Documentary screening at Tacoma's Main Library captures the narratives of LGBTQ young people

Put This On The {Map}, a video documentary project capturing the narratives of LGBTQ young people in Washington State will be shown at 7 p.m. on Monday, July 16 at the downtown Main Library's Olympic Room (1102Tacoma Avenue South).  The free screening, sponsored by the Tacoma Public Library in partnership with the Tacoma Rainbow Center, will be followed by a discussion with the film's directors / producers Megan Kennedy and Sid Jordan Peterson (courtesy of Humanities Washington's Speakers Bureau). The film is appropriate for teens and adults.

Research indicates that queer and transgender young people are more than four times as likely to have attempted suicide in the past year than their peers, as well as face an increased risk of harassment at school, drug and alcohol use, and of being the victims of physical violence. Queer and transgender youth are also over-represented in the juvenile justice system and in systems of state care, where policies and practices often don’t meet the most basic safeguards. Educators, health providers, service organizations, and state agencies often lack confidence and competency to help or to address structural issues related to gender and sexuality.

From stories of getting beat-up in a schoolyard to being picked up as a runaway, viewers learn that LGBTQ youth exercise courage daily. In an open and welcoming atmosphere, the film provides audiences with a local look at critical issues and examines the changing dynamics of gender and sexuality in Washington.

About the filmmakers.
Sid Jordan is a Canadian-American documentary filmmaker with a background in human rights law, organizational development, and community organizing. Utilizing media to generate dialogue about contemporary issues, Sid’s work seeks to create an essential link between art, education, and community wellness. Sid has trained on topics of gender and sexual diversity  for government agencies, community organizations, hospitals, cultural centers, corporate groups, and centers of faith.

Megan M. Kennedy, M.A., L.M.H.C., is a youth and family therapist and Sexual Minority Mental Health Specialist positioned at Youth Eastside Services (Bellevue, WA). Kennedy provides consultation and in-depth training around youth gender and sexuality nationally. As a media-maker, therapist and educator, Kennedy has presented at universities, government agencies, hospitals, community organizations, cultural centers, and centers of faith.

More information: www.tacomapubliclibrary.org or telephone the library at 253.292.2001

Meetings update

Yesterday's meeting of PFLAG-Olympia was great. Our meeting rooms were overflowing. We were pleased to welcome four new people who had never before been to a PFLAG meeting, and our guest speakers from SAGE Olympia, Anna Schlecht and Kelly Cavenah, were warmly welcomed and gave an informative presentation.

For those who don't know, SAGE Olympia is the local chapter of the national service and advocacy organization for GLBT elders.

Next month our meeting will be our annual winter pot luck celebration and white elephant gift exchange. We can promise you it will be great, great fun. All area GLBTQ people and their family and friends are invited. For more information visit our website at http://pflag-olympia.org/.

He’s coming back! Steve Schalchlin in concert for PFLAG-Olympia

New World Waking!
a musical insurrection for peace.
A Benefit Concert for PFLAG-Olympia

Featuring Steve Schalchlin (composer/lyricist) of The Last Session and The Big Voice: God or Merman? on the piano and singing with guest stars Saul Tannenbaum and Friends: Lauren O'Neill & Christina Collins, plus musical theater students from South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC) in a true life theatrical concert reality experiment.

“Schalchlin's gospel tinged pop tunes exert a rare emotional pull ... a fierce drive overtakes the tunes melodic strains. It's life taking hold again - hope rising on powerful wings." ~ Los Angeles Times critic Daryl H. Miller

Friday, July 29 and Saturday, July 30, 2011 at 8:00PM



The Black Box Theater in SPSCC's Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts 2011 Mottman Road SW; Olympia, WA

Tickets - $20 and $10 for SPSCC students. Buy tickets at 360-753-8586 Purchase tickets online https://tickets.washingtoncenter.org/Online/

More information:
http://www.pflag-olympia.org/SteveSchalchlin-OlyWA-07-11/index.html

A local public television station and an PFLAG-Olympia screening of the documentary "Two Spirits" - Sexuality, Gender, and the Murder of Fred Martinez

The documentary "Two Spirits" explores the life and death of a boy who was also a girl and the essentially spiritual nature of gender.

