This year’s Power of One honoree is Mr. Stephen Skinner. Stephen is best known to members of our community as the founder of Fairness West Virginia, a statewide LGBT-oriented civil rights advocacy organization. He is a graduate of West Virginia Wesleyan College and the West Virginia University College of Law. A native of Jefferson County, Stephen is an appointed commissioner on the West Virginia Commission on the Arts. He serves on the Shepherd University Foundation Board of Directors and on the Board of Trustees of Shepherd’s Contemporary American Theater Festival. He recently announced his candidacy for the West Virginia House of Delegates from the 67th District.

We are truly honored to have the opportunity to present this award to Mr. Skinner. He has been a friend to many in our community and an inspiration to even more. We hope you’ll join us in celebrating his contributions. We have made the Power of One banquet one of the highlights of our annual calendar, and as anyone who was there can tell you, last year’s was a truly spectacular event.

Immediately following the banquet will be the annual “Rainbow Ball” after party. Tickets will be available online soon at www.pridewv.org

Jeff Crist: (vice president)
Jeff is the Health Action Manager and Special Events Coordinator for Covenant House and currently serves as Vice President of Rainbow Pride of West Virginia.  For the last year, Jeff has been the chairman of our Community Outreach and Membership Development subcommittees.  He also coordinated our first annual Pride volleyball tournament, which attracted eight teams and is sure to grow bigger and better in coming years.

Jeff is an outspoken advocate on issues that face the LGBT community. He manages a tobacco cessation program geared toward members of the LGBT community and an HIV prevention program for young gay and bisexual men in Charleston and Beckley.

Through his role at Covenant House, Jeff has been able to steer significant financial resources to Rainbow Pride and other LGBT-friendly organizations in an effort to reach out and promote initiatives that have a direct impact on the health and well-being of our community.

Jamie Seabolt: (vice president)
I would like to introduce myself, Jamie Seabolt, nominee for Vice President of the Rainbow Pride of West Virginia. Beginning my journey just 15 miles up the road in Sissonville, I have accomplished many rewarding efforts, all before turning 30. I began my first gay newspaper that served West Virginia back in 2002 and led to an entire chain of publications. This work for our community rewarded me as one of Gay.com’s Entrepreneur’s of the Year in 2004. Just one month later, I was publicly sued by the City of Pittsburgh for putting a gay publication on their streets. With the help of the ACLU, we rebuttaled, and made a huge leap in gay rights. This allowed us to expand my publication and guarantee that all publications had a rightful home in all public locations. Similar situations have occurred recently, as I have publicly been fighting to allow openly gay establishments prominent locations in Downtown Charleston. My fights over the years such as these have awarded me the honor of the national Mr.Gay.com Community Leader in both 2008 and again in 2009. As you can tell, PRIDE to me is many different things. Importantly however, it’s about fighting the right fight. It’s about being respectful even when slandered; being there with facts and statistics, not assumptions or hearsay. It’s my right to be gay my way, not their stereotype. It’s about not being afraid to be seen in mainstream media or risk getting your name thrown in mud; because sometimes you must put the individual, yourself, on the line for the greater good of our gay community. As Vice President, I will work closely with Rodney Harvey to keep the organization on budget, continually fund raise so that we can add more programs, and continue to outreach year round for new memberships as well as getting the message of pride across in both a professional and educated manner.

Christopher Kimes (treasurer)
Christopher Kimes began his social activism and grassroots organizing as a Bonner Scholar at WV Wesleyan and serving as an AmeriCorps member. It was this passion for helping others that prompted Christopher to work with various LGBT and Aids related organizations in the Morgantown and Parkersburg area. Last year, Christopher had the extreme privilege serving
as President of Rainbow Pride of WV. During this tenure, Rainbow Pride began a rigorous outreach campaign throughout West Virginia and bolstered record attendance numbers for many of its social/educational events. Professionally, Mr. Kimes holds a masters degree in higher education administration and counseling and is pursuing his doctorate in education. He serves as Field Site Director for the HSTA program, which helps minority and disadvantaged youths to graduate high school and attend college. In that position, Christopher is responsible for overseeing a federally funded grant that promotes health and wellness in our community through youth participation. Christopher humbly seeks your vote for Treasurer of Rainbow Pride of WV.

R.L. Bowles aka Bianca Baker: (at-large)
Please allow me to introduce myself I am R.L. Bowles AKA Bianca Baker. I am a 29 year old gemini & lifelong resident of West Virginia. I graduated high school in 1999 then obtained an Associate’s Degree in Medical Assisting shortly after. I’m currently taking a break from college. Although I am pursuing a Psychology degree. I’m currently employed by B.R.M. Services it’s a medical management facility in southern WV. When I’m not working on cast at The Phoenix in Teays Valley, I travel throughout the state, as well as most of the east coast doing shows.

Since I’ve always supported Pride some friends & I thought it was time for me to take my support a step further to get more involved with the organization. Given the chance I would be honored to serve as one of the Members At Large. I personally want to see our festivities grow, so we can have more Pride themed events throughout the state instead of just the Charleston & Huntington area.

