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

A new resource to find out what's in YOUR community!

There’s a new website in town, or rather in the state—one that aspires to become the virtual kitchen table for Vermont’s lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender citizens and out-of-state visitors: The Vermont Gay Guide.

The Samara Foundation of Vermont, a community foundation dedicated to the well-being of Vermont’s LGBT community, created the site in response to business professionals and non-profit organization leaders who felt the lack of a single source for LGBT people to get and give information.

“We refer to Vermont’s LGBT community,” explained Samara President Suzanne Stofflet, “But in reality, it doesn’t exist. There are regional LGBT communities, some of which are very strong, but nothing that knits them all together. We are a rural state with many isolated people.”

As anyone who has made the drive between Burlington and Brattleboro will tell you, creating a state-wide anything in Vermont is a seriously difficult task, Stofflet admits. “Our only chance to create one big LGBT Vermont family was to do it virtually, online.”

“The site IS like a well-used kitchen table,” admits Liz Batsford, Samara’s Gay Guide manager. “It has all kinds of things you might need or want: listings of LGBT and LGBT-friendly businesses, non-profit resources, stories, classified ads, events, blogs, even a family album where you can post a photo of your civil union, new baby, promotion—anything you want to celebrate with your fellow- LGBT Vermonters.”

Make sure to check out the Gay Guide today! If you are interested in learning more or being listed on the VT Gay Guide - please call Liz Batsford at 802-860-6236 or email Liz. And don't forget to check out RU12? on the Gay Guide!

If you could look inside your body and see what was going on... Would you?!

Dr. Suzy Harris will be explaining and demonstrating a state of the art technique called Nutrition Response Testing for RU12? folks on Tuesday, January 27 from 6-7pm. RSVPs appreciated.

This systematic analysis is a non invasive technique used by Dr. Harris to help identify exactly which nutrients you may need in order for your body to heal itself. This technique can also be used to uncover any hidden stressors that may be blocking your body from balancing itself. Gradual changes in diet and the temporary use of whole foods supplements will assist your body's own natural healing system. Free screenings available to interested guests. For more information, visit Cedarwood Chiropractic.

This seminar is part of the Health and Wellness series at RU12? For more information, check out the Vermont Diversity Health Project.

**Hannah says: I had no idea what to expect at first, but NRT truly has to be experienced to be believed! Give me a call at the Center if you've got any questions.

Are you looking to get a great start in LGBTQ activism?

The R. Scott Hitt Foundation is offering funding for qualified candidates who want to be leaders in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement. You and the pro-LGBT organization that you choose can apply to receive funding for your internship position while you build your resume and gain valuable skills towards becoming a leader of the future. For more information, contact scotthittfoundation@gmail.com . 

If you are interested in staying in the area, RU12? would be very interested in working with fantastic internship candidates! Feel free to contact Kara for more information.

The current positions available are:

*POST-GRADUATE*
THE SCOTT HITT INTERNSHIP IN LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Application Deadline: May 8, 2009

• Post graduate students with strong academic record
• Duration: 7-9 months, 40 hours/week
• Location: An established 501(c)3 nonprofit in the United States with a commitment to the advancement of LGBT equality
• Applicants will identify and contact host organization to co-develop a successful curriculum encompassing key elements: communications, fundraising, board development and grassroots policy organizing
• 2-4 recipients per year

* UNDERGRADUATE *
THE A.N.G.L.E. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERNSHIP

Application Deadline: April 17, 2009

• Current undergraduate students with strong academic record
• Duration: 8 weeks, 40 hours/week
• Location: An established 501(c)3 nonprofit in Southern California with a commitment to the advancement of LGBT equality
• Applicants will identify and contact host organization to co-develop a successful curriculum encompassing key elements of non-profit operations and program development
• Named for the nonprofit ANGLE (Access Now for Gay & Lesbian Equality) which inspired and provided the funding for these internships
• 3-5 recipients per year

LGBTQ Visibility Day February 6th at the State House in Montpelier!

Join us on Friday, February 6th to meet fellow LGBTQ Vermonters, connect with LGBTQ organizations, and to connect with your legislators about important issues facing our community today!

We have waited long enough to see full marriage equality in Vermont! Although civil unions were a good first step and provide valuable protections for same-sex couples and their families, we still face discrimination in Vermont’s marriage laws.

We collectively recognize that many in our community would choose to get married if provided that right, while others who would not choose to enter in a civil marriage. However, we are united in our belief that by denying us marriage equality, the state denies us the dignity and choice to fully participate in a legal institution that is a prerequisite to many critical legal protections that still are out of reach for many LGBTQ Vermonters.

There are also other issues important to our community that legislators must hear about directly from their constituents. We need your participation to ensure that our presence and the issues that are important to us are VISIBLE!

