Pride 2010 Awards!

Each year, the PrideWV membership nominates individuals for their impact on LGBT West Virginians, the Power of One and Grand Marshal. These awards are then granted by vote of the general membership of Rainbow Pride of West Virginia.

The Power of One is an award  that recognizes an individual’s ability to increase visibility, garner support for LGBT issues and overall fight for the cause.

The Grand Marshal is granted to an individual to recognize contributions made to the LGBT community in West Virginia. This individual leads the yearly Pride Parade in Charleston.

Below is a list of nominees as proposed:

Power of One Award

Seth DiStefano - bio submitted by Seth DiStefano – “Thank you. Truly its an honor to even be considered. About me, I am orginally from Randolph county, WV where i started my work in politics as an organizer for the Kerry/Edwards presidential campaign. I continued my politcal work as chairman of the Randolph County Democrat Executive Committee during the 2006 midterm elections. In august of 2007, I moved to Charleston to begin working for the ACLU of West Virginia. My first and most enduring assignment was building and maintaing a coalition of organizations supportive of amending West Virginia’s Human Rights Act and Fair Housing laws to include protections for West Virginia’s LGBT community. The measure has seen traction in two successive sessions. That coalition has also played a key role in stopping the homophobic ‘marriage amendment’ from passing.

I am a proud alum of WVU and proud to be affiliated with Rainbow Pride because it is unquestionably welcoming of the straight ally community from which I come.”

Mary Fitzgerald - bio submitted by D. Massso – Mary Fitzgerald has been an important player in the LGBT landscape.  She contributed to the 2009 Rainbow Pride Guidebook with a stirring personal account of why she marches in the parade.  She was instrumental in the formation of the Kanawha Stonewall Democrats (KSD), having first been a member of the chartering body, then moving into the elected position of Vice President and later stepping into the role of Acting President when there had been an unanticipated change in leadership.  This willingness of Mary to exercise that role kept KSD operating past the last election cycle. She was a member of a team presenting KSD to a meeting of Democratic legislators.  KSD and the LGBT community became quite visible during that period, and her willingness to continue in leadership kept the dream alive for more active participation of the LGBT community in local, state and federal government.

Through SAGA, Mary created a mailing that was sent to each active clergy member in the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia.  These letters encouraged the clergy to have their parishioners respond to state legislation being considered which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and would add sexual orientation to the motivations justifying prosecution under a West Virginia Hate Crimes statute.  The mailing also included a sample letter and list of legislators, including their mailing addresses, to make it easier for parishioners to become involved.  In addition, she has been present with SAGA during Pride activities to let others know there is a place for LGBT folk to know the love of God in a mainstream faith tradition.

If we are to change the hearts and minds of people who stand as obstacles to our equal right for job protection and for marriage, we must be prepared to talk about how fairness works and how it feels to be treated unfairly.  Mary’s hope is to foster increased acceptance and support for LGBT issues not only in church but in the world at large, as well.

Gina Mamone – bio submitted by G. Mamone “Gina Mamone Founding President and CEO – Riot Grrrl Ink.
www.riotgrrrlink.com

Riot Grrrl Ink (RGI) is the largest LGBTQ / Queer record label in the world. RGI’s roster is over 150 strong and includes bands, artist, film makers,  singer / songwriters, authors, poets, nonprofits, community organizations, record labels and social justice organizations.

At RGI we help make queer art specifically at the intersection of politics and social change. The artists that call our roster home craft art that is designed to inspire people to become aquatinted with their own potential and develop connections to their community simultaneously.

At our RGI our passion is helping to make art that is community driven, politically mindful and radically beautiful.

Gina Mamone is a tender hearted gender queer from West Virginia and founding President & CEO of RGI.  The RGI  roster includes such artist as the Indigo Girls, Bitch, Athens Boys Choir, Stacyann Chin,  Alix Olson  and Amy Ray.  Gina has led the greening of the music industry by producing the very first album in history with no ecological footprint, Nervous But Excited’s album Anchors.  Gina has applied the same model to touring, all of the touring from RGI’s roster is 100%  green, most recently seen in the Amy Ray (Indigo Girls) Didn’t it Feel Kinder & Brandi Carlile’s Giving up the Ghost tour.

RGI runs on a Radical Capitalism Business Model. Instead of spending money on advertising RGI funds a National Take Back the Night initiative helping to fund over 100 rallies a year.  RGI is the first label in history to sign & Social Justice organizations just like artist.  The RGI roster is home to The Medea Theater for Incarcerated Women, Tori Amos’s RAINN Network, National Zine Library, With Literacy and Justice for all, HIPS ~ Helping Individual Prostitutes stay alive  and over 8 nationally recognized Girls Rock Camps.

