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.
VT
CARES Hosts Auction
Vermont CARES Live & Silent Auction, Saturday, March 4, 2006, 7pm
- 11pm, Inn at Essex, $15
NECI is planning quite an amazing
spread with six different food stations; pasta, cheese and crackers, salads,
pate’ etc. There will be wine, beer, coffee, and dessert. Everything
(well, except the items you bid on) is included in the price of $15 per
person. What a deal!
Please join me for this evening of noshing, drinking, bidding, and laughing!
If you are interested, I can get you a ticket and/or reserve you a ticket.
I can also send you the formal invite, or you can contact VT CARES directly
at 863-2437.
Organizer Jill Hoppenjans says: Money
continues to be tight for the agency and attending the auction (even if
you don't buy anything...but who are we kidding? You will; we have some
great stuff!) is a fun and easy way to help support it. I'd really love
to see you there!
SafeSpace Plans Activities
Be a part of social change in your community!
SafeSpace is recruiting volunteers to answer the support line, organize
special fundraising events, provide outreach in the community, and to
provide administrative support at the office. SafeSpace will be holding
a volunteer training beginning early summer. Please contact connie@safespacevt.org
or call 802-863-0003 to register for the training and to learn more about
how you can join the queer anti-violence movement.
It's that time of year again! SafeSpace
is holding the annual raffle. This year you could win exciting items from
massage to fun ski passes. Tickets are $6 each or 2 for $10—all
proceeds from the raffle go directly to SafeSpace programs and services
to help queer survivors of violence across the state of Vermont. Be on
the lookout for SafeSpace representatives in your community ready to sell
you a ticket or two! Thank you for your support! For more information
or to purchase a raffle ticket, please contact SafeSpace at info@safespacevt.org
or call 802-863-0003. The drawing will be held at this year's Run Against
Rape on April 29th following the day's event.
Start your PLEDGING! SafeSpace is
excited to announce the second annual Run Against Rape, a 5k run/walk
beginning and ending at Oakledge Park on April 29th. Participants commit
to raising a minimum of $15 ($25 with a RAR tee-shirt) in pledges before
April 15th or a minimum of $20 ($30 with a RAR tee-shirt) after April
15th. Help make RAR SafeSpace’s most exciting and adventurous fundraiser
yet! The top 3 fundraisers of the day win exciting prizes—last year's
top pledgemaker won an IPOD shuffle. For more information about this year's
run/walk during Sexual Violence Awareness Month and/or to pre-register,
please contact SafeSpace at 802-863-0003 or email info@safespacevt.org.
Bring your friends, family, and neighbors and make a difference in the
lives of LGBTQQ survivors of violence. Together we can end sexual violence
in our diverse communities.
Thank you for your support!
SafeSpace staff, board, and volunteers would like to extend our heartfelt
thanks to all of you who pledged during SafeSpace's annual Phonathon.
You helped make this year’s Phonathon the most successful yet. We
are so grateful for your continued efforts to help queer survivors of
violence. Thank you!
SafeSpace is a social change
and social service organization working to end physical, sexual, and emotional
violence in the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and
questioning people. We provide information, support, referrals, and advocacy
to LGBTQQ survivors of violence and those that care about them, and offer
education and outreach programs in the wider community. Our Support Line
is (802) 863-0003 (V/TTY) or toll-free (866)869-7341 or info@safespacevt.org
'Farmer's Night' Songs at the Statehouse
The Vermont Gay Men's Chorus will
be performing in the House Chamber for "Farmer's Night" at the
Vermont State Capital on Wednesday March 29. The performance starts at
7:30 and is free to the public.
For more information call the Sergeant At
Arms at 1-800-322-5616 or 802-633-3605.
