ENDA to be re-introduced tomorrow!

I stole the following from Joe.My.God's blog (http://joemygod.blogspot.com). What a huge victory it will be if ENDA is finally passed!!

This just in...
WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, April 24, at 1:00 p.m., Reps. Barney Frank, D-Mass.; Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; and Chris Shays, R-Conn., will introduce the bipartisan Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill addresses discrimination in the workplace by making it illegal to fire, refuse to hire or refuse to promote an employee based on the person's sexual orientation or gender identity.Tomorrow's event has been long in the works. In 33 states it is still legal to fire someone for being gay and in 42 states you can be fired for being transgender. This is the first version of ENDA to be introduced that will include gender identity among its protections, long a sticking point for some gay rights orgs that refused to work on the bill until transgender folks were added. I would love to be in the gallery tomorrow when this historic event takes place. With the Matthew Sheppard Act introduced last week, and now ENDA on the table once more, 2007 truly promises to be the most meaningful year in the history of gay rights. More on this tomorrow, of course.

3 R's-- Reading, Rodeo and a Real good time!

I have basically been going non-stop since Wednesday. First off, I did HIV testing at UCA in Conway on Wednesday and Thursday. I recently became re-certified to do testing and this was my first chance to really get back into providing this rewarding service. I am a big believer that EVERYONE should know their status and it was awesome to see how many young people came out to be tested. Yolanda, Bill (both from Arkansas AIDS Foundation) and I performed about 60 tests and had a great time chatting on the rides back-and-forth. I also got to see Courtney Hampton from DHHS on campus and to help promote the upcoming AIDS Walk.

Thursday night, I headed over to Easy Streets for the Literary Pride book club to meet Josh Dagon in town for the Arkansas Literary Festival and to meet the members of the book club. J.D. was a total delight--very easy to talk with and even easier on the eyes! I want to give major kudos to Amos for getting both J.D. and Andrew Holleran (the author of the first gay novel I ever read, Dancer from the Dance) here to Little Rock. Saturday morning I got to attend the Literary Festival for a reading from Andrew's latest work, Grief. Here is a picture of me and both authors.

Friday night, I headed over to Sidetracks for the Rodeo in the Rock kick-off party and got to hang out with a lot of great people including LRCP board member Janis Walters, Cornelius Mabin of The Body Politic and even ran into my good friend Faith Sawyer-Tindle from NWA GLBT community center. There were a lot of people at the event to kick off the weekend's festivities and I think a good time was had by all.

On Saturday and Sunday I got to attend my first-ever gay rodeo! I had a great time and met a lot of very cool people and had the chance to see a lot of familiar faces like Randi Romo of CAR, Sarah Scanlon of HRC, all of the great folks of DSRA, Donna, Faith, Joney and Chris of NWA GLBT CC, and even ran into Cody Bray LRCP's Entertainment Coordinator. Cody, his friend Brian and I went out to The Factory Saturday night after the rodeo. Here are a couple of pics of us.

All-in-all, it was a great weekend and I am a bit wore out from all of the fun. I guess this weekend was a good chance to test my stamina for all of the events that are coming up...between now and the end of June we have Drag Idol, Pride Idol, Theatre night, the AIDS Walk, Capital Pride, The NWA GLBT CC gala, Pride Week, and Conway Pride.

Capital Pride Poster

(click image to enlarge)

Day of Mourning

I think everyone is grieving over the tragedy that occurred yesterday at Virginia Tech. My heart goes out to that community, the family and the friends of the victims. I hope that we all take a minute to tell our loved ones what they mean to us.

AIDS Walk

(Click image to enlarge)

Please help spread the word about this year's AIDS Walk. The event is Saturday June 2nd (my b-day and the day before Capital Pride). This year's event will be held at The Clinton Library. As an HIV+ person that would not be here today without the services provided by groups like the Arkansas AIDS Foundation, I call on our community to support this event. "I walk for those no longer with us, for those that still need us and for those that will have to follow in our footsteps!"

To download donation forms, flyers or for more information, visit
http://www.araidsfoundation.org/ArkansasAIDSWalk2007.htm

Gay Events Galore!

I don't know about you, but my calendar is filling up FAST!! There is SO much going on in the next couple of months and that is a good thing! I just wanted to share some upcoming events (almost all of which I will be attending). So, if you ever have lamented that there is nothing to do in LR but to go to the bars..... lament NO more.....

Sat 4/7 3pm Little Rock Capital Pride board meeting—Central Arkansas Library Main Branch 100 Rock Street. Meetings are OPEN to everyone; please join us to plan our best Pride ever! More info http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LittleRockCapitalPride/ or http://lrcpride.org

Thur 4/12 Business After Hours meeting—Sidetracks bar. Come meet other GLBT business owners and professionals and let’s learn how we can better support our own!
More info at http://corneliusonpoint.blogspot.com/

4/13-15 Spring Diversity Weekend, Eureka Springs. LRCP will be guest of honor for Princess Welcome Mixer Fri. 4/13 at Caribe’s. More info at http://www.diversitypride.com/ and http://eurekapride.com/

Fri 4/13 6:30pm “The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me”-- The Weekend Theatre 7th & Chester LR—benefit for Stonewall Democratic Caucus of Arkansas

4/20-22 Arkansas Literary Festival. Lots of gay authors (including one of my all-time faves, Andrew Holleran) will be there. More info at http://www.arkansasliteraryfestival.org/ or email alassenamos@yahoo.com.


4/20-22 Rodeo in the Rock—Arkansas State Fairgrounds. I am very excited about my first time at the rodeo! More info at http://www.dsra.org/


Sun 4/29 9pm Drag Idol—Backstreet LR—benefit for LRCP. More info at http://www.littlerockcapitalpride.org/fundraising-events/drag-idol/


Sat 5/5 3 pm Little Rock Capital Pride board meeting—Central Arkansas Library Main Branch 100 Rock Street. Meetings are OPEN to everyone; please join us to plan our best Pride ever! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LittleRockCapitalPride/ or http://lrcpride.org

Thur 5/10 “A Man of No Importance”—The Weekend Theatre 7th & Chester LR—Benefit for LRCP. http://www.littlerockcapitalpride.org/fundraising-events/theater-night/


Fri 5/25 9pm Pride Idol—The Factory Downtown LR—benefit for LRCP. More info at http://www.littlerockcapitalpride.org/fundraising-events/pride-idol/


Sat 6/2 Arkansas AIDS Walk—The Clinton Presidential Library—benefit for Arkansas AIDS Foundation. More info at http://www.araidsfoundation.org/ArkansasAIDSWalk2007.htm


Sun 6/3 2pm-9pm Capital Pride ’07—River Market Pavilions—Capital Pride ’07 is going to be FABULOUS! Headliner Eric Himan (One of Out Magazine’s top emerging artists), Brenda Lyons, Mob Kings, Sally Millee and Pride Idol finalists will be performing. More info at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LittleRockCapitalPride/ or http://lrcpride.org



Fri 6/8 7pm Linking Together as One Gala—Clarion Inn, Fayetteville—benefit for Northwest Arkansas GLBT Community Center—More info at http://nwaglbtcc.org/