Marriage Equality Day at the Capital

Greetings everyone!

2009 will be a critical year in our efforts to win marriage equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender couples. With the Supreme Court likely to rule on the historic Varnum v. Brien case, it’s up to us to ensure that the legislature continues to respect the judicial process. To that end One Iowa is hosting a Marriage Equality lobby day in Des Moines on February 10^th.

We are encouraging everyone who can fit this event into their schedule to do so. It’s important that legislators not only hear our stories but see our faces at the capital. No worries if you haven’t engaged in constituent lobbying before, we are holding a training session in the morning to help provide direction and answer any questions you may have.

Here are the details:

Marriage Equality Day at the Capital

February 10^th: 9am – 4pm

State Historical Building

600 E Locust St

Des Moines, IA 50309

Please RSVP at http://eqfed.org/oneiowa/events/lobbyday/details.tcl

Feel free to forward this information on to your friends, actually we encourage you to do so as the more people we have at the capital on the 10^th, the more visible we will be. I also attached an announcement flyer that you can print off and post up in your neighborhood.

This is the year we can make it happen so any help in promoting this event is GREATLY appreciated! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. matt@oneiowa.org or 515.288.4019 ext 203.

If you can’t make it on the 10^th please take the time to visit http://eqfed.org//campaign/legwelcome and send your state legislators a quick email.

Thanks for all your help and support!

Save the Date!

Hello everyone and Happy New Year!

SAVE THE DATE!
Gay In The Gateway Music Festival 2009 set for Saturday, October 3rd.

Event will be held downtown in its original block location right in front of Ritual Cafe (www.ritualcafe.com)

PRESS RELEASE call for musicians, artists, male/female impersonators, fashion designers, and art/crafts/food vendors coming soon!

Thanks for your support and save the date!

Carlos Garza
GITGMF Festival Director
Email: gayinthegateway@yahoo.com

*GITG is a Ritual Cafe and Carlos Garza Production and is not connected to Capital City Pride*

EVENT: As Iowa Goes, so Goes the Nation: Varnum v. Brien and Its Impact on Marriage Rights for Same-Sex Couples

The Journal of Gender, Race & Justice has an annual symposium coming up entitled, As Iowa Goes, so Goes the Nation: Varnum v. Brien and Its Impact on Marriage Rights for Same-Sex Couples. The purpose of the symposium is to promote discussion among the community on the issues that the Varnum case presents. As you may know, the Supreme Court of Iowa heard oral arguments on the Varnum case, the same-sex marriage case, in December. Both sides of the issue are presented at the symposium and our goal is to bring as many people in as we can so that we have a relevant, thought-provoking discussion.
The event takes place on February 26-27. There are events and panels at the law school both days. The keynote speaker this year is Dan Savage, a very provocative, controversial speaker who is very involved and advocates for civil rights for gay men and women. His keynote address is on Thursday night at Hotel Vetro in Iowa City.

Although the speaker is clearly on one side, the symposium will present both sides of the issue and is open to anyone who would like to be involved in this discussion.

If you are interested in joining please check out the website for more information:

http://blogs.law.uiowa.edu/grjsymposium/

Fundraising!

This week the Fundraising committee had a very productive discussion about sponsorship and fundraising ideas. There were over 10 people at the meeting and we now have a great list of fundraising ideas, and a team of people interested in making them a reality! Our communications meeting is scheduled for next Wednesday at 6:00 PM at the Village Bean on East 4th and Locust. If you would like to join us for this meeting or any meetings please email outofbox@inbox.com.

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Here are some wonderful quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr.

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.


A lie cannot live.


A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.


A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.


A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.


A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.


A right delayed is a right denied.


A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.


A riot is the language of the unheard.


All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.


All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.


Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.


An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.


An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.


At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.


Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent.


Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.


Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.


Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.


Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.


Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.


Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.


Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.


He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.


History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.


Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.


Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.


I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.


I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.


I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.


I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.


I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.


I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.


I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.


I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.


I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.


I submit that an individual who breaks the law that conscience tells him is unjust and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for law.


I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.


I want to be the white man's brother, not his brother-in-law.


If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.


If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.


If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values - that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.


In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.


Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.


It is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes; but they are derivative crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of the white society.


It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.


It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.


Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.


Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'


Life's most urgent question is: what are you doing for others?


Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.


Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.


Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.


Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.


Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.


Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.


Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.


Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.


Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.


One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.


One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.


Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.


Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.


Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.


Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.


Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one's soul.


Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on. It is not man.


Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.


Science investigates religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power religion gives man wisdom which is control.


Seeing is not always believing.


Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.


Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.


That old law about 'an eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.


The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.


The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"


The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.


The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.


The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.


The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.


The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.


The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.


The Negro needs the white man to free him from his fears. The white man needs the Negro to free him from his guilt.


