Equality Iowa

Coffee and Connections Open House September 15th.

Come Join us as we showcase The Center’s new Business Cards, Brochures, and more.

We have FREE food, drinks and so much more.

Now is a great time to learn about The Center and we we do for the LGBT community and what we can do for you!

1300 Locust

Des Moines, Iowa 50309

515-243-0313

http://www.sos.state.ia.us/pdfs/IowaVotes/VoterBillofRights.pdf

As an Iowa citizen, you have the right to
1. Ask questions.
2. Request a ballot and vote if you are:
Registered to vote;
18 years of age or older;
A resident of Iowa;
A United States citizen.
3. Review a sample ballot before voting.
4. Vote in an accessible voting place.
Virtually all Iowa precincts are accessible. However, if you cannot get inside the polling place because it is not accessible, two precinct workers will bring a ballot to your vehicle. They may also help you mark the ballot, but only if you ask them. You may want to call ahead or bring someone with you to tell the precinct workers that you need to vote in your car.
5. Mark your ballot privately and free from coercion or intimidation.
6. Receive assistance with voting in a polling place, if needed.
If you need help marking your ballot because of a disability, literacy or language barrier, any person you choose may help you except your employer or your employer’s agent or an officer or agent of your union.  If you want help from the precinct workers, one person from each political party will help you. If precinct workers assist you, you will need to sign a form showing that you requested help.
7. Vote a provisional or special ballot if your name is not on the voter registration list or if
there is another question about your qualifications to vote.
8. Receive a ballot if you are in line at the time the polls close. Polls close at 9:00 p.m. in most elections.
9. Request a new ballot if you made a mistake and have not already cast your ballot. You may receive up to three ballots before casting your ballot.
10. Have your ballot count if you cast it legally and in a timely manner.

As an Iowa citizen, you have the responsibility to
1. Register to vote at least 10 days before the election.
2. Vote in the polling place for the precinct where you live.
3. Respect the privacy and voting rights of others.
4. Treat election workers and other voters with courtesy and respect.
5. Have a form of identification with you when you go to the polls.
6. Read and follow instructions.
7. Ask for assistance if you need it.
8. Be informed about the candidates and issues on the ballot.
9. Follow all federal and state voting laws.
10. Review your ballot before casting it to ensure it is complete and correct.

Register to Vote

http://www.sos.state.ia.us/elections/voterreg/reg_to_vote.html

The Iowa Secretary of State has made the official voter registration available online in a pdf format. You may print this online form and fill it out by hand, please be sure to sign the form before you send it to your county auditor.

A recent Facebook post from a friend said, “I think I’m positive.” There was no need to ask what she meant. Since the virus that causes AIDS was discovered in 1985, the word ‘positive’ has come to have a double meaning that is anything but positive.

Despite huge breakthroughs in treatment, HIV remains incurable. Despite many years of prevention awareness and teaching, around 56,000 new cases are reported every year in this country alone.

This week the FDA approved a new HIV test that is far more sensitive than the current tests. Developed by Abbott Laboratories the test shows both HIV antigens and antibodies.  It shows positive results in the early “acute” infection, a stage when transmission is highest.  The new test is already being used in parts of Europe and will be available in the U.S. by next year.

This last Friday night as many as seventy five area youths gathered on the 1300 block between Locust and Grand for the Center’s first Teen Pride. The event included a drag show, a DJ and a potluck supper provided by the center volunteers.

Area youths gather for Teen Pride (left)

“Teen pride is important,” says Center director Sandy Volpalka, “To create a safe place for the kids to gather away from the influence of drugs and alcohol. It also showcases how important the kids are to the Center and the Gay community.”

Many of the kids echo Sandy’s concerns. “There just isn’t anywhere to meet other gay kids,” one complained, “the bars aren’t open to anyone under eighteen. I know,  like four other gay kids at my school and that’s it.”

The event was a joint effort between the Center and the Rainbow & Allied Youth group, which meets at the Center every Sunday night for 8 pm until 10 pm. We thank everyone whose efforts made the night a success. Without all the help of the volunteers, young and old alike, the Center would not be able to host such events.

The CENTER is hosting the first ever TEEN PRIDE event on Friday, June 11,2010, from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. There will be a teen drag show, a special guest performance by Champagne Showers at 7 p.m., live music, games,spin art, and tons of fun! The CENTER is located at 1300 Locust Street….Please plan to stop by and support our teens!

Help keep the Center open. We need money to pay for Rent, utilities and other basic operating costs. The center has a monthly budget of five thousand dollars a month. We are asking everyone who wants to keep the doors open to make a monthly donation of at least ten dollars. If we can find five hundred people willing to give this minimum amount we will be able to meet our goal.

On a Sunday night, at The Garden Nightclub in Des Moines, Iowa, over $1400 was raised for The Center, a resource center that serves the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans-gender, Questioning and Inter-sex
(LGBTQI) community of Central Iowa.

January 31st was the date, and the evening involved over 3 hours of entertainment for local favorites from the LGBTQI community such as The Gay Men’s Chorus, Champagne Showers, Coco Cabernet, Crystal Frost, Chloe Chardonnay, Stephanie Steele, Stinketta Beaverhausen and Mike Scoonover. The event was emceed by local personality Mike Miller.

