HUMAN FAMILY Reunion!
When: Sunday, September 25, 2016
Where: Coonskin Park, Shelter 18
Time: 3 P.M – 5:30 P.M.
What to bring: Potluck dish to share, your own beverage
Provided: Hot dogs (kosher), hamburgers, veggie burgers, buns, chili, cole slaw, mustard, ketchup, relish, ice, eating utensils and paper products
What is this event about?: If you have a passion for advocating for the continued protection of rights for minority and marginalized members of our community, then this event is for you! It is a time to meet your neighbors in the greater Charleston area who share your same passions and concerns as we gather to celebrate unity, equality, and diversity. We strongly encourage members of faith communities and non-profit advocacy groups to attend this event as we support one another and forge new friendships.
RSVP: For planning purposes, please let us know if you are coming. Just send an e-mail message to [email protected]. Thank you!
This event is FREE!
When: Sunday, September 25, 2016
Where: Coonskin Park, Shelter 18
Time: 3 P.M – 5:30 P.M.
What to bring: Potluck dish to share, your own beverage
Provided: Hot dogs (kosher), hamburgers, veggie burgers, buns, chili, cole slaw, mustard, ketchup, relish, ice, eating utensils and paper products
What is this event about?: If you have a passion for advocating for the continued protection of rights for minority and marginalized members of our community, then this event is for you! It is a time to meet your neighbors in the greater Charleston area who share your same passions and concerns as we gather to celebrate unity, equality, and diversity. We strongly encourage members of faith communities and non-profit advocacy groups to attend this event as we support one another and forge new friendships.
RSVP: For planning purposes, please let us know if you are coming. Just send an e-mail message to [email protected]. Thank you!
This event is FREE!
SAGA - Local, State & International Connections
SAGA has connected with The Counseling Connection (TCC)! The Counseling Connection has been serving people in the Greater Kanawha Valley since 1929, starting out in the basement of St. John’s Episcopal Church. In 1979, at the request of the local United Way Board of Directors, The Counseling Connection merged with the Sexual Assault Information Center. The merger brought one staff person, funded by the VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America.) The Counseling Connection Board made a commitment to the United Way Board and to the community to expand treatment services from rape victims to include other sexual abuse issues, incest and non-familial sexual assault / abuse and Domestic Violence.
Over the past couple of months, SAGA has been networking with a representative from the Americorps / WV Child Welfare Transitions Project to explore ways to provide support for WV GLBT homeless youth and WV GLBT foster youth who are aging out of the foster care system.
Step By Step Project / PRIDE Duhove Kosice - The director of PRIDE Duhove Kosice has been meeting with various GLBT organizations during his stay in WV. He is particularly interested in organizing a grass-roots movement in Czechoslovakia to promote GLBT rights and acceptance. He will remain in contact with SAGA following his return to Czechoslovakia. As part of the conversation, we discussed the possibility of networking via internet and other social media as a way to heighten awareness of local GLBT organizations and resources. We will most likely engage some of the members of local high school GSA’s to help with review of proposed content and appropriate links for the site. Another local organization that may be tapped for support is the Slovakia Sister City Project.
Flags Installed at St. John's
The Gay Pride flag and the Episcopal flag were installed Monday, May 18th, 2015 on the Quarrier Street side of St. John's Parish Hall.
Several months ago Rev. Canon Donald Vinson suggested that St. John's visibly display a symbol of the inclusive tradition at the church. SAGA went to work, researched the costs and mechanics of installation, and submitted a proposal to the church vestry. The vestry approved the project (funded by SAGA), in April 2015. The Gay Pride flag is in memory of Margaret Lindsay (co-founder) and Judy Lewis, long-time supporter and treasurer of SAGA.
Photo by Bob Rosier
See Also: http://www.charlestondailymail.com/article/20150521/DM06/150529780/1281
SAGA Prepares for World AIDS Day
November, 2015 - SAGA will be distributing 1,000 prayer cards in recognition of the World AIDS Day commemoration on December 1. Prayer cards and adhesive red ribbons will be provided to a variety of places of worship in or near downtown Charleston. The prayer, written by Rev. Kent Higgins, is as follows:
A Prayer for World AIDS Day 2015
Holy One, we remember those who have died from AIDS, and honor
those who live with it, and we are thankful for people who focus on the
cure and treatment of this harsh disease. Their efforts have extended and
enriched the lives of many.
We are also grateful for the friends and families of the victims of AIDS
who have taken up their care, including especially those which were
reconciled as love overcame prejudice. We pray that families yet divided
may find the way to love one another, so that despite the burden of AIDS,
none of your children die excluded from human love.
