Dear Friends:

 

It is time to renew your support for the Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center.

We ask for your generous contribution because the struggle for equality for LGBT individuals is far from over despite the fact—or, maybe, because of the fact—that we are more visible now than we have ever been.

For example:

• Not one, but two, LGBT-focused cable networks now broadcast across the nation and, according to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination (GLAAD), add to representation of LGBT characters on TV at double the rate of 2007.
  

• In journalism, Lesbian commentators Suze Orman and Rachel Maddow have earned high ratings on cable TV for their expertise in financial advice and public affairs.

• In government, gay congressman Barney Frank, chair of the Financial Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, has taken a leadership role in efforts to deal with the current economic turmoil.

• In sports, Matthew Mitcham of Australia, the only openly gay athlete at the Beijing Olympics, won the gold medal in the 10 meter platform diving event.

• Locally, the Kalamazoo City Commission is in the process of considering an amendment to its human rights ordinance that, if adopted, would include protection for LGBT people in housing, employment, and public accommodations.

• And then there’s Ellen whose immensely popular TV talk show continues to command high ratings even in light of her recent highly publicized marriage to her partner, Portia de Rossi.

But still, all across the nation, our enemies continue their relentless attacks on us and our families:

• Nationwide, voters in Arizona, California, and Florida voted this month to amend their state constitutions to prohibit gay marriage. The Florida prohibition went even further, barring civil unions and other family protections as well.

• Voters in Arkansas amended their state constitution to insure that single people and unmarried couples (that would be us) cannot adopt children.

• In response to the fact that 2007 was “one of the most violent years on record of assaults on transgender people” the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force launched a comprehensive national survey to collect data on discrimination against members of the transgender community.

• In Michigan, the state Supreme Court ruled that an Appeals Court was correct when it determined that the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, adopted by Michigan voters in 2004, also forbids local units of government and state universities from offering health care benefits to the domestic partners of their gay and lesbian employees.

• In Kalamazoo, a group of homophobes erected a billboard citing a passage from the book of Leviticus to condemn homosexuality.

• Overall, Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew Shepard, reflecting on the tenth anniversary of her son’s death, noted on the Matthew Shepard Foundation website that “much work is left to do to make the world an accepting place,” and she sadly headlined her statement “Ten Years of Change—No Progress.”

Given the melancholy circumstance in which she wrote, we can perhaps forgive Ms. Shepard’s disappointed hyperbole. Clearly, despite bitter disappointments, there has been progress in the past ten years as more and more people have come out and proudly and publically lived their lives as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. But equally clearly we have not yet succeeded in creating a community that celebrates the diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Much work is left to do”— in Ms. Shepard’s Wyoming, around the nation, in Michigan, and here in Kalamazoo—and local organizations such as the Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center are still needed to lead the push to full equality.

• In the 215 days during which the Resource Center has been open during 2008 some 131 people have e-mailed, phoned, or visited seeking information about their rights, or where to get needed services, or where to find comfort to deal with painful circumstances.

• We have organized some 15 speakers’ panels that have spoken in area schools to some 550 individuals.

• Members of our youth group have met 42 times, attended live theatre performances in the community, and participated in Kalamazoo Pride ’08, Michigan Pride, and “gay” day at Cedar Point.

• Members of Trans∙cend , including transgender individuals, their friends and allies from all over southern Michigan and northern Indiana, have met 19 times.

• Dozens of visitors have drawn hundreds of books, DVDs, or videos from our library.

• We have sponsored book reading events; appearances by Suzanne Westenhoefer, Holly Near, and Dr. John Corvino; and receptions to honor our donors and volunteers and to dedicate our new David Bohnett CyberCenter.

• We have participated in diversity fairs around town and in events organized to welcome students returning to K College, KVCC, and WMU.

• We have cooperated with colleagues from all over the community, assisted Gryphon Place and the Office of LBGT Student Services at Western, and led the effort to produce Kalamazoo Pride ’08.

• We have sought to keep the community informed through our website, our weekly e-digests, and quarterly issues of the Resource Center News.

All of this has happened because people in the greater Kalamazoo community have made it happen by giving generously of their time and treasure. Were it not for volunteers, we could not function. Were it not for the financial support of folks like you, we could not afford to function.

At this time of year—through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day—we give thanks for the blessings we have received in the past and resolve to improve what we hope to be able to control in the future. Won’t you join us in celebrating what we have accomplished? Won’t you help us work for a better future? Despite occasional obstacles and setbacks full equality in the future is ours if we want it badly enough to work for it hard enough. Please join us in the struggle! Please be as generous as you can!

Thank you for all you do to help the cause! Thank you for your support!

Thomas H. Seiler, President

Board of Directors

P.S. Lest we focus too much on recent losses, it should be noted that on November 4^th the citizens of Connecticut refused to call a constitutional convention that opponents of gay marriage had hoped to use to overturn a Connecticut Supreme Court ruling that allowed same-sex couples to marry. On the same day, voters across the country elected a friend of the lgbt community President of the United States. We have been set back! We have not been defeated!