The Center also used the event to honor DART bus driver Sherrie Taha. Taha made a crucial 911 call while on duty that helped save a man who was trapped outside in frigid temperatures with no shoes, socks, or coat. The timeliness of Taha’s call helped prevent the man from amputation.
Approximately 100 people attended the event, including Des Moines Mayor Frank Cowniee.

The Center is a resource center whose mission statement reads “The Center will provide a voice and visibility to the underserved and under-served LGBTQI community, their supporters, and families in Central Iowa, to work with progressive, supportive, and allied groups to strengthen all of our work.”

The Center has a facility that is open for group meetings of all kinds within the LGBTQI community. Current organizations that meet there are Progress Coalition of Central Iowa (PCCI), Women’s Cultural Collective (WCC), Transformations Iowa (Transgender Group), LBGT Aging, Dykes of the Roundtable (Women of Color), Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), TABU (Gay men of color), and Rainbow Youth and Allies (25 yrs and under). The Center is a safe place for support groups in the areas of coming out, transgender, bisexual, lesbian, LGBTQ Elders, and grief support.

Volunteers are encouraged and appreciated to contribute their time, thoughts, and monetary contributions to The Center, located at 1300 Locust St., Des Moines, Iowa 50309. Ph. # 515-243-0313. Thecenterdm@gmail.com, www.equalityiowa.org

The Center is a 501©3 non-profit organization. All donations are tax-deductible.

The Center’s Sunday night fundraiser at the Garden nightclub was a huge success. Between the donations at the door, the raffle and the silent auction the event raised just over 1,400 dollars. The money will help keep the Center doors open. It will pay for rent, utilities and other costs.

The Center would like to extended a huge thank you to all of the people who made the event possible, the performers (of course) the garden for providing it’ the space, the volunteers and all the donors.

Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie talks about the Center

Many within the gay community have written off Obama’s comments about repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) this year. Now Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has announced that he will lay the Pentagon’s plan for repealing the unpopular policy next Tuesday, at a Senate Committee hearing.

DADT prevents military officials from directly asking servicemen or women about their sexual orientation, but does not prevent the military from discharging gay servicemen and women. The policy, which was instituted over fifteen years ago, forces those members of LGBT community who wish to serve their country, to do so in silence. It has long been criticized by the gay community, and increasingly by members of the military command as well. High ranking Pentagon officials have complained, off the record, that it is a failed policy.

Now they may have their chance to speak more publicly. The plan laid out by Secretary Gates on Tuesday will not be ambitious. Speaking on CNN he said the Pentagon will move “very, very cautiously” in implementing the repeal. However, already the language is shifting from “if” the policy is repealed to “when”.

Martin Luther King once said, “The arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice.” For the many patriotic gay men and women who have served our country, and for those who still do, the arc of history is finally bending their direction.

(This was originally posted to my xanga site at: http://racheleliason.xanga.com/ )

At a party in October 2002, Gwen Araujo was “outed” as transgender. Discovering this young woman was not biologically female, three men tied her up, beat her repeatedly, strangled her and dumped the body miles away.

In august of 1995 a car accident turned fatal for Tyra Hunter. Discovering that she had male genitalia, EMT’s stopped caring for her and made crude jokes while she bled to death.

Robert Eads wouldn’t have turned any heads if he walked down the street. He was a man like any other, except that Robert had been born a girl. He still had ovaries, and he developed ovarian cancer. Over twenty doctors refused to treat his cancer because they did not want a transgender patient.

Early last year a good friend of mine decided that he had had one too many slights and assaults from a world that felt “she” should not be allowed to live “her” life as “she” truly was, a man. He was found hanging in his basement by his loving wife. His passing was devastating to all who knew him.

It is stories like this, and there are way too many to mention, that led Gwendolyn Ann Smith to found the first Transgender Day of Remembrance. The day memorializes all those who have died as a result of outright hatred, or simple callous disregard.

This fall the Des Moines LGBT community celebrated the day of remembrance at the state capitol for the first time. We gathered, we spoke our minds, and our hearts. The governor, Chet Chulver issued a proclamation recognizing the day. It was a simple act, motivated I would like to think, by human compassion.

For this he is now being attacked by conservatives. Chuck Hurley of the Iowa Family Policy Center has accused Culver of promoting “sexual confusion and deviant behavior”. They want to paint the governor as evil because he acknowledged to suffering of one small minority.

As a member of the transgender community I am outraged. Apparently it is not enough to prevent my community from having full civil rights. These people spend millions preventing gays from being able to marry, they lobby in Washington to keep words like sexual orientation and gender identity out of the ENDA (employee Non-Discrimination Act) so they can fire us for who we are.

Now they want our sorrow. You can’t have it. You have no right to it. You have 364 days to paint us as “deviants” and call us nasty names. We have one. One day where we remember these people, not as you see them, but as we see them. One day when Gwen is not a “tranny” but a beautiful young woman who had her whole life ahead of her. A life that was taken from her. One day where Robert wasn’t a “freak” but a kind man and a loving husband. One day where my friend did not have to die, because nobody hated him without even knowing him.

Chuck Hurley, if you don’t want us to have a “special day” then stop hating us. Stop telling people it’s okay to hate us because we are different. Stop calling us deviants. Because when you tell people that it’s okay to hate us, some of those people are going to get it into their heads that this means it is also okay to kill us. And that is what has created the need for a Transgender Day of Remembrance in the first place.