Bind us to one another in common humanity while we live, and bring us
into your presence when we pass from this life to that place where disease
is conquered and pain relieved. We ask this in the name of the One who
loves us all. Amen
The Gay Pride flag and the Episcopal flag were installed Monday, May 18th, 2015 on the Quarrier Street side of St. John's Parish Hall.
Several months ago Rev. Canon Donald Vinson suggested that St. John's visibly display a symbol of the inclusive tradition at the church. SAGA went to work, researched the costs and mechanics of installation, and submitted a proposal to the church vestry. The vestry approved the project (funded by SAGA), in April 2015. The Gay Pride flag is in memory of Margaret Lindsay (co-founder) and Judy Lewis, long-time supporter and treasurer of SAGA.
Photo by Bob Rosier
See Also: http://www.charlestondailymail.com/article/20150521/DM06/150529780/1281
SAGA Prepares for World AIDS Day
November, 2015 - SAGA will be distributing 1,000 prayer cards in recognition of the World AIDS Day commemoration on December 1. Prayer cards and adhesive red ribbons will be provided to a variety of places of worship in or near downtown Charleston. The prayer, written by Rev. Kent Higgins, is as follows:
A Prayer for World AIDS Day 2015
Holy One, we remember those who have died from AIDS, and honor
those who live with it, and we are thankful for people who focus on the
cure and treatment of this harsh disease. Their efforts have extended and
enriched the lives of many.
We are also grateful for the friends and families of the victims of AIDS
who have taken up their care, including especially those which were
reconciled as love overcame prejudice. We pray that families yet divided
may find the way to love one another, so that despite the burden of AIDS,
none of your children die excluded from human love.
Bind us to one another in common humanity while we live, and bring us
into your presence when we pass from this life to that place where disease
is conquered and pain relieved. We ask this in the name of the One who
loves us all. Amen
West Virginia Legalizes Gay Marriage!
Same-sex marriage became legal in West Virginia on October 9, 2014, when the attorney general announced he would no longer defend the state's ban on same-sex marriage in court and the governor directed all state agencies to comply with recent federal court rulings that established the state's ban was unconstitutional.
A Call for Acceptance: The Bible & Homosexuality
Matthew Vines is an advocate for the acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people within Christian communities and in society at large.
In March 2012, Matthew delivered a speech at a church in his hometown about the Bible and homosexuality, calling for acceptance of gay Christians and their marriage relationships. Since then, the video of the speech has been seen more than 500,000 times on YouTube.
The video of his speech you are about to see is approximately 1 hour and 7 minutes in length. Set aside some time so that you may watch it in its entirety, without any interruptions (Yeah, that means turn off your cell phone and stay off Facebook too!). You will be very glad that you did!
http://www.matthewvines.com/
More from Matthew
"Don't Give Up on Christian Gays": http://www.advocate.com/op-ed/2012/05/01/opinion-do-not-give-christian-gays
"Why I Left College and Spent Two Years Finding Out What the Scriptures Really Say": http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-vines/bible-homosexuality_b_1378368.html
In March 2012, Matthew delivered a speech at a church in his hometown about the Bible and homosexuality, calling for acceptance of gay Christians and their marriage relationships. Since then, the video of the speech has been seen more than 500,000 times on YouTube.
The video of his speech you are about to see is approximately 1 hour and 7 minutes in length. Set aside some time so that you may watch it in its entirety, without any interruptions (Yeah, that means turn off your cell phone and stay off Facebook too!). You will be very glad that you did!
http://www.matthewvines.com/
More from Matthew
"Don't Give Up on Christian Gays": http://www.advocate.com/op-ed/2012/05/01/opinion-do-not-give-christian-gays
"Why I Left College and Spent Two Years Finding Out What the Scriptures Really Say": http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-vines/bible-homosexuality_b_1378368.html
One Today
One Today
By Richard Blanco
One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores, peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth
across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.
One light, waking up rooftops, under each one, a story
told by our silent gestures moving behind windows.
My face, your face, millions of faces in morning’s mirrors,
each one yawning to life, crescendoing into our day:
pencil-yellow school buses, the rhythm of traffic lights,
fruit stands: apples, limes, and oranges arrayed like rainbows
begging our praise. Silver trucks heavy with oil or paper--
bricks or milk, teeming over highways alongside us,
on our way to clean tables, read ledgers, or save lives--
to teach geometry, or ring-up groceries as my mother did
for twenty years, so I could write this poem.
All of us as vital as the one light we move through,
the same light on blackboards with lessons for the day:
equations to solve, history to question, or atoms imagined,
the “I have a dream” we keep dreaming,
or the impossible vocabulary of sorrow that won’t explain
the empty desks of twenty children marked absent
today, and forever. Many prayers, but one light
breathing color into stained glass windows,
life into the faces of bronze statues, warmth
onto the steps of our museums and park benches
as mothers watch children slide into the day.