Fred Martinez was nádleehí, a male-bodied boy with a feminine nature, a special gift according to his Navajo culture. Martinez was brutally murdered at 16 in Cortez, Colorado in 2001. "Two Spirits" interweaves the tragic story of a mother’s loss of her son with a revealing look at the largely unknown history of a time when the world wasn’t simply divided into male and female and many Native American cultures held places of honor for people of integrated genders.

The Navajo believe that to maintain harmony, there must be a balanced interrelationship between the feminine and the masculine within the individual, in families, in the culture, and in the natural world. "Two Spirits" reveals how these beliefs are expressed in a natural range of gender diversity, and examines the Navajo concept of nádleehí, “one who constantly transforms,” and tells compelling stories about traditions that were once widespread among the indigenous cultures of North America. The film explores the contemporary lives and history of Native two-spirit people.

“Riveting.” ~ LA Weekly

“A gorgeous, moving, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting story, the kind of film that opens the mind and heart so wide they can never close as tightly again.” ~ Martha Beck, Oprah magazine columnist and bestselling author

“TWO SPIRITS is a beautiful film, one that poignantly conveys the pain that Paula Mitchell suffered when she lost her child to hate violence. Fred Martinez was murdered simply because he dared to be himself, and the violence against young people like him must stop. We will never be the society we hope to be until we replace hate with understanding, compassion, and acceptance. This very powerful film is an important step on that journey.” ~ Judy Shepard, President of The Matthew Shepard Foundation

“A rich and textured work that provides a focal point for many important conversations on campus. It’s very moving to see the reactions, and the appreciation of so many people who feel that a deep aspect of their reality has been acknowledged and valued.” ~ Ann Braude, Director of the Women’s Studies in Religion Program and Senior Lecturer on American Religious History, Harvard Divinity School

"Two Spirits" is a production of Say Yes Quickly Productions, Henry Ansbacher, executive producer; Riding the Tiger Productions, Lydia Nibley, director, co-producer, and co-writer; and Just Media, Inc., Russell Martin, co-producer and co-writer -- with Darrin Navarro, editor; David A. Armstrong, director of photography; and Ron Eng, supervising sound editor and sound designer.

TWO SPIRITS screenings:

Monday, June 27: INDEPENDENT LENS: TWO SPIRITS will be broadcast on PBS' KCTS TV, Channel 9 (Seattle, WA) at 10 p.m..

Sunday, July 10: PFLAG-Olympia will show the film "Two Spirits" and have a discussion afterward. Due to the length of the film we will shorten the introductions, announcements and social time. Our meeting starts at 2 p.m., the film will be shown at approximately 2:45p.m.. Please join us!

More information:

TWO SPIRITS
http://www.twospirits.org/

Facebook: TWO SPIRITS: Sexuality, Gender, and the Murder of Fred Martinez
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_104028070497

Additional Resources from the producers of the documentary TWO SPIRITS:
http://twospirits.org/additional-resources/

Independent Lens| TWO SPIRITS Discussion Guide:
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/two-spirits/resources/two-spirits-discussion.pdf (pdf format)

Families United Against Hate: Fred C. Martinez Jr. ~ Cortez, CO
http://www.fuah.org/fuah_cortez.html

PFLAG-Olympia
http://www.pflag-olympia.org

Capital City Pride honors PFLAG

Anna Schlecht and Tony Sermonti representing Capital City Pride honored PFLAG at our monthly meeting this past Sunday. They presented us with a beautiful plaque thanking us for our years of service to the GLBTQ community and to Pride, and they recognized some of the people who have worked with us over the years, beginning with the founders and charter members.

Honored were Paul and Betty Beeman - founders. Paul was a long time president of the chapter and they both ran the newsletter and help line for years.

