|
|
Greetings!
Thanks to those of you who attended last Wednesday's meeting at the Thai Place. It was a huge success and we plan to hold our next all member meeting there again in late September.
For those of you at FSI, we hope you will join us on August 20th for lunch. See details and RSVP information below.
-The GLIFAA Board
|
GLIFAA Lunch at FSI
All GLIFAA Members and Friends are Welcome!
This is an
informal social event. The group will meet at the end of the
cafeteria near the side room 2107. Please RSVP to Andy Ball (BallJA@state.gov)
if you plan to attend, so we can make sure we have enough table space reserved..
Foreign Service Institute
Cafeteria - Near Side Room 2107
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
PLEASE! -- RSVP to Andy Ball Ballja@state.gov
-----------------------------------------------
Happy Hour with Princeton LGBT Group
Join GLIFAA Members, Princeton Students, Alumni
Joint happy hours are a great way to network as well as provide a forum for potential new employees.
Circle Bistro
One Washington Circle
Thursday, August 21, 2008
6:00 - 8:00 pm
|
Sign up for A Committee!
Easily way to have your voice heard with GLIFAA
Which Committee would you like to be on?
Want to get involved with reaching out to members (both here at
abroad)? Help us find GLBT members of the foreign affairs community
that we have not yet assisted?
Membership Committee
Contact Kerri Hannan HannanKS@state.gov
Have ideas for social events or want to plan this year's Holiday (Pink) Party - or next year's PRIDE?
Social Committee
Contact Ashton Giese at ashtonkg@gmail.com
Interested in reaching out to other GLBT organizations and assisting with policy direction? Get on our policy team!
Policy Committee
Contact Ajit Joshi at ajoshi@usaid.gov
|
| Greetings Human Rights Campaign Supporters!
The annual black-tie Dinner will be held Saturday at 4:00PM, October 4, 2008 at the Washington DC Convention Center. We are asking for your volunteer help. I myself am a DC Volunteer.
Volunteers can help in many ways, from
coming on board the committee to simply the working on the night of the
dinner with technical follow through. Any help at any of these times is
appreciated.
Working on the Dinner beforehand consists of some of these tasks:
1.) Helping to stuff 3,000 gift bags in the day or days beforehand.
2.) Setting out flowers on 300 tables.
3.) Getting materials from the HRC Building to the Convention Center.
4.) Setting up the Silent Auction displays.
At the Dinner itself:
1.) Assisting with Registration.
2.) Greeting incoming guests.
3.) Ushering guests to their tables.
4.) Monitoring / guarding the Silent Auction items.
5.) Closing out the Silent Auction.
6.) Providing guests with pledge cards.
and etc.
To voluneer here is what we ask:
1.) Email me to let me know you wish to work on the Dinner.
2.) Attend an hour long orientation at the Convention Center on an evening in the week before the session.
Volunteers have free admission to the
Dinner. A ticket would otherwise costs each guest $250 per person. A
separate buffet meal is provided for volunteers. Often volunteers can
sit in on much of the program in-between tasks.
One great headliner has committed: Financial Suze Orman will appear at the Dinner, with her partner. The rest of this year's honored guest list is still being completed: there will be others.
We welcome your support. This is a great
opportunity to attend the HRC Dinner and to contribute your time to the
cause of GLBT equality in this crucial election year.
The Dinner is always Great Fun and you can meet many bright enthusiastic people. Please feel free to send this email to your friends.
Bill Castellani
(202) 360-2278
|
A New Global Network: Be a GLIFAA Post Representative
FSOs as well as MOHs Welcome to Participate!
"Hi, I'm being transferred to Kerblekistan - are there any GLIFAA members there who could give me info about post?"
We know our members are everywhere, but for too long we haven't had
a way to effectively get information from the field. Our new network
of GLIFAA Post Representatives will fill that void. Even if you are
the only GLIFAA member at post, we hope you'll volunteer. You'll be
called upon everytime we get an email asking for info at post, you'll
join a special listserve for Post Reps worldwide to share best
practices, and you'll serve as a channel for communication to and from
Washington.
