Monday, January 31, 2011

The Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell = huge voctory for the United States and the LGBT community

As you may be aware, Congress voted to repeal the military’s discriminatory policy of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) in late December and President Obama quickly signed the repeal into law. We apologize for this delayed reaction—we’ve all been very busy here at PFY—but we couldn’t let this news pass by without acknowledging how enormously significant this legislation is to LGBT youth on Long Island, LGBT people everywhere, and really, everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation. Young people enlist in the military for many different reasons—to serve their country, for financial opportunity, and to further their education and/or career. LGBT’s have always been part of the military, but they have served at a terrible price. They had to hide their identity, their marriages, their families and their relationships from others due to a policy of exclusion. They were subjected to entrapment, threats, discharge without honor or benefits, physical attacks, and even murders because of the military’s hostile attitude toward them. The vote to repeal DADT does not go into immediate effect; the military is currently working out how to implement “integration” of LGBT personnel. But the policy will be gone very soon, and LGBT youth will be able to take advantage of the opportunities the military provides, with equal access, for the first time in U.S. history. In President Obama’s words, “By ending ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ no longer will our nation be denied the service of thousands of patriotic Americans forced to leave the military, despite years of exemplary performance, because they happen to be gay. And no longer will many thousands more be asked to live a lie in order to serve the country they love.” This is a moment in history and a huge celebration for the LGBT community and our allies. For more information, The Huffington Post published this great article regarding the repeal. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/18/dont-ask-dont-tell-repeal_5_n_798636.html

Friday, January 28, 2011

Mpowerment in Action: Our first MGroup!! By Galo Cunto

Mpowerment has an exciting event coming up on Wednesday, February 2nd: our first MGroup!! MGroups are dynamic, single, discussion-based sessions that literally save young men’s lives. They do this by providing medically-accurate, gay sex-specific information and the chance to role play critical scenarios that commonly come up in our lives. In Mgroup, we discuss topics that aren’t openly talked about in school and even beyond school. In health class, you may learn about sex and sexuality but always in terms of non-gay sex and relationships. Furthermore, our parents may not have the answers to the questions that we have about sex, and—let’s face it—it’s hard enough coming out, let alone talking to mom or dad about sex with your boyfriend. The Mgroup is our place to get educated about what’s relevant to us, ask questions (nothing is out of bounds) and learn how to have a better, healthier dating and/or sexual relationship. The Mgroup is also an opportunity for guys to meet, get to know each other, make friends and learn from each other. Questions are posed that open up amazing dialogue between guys regarding their experiences with dating and sex. Then, we role play tough situations. How do you negotiate safe sex with a partner who insists on not using a condom? What if this partner is someone you just met? What if it’s your boyfriend? What if one or both of you have been drinking or using drugs? How do you talk to a friend whose sexual behavior is putting him at risk? Many of us have been in these situations and sometimes we’re too embarrassed to talk about it or afraid of hurting someone else’s feelings. MGroup is a safe place to work these things out, realistically and without judgment. HIV has plagued the gay community for over 30 years, and it’s apparent that it will be around for some years to come. The best tools we have to combat HIV are education and positive attitudes toward safer sex. This is why the Mgroup is so powerful. Participants leave the group empowered with education and thinking positively about how they can lead their lives as gay men—including dating and relationships—with pride, confidence, health and wellness. As graduates, they leave the group with a big responsibility: take what they have learned to their friends so that more men think about the choices that they make. So if you have 10 guys in a group, and each of them talk to at least 2 other people, you have actually helped 30 gay men lead healthier lives. Participating in MGroup is a way to help the whole community, and it’s not your typical safe sex lecture. We make it a lot of fun! If you want to join the MGroup on February 2nd (5:00-8:00PM, 2050 Bellmore Ave., Bellmore, NY 11710), contact me to register: GCunto@longislandcrisiscenter.org or (516) 679-9000, ext. 123 or you can also get connected through our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/mpowermentLi. Just ask to friend us!! (MGroup is for guys 17-24 only)