Gina Mamone / RGI helps produce LGBTQ Art Festivals all over the world; National Queer Arts Festival (San Francisco), Phase Fest (DC), Homo a GOGO (LA / Olympia), Mondo Homo Dirty South (Atlanta), Queer Lounge @ Sundance & Cannes Film Festival (Park City UT & France), Queer SXSW (TX), Estro Jam (Chicago), Queer Art Show (Sweden), Michigan Women’s Music Festival (Hart Michigan) just to name a few.

John and Keeley Steele – bio submitted by B. Rosier – Jonathan and Keeley Steele have for many years been among the best allies any gay community could have. Each of them, before dating one another and then becoming a married couple, was entirely comfortable being among GLBT friends. Each of them often could be seen enjoying themselves at gay bars in Charleston, including Broadway, and, most notably the Tap Room. Particularly when the Tap Room was still in the basement of the Quarrier Diner–the way most of us remember it at its best–they were big fans and regular patrons. | Perhaps it is little-known except to their close friends that The Steeles wanted to buy the Quarrier Diner after the Tap Room closed, in order to reopen their beloved “Bohemian” hangout, but they were unable to reach an agreement with the building’s owners. | More recently, the couple has become deeply involved in helping to further develop Charleston’s historic East End, the capitol city’s most diverse neighborhood, which is home to countless gays and lesbians. Keeley and Jon together built, own and operate two gay-friendly businesses (and are about to open a third as this is written). Bluegrass Kitchen at 1600 Washington St. E., and Tricky Fish, across the street at 1611, embrace diversity like no other businesses I know of, except for those that are owned by gays. | Several lesbians and gays are or have been employees of the Steeles’ restaurants, including cooks, servers, bartenders and management personnel. African-American, Latino, German, Italian and other ethnicities and nationalities are also represented among the family of workers at these restaurants. Any employee who happens not to be a member of a minority group automatically becomes enrolled in “diversity training” merely by signing on to become part of what truly is a working family. And the “newbies” either learn acceptance of minorities quite quickly or move on once they discover that their intolerance is not tolerated. | This inclusive atmosphere, by nature, is extended to those who have become regular or even occasional diners at the restaurants. No one feels unwelcome, and everyone seems to “get it,” that is, the fact that our differences have never been an issue, all because of the examples set by Keeley and Jon. | In early 2009 Keeley told me that she wanted both restaurants to support Pride during June, and she asked me for ideas. She went online and found a rainbow bunting that she thought would make a good Pride-month decoration, but, wanting several of them, was put off by the $45 cost for just one. I put her in touch with then RPWV President Charlie Rouse, who sold her several large rainbow flags. I believe she bought eight at $5 each–less than she would have paid for one of the buntings. Those flags were quite visible to all passersby on U.S. 60 (Washington St. E.) as they hung from the upstairs window sills of Bluegrass Kitchen and flew from long poles extended from the large front deck at Tricky Fish for the entire month of June. Two of those flags continue to be displayed year-round on the front and back doors at Tricky Fish. | And during 2010’s Pride month, I am sure both restaurants will again be shouting Pride “from the rooftops.” By June, the Steeles’ latest venture, a bakery tentatively named “Fruitcake” (pun intended, according to Keeley) should be open in the former Subway restaurant nextdoor to Tricky Fish. It’s hard to guess what Fruitcake will do to support Pride, but I am certain it will be both creative and in genuine respect for full inclusion of our GLBT community. | I submit this as evidence that the power of one straight couple is indeed making a difference in how gays and lesbians are treated and respected, and it is by no means insignificant that this is taking place a mere two blocks from the West Virginia State Capitol.

Clayton Stover – Clayton Stover was born November 29, 1990 in Charleston, WV. He attended St.
Francis of Assisi School until fifth grade when he entered the public school system.
From there he went to Hayes Middle School and Saint Albans High School, where he
was active in track, wrestling, show choir, and young democrats. | In his senior year, he led a coalition of supporters to change the Cultural DiversityPolicy of Kanawha County Schools to include sexual orientation, because of the
disdain towards bullying and harassment of LGBT students. Though this is wasultimately unsuccessful, it brought much awareness to the issue. He is also the LGBT Caucus Chair for the West Virginia Young Democrats, as well as the 2ndDistrict Coordinator. While at Saint Albans High School, he founded and was president of the Young Democrats club there. | Currently at Shepherd University as freshman, he is majoring in Political Science with hopes of being elected to public office one day. He is still very active with the Young Democrats and is working with Allies, a gay-straight alliance group at the school. Next year he will be attending Marshall University as a sophomore.

