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RODNEY
BAKE TO SPEAK AT JUNE MEETING
Rodney's presentation is entitled "Reparative Therapy...Hurtful
Fraud." His personal experience is especially relevant at this time because of the James Dobson group bringing a national conference to town to promote "Conversion Therapy" on June 22nd.
Rodney was brought up in the Mormon Church and he and his family made the church the center of their lives. He will talk to us about how he began to realize that he was created to be homosexual and the spiritual anguish he experienced because of the church's stand. His journey through an attempt to change his sexual orientation and how he was able to reconcile with his family will bring insight and hope to all who hear him.
Please join us at 3pm on Sunday, June 9th to hear Rodney share his life's journey.
Senate Likely to Consider Hate Crimes Measure in June
The Senate is expected to take up the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act, S. 625, when members of Congress return to Washington in early June after the Memorial Day congressional recess/district work period.
Currently, the hate crimes bill has 51 co-sponsors in the Senate, 206 co-sponsors in the House and the support of more than 175 civil rights, religious, civic and law enforcement organizations, including the National Sheriffs' Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. In addition, a recent Gallup poll found that 83 percent of Americans say they would support expanding federal hate crime laws.
HRC and its coalition allies will urge senators to vote "yes" on the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act, "yes" on cloture or other procedural motions to move the bill and "no" on any amendments.
We also will urge our members to contact their senators with this message and to speak with their congressional representatives at town hall meetings or in-district lobby visits during the Memorial Day congressional recess/district work period.
For more information about the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act, visit http://www.hrc.org/issues/federal_leg/lleea/index.asp
FROM OUR PRESIDENT
Hello Kansas City Area PFLAGers -
June brings us a whole lot of Gay Pride activities. Hopefully, we will all participate in at least one of them.
In conjunction with the Gay Pride parade and festival, John Caroll of the TV show Survivor/Marquesas will be in Kansas City. John is from Omaha, Nebraska; he is active in Omaha PFLAG and will be coming with Omaha PFLAGers.
On Thursday, June 6, there will be a Family Night for Pride at the Lesbian & Gay Community Center (LGCC), 207 Westport Road at 6:30. This will be an opportunity to celebrate Gay Pride with youth from Passages (the K.C. lgbt youth organization) and with Omaha PFLAG. Do join the fun at the LGCC on June 6 at 6:30pm.
On Friday, June 7, PFLAG-KC will have a walking group in the annual Gay Pride parade. Come and march with PFLAG and demonstrate our support for our gay loved ones. We will gather at 6:00pm on Westport Road at Waddell, one block west of the Quarterage Hotel where the parade begins.
And then...the Gay Pride Festival will take place at Barney Allis Plaza on Saturday, June 8. PFLAG-KC will have a booth with literature and merchandise so look for PFLAG at the Festival.
June is the time to acknowledge and celebrate Gay Pride, to demonstrate our support for gay rights, to celebrate the victories we have won and to stand together with the entire Kansas City gay community in pride and love. I look forward to seeing lots of PFLAGers and friends at the 2002 Gay pride activities.
Helen Cohen
Heartland Men's Chorus Journeys To Oz & Beyond
On Saturday, June 15, at 8:00pm, and Sunday, June 16, at
4:00pm, the Heartland Men's Chorus, Joseph P. Nadeau, Music Director, will be presenting TO OZ AND BEYOND: THE MUSIC OF HAROLD ARLEN at the Folly theater, 300 W. 12th St., Kansas City, MO.
Tickets are $22.50, $18.50 and $16.50 and can be charged by phone:HMC Office 816-931-3338, or ordered on the Web:
www.hmckc.org
More Information
The 100-voice Heartland Men's Chorus concludes its 16th season with a toe-tapping tribute to beloved American composer Harold Arlen. Favorite selections include standards such as Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Stormy Weather, Get Happy, Accentuate the Positive, and Blues in the Night. This show will delight and entertain the audience as only KC's gay men's chorus can! The show concludes with a
"whirlwind" re-enactment of the entire Wizard of Oz--for which Arlen wrote the score--in just 13 minutes!