The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.


The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.


The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be... The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.


The sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.


The time is always right to do what is right.


The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.


The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.


There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.


There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.


To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.


War is a poor chisel to carve out tomorrow.


Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.


We are not makers of history. We are made by history.


We have guided missiles and misguided men.


We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.


We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.


We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.


We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the postive affirmation of peace.


We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.


We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.


We must use time creatively.


We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.


We who in engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.


We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.


We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.


Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.


Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.


When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.

Volunteers

Pride is still looking for volunteers for the following committees:

Communications – Ed Fouts (Chair)
Rules – Meredith MacQuigg (Chair)
Fundraising – Todd Kruckenberg (Chair), Megan Lyman
Parade – Justin Murdock (Co-Chair), Marty Larson (Co-Chair)
Pride Fest – Bryan Smith (Chair), Mongo (Logistics)

If you feel that you would be a good fit for one of these committees please email outofbox@inbox.com

Thanks!

Meeting Notes:

We will start updating the blog with the meeting notes.
Here are our first two meeting of the year's meeting notes:
Capital City Pride
December 4, 2008 -- Minutes
Central Library: Room 3

• Call to order – 6:30 p.m.

• Roll Call
➢ Moderator: Anthony Mariano
➢ Vice Moderator: Justin Devries (elected at this meeting)
➢ Secretary: KellyMarie Ziemann
➢ Treasurer: Angela Bowman (elected at this meeting)
➢ Member-at-large: Ed Fouts
➢ Member-at-large: Bryan Smith
➢ Member-at-large: Sandy Bowman (elected at this meeting)
➢ Also in attendance: Mongo, Marty Larson, Tom Hayna, Justin Murdock, Megan Lyman, and Sidney Hird
• Round table introductions of attendees
• Announced vacant positions (Vice-Moderator, Treasurer, Member-at-large)
• Justin Devries expressed interest in Vice-Moderator, was nominated, elected, and accepted the position
• Angela Bowman expressed interest in Treasurer, was nominated, elected, and accepted
• Sandy bowman expressed interest in serving as a Member-at-large, was nominated, elected, and accepted

• Discuss the vision for 2009 Pride week, the internal workings of the group, and how board meetings are conducted
➢ Vision
• Mongo proposed moving Pride events to East Village
• Also proposed using Rolling Thunder stage (and possible East Village discount)
• Suggestion – block off streets similar to World Food festival?
• E. 5th from Grand to Locust, and parking lot?
• Put stage South of Locust on E. 5th, and vendors on E. 5th?
• Sandy, as a vendor in past years, requested vendors be more centralized
• Stinky opened up a discussion about if we wanted Pride events scheduled all week
• Mongo suggested coordinating with Mr./Ms. Gay Latino pageant
• Also suggested to coordinate with area gay sports leagues
• Ed suggested moving the discussion of exact PrideFest specifications to the PrideFest committee, who is responsible for the festival itself
• Stinky will come up with a proposal for moving the festival and bring it to the January meeting

• Meredith will give us an overview of the financials from 2007, and discuss integrating our new treasurer
➢ Meredith went over itemized expenses for 2008
➢ Meredith provided overview of Pride 2008 Annual Report
➢ Tabled voting on Annual Report until January’s meeting

• Discuss and vote on bringing in Pride Brunch in place of Pride Ride
➢ Pride Ride was a Community Center event that Capital City Pride was asked to help with in 2008
➢ Since One Iowa has taken over Community Center, they will also take over Pride Ride
➢ This was discussed, and it was determined that the Pride Brunch would fall under the supervision of the Fundraising Committee
➢ Also, Stinky suggested that the brunch location should move from its current home at the Thoreau Center to an outside tent near the PrideFest venue

• Discuss who would like to be involved in different planning committees
➢ Communications – Ed Fouts (Chair)
• The website is in a period of transition, and this committee is looking for help to make it as user-friendly as possible
➢ Rules – Meredith MacQuigg (Chair)
➢ Fundraising – Todd Kruckenberg (Chair), Megan Lyman
➢ Parade – Justin Murdock (Co-Chair), Marty Larson (Co-Chair)
➢ PrideFest – Bryan Smith (Chair), Mongo (Logistics)
➢ Pride Ride – No longer needed, as this is being taken care of by One Iowa
➢ Gay in the Gateway – Meredith will talk to Linda and Denise from Ritual Café about this and report back in January. They may decide to take over the event. If they do not, and if we do decide to continue this event as a fundraiser, planning will fall under the Fundraising Committee

