RU12? Community Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Vermont

Are you ready to get down with Dan?

Sorry, this event is sold out.

The 10th Annual Queer Community Dinner is only 2 weeks away (Saturday, May 31st). This event will sell out! Make sure you and your friends will be there by reserving your spot and table today!

Meet Dan Savage!

Author, editor and pundit Dan Savage is best known for his syndicated sex column, "Savage Love," but he's also famous for skewering social conservatives -- remember his campaign to redfine "Santorum"? He's been a guest on the "Colbert Report", "20/20", and HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher"... and next weekend, he's coming to Vermont! Everyone is welcome, GLBT-identified or no, and all will appreciate Dan's biting wit and words!

Admission is $40, which includes dinner, a fancy hat runway show, a DJ Precious dance party and a benefit auction, including a chance to bid on a once in a lifetime "Morning -After Breakfast Date with Dan."

For information about how to get a discount for your tickets, more info on the events of the evening, or to reserve your tickets, check out these links or call the Center at 802.860.RU12 :

Event Website: http://www.ru12.org/community-dinner.html

Event on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=17132068124

Join RU12? At Borders!

My Miserable, Lonely, Lesbian Pregnancy
By Andrea Askowitz

Reading at Borders in Burlington, VT
Wednesday, May 21st at 7pm

 

Andrea Askowitz has the best life in the world.  She's pregnant and healthy. She has friends and family who love her.  She has money and meaningful work.  And all she can do is obsess about the one thing she doesn't have: Kate, her ex-girlfriend. My Miserable, Lonely, Lesbian Pregnancy is a funny, whiny, all-too-real account of one girl's true adventure in maternity.  From finding a great donor who turns out to be shooting blanks ("I was a lesbian with male fertility problems.") through all-day morning sickness and graduation into "fat-girl underwear," Andrea's life reads like an antidote to sugar-sweet pregnancy guides and memoirs.  In week 8, her sense of smell becomes so strong that she can tell what deodorant people are wearing.  In week 28, she plans a pity party, complete with black-only dress code and a violin player: "It isn't an attempt to make fun of myself, because that would be too joyous." Irreverent and whip-smart, My Miserable, Lonely, Lesbian Pregnancy is potent therapy for ill-timed break-ups, leg cramps, constipation, and every other downside to a dream come true.

Join Andrea on her national Misery Loves Company tour for her reading at Borders in Burlington, VT. This event is co-sponsored by RU12? Community Center

Andrea Askowitz is a full time mom, writer and founder of Bike Out, a non-profit created to introduce gay and lesbian inner city kids to the outdoors. She performs and produces the program "Lip Service: True Stories Out Loud" at Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida. Her website is http://andreaaskowitz.com.

Event details:

Misery Loves Company Tour with Andrea Askowitz

Reading on Wednesday, May 21 at 7pm

Borders at 29 Church St, Burlington, VT 05401

(802) 865-2711

This Event is Free!

http://www.bordersstores.com/stores/store_pg.jsp?storeID=276

Spring Fling with GLAM

GLAM - Gay Leisure Activities for Men - invites you to a Spring Fling dance party at the Monkey House! DJ Precious is spinning and the dance floor will be HOT. No cover!

Here's the scoop:

When: Friday May 30th, 10 PM (following Antara!)
Where: The Monkey House bar, 30 Main St., Winooski
Who: DJ Precious, the men of GLAM and other cool gayz, and YOU (and no, you don't have to be a man to go!)
What: Dancing, gayness, and really cool DOOR PRIZES!
Why: WHY NOT? 

Questions? E-mail GLAM.

This... stuff... is bananas.

UVM's Vagina Monologues Performance Benefit SafeSpace Program

For many years students at our very own University of Vermont have been performing the "Vagina Monolgues", written  and producedby Eve Ensler. The proceeds to the show are donated to local anti-violence programs.  This year SafeSpace @ RU12? Community Center was selected as the sole beneficiary of the Vagina Monologues performance at UVM.   The Vagina Monolgues are shown in the month of February, and the event is often called" V-Day, until the violence ends".  This performance is about women but is for everyone, it is about women reclaiming their sexuality in a positive way, it is about taking words that have been used to describe women's vagina's in a negative way and making them positive again, kind of like to word Queer for a lot of people. 

