Community Compass
Community Compass is a service of OITM. GLBT organizations from around the state are invited to provide brief — 200 words or less — descriptions of recent or upcoming activities and events. Send your submissions to us by email by the 15th of the month.
Be
Fabulous: Volunteer at OITM
You know by now just how important
volunteerism is to the successful functioning of Out in the Mountains.
This month we would like to extend generous helpings of thanks to: Joe
Nusbaum, Joe Rivera, Greg Weaver, Kate MacTavish, Ron Bernard, Euan Bear
and Mary Swartz. Webmaster: Tania Kupczak! To our route Drivers who deliver
the paper throughout the state: Fran Moravcsik, Yelena, Danny, Bennett
Law, Tim, Keith Ribnick, Oliver, Keith Goslant, Patrick, Amy, Liz, Rick,
Cheri, Linn, Daryl, Cynthia, Kathy, Thom Fleury, Nat, Lisa, and Rick Wold.
And, of course, there are all the volunteers
whose writing, photographs, and drawings fill the pages! Plus the fabulous
volunteers on the Board of Directors!
So, if you'd like to be fabulous, come and
volunteer!
Samara Co-Sponsors Film
Concept 2 and Samara Foundation of Vermont
are proud to co-sponsor the screening of John Scagliotti's new film, Dangerous
Living: Coming out in the Developing World, at the Green Mountain
Film Festival in Montpelier. Despite massive efforts by gay organizations
around the world, the majority of nations entered the 21st century with
horrific laws that keep their gay and lesbian populations locked away
in their closets, and, at times, in prison. In some countries, "getting
caught" can even incur the death penalty. John Scagliotti's film
is the first documentary to deeply explore the lives of GLBT people in
non-western cultures, from Egypt and Namibia to Brazil and the Philippines.
The film will be showing on Sunday,
March 20 at 9 PM and Saturday, March 26 at 4:30 PM. at the film festival’s
City Hall location. Post-film event: John Scagliotti will appear to discuss
the film at the Saturday, March 26 show. Please visit www.focusonfilm.net
or call 802.262.3456 for more information.
The deadline to apply for a Samara scholarship
is April 1. Please visit the VSAC website at www.vsac.org
or call 888.253.4819 for more information.
SafeSpace Sprints into Spring
In answer to an increase in calls, SafeSpace
has expanded our SupportLine hours to three additional days of extended
morning and evening hours. Now survivors and those who care about them
can reach advocates for emotional support or resources from 9am-9pm on
Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, with regular SupportLine hours from 10am-6pm
Tuesday and Friday.
Ready to burst into Spring?! The first
annual Run Against Rape (R.A.R.) is taking place on April 23rd! The 5K
scenic run will be a great way to get out and moving for the spring as
well as to help out a great cause. Prizes will be awarded to the team
and individual who raiser the most in pledges. For more information, email
connie@safespacevt.org or
give us a call.
Are you a service provider in Vermont?
Do you know someone, or an organization, who is? SafeSpace is looking
to expand its resources of statewide services for survivors, and needs
your help. We will be contacting organizations and service providers statewide
in order to compile county-specific resource binders to more effectively
and accurately aid survivors. Call SafeSpace at 802-863-0003, or email
connie@safespacevt.org
R.U.1.2? Dinner: Bon Appetit!
The R.U.1.2? Queer Community Center
annual fundraising dinner and silent auction will spotlight Vermont transman
and author Eli Clare as the keynote speaker. The dinner will be held on
April 16 at the Wyndham Hotel (formerly the Radisson) in Burlington.
Clare is the author of Exile and
Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation (South End Press, 1999),
and has been a trans and disability activist for the past several years.
He is currently a staff member at the LGBTQAA Services Center at the University
of Vermont.
About half of the money received in
conjunction with the dinner goes toward meeting 10 percent of the center’s
general operating budget.
The center's budget increased substantially with a major grant from the
Vermont Department of Health to fund an AIDS prevention program. The funds
allow us to expand the "Health and Wellness Program" beyond
its current anti-smoking and chat-room safe-sex information activities.
Shawn Lapinski has been hired as a fulltime staff member to coordinate
the program.
The program will focus 80 percent
of its time and resources on AIDS prevention specifically directed at
men who have sex with men, 15 percent on tobacco cessation for all community
members and concentrating on 'cultural competency training' for healthcare
practitioners through the Vermont Diversity Health Project, and 5 percent
on other projects. The center, which currently has five part- and full-time
employees, is awaiting the results of grant applications to fund women's
health projects.