Articles From Our September, 2006 Newsletter
Our September 10 program will again feature our good friend Dr. Bob Minor.
It is always great to have Bob in our midst, sharing with us all the Minor Details. He is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas where he has taught for more than twenty-seven years. He was the chair of the Religious Studies Department for six of those years.
He is the author of seven books, the most recent of which is Gay and Healthy in a Sick Society: The Minor Details published by HumanityWorks! in November, 2003. It was a finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Award in 2004, and was named in national reviews as one of the best gay books of 2003. His previous book, Scared Straight: Why It's So Hard to Accept Gay People and Why It's So Hard to Be Human, also published by HumanityWorks! in St. Louis, in 2002 was named a Finalist for both a Lambda Literary Award and the Independent Publisher Book Award. In little more than a month from their publication, Menstuff.org, the premier men's issues website, named each of them "Book of the Week."
Hopefully Bob will bring us up to date on what is going on in the Fairness Project these days, and share with us more about his books.
Don’t miss this meeting. You’ll be very glad you were here.
Our meetings start at 3pm at Village Presbyterian Church, 6641 Mission Rd., Room 307, Prairie Village, KS
HEAR YE!! HEAR YE!!! ALL PFLAGERS LISTEN UP!!!
September is board election month, so come and cast your vote for our new
upcoming board which will start a new year in October.
From Our President
Someone asked me recently how old I was and I answered immediately, “almost
50”. For some that might be a daunting number, and for those in their teens
or early twenties, I must seem ancient. But the truth is, I love where I am
in my life right now and, most importantly, I love what I am doing. My work
with PFLAG has been a huge part of my life for the last three years and I
wouldn’t change a thing. And so that brings me to the business at hand--I
will be seeking another term as your chapter president at our next meeting.
In order to run for office at the local level, one must be a member of that
chapter. You must also be a member to vote in the elections. I took an
informal poll of the board members at our last meeting and they all said
that they would be happy to serve again….but that doesn’t mean that you
can’t nominate yourself for a position that’s already filled or think of a
new position that you’d like to fill. This is how the roster looks at the
moment:
| Jamie Lee | President/Speakers Bureau |
| Randy Fowler | Vice President/Treasurer |
| Paul Hough | Director of Resources |
| Paul DiGeorge | Director of Support |
| Sue Edwards | Membership/Refreshments |
| David Whitner | Secretary |
| Glenn Lang | Web Master |
| Dustin and Ruth Cooper | Members at Large |
| Greg and Gwyn Shelton | Members at Large |
If you’d like a better understanding of these positions, don’t hesitate to ask at the next meeting or call someone already serving your chapter. The board meetings are always open to our members and we meet at 1:30 on the same Sunday that we have our gatherings.
I look forward to many great years with PFLAG—whether I am elected or not! It won’t be that easy to get rid of me :o)
Blessings,
Jamie Lee
GAY FRIENDLY CAMPUSES
UMKC on ‘100 best’ list
The University of Missouri-Kansas City is among the 100 best campuses for
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.
So says The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students, the first
comprehensive campus guide focusing on gay-friendly campuses. The guide is
published by Campus Pride Net.
Its authors chose the best campuses based on campus policies on issues such
as housing for gay students; the existence of gay student groups and campus
events geared to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people; and
interviews with professors, college staff members and gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgender students.
Written by Lynn Franey,
lfraney@kcstar.com
Eye on the Media
Serving in Silence on DVD:
Story More Relevant Now Than Ever .
More than 11 years after it debuted on NBC, the Emmy-winning TV movie
Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story starring Glenn Close
will be available on DVD September 12. The film is more relevant than ever,
as newly released figures show a rise in the number of military dismissals
based on sexual orientation.
Crystal: I never really thought about being bi-sexual until I actually started being attracted to my best friend. She was curious about being a lesbian and I decided to test it and I liked it. I tell my mother everything and I figured she should be the first to know. Well I told my best friend that I was (her Mother, which is the only parent, is a lesbian) and she was happy for me. Now my best friend is with a guy and has been forever so she’s not interested in girls anymore. But I told my mom at I-Hop one day and she said that it wasn’t a surprise, that she knew all along. I said "How did you know?" And she said the way I acted with girls and all. And my Mom knows me real well and knows everything about me and she didn’t care at all about it. She said that she was proud that I told her. My Dad still doesn’t know but he doesn’t live with me and I barely see him so I don't know if I will talk to him about it or not. Almost my whole family knows and I feel more comfortable now.
Passages is a volunteer-based youth organization and we need the support of
the community to keep going. Passages makes a big difference for our LGBT
youth and their friends and allies. Your donations help us provide:
A safe environment
A place to building lasting friendships
Safe sex education Information about issues LGBT youth face
We also have lots of social functions to replace things LGBT youth may be
excluded from in high school and starting in September we'll be adding a
weekly under-21 dance on Saturday nights to give our youth a fun
alcohol-free and drug-free place to go on the weekend.
PASSAGES is located at 4007 Central.
Call them at 816-931-0334 for more information about meeting schedules,
donations, and volunteer opportunities, and watch the monthly PFLAG
newsletter for more information about PASSAGES.
KANSAS CITY ANTI VIOLENCE PROJECT
The Kansas City Anti-Violence Project (KCAVP) is a Missouri 501(c)(3)
nonprofit corporation committed to providing domestic violence, sexual
assault, and bias crimes advocacy and education to the lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender community.
Currently, there are no LGBT-specific domestic violence or sexual assault
services in western Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, or Iowa. KCAVP was created
to address this gap by providing support and services to lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and
bias crimes in western Missouri, eastern Kansas, with a focus on the Kansas
City area.
For information about upcoming events and ongoing programs at KCAVP, call
them at 816-561-0550
PFLAG SUPPORTS REAL FAMILY VALUES