NOTE: OUR BLOG IS NO LONGER BEING UPDATED

I:F now has a website! Thus, we will no longer be updating this blog. Check our our website at www.mglcc.org/if.

Integrity-Memphis and MGLCC’s Initiative: Fairness sponsor celebration of Freedom to Marry Week (Feb. 12-18)

The Memphis chapter of Integrity, Inc., and MGLCC's Initiative: Fairness (I:F) of the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center invite the community of Memphis and Shelby County to a special Freedom to Marry Celebration at 6 p.m. on February 13th in McClure Hall at Grace St. Luke's Episcopal Church at 1720 Peabody Avenue. This event will feature the highly-acclaimed documentary film, Tying the Knot: the union that’s dividing America and offer an opportunity to learn more about organized opposition to the marriage amendment referendum that will appear on Tennessee’s November 2006 ballot. Local Memphians featured in the film will be present to meet those who attend. Admission is free and refreshments will be provided.

Tying the Knot highlights the vulnerabilities faced by many gay couples who are without civil marriage rights in our country. Can you imagine losing a beloved spouse and then having the love for your spouse put on trial? When a bank robber's bullet ended the life of Tampa, Florida police officer Lois Marrero, her wife of 13 years, Mickie, was honored as her surviving spouse but denied all pension benefits. When Sam, an Oklahoma rancher, lost his beloved husband of 22 years, long-estranged cousins of his late spouse tried to lay claim to everything Sam had. As Mickie and Sam's lives were put on trial, they were forced to confront the tragic reality that in the eyes of the law their marriages meant nothing. From an historical trip to the Middle Ages, to activists storming the Manhattan marriage bureau in 1971, Tying the Knot digs deeply into the past and present to uncover the meaning of civil marriage in America today.
Integrity, Inc. is an advocacy group whose mission is to be a witness of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons in the Episcopal Church and to the world. Initiative:Fairness, the political committee of the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center, aspires to inform, unite, and inspire the Memphis lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered community, in a non-partisan, and non-threatening environment, to become more politically aware of issues and processes affecting our community.

Donations for Initiative:Fairness will be accepted at this event.

TEP "Lobbying 101" Training Session in Memphis - Hosted by I:F

Tennessee Equality Project, a statewide GLBT rights organization, is partnering with Initiative: Fairness to present “Lobbying 101” on Saturday, February 11 from 9:00 a.m. to Noon at the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center.

Lobbying 101 is designed to prepare citizens to lobby their members of the Tennessee General Assembly at TEP’s “Advancing Equality Day on the Hill” in Nashville on February 21. “We trained over 50 citizen lobbyists from Memphis, Knoxville, and Nashville last year to work for equality in the 2005 General Assembly,” said TEP board spokesman Chris Sanders. “Their work helped beat back the tide of anti-gay legislation introduced last year. We urge the Memphis GLBT and allied community to come to this session and learn how to advocate effectively for equality with our lawmakers.”

Tommy Simmons of Initiative: Fairness invited TEP to present the training. “We are glad to deepen our partnership with TEP,” notes Simmons. “We both realize that citizens from all parts of Tennessee have to be involved if we are going to advance fairness for the GLBT community.”

Media contact: Chris Sanders, (615) 390-5252 or ChristopherSanders@Yahoo.com .

I:F Meets With Mr. Leon Gray

I:F invited Leon Gray, host of The Leon Gray Show on Progressive Talk AM 680, to an informal discussion at the community center on Thursday, November 3, 2005. The on-air invitation from I:F followed a week of controversial comments about tolerance and civil rights made by Mr. Gray on both his web log and call-in radio show.

Mr. Gray, two of his regular callers, various members of the Memphis Gay and Lesbian community and heterosexual allies attended the meeting. The dialogue addressed issues of social and spiritual identity, civil rights and equality, and social progress. After the very open and honest discussion, members of I:F agreed that it was a very positive and productive experience.

Initiative: Fairness will continue its mission to inform the Memphis LGBT community on Local, State and National issues; educate public officials and figures; and unite the Mid-South LGBT community.

For more information, contact Tommy Simmons (901-409-5655) or Katie Messmer (901-497-5093), I:F co-chairs, at if@mglcc.org.

Memphis Chosen as Lambda Legal Focus Community

The board of directors of the MGLCC is proud to announce that we have been contacted by Lambda Legal and have been informed that Memphis, TN has been chosen as a 2006 focus community by that organization.

In the months ahead, our community will receive assistance from Lambda Legal in the areas of their four strategic objectives: Employment discrimination, Marriage equality, Safe Schools and Judicial freedoms.

Len Piechowski, MGLCC President states, “Last week I had a lengthy conference call with one of Lambda Legal’s Senior Research Associates, Ms. Asha Leon. She is planning a visit to Memphis in December or January to meet with our community leaders from all of the various Memphis GLBT groups. The MGLCC will serve as a focal point to organize communication between leaders of all of our community organizations and Lambda. What a tremendous opportunity for us all!”

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.

Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) Makes Memphis Launch at MGLCC – Hosted by I:F

Tennessee Equality Project. Makes Memphis Launch at MGLCC – Hosted by I:F.

The Tennessee Equality Project (TEP), a group formed in 2004 to advance the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons in Tennessee, will make its Memphis launch on September 16 at the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center. The event will take place as part of the Friday evening Q Café and will be hosted by Initiative: Fairness (I:F) – the political committee of the MGLCC.

The evening begins at 7:00 p.m. with a performance by acoustical guitarist David Brookings, followed by remarks from TEP President Randy Cox and TEP lobbyist Jenny Ford. At 8:00 p.m. Q Café continues with an opportunity for guests to learn more about TEP.

The launch takes place on the eve of the popular Cooper-Young Festival that takes place annually in midtown Memphis and just over a year before the proposed amendment to define marriage as one man and one woman appears on the November 2006 ballot.

Already active in Middle and East Tennessee, TEP is timing its Memphis launch to reach the widest possible audience. “The involvement of the Memphis community is vital to our efforts to advance equality in Tennessee,” notes TEP President Randy Cox. Memphis has the energy and the talent that we need to achieve success in the General Assembly and to fight the discriminatory marriage amendment.”

For more information about the Tennessee Equality Project, visit www.tnep.org.

For more information about Initiative: Fairness, visit www.initiativefairness.blogspot.com
or www.mglcc.org/if.

I:F @ Cooper-Young Festival

Meet your friends at I:F during this year's
Cooper-Young Festival!

ALL DAY - Saturday, September 17

I:F will have a table set up inside MGLCC (892 So. Cooper). So, stop by and say "hello" while your at the Festival.

We will have information available about upcoming events and initiatives we will be working on in the coming months.

See you there!

2008 March On Washington

Robin Tyler of DontAmend.com is calling for a 2008 GLBT March on Washington. Ms. Tyler was instrumental in organizing previous national GLBT marches in 1993, 1987, 1979 - all in DC.

Here's part of her take:

"THIS MARCH MUST be built on an entirely different basis than the last few marches. In this march, there must be a litmus test: either support full legal equality for LGBT people, including the equal right to marry, or be prepared to catch hell, regardless of your party affiliation."

Read her call to action HERE.

No March on Washington will be successful without a grassroots movement. Thus, I:F has formed a relationship with Andy Thayer - National Action Coordinator of DontAmend.com to organize the Memphis effort. Attend an I:F meeting and check this blog for furture updates.