One ground. Our ground, rooting us to every stalk
of corn, every head of wheat sown by sweat
and hands, hands gleaning coal or planting windmills
in deserts and hilltops that keep us warm, hands
digging trenches, routing pipes and cables, hands
as worn as my father’s cutting sugarcane
so my brother and I could have books and shoes.
The dust of farms and deserts, cities and plains
mingled by one wind—our breath. Breathe. Hear it
through the day’s gorgeous din of honking cabs,
buses launching down avenues, the symphony
of footsteps, guitars, and screeching subways,
the unexpected song bird on your clothes line.
Hear: squeaky playground swings, trains whistling,
or whispers across café tables, Hear: the doors we open
for each other all day, saying: hello, shalom,
buon giorno, howdy, namaste, or buenos días
in the language my mother taught me—in every language
spoken into one wind carrying our lives
without prejudice, as these words break from my lips.
One sky: since the Appalachians and Sierras claimed
their majesty, and the Mississippi and Colorado worked
their way to the sea. Thank the work of our hands:
weaving steel into bridges, finishing one more report
for the boss on time, stitching another wound
or uniform, the first brush stroke on a portrait,
or the last floor on the Freedom Tower jutting
into a sky that yields to our resilience.
One sky, toward which we sometimes lift our eyes
tired from work: some days guessing at the weather
of our lives, some days giving thanks for a love
that loves you back, sometimes praising a mother
who knew how to give, or forgiving a father
who couldn’t give what you wanted.
We head home: through the gloss of rain or weight
of snow, or the plum blush of dusk, but always—home,
always under one sky, our sky. And always one moon
like a silent drum tapping on every rooftop
and every window, of one country—all of us--
facing the stars
hope—a new constellation
waiting for us to map it,
waiting for us to name
it—together
Note: “One Today” was the official presidential inaugural poem, January 21, 2013. Upon accepting an award from PEN in 2006, Richard Blanco described his effort in Directions to the Beach of the Dead.
"I am interested in the complex ways in which memory, landscape, and imagination collide and blend to form a sense of place or home. I am fascinated by the notion that we are three-dimensional beings who constantly live in the
context of place; everything we experience and feel is located in some particular space. As a writer I attempt to recreate a tangible realm of tactile images and details, but must also acknowledge that in some respects place is a human construct, an unreachable ideal that is ultimately indeterminable, and thus the subject of art. These are some of the concerns I am most engaged with now in my quest to understand the measurable, as well as immeasurable, qualities of the world and my place in it. And although home may never be more than a myth just out of reach, an invisible city just outside my window, or a place between the lines of my poems, I endeavor, through poetry, to celebrate the mortal spirit seeking the ideal of home and the essential beauty of that journey."
By Richard Blanco
One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores, peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth
across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.
One light, waking up rooftops, under each one, a story
told by our silent gestures moving behind windows.
My face, your face, millions of faces in morning’s mirrors,
each one yawning to life, crescendoing into our day:
pencil-yellow school buses, the rhythm of traffic lights,
fruit stands: apples, limes, and oranges arrayed like rainbows
begging our praise. Silver trucks heavy with oil or paper--
bricks or milk, teeming over highways alongside us,
on our way to clean tables, read ledgers, or save lives--
to teach geometry, or ring-up groceries as my mother did
for twenty years, so I could write this poem.
All of us as vital as the one light we move through,
the same light on blackboards with lessons for the day:
equations to solve, history to question, or atoms imagined,
the “I have a dream” we keep dreaming,
or the impossible vocabulary of sorrow that won’t explain
the empty desks of twenty children marked absent
today, and forever. Many prayers, but one light
breathing color into stained glass windows,
life into the faces of bronze statues, warmth
onto the steps of our museums and park benches
as mothers watch children slide into the day.
One ground. Our ground, rooting us to every stalk
of corn, every head of wheat sown by sweat
and hands, hands gleaning coal or planting windmills
in deserts and hilltops that keep us warm, hands
digging trenches, routing pipes and cables, hands
as worn as my father’s cutting sugarcane
so my brother and I could have books and shoes.
The dust of farms and deserts, cities and plains
mingled by one wind—our breath. Breathe. Hear it
through the day’s gorgeous din of honking cabs,
buses launching down avenues, the symphony
of footsteps, guitars, and screeching subways,
the unexpected song bird on your clothes line.
Hear: squeaky playground swings, trains whistling,
or whispers across café tables, Hear: the doors we open
for each other all day, saying: hello, shalom,
buon giorno, howdy, namaste, or buenos días
in the language my mother taught me—in every language
spoken into one wind carrying our lives
without prejudice, as these words break from my lips.