Steve Tompa - is an active fund-raiser in the Bear and Leather communities.  He resides in Charleston, West Virginia where he earned his master degrees in banking, business, and computers.  He has helped raise money for local and national charities within the communities using the focus of “Unity in Diversity” during his titleholder years as Mr. Mountain State Bear 2004, Mr. Kentucky Bear 2005, Mr. West Virginia Pride 2006, Mr. All-Ohio Bear 2007, and Mr. Mountain Leather 2007.  He was the recipient of the International Hospitality Bear Award 2006 at IBR in San Francisco and the recipient of International Leather Volunteer Award 2007 at CLAW in Cleveland .  In December 2008, he was “birthed” into Mama’s Family (Mama Sandy Reindhardt of San Francisco’s national leather charity organization) as “Mama’s Mountain Bear”.  He is now on the CLAW Board and the Living AIDS Memorial Garden Board.  He is a member of Rainbow Pride of West Virginia, the Mountain State Knights, and a staff writer for West Virginia Queer News.  He now continues his fund-raising endeavors across the Nation as the CLAW Nation Tour Manager.  CLAW has donated over $200,000 to various community charities.  Host a CLAW Nation party in your town.  You pick the date, location, and charities.  Steve will help you plan the party.  CLAW, Mr. S Leather, and Recon will help you make it a success!

Charlie Young – will be added by March 5th 2010

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Grand Marshal

Seth DiStefano – submitted by Seth DiStefano – “Thank you. Truly its an honor to even be considered. About me, I am orginally from Randolph county, WV where i started my work in politics as an organizer for the Kerry/Edwards presidential campaign. I continued my politcal work as chairman of the Randolph County Democrat Executive Committee during the 2006 midterm elections. In august of 2007, I moved to Charleston to begin working for the ACLU of West Virginia. My first and most enduring assignment was building and maintaing a coalition of organizations supportive of amending West Virginia’s Human Rights Act and Fair Housing laws to include protections for West Virginia’s LGBT community. The measure has seen traction in two successive sessions. That coalition has also played a key role in stopping the homophobic ‘marriage amendment’ from passing. I am a proud alum of WVU and proud to be affiliated with Rainbow Pride because it is unquestionably welcoming of the straight ally community from which I come.”

Charlie Rouse - submitted by Charlie Rouse “Mr. Rouse has been involved in GLBT activism in the Mountain State since coming out in 1998.He previously served on the board of the Kanawha Stonewall Democrats, and the West Virginia Foundation for Equality. He has held every position on the Pride Board, and was most recently the President of Rainbow Pride of West Virginia from 2007-2009. During his time with Rainbow Pride of West Virginia he helped the organization achieve it’s not for profit status, and worked with former President Ardith Michaux to establish a fixed office and meeting point for the group thus creating a stable and safe meeting place for all in the community. During his time he worked to improve communication in the board and its communication channels to the broader GLBT community in West Virginia. Charlie also created two events during his time with the organization. He was instrumental in creating the Power of One Dinner, and the Huntington Pride Picnic”

Out at the Movies – February ‘10

Out at the Movies with Rainbow Pride
We’re trying a new little social event with Rainbow Pride and we’d like you to join us.

On Thursday, February 18, we’ll be getting together at Park Place Stadium Cinemas in Charleston to see “The Wolfman,” starring Benicio del Toro in the title role. Showtime is at 7:35 pm. We’re also planning to meet up at Tricky Fish at about 6:30 for dinner and drinks before the movie. Tickets are $8.00 for adults and $6.00 for seniors and kids under 12. If you’re on Facebook, RSVP here. Otherwise, just show up and look for the people in Pride shirts!

It ought to be a lot of fun and we hope to see you there!

Next month, we’ll be going to see “Alice in Wonderland” at the Cinemark Huntington Mall theater.

Help Decide Pride2010 Theme!

Alright, here we go! The Festivities Subcommittee is looking for ideas from the LGBT community for the PrideWV2010 theme.

There will be a Festivities Subcommittee meeting this Thursday 2/4/10 at 7pm in the Pride Office in Charleston.

Got any?

Some great ideas we’ve come up with are

• Power in Numbers
• Unity & Diversity
• One in Pride
• Come Together
• Ain’t Stopping Now!
• Don’t Stop Believing
• Don’t Stop Thinking about Tomorrow
• Believe
• Power by Numbers

World AIDS Day in WV

Tuesday December 1st is World AIDS Day and we here at PrideWV hope that you can do your best to show your support for those affected by this disease.

Below is a list of events in West Virginia that we are currently aware of. If you know of an event in your area, please feel free to reply to this email and we’ll do our best to spread the word.

Charleston
Covenant House
5:00 PM YogAID with Dan Connery
Asbury United Methodist Church
501 Elizabeth St
Charleston, WV
$10 suggested donation
6:00 PM Service – Asbury United Methodist
6:30 PM Candlelight procession to the Living AIDS Memorial Garden
1600 Block Washington Street East
Refreshments provided by Food Among the Flowers
7:00 PM -Adjourn

Morgantown

Caritas House
7:00 PM – Candlelight Vigil/Walk
Meet at Mt. Lair. Proceeds to County Courthouse Square at 7:30.
Speakers and refreshments provided.

