Posted
on March 16, 2010, 12:51 AM,
by Glennda Testone,
under Advocacy, Families.
Stakeholder Meeting with the LGBT Community in New York
When you walk through the doors OF THE LGBT CENETR as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning person, you will find a safe space, acceptance and support Every week in fact, 6,000 people come through those doors, THAT’S 300,000 VISITS PER YEAR. PEOPLE come looking for information, resources and community. For some, walking through our doors is the first time they feel safe and supported. Our goal is to make sure it’s not the last. To make sure that wherever they are in New York City, that they have rights and protections that are equal to their straight counterparts. That’s why I am so excited to host this stakeholder meeting with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to discuss the First-Ever Study of Housing Discrimination Again LGBT Members in Rental and Sale of Housing.
We see the Center as a beacon of inclusion and acceptance for a broader society, but we can’t do it alone, and so we are so thrilled to be partnering with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Senators Charles Shumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, Congressman Jerold Nadler, and Council Members Rosie Mendez, Danny Dromm, Jimmy Van Bramer and Erik Martin Dilan to bring you this forum. I wish I could say that they was no problem, that LGBT people had as much access to housing as everyone else in this city, but I sit on the Mayor’s commission for LGBT Homeless and Runaway Youth, and I have heard the struggles of our young people AS THEY make their way in this city and TRY TO get their basic needs met. I have a dear friend, who is a butch lesbian who just last week told me about the second apartment she and her flamboyantly, fabulously gay friend lost because the landlord “did not want to rent to gay people,” so said the broker. It made me really sad to know that even in New York City, our community faces these challenges, and it made me really proud to work at the LGBT Center where at least for a little while everyday, we can provide a home for our community.
Posted
on March 9, 2010, 3:27 PM,
by Jeff,
under Advocacy.
Statewide GENDA Call-In-Day
The Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) has been passed by the Assembly, and now only needs the State Senate to vote to end prejudice towards New York’s transgender community.
GENDA would ban discrimination in housing, employment, credit and public accommodations while also expanding the state’s hate crimes law to include crimes against transgender people.
Today is the Statewide Call-In-Day and we ask you to call your Senator and the lead Senate sponsor Tom Duane at their Albany offices to tell them that you want GENDA to make it and pass the Senate floor.
It is crucial that they hear from you today!
Here’s how to make your calls:
1. Find your State Senator’s Albany phone number here and you can reach Senator Tom Duane at (518) 455-2451.
2. Tell your Senator the number of the GENDA bill (S.2406) and ask them to support GENDA by bringing it to the floor for a vote.
Through the power of our community we CAN effect change.
Posted
on March 4, 2010, 4:17 PM,
by Jeff,
under Advocacy.
Repeal DADT NOW
“Repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ NOW”. Today, hundreds of volunteers are meeting members of Congress in Washington, DC to repeal the antiquated “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy! Imagine LGBT military service members no longer having to keep their orientation secret or lie while defending our country.
Today is a virtual lobby day and we need your support the ensure the repeal. Take Action!
Posted
on February 10, 2010, 11:16 AM,
by Glennda Testone,
under General.
Glennda Testone, Executive Director
One of the things I love about the Center is our commitment to support and develop leadership. We foster leadership through our Youth Enrichment Services (YES) program, through organizations that are created at the Center and through our devoted staff who give their heart and soul to help people in our community acquire communication, decision-making and organization skills of an effective leader.
This past weekend, I was at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Creating Change conference. It included a reception for one of the Center’s own leaders who is a Fellow in The Pipeline Project which recruits, supports and advances groups to create more people of color leadership in our LGBT movement. Pipeline’s results can be seen in the success of Andrés Hoyos who is one of their first cohort of fellows and is the Associate Director of our Center CARE Wellness program.