The basic time commitment will be extremely minimal (~1 hour/month)
but those interested in doing more certainly can. Help your post's
Human Rights person learn more about conditions for LGBT persons in
your country of assignment, network with Human Rights advocacy groups
stateside or in your country of assignment, help us with our advocacy
work in Washington - whatever interests you.
Make our network truly global - make sure your post volunteers a representative.
|
INTERNATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
Call For Nomination for The 2009 Felipa Award
The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) calls on
the international LGBTI, human rights, and sexual rights communities to
submit nominations for the 2009 Felipa Award.
Purpose of the Award and General Guidelines
The
Felipa Award honors an organization or an individual whose work has made a
significant contribution toward securing the full enjoyment of the human
rights of all people and communities subject to discrimination or abuse on
the basis of sexual orientation or expression, gender identity or
expression, and/or HIV status, anywhere in the world. The award
commemorates Felipa de Souza, a woman who was convicted and tortured in Brazil by
the Portuguese Inquisition in 1591 for having sexual relationships with
other women.
With the Felipa Award, IGLHRC seeks to publicly recognize the courage and
activism of grassroots groups and individuals working under the most
challenging conditions in pursuit of human rights for all people
irrespective of sexual orientation or expression, gender identity or
expression, and/or HIV status. We seek nominations for organizations and
individuals from all regions of the world and from as wide a range of
communities as possible, particularly from communities with limited access
to movement-building resources and support. We welcome nominations for
younger as well as more established organizations and individuals.
The Felipa Award is one of three awards presented each year at A
Celebration of Courage, IGLHRC's signature fundraising event, hosted
jointly in San Francisco and New York City. A
Celebration of Courage provides an important opportunity for IGLHRC to
raise awareness among members, donors, and sponsors about the
organization's work in international LGBTI human rights. The support
generated for IGLHRC at this event from dedicated donors and sponsors is
critical to enabling us to do our work and to lend support to our partners
and allies throughout the world.
The Felipa recipient will receive a cash award to help further their work.
IGLHRC will also cover all travel and accommodation expenses for the
individual award recipient (or one designated representative from an
organization) to travel to the United States
to be honored at our annual springtime ceremonies in New
York City and San
Francisco.
Award Criteria
In reviewing the
candidates, the following criteria will be considered:
- Demonstrated leadership and
a record of outstanding achievements in the field of human rights and
issues of sexual orientation or expression, gender identity or expression,
and/or HIV status
- Practical work in the field
and in difficult circumstances
- Demonstrated capacity to
establish links and build lasting coalitions with others struggling
for human rights, gender equality, and/or social and economic justice
- Predominant activities in
developing countries and/or with marginalized communities
- Potential impact of the
award in supporting and strengthening candidates' work in the future
IGLHRC's Board of Directors will make a final decision regarding the award
after consulting IGLHRC's International Advisory Council and staff. The
Board of Directors typically announces its decision by the end of 2008.
Nomination Process
Please be sure to
answer all questions on the following nomination form. You may use a
separate sheet if necessary. Felipa nominations should be mailed, faxed or
emailed to the address below by October 15, 2008 in order to qualify for
the 2009 award. If you do not receive a confirmation by the end of October
2008, this may mean that your nomination did not reach us in time; we will
file your nomination for consideration in the next yearly cycle.
Nominations may be made by anyone, including the candidates themselves.
IGLHRC no longer accepts nominations for posthumous awards. We would like
to encourage candidates and those nominating candidates who may not have
been selected in the past, to reapply for the award. If you applied last
year, you do not need to resubmit the whole application, juts one letter
with relevant updates.
Due to our resource limitations, nominations must be submitted in English,
French, Spanish or Portuguese. We are sorry for not being able this year to
process nominations in other languages.
