Featuring a Special Tribute to the life and memory of Stein Club Co-Founder Dr. Frank Kameny

Dr. Frank Kameny Pioneer Award- Dr. Frank Kameny (awarded posthumously)
Justice Award- Aubrey Sarvis and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
Heil-Balin Community Service Award- Ruby Corado
Michael Bustamonte and James Zais Political Development Award-
The Honorable Adam Ebbin
Wanda Alston Democratic Service Award- Jeffrey Richardson
Richard Rausch Equality Award- Rev. Dr. Susan Newman
President's Award- Peggy Shorey
Desi Deschaine Young Democrat of the Year Award- Timothy Mahoney

We are excited to honor some of the most dynamic local and national leaders in our community! Please Save the Date and join us in honoring these amazing leaders!

To purchase tickets, join the host committee, or become a sponsor, click on this link: http://www.steindemocrats.org/events/35thleadershipawards .

Kameny was one of the most significant figures ever in the gay rights movement. He was fired from the federal government because of his sexual orientation. After that, he committed himself to changing the policy and was instrumental in the federal government's reversal of its ban of gay and lesbian employees. Kameny is also credited with being responsible for the reversal of the ban on security clearances for gays and lesbians in 1975. Additionally, Kameny played a key role in getting the American Psychiatric Association to stop classifying homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973.

In November 1961, he was a co-founder of the Mattachine Society of Washington. In January 1976, he was a co-founder of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club. Kameny coined the phrase "Gay is Good!"

"Frank was the most instrumental person in the history of the gay movement. I went to San Francisco on Thursday, June 6, 1963 to see Hall Call, the President of the San Francisco Matachine Society. Hall had never met Frank at the time, but Hall was already complaining to me about him. He said to me 'that Frank Kameny keeps openly using the word homosexuality. Doesn't he know he should remain quiet and let the civil libertarians speak on his behalf.'"

-Paul Kuntzler, Stein Club Co-Founder, recounts a story of Kameny's early push for gay rights and insistence on pushing the envelope. The Stein Club was founded in Kuntzler's living room in Jan. 1976.

He also ran for the District's non-voting delegate position in 1971, making him the first openly gay person to run for federal office.

"Dr. Kameny was a pioneer and I felt honored every time I was in his presence. He contributed so much to the world and to the LGBT community. If we all strive to impact the world at just a fraction of the amount that he did, then the world would be a much better place."

-Lateefah Williams, Stein Club President

"Frank was the first from our community to do so many important things. He was the first to run for U.S. Congress and the first to serve DC's Human Rights Commission. But also, he was always the first to protest any wrongdoing, no matter what it was or who it was that was involved. This makes him not only a hero to the GLBT community, but a hero to all of humanity."

-Julius Agers, Stein Club Vice President of Legislation and Political Affairs

We extend our deepest sympathies to his family, friends, and the LGBT community around the world.

In Kameny's honor, the Stein Club plans to annually honor a pioneering member of the LGBT community with the Dr. Frank Kameny award. The first award, given at the 35th Anniversary Leadership Awards on Oct. 27, will be awarded to Kameny posthumously. We are also asking members of the community to please email photos of Frank Kameny to president@steindemocrats.org, so that we can display them in a special tribute to Kameny at the awards event later this month.

Dr. Frank Kameny Pioneer Award- Dr. Frank Kameny (awarded posthumously)
Justice Award- Aubrey Sarvis and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
Heil-Balin Community Service Award- Ruby Corado
Michael Bustamonte and James Zais Political Development Award-
The Honorable Adam Ebbin
Wanda Alston Democratic Service Award- Jeffrey Richardson
Richard Rausch Equality Award- Rev. Dr. Susan Newman
President's Award- Peggy Shorey
Desi Deschaine Young Democrat of the Year Award- Timothy Mahoney

We are excited to honor some of the most dynamic local and national leaders in our community! Please Save the Date and join us in honoring these amazing leaders!

Location: Tap & Parlour in Bohemian Caverns (first floor), 2001 11th Street NW (11th and U Street), Washington D.C.
When: 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM

Gertrude Stein Democratic Club's 2011 Capital Pride Reception Honoring the 'DC 41' for sacrificing their freedom by getting arrested for District voting rights and budget autonomy

Special Recognition will be given to Stein Club members who are part of the DC 41

For Tickets, please visit Calendar/Events Page and select to purchase for Host Committee $50, or Suggested Donation $20. Look forward to seeing you, Thank You !

Light fare will be served.