On February 29th and March 1st, 2008 the Vagina Monologues was performed at UVM and both shows sold out.  This was an amazing show, with incredible attendance.  The UVM students were really able to showcase their talent, and talented they are....I was fortunate to attend a previewing of the show, the day before it was to open to the public.  I was very impressed with everyone's performance.  If you were not able to make the show this year, remember it happens every February!  Remember as well that if you purchase a ticket the money will be donated to an anti-violence program or non-profit agency. 

This year with SafeSpace being the sole beneficiary I am thrilled to report that UVM's Vagina Monologues performances contributed $8,573.66 to our anti-violence program.  That is an incredible amount of money for our small non-profit and we could not be more honored!  To be selected by UVM as the beneficiaries was such a gift.  Kara DeLeonardis, the Executive Director of RU12? Community Center, and Ann Atkins, Program Director of the SafeSpace Program @ RU12? were present at the brunch and received the check for the Center. 

Thank you UVM for thinking of us.  Thank you for such a great performance, and we look forward to next year! 

RU12? joins Lamda Legal's "Sign the Pledge" for Equality

Lamda Legal says "Sign the Pledge" on Second Annual "Clock in For Equality Day" on May 15th.  Thursday May 15th, 2008 is the second annual "Clock in for Equality" day, a national day of action to educate and mobilize people to promote workplace fairness for LGBTQ people. 

Participants are encouraged to sign a pledge agreeing to take specific actions to help increase workplace fairness for LGBTQ people and those with HIV.  That pledge form will be available at RU12? Community Center for anyone interested in signing.  If you stop into the Center ask at the front desk to sign the pledge.  Our goal is to simply collect as many signatures as possible. 

THE PLEDGE:

I believe that workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) people and people living with HIV is wrong.  I pledge to support workplace equality whenever I can and will strive to do one or more of the following:

• Treat LGBT people and people living with HIV with respect in and out of the workplace.  Get educated about forms of workplace discrimination that LGBT people and people living with HIV experience.
• Help make my workplace LGBT- and HIV - friendly
• Support my co-workers (or employees') right to form an LGBT employee resource group.
• Help improve policies in my workplace that protect the rights of LGBT workers and workers living with HIV and work to carry out existing policies.
• Help improve laws protecting the rights of LGBT workers and workers living with HIV on the local, state and federal level. 
• Speak out if I witness workplace harassment or discrimination at work or in the community. 

The mission of RU12? Community Center is very much aligned with the work that Lamda Legal's "sign the pledge" is doing so making the decision to have the Center a place for people to sign was an easy one.  You can come to the Center (we of course would love to see you) and sign or you can visit http://ga4.org/campaign/clockin and sign online.

Thank You Eliza!!! Another successful RAR

The 4th annual Run Against Rape (RAR)took place on Sunday, April 27th.  It was another chilly day but there was a lot of action going on at Oakledge Park.  Eliza, our fabulous RU12? Americorps VISTA did an amazing job again this year and RAR was very successful!

This year we broke records in terms of sponsorship.  We were very excited about all of the support that we received from local businesses. 

The Chittenden Bank, Pete's RV, and the Laura Kate Winterbottom Foundation all gave $500.00 towards RAR.  Excel Physical Therapy donated $250.00, and Living Well Chiropractic kicked in $100.00! 

Eliza did a really great job assigning tasks, keeping track of what we were all doing and in the end pulled off another great event for the benefit of SafeSpace @ Ru12? Community Center. 

Eliza ROCKS!!!

Are you in....... or are you OUT?!

Have you designed your hat for the RU12? Queer Community Dinner and Auction yet?  Walk the runway, strut your stuff, and show off your mad hat skills.  Interested in designing a hat? All hats must incorporate a gay icon and something distinctly "Vermont."  The hats will be judged at the dinner.  A designer can designate themselves or a model to show the hat on the Run-Way, and a "fierce" prize will go to the top pick!  Don't bore Nina! Contact Karen to register!

Order your tickets for the dinner today!