Visibility Day 2009 Schedule
8:00am Organizational Displays in the Card Room
9:00am Legislative Update and Advocacy Training
10:00am Introductions on the House Floor
11am Community Meeting with the Governor (Ceremonial Office, 2nd floor)
Noon Legislator Conversations over lunch (Cafeteria)
1:00pm Organizational Updates/ “Mini Queer Summit”
2:20pm Debrief and Wrap-Up
2:30pm Close

Questions or to RSVP contact Kara@ru12.org or call 802.860.7812.

Hosted by: Outright VT, RU12? Community Center, the Samara Foundation of Vermont, Vermont Freedom to Marry, Vermont CARES and VT TransAction

Call to Artists -- "Hope From People"

CALL TO ARTISTS . . .
of all ages, types, sizes, and persuasions to make a piece of banner art for a group show at the Langdon Street Cafe and Black Sheep Books in Montpelier, Vermont, for inauguration day on January, 20, 2009.

THEME
Inspired by the "Hope from People" project to Celebrate People's History and Build Popular Power Bloc (a call to anarchists, horizontalists, autonomists, anti-capitalists, anti-authoritarians, and others organizing a world from below to bring our best creative spirits to the project).

WHAT TO DO? MAKE SOME ART?
Make a piece of banner art inspired by people's history on your birthday. This could be a single event or a collage of examples of social movements, cultures of resistance, new experiments, infamous freedom fighters, inspiring troublemakers, or remembrances of all the many moments throughout history when people worked together to build a better world from below.

All art banners should include the date (aka your date of birth, year is optional), and will be displayed along a time line to create a visual reminder that every day people have resisted tyranny and oppression, every month we have opportunities to make change, and every year (hopefully) brings us one step closer to global liberation.

To find out what happened on your birthday: Ask your elders! Or grab a Slingshot Organizer, search the Web, look it up on Wikipedia, or visit the Daily Bleed.

1. Banners should be NO BIGGER than 30 x 40 inches.
2. Firmly attach artwork to a dowel, rod, stick, etc., for public display (remember that the heavier your fabric or canvas, the stronger your dowel must be)
3. Include the date within the artwork
4. Attach a card or slip of paper on the back with your name and contact info.
5. Tell us if you want to sell your art, and for how much
6. Accepting artwork beginning January 1, 2009. Deadline for submissions: January 19, 2009

Send an email to guarantee a spot in the show, and please include your birthday: bettypageturner@gmail.com

Free Cervical Cancer Screening Day

Allison Hicks was diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer at the age of 29. Within days of the diagnosis, she underwent radical surgery. The surgery left Allison unable to bear children. As a trained doula this profound paradox intensified Allison’s trauma.

Allison saw this experience as a call to action. Within months of completing chemotherapy and radiation treatment she started the Hicks Foundation. Allison was determined that women with cervical cancer would be diagnosed and treated as quickly as possible. Allison pledged that 9-26 year olds would be educated about the effects of HPV- the virus that causes cervical cancer, and vaccinated if possible, including young people without health insurance. Allison promised that all women over 30 know to ask their health providers if they are candidates for the HPV DNA test.

Cervical Cancer is virtually 100% Preventable. Find out what you need to do.
Surviving Begins with Knowing.

FREE CERVICAL CANCER SCREENING DAY for Un/Under insured WOMEN from 9am-1pm on Saturday, January 10 at three wonderful local sites:

• Champlain Obstetrics & Gynecology in Essex (802-879-1802)
• Maitri Health Care for Women in South Burlington (802-862-7338)
• Open Door Clinic in Vergennes (802-388-0137). Reservations are recommended but not required. 

In addition to pap tests, breast exams, HPV DNA tests and HPV vaccines are available.  Interpreters, childcare, and snacks are provided.   The screenings are sponsored by The Hicks Foundation, Seventh Generation, Ladies First, and Kelliher Samets Volk.  For more info, check out the Hicks Foundation.

 

Burlington Police Department Reaches Out to the LGBTQ Community!

At the beginning of December SafeSpace was invited to the Burlington Police Department's "unveiling" of new ideas and innovations around community policing.  The Chief, Michael Shirling is interested in acquiring information from different communities regarding police services delivered within those communities.  Some of the ways that the Police Department is gathering information is through this survey as well as focus groups. 

SafeSpace is going to try and pull together a focus group.  This group will consist of individuals from the LGBTQ community interested in sharing ideas, thoughts and opinions with the chief.  The group will meet at RU12? Community Center on Monday February 16th from 1:30 to 3PM.  If you are interested in being a part of this group, call Ann Atkins at 860-7812 and let her know. 

This is an opportunity for the LGBTQ community to express directly to the Chief what our thoughts are about our local police department.  I am hopeful that through these conversations our community will continue to develop a healthy, communicative, and open relationship with the Burlington Police. 

We look forward to hearing from you if interested in attending, we would love to have you!  If you are interested in providing some feedback but are unable to make the meeting please take a few moments  to fill out a Burlington Police Department Community Policing Re-Assessment Survey
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=GMOumIdvaNSvqPsjYqeCMQ_3d_3d