Suggested Donation: $20
Host Committee: $50

To join the host committee and/or purchase a ticket for the event: http://www.steindemocrats.org/events/cappride2011championsDC41
(or visit the Calendar Page - June 9th, 2011 Event link.)

Axum Ethiopian Restaurant
1934 9th Street NW
Washington, DC

Join the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club for our 2011 Black Pride Reception Honoring the Wanda Alston House and Transgender Health Empowerment. The Stein Club will present the Wanda Alston House with a check from the Black History Month theatre fundraiser at the event.

Suggested Donation: $20. Light fare will be provided.

To join the host committee: Email president@steindemocrats.org.

The Wanda Alston House honors the life and work of Wanda Alston, an LGBT activist, mayoral appointee, and dedicated resident of Washington, D.C. whose untimely death in her home in 2005, shortened her mission to empower and strengthen the GLBT community. The Wanda Alston House seeks to carry on her work and empower young people while providing them a safe place to live free from harm and danger.

The Wanda Alston House is the first and only housing program in Washington D.C. that is solely dedicated to offering pre independent living services to homeless GLBTQ youth ages 16-24. Each young person is assigned a life skills counselor who works each day on issues related to employment/vocational training, housing, and other issues as needed. Each young person is housed in their own room and reside in a house with a advocate with extensive experience with housing and GLBTQ youth issues.

The mission of T.H.E. Inc. is to enhance the quality of life of the diverse transgender populations we serve by advocating for and supporting a continuum of health and social services. In fulfilling our mission, we seek to unify and empower the transgender, lesbian, gay, and bisexual communities.

Washington DC Gay and Lesbian Black Pride is one of the nation's largest African-American Pride events, DC Black Pride takes place in Washington, DC in late May - the dates for this year are place May 26 to May 29, 2011. This is also Memorial Day Weekend, and a beautiful time to be in the nation's capital.

Biddle said the Stein Club endorsement "means a progressive, active, thoughtful group of democrats agree that I'm the best person to serve on the Council." He added that "it reflects both on my position on LGBT issues and my work on LGBT issues."

The Stein Club would like to thank Vincent Orange, Dorothy Douglas, Joshua Lopez, Jacque Patterson, and Bryan Weaver for participating in the endorsement process.

While his legacy will live on in the lives he touched and organizations he helped sustain, he will forever be missed.

PRESS RELEASE

Council of the District of Columbia
Office of Councilmember Jack Evans
The John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004

For Immediate Release: February 7, 2011

Contact: Andrew Huff, Director of Communications [202-724-8058]

Evans & Staff Mourn Loss of Friend & Colleague Jeff Coudriet

Washington, DC - Councilmember Jack Evans and staff, with great personal regret, join in mourning the passing of Committee Clerk and friend Jeff Coudriet.

Coudriet served as Evans' Committee Clerk for the Committee on Finance and Revenue. He previously served as Director of Operations at the Alcoholic Beverage Regulatory Administration, as well as worked for Ward 6 Councilmember Sharon Ambrose. He served as President of the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, and board member of the Logan Circle Community Association.

"It is impossible to put into words the contributions Jeff made to our city and its residents," said Evans. "My staff and I share the grief and extend our condolences to Jeff's family and friends, and deeply mourn his passing."

A memorial service is being planned with information available in the coming days.

Candidate SMD
Juan Lopez 1B07
Bill O'Field 1C02
Gregg Edwards 1D04
Michael Feldstein 2B01
Jack Jacobson 2B04
Victor Wexler 2B05
Michael Silverstein 2B06
Phil Carney 2B07
Ramon Estrada 2B09
Alexander Padro 2C01
Lee Brian Reba 3C01
Michael Bernardo 2F06
Tom Smith 3D02
Michael Yates 4C01
Joe Martin 4C09
Thalia Wiggins 5B06
MaryLois Farmer-Allen 5C06
Barrie Daneker 5C07
Neil Glick 6B08
Andy Litsky 6D04
Bob Siegel 6D07
Zina Williams 7B02
Catherine Woods 7C03
Mitchell Hawkins 8B06

School Board Candidates

Candidate Ward
Dotti Love Wade 1
Laura McGiffert Slover 3
Mark Jones 5
Monica Warren-Jones 6

