NJGayLife.com
Community Announcements & Info

• Garden State Equality Presents Neighborhood Action Summits to win marriage equality
• NEW JERSEY GAY MEN'S CHORUS "STAGES" 16TH ANNUAL SPRING CONCERT
• Adoption Center Reaches Out to LGBT Community
• Pride Center of New Jersey has moved
• Laurel Hester Scholarship Fund
• Transgender: what is it?

Garden State Equality Presents Neighborhod Action Summits
to win marriage equality

Garden State Equality presents the next innovation in our grassroots revolution for marriage equality: Neighborhood Action Summits.

Throughout May 2008, there will be Neighborhood Action Summits just minutes from wherever you live or work in New Jersey.

We’ll have much more on this exciting program – but for now, please save the dates below so you can join us:

Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 7:00 pm, Neighborhood Action Summits throughout South Jersey including Atlantic County, Camden County, Cape May County, Cumberland County, Gloucester County, Salem County, part of Burlington County, part of Ocean County.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at 7:00 pm, Neighborhood Action Summits throughout Central Jersey including Hunterdon County, Mercer County, Middlesex County, Monmouth County, Somerset County, Warren County, part of Burlington County, part of Morris County, part of Union County.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 7:00 pm, Neighborhood Action Summits throughout North Jersey including Bergen County, Essex County, Hudson County, Passaic County, Sussex County, part of Morris County, part of Union County.

If you would like to help lead a Neighborhood Action Summit, please contact Garden State Equality's Brian Simons at Simons@GardenStateEquality.org or mobile (973) 930-3531.

NEW JERSEY GAY MEN'S CHORUS "STAGES" 16TH ANNUAL SPRING CONCERT

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY: The New Jersey Gay Men's Chorus, Steven A. Russell, Director, concludes its 16th season with their spring concert entitled "Stages: A Theatrical Look at Change" on Friday, June 6, at The College of New Jersey's
Mildred & Ernest E. Mayo Concert Hall, 2000 Pennington Road Ewing, NJ and Saturday, June 7, 2008 at the United Church of Christ Congregational, 220 W. 7th Street Plainfield, New Jersey. Both performances begin at 8:00 PM.
This innovative program includes music written for the theatre as well as great choral music to view the changes in our lives and our world. Cultural shifts, the process of growing up, and our attitudes about life, love and work are some of the changes reflected in this concert, which features works by Verdi & Bizet, renowned arrangers Roger Emerson & Robert deCormier, and local composers Robert Cohen & Joel Phillips, as well as a guest appearance by soprano Ginette Bernard, who the Chorus joined during her appearance with pianist Gary Madison at Carnegie Hall this past December.
Join the chorus for this uplifting and entertaining concert!
Tickets for the evening are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and students when purchased in advance. All seats are $25 when purchased at the door. Advance purchase is available by visiting the Chorus website at www.njgmc.org or by contacting the Chorus at 609-396-7774.

The New Jersey Gay Men's Chorus is committed to providing equal access to persons with disabilities. We are committed to providing people with disabilities each and every concert they perform. Please contact them with any special need requests.

Adoption Center Reaches Out to LGBT Community

Just before his 18th birthday, Sheldon got the gift he had been dreaming about for twelve years. He walked into Philadelphia Family Court with the two people who would that day become his official, legal parents.

“We were just slightly nervous,” remembers his dad. “In the back of your mind is always the thought that maybe they’ll figure out some reason we can’t do this.” But all went smoothly, and there was a party afterward for friends. Two months later, members of both parents’ extended families were invited to a “Covenanting” ceremony where Doug Brunk and Lloyd Bowman wrote the words that were in their hearts and committed to being Sheldon’s parents forever.

Brunk and Bowman are two of an increasing number of gay men and women who are adopting children who now live in foster care. Their son, Sheldon, now 19, was 17 when he came to live with them. They plan to adopt again.

The National Adoption Center, based in Philadelphia, is launching a program for members of the gay community to advise and support them as they consider adoption. The first information session will be held on Tuesday, March 25 at the Philadelphia Foundation, 1234 Market Street, Suite 1800 at 5:30 and is sponsored by the Center and the Delaware Valley Legacy Fund. Sheldon’s parents will participate in the program.

While the Center, based in Philadelphia, has always welcomed gay men and women as candidates for adoption, it is now becoming proactive, encouraging those who may be considering adoption, but don’t know how to begin, which adoption agency to approach and how to get the support they need during the adoption process.

“Sheldon is one of our board members,” says Perry Monastero, executive director of DVLF. “We incubated the LGBT community assessment project of the City of Philadelphia and The Philadelphia Foundation,” he says. “One important finding uncovered by Chris Bartlett and his team at the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation is that 29% of households surveyed has a child in the home. Sheldon comes from one of those households.”

There are 114,000 children throughout the country living in foster care who wait to be adopted; 1600 are living in the Delaware Valley. Most children are school age and many, like Sheldon, are teenagers who still hope for a permanent family. Since 1972, the Center has helped find families for more than 21,000 children.

“Members of the LGBT community are important resources for our children,” says Ken Mullner, Adoption Center executive director. “We want them to know that they are welcome as potential adoptive parents and urge them to attend.”

In addition to Sheldon’s parents, Monastero and Mullner will speak and be available for a question-and-answer session.

For additional information, contact Suzanne Keller at 215-735-9988, ext. 311 or skeller@nacenter.adopt.org

Pride Center of New Jersey has moved!

Effective February 1st, The Pride Center of New Jersey has a new home!
New Address: 321 Raritan Avenue, Highland Park, NJ
2nd Floor of the Franklin Feld Building, Next to PJ's Coffee House, 1/2 block north of Charlie Brown's Restaurant

We Need Your Help!!
If you are interested in volunteering at the new Pride Center of New Jersey, Highland Park location, please call us at 732-846-2232! Spread the word!

Laurel Hester Scholarship Fund
The domestic partner of deceased Ocean County Prosecutor's Investigator Laurel Hester and a former co-worker have established a scholarship fund in Hester's name.

Stacie Andree, 30, of Point Pleasant, and former co-worker Dane Wells, 49, of Jackson, have created the Laurel Hester Scholarship Fund, administered by The Personal Liberty Fund, or TPLF, of the New Jersey Lesbian and Gay Coalition.

The scholarship benefits young adults who show leadership in the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Intersex community.

Those wishing can address contributions to the Laurel Hester Scholarship Fund/TPLF
c/o The Personal Liberty Fund, P.O. Box 11335, New Brunswick, NJ 08906-1335.

Transgender: What is it?
Provided by:
AEGIS (American Educational Gender Information Service)
P.O. Box 33724, Decatur, GA 30033-0724
(770) 939-2128 Business (770) 939-0244 Information & Referrals (770) 939-1770 FAX
email aegis@gender.org
AEGIS Web Site
Back to Top

 

To send organization info click here  For  info on advertising in the Business directory click here Copyright ©1997-2008Pressing Issues, Inc./NJGayLife™ P.O. Box 224, Metuchen, NJ 08840, 732-549-9054 All rights reserved.