While at the reception, I could not help but be reminded of the myriad of subtle ways we can all be leaders in our own community and ways we can support diverse leadership in our most cherished institutions. I know from personal experience that when people meet me, they’re often surprised that I’m younger and that I’m a woman. And we all have some pre-conceived notions of leaders, but the truth is that leaders are not always defined by age, gender or race; leaders come in all shapes and sizes and there’s a leader in all of us. Look at our Young Leaders Council, for example; it is a diverse community of young New York-based leaders committed to the Center and its work. I, for one, am grateful that we have such a diversity of voices in our world, our movement and at the Center. Please check us out, if you have not done so lately. I bet you can find many ways to connect–and to lead.
Posted
on February 4, 2010, 12:14 PM,
by Glennda Testone,
under Advocacy.
At the Center, we hear many stories. Some depict challenges, injustice and discrimination and others are uplifting and inspiring. Since 1993, the Center’s heard stories from members of our community about how our military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ (DADT) policy resulted in 13,000 gay, lesbian and bisexual people discharged from the military. This policy required LGBT military service members to keep their orientation secret in order to continue serving in the military.
The time to repeal DADT is now! As military officials begin sharing their stories and the press reports the antiquated policy’s impact, it is time for us to be heard. The Associated Press reported that, Adm. Mike Mullen, “The military’s top uniformed officer [...] made an impassioned plea for allowing gays to serve openly in uniform, telling a Senate panel it was a matter of integrity and that it is wrong to force people to ”lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.”
We are inspired by NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s project, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Stories and her call for hearings to repeal #DADT in the senate. She started her new website because she “thought that the more stories we could bring to bear into the public discourse, [the more] it will move this debate forward to a place where we will earn the 60 votes we need to repeal it.”
We encourage you to get involved by visiting the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Stories Project, sharing your story and signing their petition.
Posted
on January 25, 2010, 2:21 PM,
by Glennda Testone,
under General.
The weather outside is pretty miserable today: it’s windy and raining. Now inside and drying off at the Center, I’m taking a few minutes to reflect. I sit on the Mayor’s Commission for LGBTQ Runaway and Homeless Youth as the Executive Director of the Center. Last week, we held a public hearing, and I listened to countless LGBT young people speak about being unable to find employment, adequate housing or even enough food. The stories broke my heart. It felt absurd to leave the hearing and go home to my apartment knowing that these youth will divide their time between Starbucks, McDonalds, the Apple store and anywhere else that they can sit and stay warm for a few hours.
It also makes me grateful to run the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center. We’re open 365 days a year, most days between 10am-10pm, and I am proud to say we are able to provide a destination for these young people. Here at the Center, I’ve asked the entire staff to think about what the Center is, and what I’ve heard echoed over and over is “the Center is a safe space.”
Our very popular Youth Enrichment Services (YES) program offers over 25 groups a week designed to prepare young people to cope with emotional, social and economic stress. On a daily basis, an average of 52 young people attend Job & Scholarship Hour, Homework Help, and Come In/Step Out support group, as well as paid internships. We know that the need is great, but the Center is working hard to provide a safety net. Our programs are always growing, and I’m continuously in awe when I meet with the YES program and hear what they’re planning next. We’re not alone in this city, and we want our young people to know that. I’m grateful for our colleague organizations –Congregation Beth Simchat Torah (CBST), Ali Forney Center, Hetrick-Martin, GLSEN,to name a few — who are also committed to helping young LGBTQ people.
Watch this video of one of our young community members who recently spoke at a CBST LGBT Youth event
Posted
on January 15, 2010, 3:06 PM,
by Glennda Testone,
under General.
Someone once told me that our community often demonstrates more care-giving than others because we’ve each experienced what it is like to be rejected and not supported. I don’t know if that’s true. I can think of several other communities that consistently express kindness, selflessness and resiliency. The truth is that compassion should not be a competition. In times like this, we all need to care more for others, not less.
