Letters to the Editor
Open
Letter
Dear Community Members and friends at the Vermont Unity Project,
We are writing to offer our deep and
sincere thanks for the many hours of hard work put in by the staff and
volunteers of the Vermont Unity Project and its host institutions, the
Vermont Community Foundation and the Samara Foundation. $200,000 has now
been granted to support LGBTQ organizing across the State of Vermont benefiting
groups both large and small. Facilitating this tremendous outpouring of
community support is no small task and we are honored to have been among
the beneficiaries of such generosity.
Our four organizations, Mountain
Pride Media, Outright Vermont, R.U.1.2? Queer Community Center and SafeSpace,
used Vermont Unity Project funding as a great catalyst for building a
strategic, collaborative partnership. During the first year of grantmaking,
we were awarded a $12,000.00 grant to study the feasibility of bringing
our four organizations together in a closer relationship.
Each organization approached over
25 diverse stakeholders seeking feedback advice, reflection and wisdom
on the history of glbtq organizing in Vermont, the culture of our four
organizations, and their own vision of our future work. Our boards of
directors and staff actively participated in discussions ranging from
improving the effectiveness of programmatic collaboration, to joint fundraising
opportunities, to shared cooperative space to (at its most radical) full
merger of some or all of our organizations. In this way a feasibility
study was invaluable, allowing us to hear from distinct voices, explore
long-held assumptions, and gather insights that no one group could have
alone. The feasibility study process was rich and full of life with a
passionate commitment to our institutions from virtually everyone we spoke
with.
We know that the leaders of our four
organizations have come away from this process with a much deeper understanding
of the needs of our constituents and the ways in which our joint collaborations
can improve our success at meeting our missions and reaching our goals.
All of us came away from the feasibility study process with a deep commitment
to continued work together to improve our individual effectiveness as
organizations and our joint work in partnership for lgbtq equality and
liberation.
While we are certainly disappointed
that our strategic partnership grant proposal was not funded for a second
year by the Vermont Unity Project, by no means does this end our work
together. All four of our organizations were awarded individual Unity
Project program grants and there are additional foundations that we may
approach in the future to continue the work we began with last year’s
feasibility study. In the meantime we will continue to meet, strategize
and act to ensure that we are providing the best possible organizing,
education, advocacy, information, social and direct services to lgbtq
Vermonters.
A link to the finished feasibility
study, written by BHC Consulting, an independent firm, can be found on
the website of R.U.1.2? Queer Community Center (www.ru12.org).
We encourage all of our friends and neighbors to read the report and call
us with any questions, feedback or suggestions for next steps. Thank you
again to the staff and volunteers of the Vermont Unity Project. Your work
has borne much fruit and we appreciate all that you have done for lgbtq
Vermonters.
Brian Cote,
Mountain Pride Media
Kate Jerman,
Outright Vermont
Christopher Kaufman,
R.U.1.2? Queer Community Center
Kara DeLeonardis,
SafeSpace
Katrina Benefit
100% of the proceeds of my CD 3
Wishes will go to the American Red Cross. Along with many other artists,
we have set up a page: www.cdbaby.com.
So ya'll please buy lots of CDs cause 100% will go to American Red Cross
to help the good people of New Orleans. Go to cdbaby.com, then click on
the charity link.
I have friends there and do not know
how they are doing. There is no communication. The people of New Orleans
are some of the finest I have ever met. New Orleans was my home fer awhile.
When I lived there I worked as a deck hand on the famous delta queen.
So ya see I got a soft spot, wish I could donate a million bucks but fer
now if ya'll could buy music off the charity list of musicians at cdbaby.com...
or stephpappas.com
and hit my "disc" page, then that would be totally awesome!
Peace & love,
Cowboy Pappas
Burlington
Lesbian America the Beautiful
I am at this moment listening to Rev.
George W. Bush lead the singing of "America the Beautiful" following
his speech to the assembled in the National Cathedral in DC.
I found it very fascinating that this
song — perhaps the most beloved of all of America's patriotic songs,
was written by Katharine Lee Bates, the lesbian who wrote the words in
her room at the Antlers Hotel in Colorado Springs, after returning from
a climb to the top of Pike's Peak just west of that community —
has become useful to someone like George W. Bush. And, I wish I had some
power to keep him from using it!! Grrr!! It is too good for him!
How can the lgbtq community ensure
that the incongruity of Bush singing Bates' song at his prayer service
and also striving to ensure that American citizens like this giufted lesbian
cannot marry whomever they love, is brought to the attention of the people
of the USA?
Bob Wolff
Randolph
CORRECTION
In an item in last month's Rest of the World on Iran's executions of teenagers
for homosexuality and an allegedly bogus charge of rape, we wrote that
the NGLTF and HRC had posted items on the situation on their websites.
A representative of the NGLTF called us to insist that the group had never
posted any such item, although she offered no documentation. If the item
was in error, then we apologize for the error.
At Witt's End by Leah Wittenberg
