Hugh Grant and Russell Crowe have the same sex, they're both male and they're both heterosexual. But they have very different gender presentations. One is sort of seen as much more masculine than the other."

Burlington High School After school Coordinator Amy Mills said no decision had been made yet on whether to run Gendertopia again in the fall, but she'd like to.

"I think it worked well," Mills said. "They seem to have a lot of fun."

Gay Rights Activist Calls for March on Washington

By The Associated Press
06.08.2009 8:09am EDT

(Salt Lake City) An activist who worked alongside slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk announced plans Sunday for a march on Washington this fall to demand that Congress establish equality and marriage rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Cleve Jones said the march planned for Oct. 11 will coincide with National Coming Out Day and launch a new chapter in the gay rights movement. He made the announcement during a rally at the annual Utah Pride Festival.

"We seek nothing more and nothing less than equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states," Jones said.

He stirred up a crowd of thousands just blocks from the Salt Lake City headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, part of a conservative coalition that worked last fall to pass California's Proposition 8, which overturned a court ruling legalizing gay marriage.

"I've got a message for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," Jones shouted. "I've got two words from California...I've got two words for the prophet...Thank you. Thank you for uniting us. Thank you for galvanizing us."

Mormons were among the campaign's most vigorous volunteers and financial contributors, giving tens of millions of dollars to back Proposition 8, which Jones said has helped awaken and unite the gay rights movement in all 50 states.

Like many faiths, Mormons hold traditional marriage as a sacred institution. The church has been active in fighting marriage equality legislation across the U.S. since the 1990s and, in 2006, joined other faiths in asking Congress for a marriage amendment to the Constitution.

Gay marriage is legal in six states. A handful of others allow civil unions for same-sex couples and about 40 either bar the recognition of same-sex marriage or have explicitly defined marriage - through legislation or constitutional amendments - as between a man and a woman.

Jones was a protege of Milk, San Francisco's first openly gay elected official, who was shot and killed by a fellow member of the Board of Supervisors in 1978. In the mid-80s Jones founded the NAMES Project, the AIDS memorial quilt that recognizes the more than 80,000 Americans who have died from HIV/AIDS.

In an interview Friday, he said a confluence of events - a new president, the success of the movie "Milk" and Proposition 8 - makes this the right time to intensify the fight for equality.

Since November, Jones said he has received hundreds of e-mails from Latter-day Saints who apologized and said they were uncomfortable or ashamed by the faith's fight against Proposition 8.

"It's unfortunate that a church and a people who experienced persecution in the past could not come to some accommodation that would allow them to maintain their faith without so vociferously seeking to deny other people their rights," Jones said.

Fight Against Syphilis, AIDS Goes Online

By The Associated Press
04.20.2009 8:59am EDT

(Cincinnati, Ohio) As life moves to the Internet, a growing number of public health agencies are signing on to social networking sites - not to find friends but to fight syphilis, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Public agencies in Ohio are among the latest to open accounts on online meeting sites in an effort to reach people who may have a sexually transmitted disease and need medical care.

Cleveland’s health department opened accounts on two sites this week, and Cincinnati has plans to start an online effort in a couple of months. Columbus Public Health established a presence a year ago on Manhunt, a social networking site for gay men, and has since added other popular sites.

Debra Mullen, who handles online notifications for Columbus Public Health, contacted a man a year ago who did not know he had syphilis. She heard from him again this week.

“He got treatment and now is asking whether he needs any follow-up,” she said.

Traditionally, health departments have used letters and telephone calls to set up preferred face-to-face meetings with the partners of infected people who visit their clinics, test positive for a sexually transmitted disease, and reveal their partners’ names to health officials.

But with the Net, the encounters may occur between people who know only each other’s online names. Even with that small piece of information, health officials can go to the site, send a message to someone’s partner, and advise him or her to contact health officials and provide contact information.

Daniel Pohl of Howard Brown Health Center in Chicago recalls two instances where online notification has done more good than expected.

“One client I was in contact with over a couple of months was an escort. I was able to get him to come in for syphilis testing, and he was infected,” said Pohl, the center’s manager of disease intervention services. “He was treated for that, but was too afraid to get tested then for HIV.”

Over time, the man agreed and tested positive for HIV a year or so ago when he was 19, Pohl said. “He not only became very involved with his own care, but also got involved with a program that helps other young people with HIV.”

Pohl said another man who lived with an emotionally abusive male partner was notified and tested negative for HIV and syphilis, but agreed to see a counselor in the center’s domestic violence program.

“Sometimes the person on the other end of the e-mail may be completely isolated from support services, and this may help them in many ways,” Pohl said.

The National Coalition of STD Directors, consulting with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, developed guidelines in 2007 to help public health departments create profiles for confidential online notification. Health officials say the notification cost is minimal - a few thousand dollars for a computer and DSL line dedicated to the program.

Rachel Kachur, a researcher with the CDC’s STD prevention division, said she is encouraged more health departments are moving to online notification, but the work is not happening fast enough.

“The national guidelines help by giving local areas a jumping off point where they can tweak them to fit their needs,” she said. “But the goal is to get everyone doing this.”

Health departments in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Massachusetts were among the first to begin using social networks to reach a possibly infected person. The Web sites typically used cater to gays and bisexuals, such as Manhunt and Adam4Adam, but some officials hope to eventually reach the heterosexual population as well.

Cleveland, which has seen a rise in syphilis, started a presence on Manhunt and Adam4Adam this week, said David Merriman, project coordinator overseeing HIV/AIDS services for the city.

“Our goal is to also be on sites like Facebook where we could reach broader populations, including heterosexual adults and adolescents who wouldn’t use sites like Manhunt,” Merriman said.

In Massachusetts, the state health department has reported a good response since initiating partner notification on Manhunt in 2006. Kevin Cranston, director of the department’s infectious diseases bureau, says well over 50 percent of those the agency contacted online responded, with some getting department-documented medical evaluation and treatment and others saying they would seek medical evaluation on their own.