Annual memorial service tonight at Georgia State Capitol
The Atlanta chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence has set up a fund and help line to find emergency shelter for LGBT homeless youth in Atlanta who are not able to locate immediate housing through other resources, such as shelters and LGBT youth agencies.
The phone numbers, up and running now and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, are 678-8-LOST-25, or 678-856-7825. A Facebook page for the Saint Lost and Found fund has also been created and a website, www.saintlostandfound.org is expected to be live later this week.
At a packed town hall forum Wednesday night at the Phillip Rush Center, gay activist Rick Westbrook, also known as Sister Rapture Divine Cox, announced he and other Sisters were forming the Saint Lost and Found fund to accept private donations to help LGBT homeless youth find a place to sleep and eat when other local resources are not immediately available. Westbrook also does community outreach for Positive Impact.
Grassroots effort underway to find emergency shelter for Atlanta LGBT homeless youth
Frustration and anger with the mayor and police chief were expressed by several citizens at the Atlanta Police LGBT advisory group's community meeting on Wednesday as they discussed the 2009 Atlanta Eagle raid and the seemingly unending fallout from it.
About 30 people, including several police officers and representatives of Mayor Kasim Reed's staff, attended the meeting held at St. Mark United Methodist Church in Midtown. No formal action was taken by the police LGBT advisory board other than to state they are requesting separate meetings with Mayor Kasim Reed and Chief George Turner, to be held within the next two weeks.
The citizen board also plans to send a letter to each seeking answers to questions including why more officers were not fired after scathing investigations showed officers did not follow procedures when they raided the gay bar on Sept. 10, 2009.
All the people — citizens and LGBT advisory group members — who spoke at the community meeting expressed dismay that the city has taken nearly two years to take any action against the officers who lied, destroyed evidence, and violated the civil rights of the roughly 62 patrons in the bar the night it was raided.
Police LGBT advisory board: Atlanta mayor, police chief need to fire more officers in Eagle raid
Progress is being made under the Gold Dome in the fight for LGBT equality, but sometimes “it’s a slow process,” said Candace Campen, director of community affairs for state Rep. Karla Drenner. Campen made the comments at the second annual Atlanta event to honor International Day Against Homophobia on May 17.
Campen, who is also Drenner’s partner, went on to explain at the event held at Unity Fellowship Church that Drenner, who could not attend because she was teaching a class a DeVry, works hard on both sides of the aisle to build coalitions.
In the waning days of the last state legislative session, Drenner introduced the Georgia Fair Employment Practices Bill, HB 630. The bill currently has 70 sponsors and cosponsors, including 12 Republicans and one Independent, according to Georgia Equality. It would cover Georgia’s 174,000 state employees. Currently 21 states bar job discrimination against state employees based on sexual orientation, while 12 also ban job bias against state employees based on gender identity, Georgia Equality noted.
State Rep. Simone Bell (D-Atlanta), the second openly gay person elected to the Georgia legislature, spoke at today's "Rally for Truth" at the state Capitol and urged lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to join the fight against immigration bills HB 87 and SB 40.
"I am one of two out lesbians who serve in the state House. I stand here today in total solidarity with you," Bell said to a crowd of thousands who oppose the immigration bills because activists say they encourage racial profiling and divide families.
"If the state of Georgia can do this to our Latino brothers and sisters you know they will do the same thing to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people," Bell added. "I had the opportunity to vote no on HB 87. I really feel like immigration is an issue that is important to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. I think every law that takes place under the Gold Dome is important to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and I hope my community will come out and support us," said Bell, who is also the first out African-American lesbian elected to any state legislature in the country.
Redefining marriage by allowing gay couples to legally wed amounts to "genocide" and will lead to the "extinction" of the human race, the niece of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. argued on the steps of the Georgia Capitol today.
LGBT counter-protesters met National Organization for Marriage at Georgia capitol
Needs survey is first step to Atlanta LGBT center