Pride Guide 2005 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
Prime Timers host 'Capitol City Capers' around Pride
by Ed Grace
Columbus Columbus Ohio Prime Timers has scheduled their third "Capital City Capers" for June 24-26 in Columbus.
All Prime Timer members from Ohio and surrounding states are cordially invited to attend any or all of the weekend activities. A cookout on Friday evening beginning at 7 pm will open the celebration. At 10 am Saturday, the day will begin with a brunch followed by the Pride parade and celebration in the heart of the city. A bar trek is planned for Saturday evening. On Sunday the Columbus chapter will gather for its monthly social gathering starting at 3 pm.
Registration for the entire weekend is $15.
This includes meals and entrance fee to the Pride celebration. Out of town guests may choose to stay overnight with a local member or make their own arrangements at a campground or hotel. Guests may register through the web site, www.primetimersww.org/ columbusohpt or by calling 614-220-9458.
Columbus Ohio Prime Timers is a social organization for mature gay/bi men and their admirers. The Columbus chapter keeps their members hopping with two monthly card nights, a monthly "Dinner Night Out," "Prime Timers at the Movies" along with their monthly Sunday social gathering. Three bowling teams have registered for the summer
Celebrate families with P-FLAG on Pride Sunday
by Kellye Pinkleton
Columbus-Join Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays on Sunday, June 26 at 2 pm to gather and celebrate our families.
The monthly P-FLAG Columbus meeting is on Pride weekend in June. It will focus on celebrating the many families that exist and will provide an opportunity for community members to meet with P-FLAG officers and hear about upcoming chapter activities as well as accomplishments over the past year.
The June meeting will be held at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Clintonville, located at 93 W. Weisheimer Rd. All are invited to attend.
For more information on P-FLAG Columbus meetings and activities, contact the hotline at 614-227-9355 or e-mail Kellye Pinkleton, chapter coordinator,
kpinkleton@columbus.rr.com.
at
Kellye Pinkleton is the coordinator of the Columbus Chapter of Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
GLBT Student Services has made OSU a national leader
by Brett Genny Beemyn
Columbus Ohio State University's office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Student Services, part of the university's Multicultural Center, is one of the oldest campus GLBT centers in the country. It provides support, advocacy, and programming for members of the GLBT community at Ohio State and the Columbus community. All events are open to the public and are generally free. Among the yearly events organized by GLBT Student Services are National Coming Out Day, the Transgender Days of Remembrance and Action, Intersex Awareness Day, GLBTA Awareness Weeks, and the Other Prom, Columbus's annual GLBT and ally youth dance.
Through the HERO (Homophobia is Everyone's Responsibility to Overcome) program, GLBT Student Services regularly conducts training sessions on GLBT issues for Ohio State faculty, staff, and students in order to create a more inclusive and welcoming campus climate for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies. The office also administers a student speakers
bureau that gives presentations in OSU classes and residence halls.
In the last few years, GLBT Student Services has helped make Ohio State a national leader in serving the needs of transgender college students. The group led the effort that resulted in "gender identity or expression" being added to OSU's non-discrimination policy in January 2004, assisted with the creation of a trans-inclusive housing policy, offered mandatory transgender education sessions for housing and health-center staffs, and worked with administrative bodies to create an inclusive gender category on OSU forms and to require all new and renovated campus buildings to include gender-neutral bathrooms.
More information about GLBT Student Services and their programs and services can be found on the web site http:// multiculturalcenter.osu.edu/glbtss, or by contacting the office at glbtss@osu.edu or 614688-8449.
Brett Genny Beemyn is the coordinator of GLBT Student Services at Ohio State University.
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bowling league while several members orga-
nize a Saturday bike ride. Members often attend concerts, plays and other area events.
An additional main event is the "Annual Autumn Weekend Retreat" scheduled for October 14-16, in the Hocking Hills area. If interested in more information pertaining to
C-7
"Capital City Capers" or other events, see the web site above, call our chapter phone number, or send an e-mail to coloh primetime@aol.com.
Ed Grace is the past president of Columbus Prime Timers.
A letter to my brothers
African Americans & the AIDS pandemic
by Eddie W. Jones, Jr.
The issue of HIV and AIDS within the African American communities throughout the country and especially in Columbus continues to be ignored by its citizens. Even after years of hearing stories about our family members, neighbors and friends contracting this disease, we are not taking the issue very seriously. Ignoring the issue will not make it disappear.
For some strange reason we, as a community, always want to target our blame on a particular group of individuals instead of focusing on the important issues. Some fault the lack of community awareness on economics as it relates to access to HIV educational information. Others place blame on the widely publicized "down low" issue. Some even blame the community clergy for not addressing the fact that human beings are sexual by nature, and abstaining from sex prior to marriage is ultimately unrealistic. These and other facts can be debated as the probably cause of the statistical increase of African Americans who have contracted HIV and AIDS, but the determining factor as we see it relates to the lack of self-awareness, self-respect and pride.
We have to take responsibility for our own actions. All men and women within the African American community are the stewards of their body. Our behavior sometimes triggers our minds into engaging in unsafe sexual practices. For an example, the intake of alcohol and drugs limits our ability to make decisions that could basically save our lives. We need to be cognizant of our actions and make decisions that will not have a negative impact on ourselves, our family and our friends.
Education is the key, and unfortunately our brothers and sisters are ignoring the HIV information that is being disseminated within our community. Economics may be a factor for our people in having access to quality health care, but it does not contribute to us not obtaining information about our sexual health. Our people, for whatever reason, still associate this AIDS pandemic with gay men, or let me say men who have sex with other men. Statistically, African-American women are the number one group of individuals who have contracted HIV in the past few years. This is a fact that we cannot afford to ignore. At an alarming rate, our sisters are being infected with the virus, and no matter how or where they contracted it, these numbers need to decrease.
There have been several books, articles and television interviews about the current "down low brother."There have also been publicized statistics related to this topic. The issue of male sexuality actually overshadows the truth. This issue is not new and not limited to any single race. It seems that this current issue is trying to evoke the message that these actions are only occurring within the African American communities. This false information is detrimental as it paints an unappealing image of the African American male. There is no statistical proof that any race has a higher number of men involved in these activities.
We also need to face the fact that many heterosexual couples within the African American community are continuing to engage in unprotected sex with multiple partners. This in itself is akin to playing Russian roulette with one's life. It is puzzling to understand why these unsafe sexual practices continue to be the norm. Our brothers and sisters must take the personal responsibility to end this cycle. We must not continue to consider sex as a taboo topic, it is a gift from God in which we all engage. We need to have an open dialog about sex and our ability to make the right choices. Plus, we need to build upon self-awareness and self-respect.
Basically, when we are engaging in sexual activities, we may want to tell ourselves that everyone is HIV-positive, and act accordingly in our sexual activities.
We have the ability to reduce the number of African Americans who contract this disease. We must take it upon ourselves to share the truth about HIV and AIDS. It starts with you, my brother and sister. Take it upon ourselves to share the truth about HIV and AIDS. It starts with you, my brother and sister. Take it upon yourself to use your ability to think before you act, and please, get tested. Take Pride in yourself and your community
Eddie W Jones, Jr. is the executive director of the Tobias Project, which can be reached at 614.252-2727 or www.tobiasproject.org
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