Rob and Yves: robnyves@hotmail.com
or www.vtpwac.org
Celebrating
International Women's Day
Visions of Peace: Stories of Women
in Action. Join Vermonters in a celebration of International Women's Day,
Wednesday, March 8, 2006. Meet at the top of Church Street in Burlington
for a Peace Vigil at 5:00 pm and then march down Church Street to Contois
auditorium for an evening of women's stories and music beginning at 6:00
pm. Speakers include former state poet Grace Paley. This event is free
and open to the public. For more information contact Michelle at mcunning79@yahoo.com
Join PRIDE in Vermont!
Want to make Pride '06 the biggest, baddest, best
one yet? Well, get yourself to RU12? on the first and third Tuesday of
each month at 7pm and join the hardworking yet fabulous committee! We
need help all over the board - from writing grants to planning fundraisers
to tracking down vendors to finding volunteers - your skills are needed!
Questions? E-mail Chelsea@pridevermont.org
We can't wait to meet you!
Daddy and Papa at the Movies
The Dean of Students Office is proud to present Daddy and Papa,
a documentary film by Johnny Symons about gay fathers in America.
Thursday, April 6, 2006, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm. Location TBD –
depending upon RSVPs.
Please RSVP to deanofstudents@uvm.edu
A discussion will follow this one-hour film facilitated by Dennis and
Daryl DePaul.
Brattleboro Film Festival Kicks Off First Week
The 15th Women's Film Festival, an annual
benefit for the Women's Crisis Center of Windham County, begins with a
women's poetry reading at the Twilight Tea Lounge on Thursday, March 2
at 7:00 PM. Friday, March 3, coincides with Brattleboro's monthly Gallery
Walk and will feature an art exhibition and start of the silent auction,
Visions and Voices, from 5-7:45 PM and a gala reception at the Sanctuary:
Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery at 139 Main Street.
Following the reception, there will
be a showing of the festival's first film, V-Day: Until the Violence Stops,
at 8 PM at the Sanctuary: Hooker-Dunham Theater. This film captures spirited
events and performances of The Vagina Monologues around the world
on "V-Day," a global, grassroots movement to end violence against
women and girls founded by playwright/performer Eve Ensler.
On Saturday, March 4,
at 1:00 PM there will be be a special screening of Hineini: Coming
Out in a Jewish High School (preceded by a short film, Marjoun
and the Flying Headscarf) about a young woman at a Jewish high school
in Boston who struggles to establish a gay/straight alliance at her school,
and the unfolding events that affect students and teachers alike. After
the film, there will be a discussion with the film's director, Irena Fayngold,
and area youth activists.
The festival schedule, including film times and venues and special events,
are available on the festival's Web site, www.womensfilmfestival.org
For other festival information, call: 802-258-9100.
Art Exhibit and Silent Auction
The Seventh Annual Women's Art Exhibition
and Silent Auction, Visions & Voices, will be held on Friday, March
3 from 5-7:45 PM at the Sanctuary: Hooker-Dunham Gallery at 139 Main Street
in Brattleboro and, as part of the gala opening and reception for the
15th Women's Film Festival, coinciding with Brattleboro's monthly Gallery
Walk. The art auction proceeds, as well as those from the film festival,
go to support programs of the Women's Crisis Center of Windham County.
The bidding for the artworks runs until the end of the Women’s Film
Festival, Sunday March 19, but all the artwork will be on view until March
31.
Freedom to Marry Task Force Supports Gender Identity Bill
For the past year, the Vermont Freedom
to Marry Task Force has worked with TransAction to pass H.865, the Gender
Identity and Expression Non-Discrimination Act, which would protect people
from discrimination based on their gender identity and expression in employment,
housing, banking and public accommodations.
Eight states and over 60 municipalities,
including some in the conservative south, have gender identity non-discrimination
laws. Thanks to the leadership of Rep. Bill Lippert and the organizations
working with TranAction, H.865 will hopefully pass this year. But there
is still work to be done.
We encourage readers of OITM to actively
support H.865. Talk to your family and friends about H.865 and be sure
to call your legislators this month to ask them to support H.865. Go to
our TransAction's partner's website at www.RU12.org
to find out more information about the bill.