HRC gala honors COLAGE, Pam Schneider

BY BRITTANY L. WHITLOW

When the News Telegraph, St. Louis’s long-running gay, lesbian, bisexual and trangendered (GLBT) focused newspaper closed its doors in 1999, Pam Schneider knew the city would need another newspaper that served the GLBT community.

“Where there is a need, and I can make a contribution, I try to do what I can to fill the need,” Schneider said.

Schneider got in touch with News Telegraph editor Jim Thomas and hired him as her first editor. The Vital VOICE debuted in June 2000, at the annual PrideFest.

At the same time, St. Louis Network, which Schneider had purchased three years prior, became a limited liability company. The Vital VOICE was added to St. Louis Network, LLC, which also publishes the Pride Pages, a directory of gay-owned, gay-operated and gay-friendly businesses.

The Human Rights Campaign will honor Schneider for her contributions to the GLBT community with an individual Equality Award at the organization’s 2008 St. Louis Gala Dinner.

“Part of what she wanted to do was demystify the gay and lesbian community,” said HRC Gala Co-Chair Andrea Torrence. “So many people think groups that are different than them are alien. We’re all the same. We all have families. I think the Vital VOICE brings out the common denominators in all of us.”

The HRC’s Dinner Committee receives nominations for the Equality Award from people within the committee as well as from members of the community, who submit write-ups of the people they’re nominating.

“In some cases, names are brought up whom we know little about, so we always research to find out a little more about them,” Torrence said.

Members of the Dinner Committee then present the names to the Steering Committee, and the Dinner Committee votes to choose the winner.

“At that point, it was narrowed down to three people, and Pam won by a landslide,” Torrence said.

In addition to an individual award, an award is also presented to an organization that has made a positive impact on the GLBT community.

“We (The Vital VOICE) had gotten it in the past as an organization, but this is the first time I’ve been personally recognized,” Schneider said. “I’m honored to be receiving this award. …Sometimes when you least expect something is when it happens.”

This year’s recipient of the Organization Equality Award is Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere (COLAGE), a national organization with a chapter in St. Louis.

“We know what it’s like to grow up gay, but when it comes to talking to your children and the struggles they have to go through, we don’t really know,” said HRC Gala Co-Chair Michael Dunning. “COLAGE was established to take in and help children of the LGBT community so they can go talk to people who have been through the same thing and are going through the same thing.”

The Equality Award winners are presented during the gala dinner, where they are introduced and given an opportunity to give an acceptance speech or inform the audience about their cause, Dunning said. Torrence described the award itself as a glass, stand-up plaque with a small base, resembling an iceberg.

The Equality Award is in its 16th year. Last year’s individual winner was Frank Siano, “a champion of gay rights causes throughout the St. Louis area,” Dunning said.

Siano is on the board of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, an organization whose goal is to get GLBT leaders elected to all levels of political office throughout the country. Last year’s group Equality Award recipient was Anheuser-Busch, the first Missouri company to score 100% on the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index. The index is a survey based on about 20 criteria to determine how gay-friendly the company is, including whether or not non-discrimination is written into the company’s policy and if the company offers partner benefits, Dunning said.

This year’s gala features keynote speaker Eric Alva, who is the first American soldier wounded in the war with Iraq and is working to repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, and comedian Elvira Kurt, host of the satirical talk show “PopCultured with Elvira Kurt” on the Comedy Network in Canada. The gala will take place Saturday, Sept. 20 in the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency at Union Station. Tickets are $175, or $85 for students, and available through boxofficetickets.com or by calling (800) 494-TIXS.

You can e-mail Brittany Whitlow at britt.vitalvoice@gmail.com.