Huntington
Tri-State AIDS Task Force
Open house
11:00am – 5:00pm
1038 6th Avenue
Huntington, WV
Come and get to know the Tri-State AIDS Task Force

We Need You for our Pride subcommittees

Preliminary meetings for some Pride subcommittee meetings have been set.  We would like to have all of them meet as soon as possible in order to elect chairs and begin operating independently.  As required by our bylaws, much of the “nitty-gritty” organizational work is to be performed by our subcommittees, which then report to the Board of Directors and the full committee.  We want all of our members to feel that they have a vested interested in Pride, and through our subcommittees, we hope to allow everyone to have a greater voice in our organization.

Times and dates for subcommittee meetings announced thus far:

Bylaws and Policy Evaluation – Sunday, Sept 13 @ 2:30

Community Development and Public Awareness – Sunday, Sept 13 @ 3:30

Technology – Wednesday, Sept 16 @ 7:00 pm

Membership Development – Sunday, Sept 20 @ 2:30

Fundraising – Sunday,  Sept 20 @ 4:00

Pageants – Sunday, Sept 20 @ 6:00 pm

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2009 Pride Picnic

To purchase a sponsorship, click here

Join us for our annual Pride Picnic! Held once again at the Riverside Pavillion in Coonskin Park, this year will prove to be our most diverse yet!

Date: Sunday, October 11

Time: 12:00pm to Dusk

Cost: FREE!

Features: free food, free drinks!

Entertainment: live music from the VooDoo Katz!!!

Directions: Coonskin Park is located 10 minutes from downtown Charleston, WV. Exit 99 off I-64, Route 114 North (Greenbrier Street) 2.5 miles, turn left on Coonskin Drive, Park entrance 1 mile.

Parking: free parking available. However, there are LIMITED reserved parking spaces near the Pavillion. To reserve a space, you MUST become a sponsor (read below).

Sponsorship: $40 – includes one (1) reserved parking space & two (2) PrideWV t-shirts! To purchase a sponsorship, click here

If you have any questions, feel free to send an email to contact@pridewv.org

meeting announcement

Rainbow Pride of West Virginia will be holding a full committee meeting on Tuesday, September 1st, at 7:00 pm in the Community Office at 501 Elizabeth St., Room 11, in Charleston.  We would like to invite all members and concerned allies to attend.  This will be the first formal meeting with the newly elected Board of Directors and we are all very excited about getting down to work.  Among other business, we will be getting an update on the annual Pride Picnic which is coming up at Coonskin Park on October 11, receiving a financial report from treasurer Chris Bostic, and discussing possible fundraising opportunities.  Please attend if you can.  We hope to see you all there.

Covenant House benefit at Long Fork Campground

On Saturday, August 15, 2009, beginning at 3:00 pm, Long Fork Campground and the Mountain State Knights are hosting “The Red Party: A Party for the People” to benefit the Covenant House Food Pantry.  If you plan to come, simply bring along some nonperishable food items to donate.  But if you can’t make the party, there are several drop off points in Charleston where you can make a donation.  These are: Visions Day Spa, Bluegrass Kitchen, Tricky Fish, and, of course, Covenant House.

Covenant House was created in 1981 by Charleston citizens and groups committed to helping those with the fewest resources.  Their mission was to work for justice by offering direct services for West Virginians in need while creating social change through advocacy and education.  Covenant House provides assistance to the homeless population of the Kanawha Valley and to people living with HIV and AIDS.  They’re on the web at wvcovenanthouse.org.

Long Fork is a clothing optional retreat for the gay community located in the lush hills of West Virginia about 40 minutes north of Charleston.  Visit them on the web at www.longfork.com for more information.  Bring your own refreshments, but remember: no glass bottles around the pool.

We did it! Blogathon was a huge success! Thanks!

We did it!

We met our goal and then some! Simply amazing beyond words! A BIG Thanks to Heidi Evans, who spent 24 hours blogging for the benefit of PrideWV! Thanks to all of the sponsors!

more info —

Heidi Richardson Evans, author of Daisybones.comand Charleston, WV artist, is blogging for RainbowPride of WV in this year’s Blogathon.

Heidi has been blogging about her life and art for four years and displays her digital and mixed media art at area venues as well as her online shop.

She has been active in LGBTQ activism since her teens and is especially proud to support queer visibility in Appalachia.

Local Author Blogs for PrideWV Benefit

Heidi Richardson Evans, author of Daisybones.com and Charleston, WV artist, is blogging for Rainbow Pride of WV in this year’s Blogathon.

Heidi has been blogging about her life and art for four years and displays her digital and mixed media art at area venues as well as her online shop.

She has been active in LGBTQ activism since her teens and is especially proud to support queer visibility in Appalachia.