Charter members or early active members who contributed to the formation of PFLAG-Olympia were recognized, including:
David Kindle
Lori Kovell
Stella Warren
Mary and Frank Fairchild
Terri Yount (a past treasurer)
Steve and Nancy Thompson
Penny Merrill - took over as president after Paul stepped down, in L.A. now
Virgil Clarkson - charter member and current board member

Also recognized were:

Mike Walsh - former president, volunteered to help serve pancakes in the park every year and worked on our safe schools programs
Shirley Pearson - spearheaded a couple of fundraising auctions, served on speakers panels and served on the board for years, organized and served pancakes in the park at Pride every year - with her family
Brianne Pearson - Shirley's daughter, our first youth board member, served on speakers panel
Jeff Loyer - served as a past treasurer and president, has been responsible for storing and transporting tent and tabling materials for Pride and other events, helped raise money for PFLAG and Pizza Klatch, represents PFLAG on Pizza Klatch organizing committee, worked on our safe schools programs
Betsy Loyer - responsible for getting snacks at the meetings for a number of years
Donna Doyle - currently responsible for snacks and for organizing and cataloging library materials, tabled at many events
Catherine Dawdy - current treasurer, set up data base, helped organize library materials, does chapter's Facebook admin
Gabi Clayton - board member, speakers panel, established our website, newsletter editor
Alec Clayton - chapter president, newsletter editor, website, speakers panel
Lynn Grotsky - board member, helped start Pizza Klatch and represents PFLAG on Pizza Klatch organizing committee
Bill Donner - current secretary of the board
Kristin Stewart - current board member, helps table at events, speakers panel
Kathryn Coffman - current board member and does chapter's Facebook admin

Only Virgil Clarkson and David Kindle among the charter members were able to be present at Sunday's meeting. We were told that Stella Warren has passed away, and others were not able to attend. We know there are probably some other charter members whom none of the present members knew, and we regret that we may have missed some and that we don't have archival records from the earliest years of the chapter.

Thank you, Anna, Tony and Capital City Pride.

Community get-together

The program at our next meeting of PFLAG-Olympia will be a community get-together. It will be a casual and friendly meeting at which representatives of local GLBT and allied organizations will have a chance to promote their groups and where we can all talk about how to more effectively network.

If you are a representative of a GLBT or allied organization in the Olympia area and have not received an invitation, please contact us at info@pflag-olympia.org or president@pflag-olympia.org.

The meeting will be at the usual time and place: First United Methodist Church, 1224 Legion Way, SE, Olympia, from 2-4:30 p.m.

There's more information on our website .

Transguys Calendar

New charity project offers hope, support for the Transgender community

A new calendar project to benefit transgender men is currently under way – and they need your help! Born from one person’s desire to help her friend raise money for sexual reassignment surgery, the 2011 Transguys Calendar Project is a labor of love designed to provide financial assistance to transgendered individuals who need help funding sexual reassignment procedures.

The calendar will feature twelve gorgeous female-to-male models at various stages of transition. 100% of the proceeds from calendar sales will be donated to transgender individuals in need of financial assistance for medical costs associated with transitioning.

According to Project Coordinator, Maegan Beard, the goal is to raise at least $10,000 in the first year and to continue the effort annually to help as many people as possible. “Eventually we’d like to be able to expand the project to include an annual Transgirls calendar as well to benefit people transitioning from male to female,” Beard says. “My ultimate goal is to turn this project into a charitable foundation and provide a central resource for people looking for help with funding trans medical costs – everything from hormones to binders and other devices.”

Volunteers are already lining up for the 2012 edition, and in a few short weeks the project has garnered nationwide support from individuals, corporations, celebrities, and LGBT organizations. Calendar pre-orders and donations are currently being accepted through the group’s website, www.theTcal.org. Advertising space on the calendar and website will contribute to printing costs, and sponsorship and volunteer opportunities exist for interested individuals and organizations worldwide.

Contact:
Maegan Beard
hey_meg@hotmail.com
113 Radford Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27106
Ph: (828) 243-5350