Monday, January 24, 2011

Need Money for College? Two Opportunities for LGBT students by Andy Peters

Of course you do. Who doesn’t? Beyond the academic achievement-based scholarships, tuition assistance programs, and government grants available to any qualifying student, LGBT youth should know about two scholarships specifically dedicated to helping them further their education. The Bill Borman Memorial Scholarship will award $3,000 to a local college-bound high school senior, recent graduate (G.E.D. is Ok) or current college student for the 2011/2012 year. The selection committee is looking for openly LGBT students who have shown leadership and community service in the area of LGBT rights and/or HIV/AIDS. Past winners include PFY alumna Julie Kaer who advocated within the agency for more transgender education and support and was active at Coffeehouse and at Nassau Community College’s P.R.I.D.E. student group. The website: http://billbormanfund.org will give you more information about this opportunity as well as the downloadable application. The application deadline is March 17, 2011. Live Out Loud will provide four college-bound students with scholarships of $2,500 each this year. According to its website: http://livoutloud.info, the scholarships will go to LGBT students who have a strong capacity to “Live Out Loud” and who demonstrate leadership skills in their school and in their community. Live Out Loud is based in NYC, but the competition is open throughout the metro area and they have awarded scholarships to Long Island students in the past. PFY alumni and former peer educator Nelson Rodriguez is a past winner for having started his high school’s first-ever Gay/Straight Alliance and educating students, faculty and adults who work with youth about homophobia. Live Out Loud scholarship winners are treated to a sleek reception in Manhattan (last year’s event was hosted by Alan Cumming). If you’re planning on going to college next year and active at an LGBT organization or at your school’s GSA, you’re a great candidate for both of these awards. If you’re not yet a senior, here’s another reason to get involved in LGBT activism: being active can pay off. Start building up a portfolio of things you’ve done in your school and your community. It will put you in position for LGBT scholarship money AND help your college applications. Send questions or comments to: AJPeters@longislandcrisiscenter.org.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Reflection on the past year at Pride for Youth by Jill Estes

As the new year begins we like to look back at the past year and see our good times and accomplishments. 2010 was a huge year for Pride for Youth. We were packed full of events and awards alongside the wide array of services that we always provide for LGBT youth here on Long Island. We had a lot of good times, had many triumphs and saw history change before our eyes. Any non-profit agency has to do their full part in fundraising. The same is true here at Pride for Youth. This year we were very fortunate to build solid partnerships to help us with this funding effort. May 1st we partnered up with the Long Island Pride Chorus for fundraiser at Kelli’s Bar and Grille in Bellmore, a huge supporter of Pride for Youth. Then in October we were back at Kelli’s with the amazing support of two very talented musicians, Marcy Lang and A. J. Shanti who entranced the crowd with their music helping raise over $1500. Another great partnership built this year was with the Bellmore Production of Rent, who came in to speak to our youth at Coffeehouse and raised over $1000 for the agency while their play was running. A former participant put up a production of his own play, Sticky Tags and Black Sharpies to benefit Pride for Youth. Pride for Youth is very grateful to have received the Paul Rapoport grant of $50,000, the largest contribution to date. We were also very grateful to have received a 5 year grant from The New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute, which has given us the opportunity to extend our services even further into the community. All of this funding is essential for the services we provide in our community. We hit the road a lot this year as well. On March 15th we took our dedicated group of peer educators up to Albany for the annual youth leadership conference sponsored by Family Planning Advocates (FPA) of New York State. In June over 100 kids joined us marching in the annual Long Island Pride Parade. Following that parade there were performances on stage in the park where a few of our talented kids had the opportunity to perform. In July we rounded up 16 of our youth for our annual camping trip in the Boston/Cape Cod area. Very strong friendships were built and a lot of fun was had by all. There were a few awards won as well. Pride for Youth won the Auntie M’s Helping Hands Community service award for Outstanding GLBT organization. Pride for Youth also won Best Organization at the Annual Outlook Awards. We were also recognized by the Empire State Pride Agenda for leading the way to safer schools for LGBT youth vis-à-vis advocacy for New York State’s Dignity for All Students Act. Many more exciting things happened this year at Pride for Youth. Pride for Youth hosted our very first Family Night, giving the families of our participants the opportunity to get to know the agency a little better. Our participant, Britney, produced a showing of the hit play Dog Sees God right here at Coffeehouse. Also we were happy to hire a new round of Program Leaders who have been working hard to educate their peers on deep issues that need attention. On behalf of all of us here at Pride for Youth we would like to thank every person and organization that helped us to strive in the community. Without the help we would not be able to provide the wide array of services that make us an important support for the LGBT community on Long Island.