Note to PFLAG families:
In honor of Father's Day, the Sunday matinee offers free tickets for children under age 15 who attend with an adult. For more information, call 816-931-3338 or visit the chorus' website at
www.hmckc.org.
SPEAK OUT..............
Beginning in this month's issue of the newsletter, there will be space made available to you to submit an article telling about some way you have spoken out or have been part of an event supporting the GLBT community in the spirit of advocacy. This first article is a wonderful model of what I am talking about.
Editor
Our PFLAG family,
I just thought you'd like to know that a week ago last Tuesday night, the Olathe city council conducted a study session to consider amending their hate crimes ordinance. The amended ordinance would increase the fines and punishment associated with hate crimes based upon, race, gender, religion, ancestry, and disability. I asked that sexual orientation be included in the new ordinance and you should have seen the council members squirm. They claimed that sexual orientation was included under "gender" and I said it wasn't. The council members turned to the assistant city attorney for clarification and he agreed with me. He said that sexual orientation is not protected under the word gender.
Then this last Tuesday, the council met to vote on the final ordinance. Again I went before the council to ask that sexual orientation be included in the final draft. The council members nervously fidgeted in their seats and asked for further guidance from their legal department. The legal department stated that sexual orientation was not included in the ordinance because the authors that drafted the ordinance followed state and federal guidelines for protected classes. I mentioned that Lawrence, and I thought Wichita, had included sexual orientation in their ordinances, but Olathe wasn't ready for such a giant leap into the 21st century. They voted 5-0 to NOT include sexual orientation. The one council member that I think would have been supportive was out of town at a conference.
Henry Geary is the president of the Olathe NAACP chapter and he was quoted in the paper as being very supportive of adding sexual orientation to the ordinance. Henry said that the NAACP has been trying to work at the state and federal levels to make changes, but everything is taking too long. The NAACP is trying to make changes at the local level starting with hate crime ordinances.
I am telling you all this because each individual community (Overland Park, Prairie Village, Roeland Park, Mission, KCMO, etc.) may be considering or may have already changed their ordinances. Maybe we should follow the NAACP lead and work to make changes in our own smaller communities. An article about all of this appeared in the Star this past Wednesday.
An Update on Our Church
Last Monday night, the Administration Board at our church voted to continue sponsoring a Boy Scout Troop AND they are going to start a Diversity Council. This result is about what our family had expected. The United Methodist Church has big issues to resolve at their national level such as ordination of gay people in the ministry and the continuation at the national level of support directed toward the Boy Scouts. I understand their reluctance to break ties with BSA, but we have decided to break ties with our church. Don and I made an agreement about a year ago to not support (financially, spiritually or with our talents) any organization that discriminates against the GLBT community.
We stayed with our church until this matter was resolved, but we now know where we stand at our church and it's time to move on. I am in the process of writing a letter resigning our membership at our church. We are pleased that our church is starting a Diversity Council, but because of their continued support of an organization (BSA) that discriminates against our son and other GLBT people, we felt we could no longer support this church.
We would like to thank our PFLAG family and others in the GLBT community for the love and concern shown to us during this process. We carried that love and support with us as we faced uncertain opposition.
Carol Nistler
LGBT ELECTORAL CONFERENCE
To be held at the University of Missouri, Columbia in the Benton-Bingham, Student Union on Saturday, June 15th, 2002, 10am-3pm
Workshops Include:
Electoral Basics: Phone Banking, Canvassing and Voter Registration
So you're thinking about running for office
Volunteer Management
Focus will include dividing into state regions and developing specific strategies for elections.
Guests will include Missouri State Representatives Joan Bray, Vicky Riback Wilson and Tim Van Zandt; and Team Missouri Executive Director Todd Patterson
There is no cost, but
REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED
Call PROMO at (314) 862-4900, 1-877-511-7737
or
email PROMO@PROMOonline.org
Lunch will be provided
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