Thank You Mr. President

Priorities Beyond Marriage

Marriage equality is the top priority for most of the lobbying class within the LGBT community. It is the elephant that sucks the air out of the room and rightly so, it is the single action that has the biggest number of benefits attached. Don’t get me wrong I am a supporter of marriage equality and actively participate in the effort to achieve it. However, there are other issues the LGBT community needs to have addressed.

Our youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers.  In a recent survey over half the youth responding to our Rainbow Youth Pre/Post Assessment (RYPA) reported seriously thinking of suicide within the last week. This is a frightening number. The RYPA is one of the assessment tools we use in our youth program at New Mexico GLBTQ Centers.

Our seniors are often forced back into the closet when moving to retirement communities or long term care facilities. They lack the support structure of children and grandchildren that their straight peers take for granted.  LGBT seniors live with a huge sense of isolation, especially in rural areas.

Another area that needs to be addressed is adequate and affirming healthcare.  In many areas it is nearly impossible to find healthcare and mental healthcare providers who have the cultural competency to give LGBT individuals quality care in an affirming way. Transgender individuals have a particularly difficult challenge.

We as a community and a movement need to place greater emphasis on these issues and ways to address them.  The research data and demographic data on the LGBT community are inadequate.  We need to push the federal government to include sexual orientation with race, income and other factors in all federally sponsored projects and surveys.  We must demand a regulatory environment both state and federal that encourages providers to make affirmative efforts to improve care for LGBT folks.

In an effort to engage and keep engaged youth, especially LGBT youth, all extracurricular activities including art, music, theater, politics and GSAs should be incentivized similar to football and basketball. Our educational system puts too much emphasis on sports and winning while leaving creative pursuits that develop critical thinking skills and more by the wayside.

Where there is an unmet need and advocacy will take time we must create our own service delivery system. People’s quality of life is being affected every day we can’t wait until all the stars align perfectly, all the sub-population (no matter how small) are at the table or for there to be total agreement and no risk to act. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel.  We need to bring together the individuals with the expertise to make things happen, create an action plan and start building something. We can bring other people and resources into the project as we go.

Leadership knows when to stop discussing and start doing.  It’s time to start doing.

Distractions, Priorities and Hard Choices

       I have been working on a major grant application for the past few weeks and not getting very far. I have been distracted by drama on all sides. The major drama has been “kid drama”.

All I will say is the “kid drama” was serious, more serious than we realized. The good news is we seem to have arrived at a turning point. The next few days will be critical in this turning out positively. This brings me to priorities.

Several important commitments are due in these same critical few days, what should the priority be? All of the choices are important, some to the centers project, the community and to the kiddo. What trumps what?

Not long ago I would have said the community and/or center trump everything; I would have been wrong. The centers project is already having an impact on the GLBTQ community and will continue whether the current grant application is finished or not. A young person’s future is at a critical point and in need of support. I have asked funders what one youth’s life is worth in terms of investment when seeking funding for Rainbow Youth in fairness I have to ask myself the same question.

The response I am looking for from funders is tens of thousands of dollars, when in fact there is no cost too great. The hard choice I made was to cancel a trip to Los Angeles related to the centers and pass on the grant because the time needs to be spent on supporting the kiddo.

Whether folks think I made the right choice or not, I believe I have. Part of leadership is making potentially unpopular choices and standing by them. I often don’t take ownership of my leadership because I’m an introvert and not completely comfortable in the leadership roles I find myself. In this case I am comfortable and totally own this as a leadership decision.

Attitude

It's not the situation. It's your reaction to the situation.

-Robert Conklin

Priscilla is Coming

Join us for a special viewing of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert on Friday, May 18 at the Rio Grande Theatre. Doors open at 6:30pm Movie starts at 7pm. In addition to the movie viewing, there will be a Drag Show, Auction, Games, and Light Refreshments. All proceeds will benefit the New Mexico GLBTQ Centers. Purchase before March 22 and you will have premier reserved seating at this spectacular event!

 Go to https://co.clickandpledge.com/?wid=51018 for a secure online purchase.

Number of Antigay Hate Groups Rises 60 Percent | News | The Advocate

This is worrisome to say the least.

Number of Antigay Hate Groups Rises 60 Percent | News | The Advocate

 

 

 

Living Unsure

"Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how…We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark." - Agnes de Mille US choreographer & dancer (1909 - 1993)

Reflections on Creating Change

Awesome, reinvigorating, educational, social, enlightening, grounding, connecting and appreciative are just some of the words that come to mind when I think of the 24th National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change. This year’s conference in Baltimore was my third Creating Change. It has become one of the two must do conferences each year.

One of the striking things about attending Creating Change is the number of young people who attend. Of the nearly 3000 of us in attendance, 25% or more were youth. These youth ranged from high school students wanting to learn how to make their schools safer and their communities better to college students who are starting a community center in their rural community. These future leaders are an inspiration with their creativity, passion, energy and unbridled enthusiasm.

Creating Change always puts things in perspective by showcasing the sheer size and diversity of our movement.  Prominent roles are always given to people of color, Native Americans, youth and gender diverse individuals.  The talents of our movement are showcased by over 250 volunteer presenters sharing history, lessons learned, strategies, tactics, research, tools, methods and programs to advance progress on equality and improving the quality of LGBTQ lives. It is easy to become isolated in the silos of the niche we work in but these several days in Baltimore quickly remind you that while our approaches may differ we are all working for the same end, better lives for our community.

The Task Force does an excellent job of fostering a culture of sharing. Creating change is about developing leaders who effectively and efficiently collaborate with other leaders to effect positive change in their communities. Creating Change is about creating partnerships, like New Mexico GLBTQ Centers and Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE USA) and learning from experts in various segments of the movement so we don’t waste time reinventing the wheel. Creating Change is the largest capacity building opportunity the GLBTQ community has and it saves lives by allowing us to move things forward faster than we might otherwise here at home.

Creating Change is also a lot of fun!  Food Network celebrities baring custom cake from America’s “Ace of Cakes” (Mary Alice, Charm City Cakes) to film screenings to youth and 50+ dances to more receptions than you can keep track of there is no reason to get bored.

Throw in cheer moms going to dinner in the hotel restaurant in their PJs, and it gets even more hilarious.

I’ve been to conferences which were massive wastes of time, money and energy. Creating Change is a massive opportunity. A massive opportunity to be awesome, reinvigorated, educated, enlightened, grounded, connected, appreciative and fired up. It is such a massive opportunity that one person cannot glean all the nuggets of wisdom.  We need a Creating Change Team to go to Atlanta, learn and come back to New Mexico and teach

A closing shot….. of the cake!

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAVE THE DATE: I hope to see you next year at the 25th Creating Change in Atlanta, January 23–27, 2013. A quarter of a century in the making, we won't want to miss this one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conscience vs. Party.... Conscience Wins

Amazing and Inspiring Lady

 

This is the female leader Arizona should be proudest of!