Center Blog

Cross posted from Joe. My. God.:  

National Equality March founder Cleve Jones spoke long and passionately to an enthusiastic overflow crowd at NYC’s LGBT Center last night. Numerous well-known activists were in attendance, including Brendan Fay, Gilbert Baker, Lt. Dan Choi, Brandon Brock, and Jeff Campagna, but the only real dissent came from Gay City News’ Andy Humm (pictured above on the right, Father Tony on the left). Humm demanded to know what the concrete goals of the March were, leading Jones to repeat his earlier call for “full civil equality in all 50 states.”

Mentioning complaints about the March’s short lead time, Jones criticized earlier March On Washington events (which had many notable problems), prompting the organizer of the 1987 MOW to lengthily defend its tactics. Jones responded by citing Facebook and other tools of the digital age as obviating the need for yearlong planning. Father Tony provides the video clip below of Jones opening his speech.

Labels: activism, Andy Humm, Cleve Jones, LGBT Community Center, National Equality March

See original post at http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2009/09/cleve-jones-at-nyc-lgbt-center.html

Cleve Jones

Wednesday, September 23, 7PM

This Wednesday, September 23, please join us for a conversation with one of America’s most renowned gay rights activists, Cleve Jones, about the National Equality March, which is scheduled for October 11, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Cleve Jones began a career in activism working with Harvey Milk. He later founded the AIDS Memorial Quilt and continues to be one of our community’s most influential voices.

Earlier this year, he called for a national march on Washington to mobilize a grassroots movement to achieve full civil equality at the federal level and in all fifty states.

On October 11th, 2009, we will gather in Washington, D.C., from all across America to let our elected leaders know that now is the time for full equal rights for LGBT Americans.

Come hear him explain why our time is now.

Transportation options will be discussed as well.

Location: The Center, 208 W. 13th Street, New York, NY (Map)

Free and open to the public.

Learn more about this event at the Center’s website.

Find this event on Facebook, and invite your friends!

If you have questions about the event, please email a.meadows@nationalequalitymarch.com.

Learn more about the march at National Equality March.

Glennda Testone

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center has been engaged in a national search for a new Executive Director for the past six months. We are thrilled to announce that the Center’s Board of Directors unanimously chose Glennda Testone to be the Center’s new executive director. Glennda is a dynamic, vibrant, smart and charismatic leader who will be at the forefront of the next generation of our work and the LGBT movement. Quite simply, she is the bold, exciting choice we were hoping to find when we began this process.

When asked about taking on this new endeavor, Glennda said, “At a time when the opportunities and challenges faced by our community are limitless, the Center is a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of LGBT people. I am honored and excited to lead the Center in providing the kind of thriving, nurturing community that we all want to come home to. It is an ambitious goal, but my commitment to serving the LGBT community, the passion of the people involved and the possibilities for this institution are also limitless.”

Throughout her career, Glennda has been a leader in the fields of social justice for women and LGBT people. Glennda joins the Center from The Women’s Media Center (WMC), founded in 2005 by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem to make women visible and powerful in the media, where she served as Vice President for three years and created and launched the highly successful Progressive Women’s Voices media training program. The Progressive Women’s Voices program is responsible for providing media and leadership training for many of the progressive movement’s preeminent leaders.

Prior to WMC, Glennda led the Program Division as the Senior Director of Media Programs at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). During her six years at GLAAD, Glennda played a pivotal role in key milestones in LGBT media activism, most notably leading the team that persuaded The New York Times in 2003 to change its longstanding policy to include same sex couples on its wedding pages. Glennda has served as a spokesperson for GLAAD and for the LGBT movement, appearing on CNN, FOX News, and MSNBC, and print-media outlets such as The Boston Globe, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Time Out and W.

For more information about this exciting announcement, please click here. We are planning many events to introduce you to Glennda. Stay tuned for opportunities to welcome Glennda to the Center family. I know you will be as inspired by her as we are.

Sincerely,

Bruce Anderson

Board President

So I was bad.  I didn’t write yesterday.  But I trust you all will understand; I rode 105 miles yesterday!  As did 112 others.  It was an intense day, with c0ld rain, and lots and lots of puddles and mud.  But we all had fun!  It was an intense day, of hills, tears and laughter.

Yes, I cried. It’s hard not to. But those tears are better than a Power Bar. Let me explain. As I rode up one of the most difficult terrains I thought imaginable, a cyclist with an orange pennant flag with a plus-sign on it yelled from behind me, “You’ve got this hill! C’mon!” The plus sign on my fellow-cyclist’s pennant means he is HIV-positive. If he can live with HIV and ride every mile, so can I.

Every year a group of self-identified HIV-positive cyclists, called Pos Peds, participate in Braking the Cycle. And this year, as I rode up that hill, feeling entirely overwhelmed and at the breaking point, I was motivated and inspired by a Pos Ped.

I am sore right now. Tired. Still overwhelmed as I think of riding tomorrow’s 96 additional miles with my new 112 friends,  I am reminded of that orange pennant. I will not cry because I feel sorry for myself tomorrow, or because I’m exhausted. I will cry because HIV still exists. And I won’t stop until we have put an end to this disease.

Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Jeff Klein and I am riding in Braking the Cycle this year!  Braking the Cycle is a 300 mile bike ride which raises money for the Center’s HIV and AIDS services as well as spreads awareness along the route.  This year the ride is from Boston to New York City, returning to the route of the original AIDS ride which benefited the Center.  I will join over 120 people who will make this journey, each whom have raised over $3,500 for the Center.

I will be blogging from the ride (not from WHILE riding – don’t worry!) and trying to convey what an amazing experience it is to do the ride.   This is my second year riding and I can tell you last year was a fantastic experience.   It is a physical challenge but also so much more than that.   The emotional experience of the ride is something I have not found any where else.  You leave feeling you accomplished something important, having raised money for those in need, but you also have connected with over 100 other people in a profound way despite the fact that it has only been 3 days.

I hope you enjoy hearing about my experience on the ride this year – and maybe it will inspire you to join us next year!

Learn more about Braking the Cycle

Check out the Center’s YouTube channel, YouTube.com/LGBTCenterNYC, to see From the Shadows to the Sunlight, which chronicles the first year of the LGBT movement from the Stonewall riots of 1969 to the Gay Liberation Day March in 1970.  A new video from this 18-part series is being uploaded to YouTube each day starting September 1, 2009.  Please subscribe to the Center’s YouTube channel today.

Go to the series playlist on YouTube or watch below:

About the series: In June 2008 several individuals who were active in the gay liberation movement of the late sixties and early seventies held a panel at the Center to share their experience. It was sponsored by Services and Advocacy for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Elders (SAGE). The program called ‘From the Shadows to the Sunlight’ focused on the first year of the LGBT movement from the Stonewall riots of 1969 to the Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day March in 1970.