Many have fought the battles for the rights we currently have, let’s continue the legacy to stand up for our right to be accepted & recognized by all. With your vote I hope to bring growth & prosperity to this organization. Thank you for your time.

Dan O’Neal: (secretary)
My name is Dan O’Neal and it has been my priveledge to serve as Secretary of the Board of Directors of Rainbow Pride for the past year.  Over the course of the last twelve months, our organization has made great strides both financially and in terms of community outreach.  We currently have more members than ever before and we’ve been developing relationships with community leaders and gay business owners in Huntington, Parkersburg and Morgantown.  Our facebook community has grown to over 1700 friends.  Attendance at our major events, including the festival, the fall picnic, and the pageant, met or exceeded past records and our newer events, such as the Rainbow Social and the Big Gay Dog Show turned out to be very popular, too.  We’re also proud to have developed close working relationships with organizations such as West Virginia Queer News and the Charleston – Huntington chapter of PFLAG, the Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays.

On a personal note, I was also humbled this past year to have been selected as Mr. Mountain State Grizzly at the Mountain State Bear contest during Pride Week.  My late partner, Greg Ulbrich, was Mr. Mountain State Bear in 2000 and I entered the contest as a way to honor his memory, never expecting I’d leave with a medal and a sash!  The Rainbow Pride community has become like a second family to me, and their support and friendship through the deaths of both my partner and my mother have meant more to me than I can put into words.  I’ve never worked with such a selfless and giving group of people before, and I look forward to continuing my association with the organization is years to come.

David Epp  (at-large)
Involved at many levels of community activism, David has been involved with Rainbow Pride for four years; he also is a member of the Board of Directors for Fairness West Virginia, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy group.

Focusing on technology, he prepared the 2009 & 2010 Pride Guides, as well as maintained the Pride web site.  He feels strongly about the role that technology can play in increasing support for this organization. particularly by improving communication with members and supporters through Twitter, Myspace, and Facebook.

Carl Nipps (at-large)
My name is Carl Nipps aka Iona Trailer and I am a candidate for Member at Large. I am from Dunbar and I am an RN at CAMC. In the past I worked at 2 different gay bars as a bartender and as Iona Trailer, I have performed at most of them. I have also performed at many Pride benefits including a recent one for Parkersburg Pride. I have been out
for 25 years and have watched the gay community in West Virginia go through a major evolution. I have tried to be a part of that and help in any way I could. I feel my experiences and contacts in the gay and straight communities would make me an asset to the Pride commitee as Member at Large. If you have any specific questions for me before casting your ballot, please feel free to email me at cnippsjr@hotmail.com. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Herbie Vinson (at large)
My name is Herbie Vinson and I running form Board Member at Large for the WV Rainbow Pride Committee. I am originally from Delbarton, WV and currently reside in Cross Lanes, WV. I moved to the Charleston area 9 years ago with my partner. I am also the reigning Mr. Parkersburg Pride, WV Mountain State Daddy Bear and 1st runner up to Mountain State Leather. I am the Vice President of WV Mountain State Bears and also a member of Rainbow Pride and The Livings Aids Memorial. I am active in the community and willing to help out were needed. I currently have my own business called H.E.T Productions. My business is something I do out of my home. I make floral arrangements for almost all occasions and design costumes such as back pieces and head dresses.
I would truly appreciate your vote for Board Member at Large. I would work with the Pride Committee to make Rainbow Pride the organization that it should be. I think that Rainbow Pride should involve the whole state and not just a select area. As you can tell I am already involved in several organizations and trying to merge all aspects of the LGBT community together. I would also like to work with the Lesbian community as well. It seems as though they are pushed aside. They are just as much a part of the gay community as the men. Imagine how much better and bigger Pride could be if we had the support from the lesbian community. I would also work with the Pride committee in trying to get more businesses in involved and support Gay Pride.
In closing I would like to ask for your vote for Board Member at Large. I will work hard and diligently to represent everyone in the LGBT community. I feel I have a lot to offer and would make a great asset to WV Rainbow Pride. Thank You , Herbie Vinson

Pam Young: (at-large)
Hello my name is Pam Young I currently reside in South Charleston with my partner of 21 years Cheryl Smith and our seventeen year old daughter, Britnee. We also have four other grown children and eight grandchildren. I am an in-home health provider and have served as a member of Pride of West Virginia for many years in the back ground.

My passion at this time is the Lord and the church, which I am currently the President of the B.O.D. Reaching out to the LGBTQ community that for so long has been told we can’t be in church and serve the Lord because of our sexuality. I also received the Honor of Woman of the Week in June from W.V. Queer News.

So at this time I have chosen to run in the election for At Large position. My reasons would be to support my friends and community, reach those who don’t know of Pride of West Virginia and the wonderful things that Pride stands for. My goal will be to have some events added to the calendar that will bring out the women, children and families in the community.

Thank you for your support and vote at this time. May God’s blessing fall upon you.