One sky: since the Appalachians and Sierras claimed
their majesty, and the Mississippi and Colorado worked
their way to the sea. Thank the work of our hands:
weaving steel into bridges, finishing one more report
for the boss on time, stitching another wound
or uniform, the first brush stroke on a portrait,
or the last floor on the Freedom Tower jutting
into a sky that yields to our resilience.
One sky, toward which we sometimes lift our eyes
tired from work: some days guessing at the weather
of our lives, some days giving thanks for a love
that loves you back, sometimes praising a mother
who knew how to give, or forgiving a father
who couldn’t give what you wanted.
We head home: through the gloss of rain or weight
of snow, or the plum blush of dusk, but always—home,
always under one sky, our sky. And always one moon
like a silent drum tapping on every rooftop
and every window, of one country—all of us--
facing the stars
hope—a new constellation
waiting for us to map it,
waiting for us to name
it—together
Note: “One Today” was the official presidential inaugural poem, January 21, 2013. Upon accepting an award from PEN in 2006, Richard Blanco described his effort in Directions to the Beach of the Dead.
"I am interested in the complex ways in which memory, landscape, and imagination collide and blend to form a sense of place or home. I am fascinated by the notion that we are three-dimensional beings who constantly live in the
context of place; everything we experience and feel is located in some particular space. As a writer I attempt to recreate a tangible realm of tactile images and details, but must also acknowledge that in some respects place is a human construct, an unreachable ideal that is ultimately indeterminable, and thus the subject of art. These are some of the concerns I am most engaged with now in my quest to understand the measurable, as well as immeasurable, qualities of the world and my place in it. And although home may never be more than a myth just out of reach, an invisible city just outside my window, or a place between the lines of my poems, I endeavor, through poetry, to celebrate the mortal spirit seeking the ideal of home and the essential beauty of that journey."
Richard Blanco
Washington, D.C. – Richard Blanco delivered his poem, "One Today," (see above) at the Second Inaugural Swearing-in Ceremony of President Barack Obama on the threshold of a new era for the descendants of the Stonewall Uprising of 1969. Gay people make a great stride forward today with our poet leading the way: the youngest Inaugural Poet in the nation’s history, a Cuban-American, and an openly gay man. With this groundbreaking cultural and literary event, Richard Blanco, at the behest of President Obama, has inaugurated a new dignity and impetus for LGBTQ Americans, and ushers us along the path to becoming a People: diverse, empowered, graced, and maturing into the full equality of national citizenship. This is one step in a long journey, and no one must be fooled into a sense of ease or rest on a bed of laurels. But nonetheless we have lived to hear the voice of Our People ring out openly and unhindered across the great mall of the National City, and we have every right and reason to be proud. Gracias, querido Richard! Muchísimas gracias!
Source: http://unfinishedlivesblog.com/2013/01/
Source: http://unfinishedlivesblog.com/2013/01/
Free Quit Smoking Class for
LGBT Smokers
Free quit smoking classes for LGBT smokers are available at Covenant House in Charleston, WV.
For more information please call 304-344-8053 Ext. 24.
BULLY
Bully: An Action Plan for Teachers, Parents, and Communities to Combat the Bullying Crisis [Paperback]Lee Hirsch (Author), Cynthia Lowen (Author), Dina Santorelli (Contributor) is now available for purchase at Amazon.com for $10.87. Publication Date: September 25, 2012
Book Description:
A companion book to the acclaimed documentary film that inspired a national conversation, BULLY is packed with information and resources for teachers, parents, and anyone who cares about the more than 13 million children who will be bullied in the United States this year. From commentary about life after BULLY by the filmmakers and the families in the film, to the story of how Katy Butler’s petition campaign helped defeat the MPAA’s “R” rating, BULLY takes the story of the film beyond the closing credits. Celebrity contributions combine with essays from experts, authors, government officials, and educators to offer powerful insights and concrete steps to take, making the book an essential part of an action plan to combat the bullying epidemic in America.
Learn More at www.thebullyproject.com
Book Description:
A companion book to the acclaimed documentary film that inspired a national conversation, BULLY is packed with information and resources for teachers, parents, and anyone who cares about the more than 13 million children who will be bullied in the United States this year. From commentary about life after BULLY by the filmmakers and the families in the film, to the story of how Katy Butler’s petition campaign helped defeat the MPAA’s “R” rating, BULLY takes the story of the film beyond the closing credits. Celebrity contributions combine with essays from experts, authors, government officials, and educators to offer powerful insights and concrete steps to take, making the book an essential part of an action plan to combat the bullying epidemic in America.
Learn More at www.thebullyproject.com