Deadline for
nominations: October 15, 2008
You can download
the nomination form (in Microsoft Word format)
from IGLHRC's website (http://www.iglhrc.org/files/iglhrc/Felipa2009/Felipa%20nominations%20call%202009.doc)
Please send your nominations to:
By Mail:
Felipa Nominations 2009
IGLHRC
80 Maiden Lane, Suite 1505
New York, NY
10038, USA
By Fax:
+1-212-430-6060
By Email:
felipa@iglhrc.org
|
FSO or MOH Blogging?!
Michelle Schohn is looking for FSOs and/or MOHs with blogs about their experiences abroad!
The MOH Network has been having a lively discussion on Yahoo-Groups and the Board encorages MOHs to participate! Email moderator Emil.Stalis@tufts.edu if you cannot access the homepage of the network Please provide identifying information (employee of which
organization, or MOH of which employee who is at which organization) so that
you can be verified prior to being part of the group.
For those of
wanting to "institutionalize" your experiences, here is one great
example: lifeafterjerusalem.blogspot.com.
Michelle Schohn is
looking to create links from her blog to any of the blogs of other FSOs
and/or MOHs, in particular who have stories about MOH issues. If you
have a blog and are willing to let Michelle put a link to your blog on her
blog, please email her.
And if you're still not convinced,
Michelle, a Public Diplomacy professional, says "I think blogs are a good
way to let people know what life is like in the FS, whether as an employee,
spouse/partner (same or opposite sex) or family member. And for those of us
with MOH or partner issues, it is an excellent way to get the word out on what
we deal with!" "The MOH Network" is a discussion group for all individuals who fall into the classification of Members of Household as defined in 3 FAM 4180 and their partners/sponsors. A MOH is anyone accompanying a Foreign Service Officer to post. This includes parents, partners, (opposite sex, same sex), and children over age 21. In other words-anyone who is not mentioned on an officer's orders. The MOH Network is a venue for MOHs to seek out resources and information. It is also a place for individuals to share strategies, vent frustration and most important - find support.
Employees are requested to please share this
information with their family members.
Sign up: MOH_Network-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Contact:
Member_of_Household@yahoo.com |
GLIFAA's Advocacy Campaign Wants Your Story Heard!
We're gearing up for a big year - a new President will be coming in, a
new Secretary - and a new Congress! The time to prepare is now.
GLIFAA is drafting a series of advocacy materials on issues that affect
our members, and nothing is more powerful than a first-hand story. How
are you being hurt by the Department's policies? How is your family
being hurt by the Defense of Marriage Act? Please write your stories
(between 1 paragraph and 1 page) and send them to glifaa@yahoo.com. We'll use them as best we can to get our message across. To get you inspired, here are two stories from other members:
"I was in the Army and served in Operation Iraqi Freedom
until March 2005. I joined the Foreign Service in October 2005, and
soon after shipped out to India with my partner Ales. I'm due to
return to Washington for eight months of language training, and the
cost of plane tickets aside, I'm worried that Ales won't even be
allowed to enter the country for the full eight months, because he can
only qualify for an ordinary tourist visa. All I ask is for us to
enter my country together - the same country I fought for in Iraq and
the same country I still love and serve today."
- Vice-Consul Ralan Hill, currently serving in Kolkata, India
"When
my partner landed in Chicago, Immigration grilled him for two hours.
They accused him of being illegal, overstaying, you name it. They
found my business card in his luggage and demanded an explanation - as
if it was inappropriate for him to have it. He patiently explained the
situation numerous times, and was eventually released - but with
permission to stay for only three months. Incidentally, two of my
colleagues from Sao Paulo met their [opposite-sex] spouses after JP and
I met. They both are now U.S. citizens traveling on Diplomatic
passports."
- Foreign Service Officer Keith Gilges, currently serving in Washington, DC
|
| Did you serve in Iraq or Afghanistan??
GLIFAA would like to compile a list of GLBT members who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan. Even if you feel that you do not want to provide your name, please let us know so you can be counted. This type of information will help show our leadership the committment that gay members have to our work - as well as show a real need to provide equal treatment. Please email glifaa@yahoo.com
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
