GLBT News

With the hope of making an impact on children whose lives are disrupted by drugs, alcohol, violence and a lack of resources, Discovering Options was started seven years ago to create a safe and engaging after-school program where children could learn real problem solving skills while having a blast.  Each year, Discovering Options has the good fortune to serve about 100 children through its award-winning after school programming.  Each 10-week after school session includes weekly yoga and international cooking lessons for kids, conflict resolution, weekly individual support by Master’s

BY: COLIN MURPHY – SENIOR WRITER

    St. Louis is replete with history when it comes to its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Still it might surprise some that in the months prior to the June 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City’s Greenwich Village—widely hailed as one of the catalysts for the modern-day LGBT rights movement—that plans for The Gateway City’s first LGBT rights organization were well underway.

BY: COLIN MURPHY - SENIOR WRITER

ST. LOUIS - Despite a last-minute venue change from Kiener Plaza due to permit issues with the city, St. Louis Black Gay & Lesbian Pride ended its weekend slate of events with a picnic at Benton Park from 3-8 p.m., Aug. 22.

BY: COLIN MURPHY – SENIOR WRITER

    Currently there are no resources that exist for emergency shelter especially equipped for youth, let alone lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) or questioning youth, in the city of St. Louis.

    The statistics are staggering.  26-percent of youth that come out to their parents or guardians are asked to leave their home and 42-percent of youth that are homeless identify as LGBT or questioning.

ST. LOUIS - The Metropolitan Community Church of Greater Saint Louis (1919 S. Broadway) will be opening its doors at 6:00 PM on Sept. 11 for a benefit concert for One Saint Louis.  Local folk musician Ro Anderson and friends take the stage at 7:00 PM.  The suggested donation range is $10 - $25 or more.  Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) is the program’s co- sponsor.  To reserve tickets call 314-361-3221  extension  110.

BY: COLIN LOVETT

    Fred Hochberg, Chairman and President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States met with PROMO and other St. Louis LGBT leaders, August 16 to discuss pro-LGBT policy changes in the Obama White House.  Hochberg was nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate in Mid-2009. He is one of the highest-ranking openly LGBT officials in the Obama Administration.

BY: ROBYN CAROLYN MONTAGUE

    The 3rd Annual TransOhio Transgender & Ally Symposium in Columbus, Ohio, which starts today,  is a gathering of people, covering the broad spectrum of gender community  from across the United States to learn as well educate others.

    The attendees cover organizational heads and members, advocates, activists as well as allies and partners. The various seminars and workshops serve to share information that is sometimes otherwise not easy to find, ie workshops on the Intersex Community, an often forgotten aspect of society.

BY: COLIN MURPHY – SENIOR WRITER

St. Louis activist and artist Rick Dillard passed away Aug. 10, 2010 at the age of 55. Dillard was featured on the cover of the May 2003 Vital VOICE for his Chairs for Charity project which benefited St. Louis Effort for AIDS. With whimsy and an artistic eye, Dillard decorated once-orphaned furniture—mostly chairs—and held a garden party at his home each summer where the items were bid on.

BY: COLIN MURPHY - SENIOR WRITER

    ST. LOUIS – Area lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) leaders are praising the historic Aug. 4 decision of Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Perry v. Schwarzenegger. In sweeping language, Walker declared that the amendment to the California Constitution denying marriage for same-sex couples, adopted in November 2008 as Proposition 8, violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process.

ST. LOUIS - St. Louis native and nationally decorated entertainer, Savion Simpson Black (Antonio Curry) died this morning, July 28, 2010. He was 31.

Black was honored to serve his community as Mr. Pride St. Louis 2010 and was most recently seen riding in the annual Pride Parade and appearing on the Mainstage at Pridefest last month.