Everyone has read about the devastating earthquake in Haiti and the efforts to provide support. Given the generosity of our community, it does not surprise me that the Center has received numerous calls from people who want to know how they can best help. Even at our weekly staff meeting, many expressed a desire to offer support, and we learned that our own Youth Enrichment Services Support Services Coordinator runs the nonprofit Unified for Global Healing. This organization is actively bringing doctors and support to people in Haiti; in fact, doctors from the organization are on the ground now. If you are one of those people who want to know how to help, please go to www.unifiedforglobalhealing.org to make a donation.
Our friends at AID FOR AIDS are also collecting medications that will go towards the relief efforts in Haiti. The Center has an AID FOR AIDS donation drop-off box located by the elevator in our lobby. For more information on the types of medications needed, please visit their website.
Thank you and I wish you all as much compassion as you each demonstrate, every day.
Posted
on January 5, 2010, 5:59 PM,
by Glennda Testone,
under General.
Although I generally don’t have much faith in New Year’s resolutions, it is a new year, and I do plan to not take things for granted, as much. I must say that I feel like I have been relatively fortunate in my life: a good family, great friends, an apartment in a city that I love, and a job that allows me to help others. I do occasionally, as I’m doing now, stop and feel grateful for all of these things. But for me, the one element that is so natural it often goes unnoticed is the fact that I have a safe space to live and thrive.
This came into focus for me, once again, as I continued to read the chilling reports about the “Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009″ in Uganda. This legislation could impose death for Ugandans who engage in “homosexual behavior.” See The New York Times editorial from yesterday for more information. Even though my government does not protect me in all of the ways I know I should be protected, I don’t often think about the fact that my government does not want to kill me for who I am or who I love. Generally, when I walk around NYC holding hands with my girlfriend, I feel safe. These are not things to take for granted; they are to be cherished and protected.
As the Executive Director at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in New York City, I have the privilege of working everyday to help make sure all LGBT New Yorkers have a safe, healthy and happy place to go. This is also not something to take for granted. The fact that we, LGBT New Yorkers have a Center to gather, rejoice, mourn, strategize, organize and act is not even something all Americans can enjoy. For some LGBT New Yorkers, in fact, this is the only place they can be who they are and feel accepted. I, for one, plan to fully appreciate this space and use the energy created here to help lift up our entire community into a better and brighter 2010.
Posted
on December 3, 2009, 5:19 PM,
by Glennda Testone,
under General.
I imagine by now most of you heard the news about the marriage bill in the New York State Senate. Yesterday, the Senate voted 38-24 to continue to deny marriage equality to members of our community. Our allies fought hard for us and made impassioned speeches, but there were not enough allies to pass this bill.
I’m sure that it makes many of you angry. We here at the Center share your anger. The amount of time, documentation and heartache that our families must go through to get the same legal protection that straight couples receive in New York is outrageous. Everyday, we witness the negative consequences this lack of equality has on LGBT people as they walk through our doors. We need equal protection for our families and our entire community. Help us send a message to the New York State Senate that we will continue to fight until we are treated as equal citizens in this state.
WHEN: 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM, Thursday, December 3, 2009
WHERE: North End of Union Square (17th Street)
Join the Center and many other organizations and advocates to express our disappointment and demonstrate our unity.
Posted
on December 1, 2009, 6:13 PM,
by Ector Simpson,
under General.
HIV/AIDS organizations across the New York City’s five boroughs, in partnership with The New York City Council, are launching a YouTube-based HIV/AIDS awareness campaign entitled “I Talk Because….” The campaign begins today: World AIDS Day: December 1, 2009, and will continue throughout the year.
“I Talk Because…,” features 30-60 second YouTube video clips of people speaking out about why it’s so important to discuss HIV/AIDS with the people in their lives. We know that open and honest conversations can help prevent new infections and reduce the stigma attached to people living with this disease. Since every 9½ minutes, an American is infected with HIV, we need to better educate ourselves and others about the virus.
Our video was filmed by long-term Center volunteer, Wolfgang Busch. We’re proud to commemorate today, World AIDS Day, with the launch of this video. For more information about World AIDS Day at the Center and in NYC, click here.
