My international group is the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Their mission statement is "Our mission is advancing human rights for everyone, everywhere, to end discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression." (http://www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/iowa/content/about/missionandvision/index.html)
"We believe that realizing our vision requires the development of strong human rights movements globally, which is why building advocacy partnerships is at the heart of what we do. As partners, we work hand-in-hand with local activists to strengthen their capacity to confront human rights violations at home. We also connect our partners to the broader human rights arena—including the United Nations system and NGOs at the regional and global level. Together with our partners, we create visibility for human rights violations by monitoring and documenting abuses and responding to human rights emergencies. We stand firm with those who seek to change discriminatory laws and policies affecting our communities." (http://www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/iowa/content/about/ourwork/index.html)
IGLHRC has programs focusing on Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, Iran and Iraq, and with the United Nations.
Friday, February 20, 2009
More on New Pride
The new pride group is comprised of facilitators (me and 9 other volunteers) and support group members, the people who will be attending the meetings to benefit from them. Like I said in my last post I had my first training session on Tuesday, unfortunately I was half dead with bronchitis and drugged up so I actually didn't get a whole lot out of the meeting :( Generally though it was a basic meet and greet, all the facilitators got together and we went over the very basics of how the group is going to be set up and run. All of the facilitators are "out" gays who have a desire to make a welcome and safe place for individuals who are coming out later in life (21+) we haven't had an official meeting yet so I can't yet tell you who the other members will be!
Like I said this a support group, it is what is called a "peer run" support group, meaning there are no actual counselors present, just the facilitators, which makes for a much more relaxed and open environment. The purpose of this group is just to give support to those who are coming out later in life. We will have a monthly meeting (though if attendance is good it may switch to every other week) there will be 3 facilitators at every meeting to assure things run smoothly. Like I said the facilitators aren’t counselors so they aren’t there to necessarily give advice as they are to run the sessions and keep the conversations on point and intervene if necessary.
Again since we haven’t had an actual meeting yet I can’t describe TOO much of the actual process but I’ll write more next Tuesday after my next training meeting!
Like I said this a support group, it is what is called a "peer run" support group, meaning there are no actual counselors present, just the facilitators, which makes for a much more relaxed and open environment. The purpose of this group is just to give support to those who are coming out later in life. We will have a monthly meeting (though if attendance is good it may switch to every other week) there will be 3 facilitators at every meeting to assure things run smoothly. Like I said the facilitators aren’t counselors so they aren’t there to necessarily give advice as they are to run the sessions and keep the conversations on point and intervene if necessary.
Again since we haven’t had an actual meeting yet I can’t describe TOO much of the actual process but I’ll write more next Tuesday after my next training meeting!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
New Pride Facilitator
So I had my phone interview today with Doug from the Akron Pride Center for the volunteer facilitator position with New Hope. I am SO excited to say that I have been offered one of the positions! I start training Tuesday when I'll meet the other facilitators and start working on how to actually facilitate this group.
The meetings at first will be held once a month on Tuesday, but apparently the feedback from the community has been so great they are planning on making the meetings every other week after we get started.
So Tuesday evening there will be a nice long blog about my first training session!
The meetings at first will be held once a month on Tuesday, but apparently the feedback from the community has been so great they are planning on making the meetings every other week after we get started.
So Tuesday evening there will be a nice long blog about my first training session!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Introduction
So I'm Lindsay, I'm a junior (?) this is my first semester at Akron, I transferred from Otterbein which is a private liberal arts college in Columbus. I am working on two BA degrees, one in sociology one in psychology. I took two years off of college between Otterbein and Akron. A big part of the reason I took time off is that I was having a lot of issues with coming out, with certain members of my family and with people I knew in school. I chose the New Hope organization because of those two years I needed to take off. The group deals with young adults coming out later in life, and having been through so much when I came out, the group means a lot to be personally, as well as educationally. Since I'm working in sociology and psychology it will be an amazing opportunity for me to work with this group. I eventually want to focus on sexuality and LGBT issues at the PhD level. I feel like education is first step to ending homophobia and sexism, especially hate crimes, and violence.
Other than that, my fiancée and I live in Akron with our 3 dogs, a basset hound "Aberforth", a pit mix "Jada", and a keeshond mix "JD"...it's a zoo. Tif (my finance) and I are complete opposites but it works well. I'm a dorky bookish type who does nothing but read and research, and she’s a computer nerd who likes sport bikes and fast cars - but like I said some how it works out. I'm a total snob when it comes to art, movies, and music; it's a fault, but everyone's got one. I tend to ramble (if you can't tell) and when given an opportunity to speak about something I know or feel strongly about it's almost impossible to get me to shut up. But I love debates and arguing, especially with someone who really knows the topic and can challenge me or teach me something I didn't know. I am all about activism and generally over load myself with groups and commitments because I want to do everything. I don’t like sports or working out, in fact I don’t think I’ve even been inside a gym since high school. I love swimming though when I was little I wanted to be a mermaid when I grew up (and I’m not kidding that was my goal), or a rocket scientist…I was a weird kid too. In short I'm a big dork, I would chose staying in and reading a good book or having a good conversation over going out ANY day. But I like my dorkiness, I’ve come to terms with it.
Other than that, my fiancée and I live in Akron with our 3 dogs, a basset hound "Aberforth", a pit mix "Jada", and a keeshond mix "JD"...it's a zoo. Tif (my finance) and I are complete opposites but it works well. I'm a dorky bookish type who does nothing but read and research, and she’s a computer nerd who likes sport bikes and fast cars - but like I said some how it works out. I'm a total snob when it comes to art, movies, and music; it's a fault, but everyone's got one. I tend to ramble (if you can't tell) and when given an opportunity to speak about something I know or feel strongly about it's almost impossible to get me to shut up. But I love debates and arguing, especially with someone who really knows the topic and can challenge me or teach me something I didn't know. I am all about activism and generally over load myself with groups and commitments because I want to do everything. I don’t like sports or working out, in fact I don’t think I’ve even been inside a gym since high school. I love swimming though when I was little I wanted to be a mermaid when I grew up (and I’m not kidding that was my goal), or a rocket scientist…I was a weird kid too. In short I'm a big dork, I would chose staying in and reading a good book or having a good conversation over going out ANY day. But I like my dorkiness, I’ve come to terms with it.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Local women's organization
I've been looking for my local woman's organization and I found a group in progress called "New Pride" which is a support group and community meeting place for young LGBT adults who are coming out. I don't know if this counts as an organization however? The group is still looking for another facilitator (someone to help run the group) and I applied for the position, which would also make me a working member of the New Pride host organization called The Akron Pride Center. The APC is a local organization that hosts all kinds of LGBT support groups as well as community meetings, disscussions and programs that all have to do with LGBT issues. The organization strives to include diversity into all their programs.
I chose this organization because I feel like it is all inclusive. It supports and creates a safe place for all ranges of the LGBT community, from teens to the New Pride group to drug and alchohol addiction support for LGBT individuals.
- OH PS here is the link to website if you are interested New Pride
also check out the Akron Pride Center they do a lot of really interesting programs and community work
I chose this organization because I feel like it is all inclusive. It supports and creates a safe place for all ranges of the LGBT community, from teens to the New Pride group to drug and alchohol addiction support for LGBT individuals.
- OH PS here is the link to website if you are interested New Pride
also check out the Akron Pride Center they do a lot of really interesting programs and community work
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