November Election Voter Guide

2010 Complete ANC Candidate Listing

Dear Friends,

I wanted to expand on last week's $13.3 million dollar five-year grant announcement awarded to the LA Gay & Lesbian Center to work with LGBT Foster Youth. I have pasted the Associated Press' coverage below.
This stands in stark contrast to Senator DeMint's (R-SC) continued defense of his stance that LGBT Americans are not fit to teach our youth. The blatant juxtaposition between the actions of a Democratically controlled cabinet agency and a leading Republican speaks for itself.
Center gets $13.3M grant to help gay foster kids
LOS ANGELES --By the time LD Gipson was 16, he had been abandoned by his mother and bounced around four foster homes between stints on the street as a runaway. No one, he said, could accept him because he was openly gay.
The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center on Friday won a $13.3 million federal grant to help homeless gay teens who face similar problems.
The center said the grant was the largest federal award ever to an organization serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
The center plans to use the money from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to launch a five-year intervention program to aid gay kids in foster care, juvenile detention or in their family homes where they may be experiencing rejection.
Center staffers will intervene with counseling, mentoring, sensitivity training or other services to ensure the young people can remain in a healthy living environment, said Darrel Cummings, chief of staff for the Gay & Lesbian Center.
The program is designed to be a model that can be used in other cities, he added.
Nearly 20 entities, including schools and juvenile justice and social services agencies, have agreed to participate, as well as foster care providers who welcome gay youth.
"We have to create environments where people can be treated in a humane fashion for who they are," Cummings said.
The project also includes a research component about the youth population in foster care.
A 2002 study by the National Center for Lesbian Rights found 70 percent of gay foster youths reported physical violence and 100 percent reported harassment in their group home.
Many were forced to leave their foster placement because of hostility.
It's a double whammy for kids who have frequently run away from or been kicked out by parents unable to accept homosexuality.
In foster homes or detention centers, the youths are sometimes housed in isolation for their own safety or blamed for being harassed because they openly express their sexual orientation. Some are told to hide their identity, Cummings said.
Many turn to living on the streets or prostitution to survive, especially after they must leave the foster system at age 18 and have nowhere to go.
Some end up at the Gay & Lesbian Center's transitional living program for 18 to 24 year-olds. "Thirty to 40 percent of them are graduates of foster care programs," Cummings said.
The experience of Gipson, now 22, was typical for gay teens.
He said he ended up in foster care after he ran away from home at age 14 because of continual hassling from his mom, who didn't approve of his sexual orientation. He got arrested, but his mother never came to pick him up, he said.
Gipson said his first foster mother was afraid he would "corrupt" another boy living in the house. He ran away. Another home was too far from Los Angeles. Another foster parent harassed Gipson for being effeminate. After that, he finally landed in a group home where he felt accepted for who he was but had to leave on his 18th birthday.
"They were going to drop me off at a homeless shelter," he recalled.
After a stint with drugs, he now lives at the Gay & Lesbian Center's transitional living program and works at a retail store.
"We should have more programs for gay youth to prevent homelessness," Gipson said. "It shouldn't have to come to that."
Consequences can sometimes be dire for gay kids.
In February 2008, 15-year-old Larry King, who was living at a foster home, was shot dead because he was openly gay.
Gipson noted that kids need mentoring when they reveal their sexual orientation.
"It's part of who I am, but it caused me a lot of problems," he said. "There should be some type of support."
Many thanks,

Jamie Citron
Director, LGBT Leadership Council
Democratic National Committee

Patrick Murphy trails his opponent Mike Fitzpatrick by a small margin and is counting on the support of the LGBT community to win his re-election. With most of the races in Washington, D.C. resolved the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club and the National Stonewall Democrats are banding together to help mobilize our community to support the lead Sponsor of "Don't Ask, Don't tell."

"Some polls have me up, others down," Murphy said. "This was always going to be a tough race and I'm taking nothing for granted. National pundits like the Cook Report have cited my leadership on ['Don't Ask, Don't Tell'] repeal as the reason I'm in a tough fight, but I don't give a damn what they say -- what's right is right."

Patrick has been their for his country, serving his country In Iraq and transferred this service to his constituents in PA's 8th district honorably.

Join the National Stonewall Democrats and the Stein Storm to help re-elect Patrick Murphy on the following weekends:

October 15th, 16th, and 17th or
October 22nd, 23rd, and 24th

This decision is about equal protection under the law. Separate is never equal, yet the government under Prop. 8 violates Americans' constitutional rights by creating separate classes of people with different laws for each. As progressives fighting for equality, this decision validates our stance that it is wrong for the government to deny people constitutional liberties simply because of who they are.

As the case inevitably finds its way to the US Supreme Court, The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club stands with our brothers and sisters in California in their continued fight to end this oppressive policy.

Read National Stonewall Democrats Statement on Prop 8 Ruling