• Create accountabilities for each committee member
➢ Bryan
• work on PrideFest possible layout/design
➢ Mongo
• measure in East Village
➢ Justin
• draft new meeting time proposal and survey plan
➢ Angela
• draft budget
• look into new storage shed
➢ Meredith
• talk to Linda and Denise re: Gay in the Gateway
• talk to Cyndi re: posting annual financial report online
• get contact info for website people to Ed
➢ Anthony and Ed
• Look at website changes
➢ Kelly
• Send minutes
• Send contact info for central committee members to all central committee members

• Any thoughts brought to the table for our next meeting?
➢ Justin questioned why the meetings are on the 1st Thursday of each month and suggested that more people might come if the meetings were on a different day or time
➢ He offered to develop a survey and proposal for moving the meetings and present it at the January meeting

• Closing Announcements
➢ Next 2009 Planning Committee meeting: January 8th, 2009 (Central Library)

• Adjourn 7:55pm

------
CCP Meeting Notes 01-08-2009:


I. Call to order – 6:30pm
II. Roll call

(Marty Larson, Sidney Hird, Megan Lyman, Justin DeVries, Justin Murdock, Callen Llbeda, Ana Yberra-Rojas, Susie Cook, Bryan Smith, Mongo, Angela Bowman, Sandy Bowman)

III. Monthly CCP meetings consist of 4 parts
• CCU – Committee Chair Update
• Committee Proposals
o Time for each committee to discuss any specific proposals that they have
• Assign Specific items for each committee
• Assign specific to do’s for each committee chair

IV. Go over what Committee Chair Update should look like

V. Committee Chair Updates (CCU)
Communications – Ed Fouts (Chair), Todd
Actively seeking assistances
Doesn’t have software needed to update website
Some people have volunteered, but no one is firm
Looking for people wanting to help with the Pride Guide
Justin M. asked if this was tied to fundraising… yes it is
5 years ago, the guide raised $5000
2 parts of guide
Selling ads
Laying out actual guide itself
Would like 6-8 volunteers for guide itself
Planned Parenthood communications department may have staff that can help with software
There may be people at the ISU Alliance who might be
willing to help with writing, other contributions to Pride Guide
email Kyl James to see if there are other people at Principal
who can help
*Rules – Meredith (Chair)
No report
*Fundraising
Megan approached US Cellular, her employer, and they will provide cell phones for key players to use during festival so they are not using their own minutes
She also approached them about sponsorship, and they are working on some kind of additional involvement
Mongo mentioned that there is a Pride bingo fundraiser January
31st 2pm, donation at the door, raffles, etc.
Pride Chain – each bar can have strips of paper, sell chains,
competition

*Pride Fest – Stinky and Mongo (Chairs) Susie
Stinky proposed festival location for Saturday and Sunday move to East Village
The committee voted to move the festival from Simon Estes
Must leave a 22 foot fire lane
New city ordinance: any businesses in the area (The Continental, The Underground) have to have a letter from us before they can sell in the street
If you are not a sponsor, they would pay flat fee, or percentage
The committee will discuss this further and come back with a proposal
*Parade -- Justin & Marty (Co—Chairs)
Justin showed new parade route
We did vote to accept new parade route
Marty shared that they have several volunteers already lined up
Want to get more diversity in parade line-up
*Also talked about Mr./Ms./Ms. Teen/Mr. Teen
Their contracts do say that they will fundraise and assist with Pride
Anthony is working with Evian to make that happen
Mongo also proposed the Saddle wanting to have a Mr/Ms Latino


VI. Review Accountabilities
Susie will talk to Planned Parenthood communications people about software
Susie will talk to Kyl
Susie will talk to talk to her contacts to get contact info for Drake’s GSA and DMU
Justin M. will develop poster that we are looking for volunteers, put Anthony’s email on the poster as contact info
Megan will talk to her brother regarding website design
Megan will talk to Ross about additional pageants throughout the year
Megan will talk to her contacts to get in contact with u of Iowa
Mongo & Stinky will finalize proposal on wristbands/vendor fees and bring back to committee
Justin D. and Anthony will get parade route up on website
Ed will send vendor list to Stinky
Ed will keep trying to get annual meeting minutes on website
Justin will keep working on proposal to switch meeting time/day

VII. Closing Announcements
VIII. Adjourn 7:30pm

Pride Dates Set!

Pride dates set for June 12th, 13th, and 14th. Please email outofbox@inbox.com for more info!

January 8th Meeting:

Thank you to everyone who attended last nights meeting! Please email outofbox@inbox.com for meeting notes. Also, we are still looking for volunteers so please email outofbox@inbox.com if you are interested. Thank you!
Capital City Pride

Meeting Tomorrow

Our next meeting is tomorrow January 8th and it starts at 6:30 PM at the Downtown Library. Please see the front desk for room number. This meeting is 1 hour long and will cover updates from each committee. Please email outofbox@inbox.com with any questions.