Gay In Augusta

The Coalition for Augusta Pride will meet at 7 PM at The Filling Station bar on Gordon Highway on Thursday April 2nd. The purpose of this meeting is to begin an organizational process to develop Pride programs in the CSRA, including but not limited to a summer Pride event in Augusta. Please pass on this information to your GLBT and straight ally groups such as GLOBES at SRS, Lambda groups at MCG and Augusta and others in your circle of influence. We look forward to seeing you there!

Coalition for Augusta Pride

Photo courtesy Philippe Leroyer via Flickr

from Talkback in today’s Aiken Standard

SRS stigma

The employees of SRS were believed to be non-productive and wasteful. Now, we have the added stigma of being believed to be homosexual, thanks to the GLOBE initiative. We were told to shut up when we spoke out against it. I am ashamed and embarrassed by this.

I have a couple of problems with this. First, how does having an LGBT organization at your company automatically mean that everyone working there is homosexual. Seriously. That’s ludicrous. Secondly, the fact that you’re ashamed and embarrassed by GLOBE (It’s not an initiative. It’s a group, sweetie.) is your problem, not ours. That’s the whole point of the group, in case you haven’t noticed. The point is to raise awareness. A lot of people in our area, including people at SRS and definitely people I work with, think of “the gays” as something we don’t have around here; they’re only in Massachusetts and California, apparently.

I don’t work at SRS and don’t know any LGBT employees at SRS personally, but from what I can tell, GLOBE is doing a great thing. More organizations like this are needed in the CSRA. According to their website, SRS GLOBE (SRS Gay, Lesbian, Or Bisexual Employees) seeks to “further increase awareness of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employee issues at all levels within the SRS, and support of the SRS in pursuing management practices and diversity in the Site work force.” I hope for the day when the CSRA has LGBT groups accessible to everyone, Gay-Straight Alliances in all schools, and an open community where no one has to live fearfully in the closet. There are plenty of people in the Augusta area that need help, friendship, and support from other people in the community and don’t know where to go to find it.

So great job, SRS GLOBE! You’re doing great work.

If you are a member of SRS GLOBE and would like to share what you’re working on, please email editor@gayinaugusta.com. For that matter, if you live in the CSRA and would like to contribute to the site, send an email as well. Contributors are always welcome.

I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw this interview with Reverend Joseph Lowery on WRDW News 12 in Augusta. Reverend Lowery will give the benediction at the inauguration next week, and sat down with him to discuss some of his history with the civil rights movement as well as the inauguration next week.  When the interviewer brought up the Rick Warren issue, he had this to say:

“I think it’s disgusting some of the profane things he has said about gay people…equating homosexuality with pedophilia,” said Rev. Lowery. “I condemn that kind of demeaning of gay people. I think that all God’s children got shoes, and I think it’s beneath Brother Warren’s status as a Christian pastor to demean people with that kind of profane language.”

Very well said. I, for one, can’t wait to hear a little more from Reverend Lowery next Tuesday.

To watch the (short) interview, go to http://www.wrdw.com/politics/headlines/37739369.html

via SmartBrief.com and music.gay.com

Despite asking Rick Warren to give the invocation at next Tuesday’s inauguration, Obama is making the day look a little brighter for the gay community. First, the invocation for the first inaugural event on Sunday will be given by out Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson. Obama has also named out appointee Nancy Sutley to a key environmental post and will include a lesbian couple in a pre-inaugural train trip. To top it off, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington will perform at Sunday’s event at the Lincoln Memorial.

Oh wait…there’s one more… for the first time in American history, openly gay musicians and performers, from Lesbian and Gay Band Association, will march in an inauguration parade.

Sounds like it’s shaping up to be an pretty gay week.

What other events will be happening next week for the inauguration?

From The Augusta Chronicle:

Members of North Augusta’s St. John’s Episcopal Church severed ties with the national congregation Sunday, rejecting a shift toward a more progressive theology that has led to the blessing of same-sex marriages and gay leaders in the church.

While it’s not surprising to me, it’s still sad and unfortunate.

Read the full article at http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/01/05/met_506567.shtml