Representative Barney Frank Attends 1999 Reception
Lesbian and Gay Standing Committee Reception 2000
Stay in Touch
Mark Your Meeting Schedules
Minutes of the Annual Business Meeting
Treasurer's report
Standing Committee Nominations
Planning Your Philadelphia Trip
Directions to the Reception in Philadelphia
Representative Barney Frank Attends Standing Committee 1999 Reception
Openly gay Representative Barney Frank (D-MA-4th) told over 100 attendees at last year's Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues Reception that Lesbians and Gays must become more politically active in order to keep the strides we have made morally, ethically and socially.
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Chair Scott Burgh, Representative Barney Frank, and Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect Todd Bennett at the reception. |
In the beautiful and historic Woman's National Democratic Club, Representative Frank reminded everyone that the next president will choose new Supreme Court justices who will ultimately determine whether we get full legal rights. "Our enemies are far more committed to using their political power than we are," said Representative Frank.
Tired of avoiding pronouns, Frank came out publicly in 1987. At that time, 44% of people surveyed thought that Frank would be politically damaged for coming out; however, only 22% of those respondents said they were less likely to vote for him. Representative Frank encouraged everyone present to come out, stating that, "When the reality of our lives comes into contact with prejudice, prejudice loses."
According to Representative Frank, our country is officially homophobic, but not really; and it is officially not racist, but really is. The average American is a lot less homophobic than he thinks he is supposed to be. "What we do by coming out is to give people the courage to act on their own lack of homophobia," said Frank.
Lesbian and Gay Standing Committee Reception 2000 to Be Held at William Way Center
The 2000 Lesbian and Gay Standing Committee Reception will be held in the William Way Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center located just a few blocks from the Philadelphia Convention Center at 1315 Spruce Street.
Please feel free to invite your friends and colleagues to this reception, to be held from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 18, 2000, as we get reacquainted with old friends and make new ones.
The reception will include stationary buffet style displays of smoked salmon and mascarpone torte with toasted baguette, vegetable crudités (celery, carrots, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, florets of broccoli and cauliflower, with creamy parmesan dip), assorted domestic and imported cheese, fresh fruit and breads, white bean and mustard green spread with toasted pita, smoked chicken skewers with dried tomatoes and green olive tapenade, and assorted cookies, brownies and pastries.
The reception fee is $12, and includes assorted soft drinks, Perrier, beer and wine. Due to logistics involved with Pennsylvania liquor laws, there will be no cash bar. This year's event is generously sponsored in part by Lexis®-Nexis®.
A form is attached on page 5 and available at http://www.aallnet.org/sis/srsis/collage/volume3/form.htm. Registrations *MUST BE RECEIVED* by Tuesday, July 11, 2000, so that we can provide the caterer with an accurate count. Please register today!
Opened to the public in July 1997, the William Way Center houses nine community organizations, provides meeting space for 30 regularly scheduled groups, offers its own programs, and provides ballroom space for special events. William Way was a longtime city employee who oversaw the construction of affordable housing throughout the city and was an openly gay man at a time when coming out of the closet often had severe consequences. He was also an advocate for the Philadelphia lesbian and gay community, who played a key role in the establishment of Penguin Place, the predecessor to this community center. More information on the center can be found at http://www.waygay.org.
Visit the Social Responsibilities SIS home page at http://www.aallnet.org/sis/srsis/index.html. This page is being maintained by Rebecca Alexander, zzalex@washburn.edu, who is doing an outstanding job. The page now contains back issues of the SIS newsletter, and contains back issues of COLLAGE. Also, check out the new Lesbian and Gay links.
The SR-SIS ListServ is a discussion list for members of AALL's SR-SIS and its standing committees: Law Library Services to Institution Residents and the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issue. To subscribe to SR-SIS, send a message to listproc@law.wuacc.edu and type the following command in the body of your message:
subscribe SR-SIS [your first and last name]
Saturday, 2:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Diversity Symposium: Racial and Sexual Intolerance
The topic of the symposium will be racial profiling and hate crimes.
Recently, several high-profile cases have shown that intolerance based on
race or sexual orientation can lead to overt or subtle discrimination and/or
criminal activity. The speaker will give an update on recent events
pertaining to these issues. Rita Addessa of the Pennsylvania Lesbian and
Gay Task Force will talk about hate crimes specifically from the gay and
lesbian perspective.
Sunday, 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Taking the Lead in Pro Bono Work
Camille Broussard, Coordinator
Sunday, 2:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
Do Our Salaries Reflect Our Leadership?
John H. Davey, Moderator
Sunday, 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Business Meeting - Social Responsibility SIS
Sunday, 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Business Meeting - Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues
Chair Todd Bennett is unable to attend the meetings this year. If you have
agenda items you would like to discuss, please e-mail Laura Whitbeck, (lawhitbeck@bryancave.com)
Vice-Chair/Chair-elect by 7/10/2000.
Monday, 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Leadership in Diversity: The Last Socially Acceptable Prejudice
James V. Carmichael has completed extensive research on lesbian, bisexual and gay
librarians and the attitudes of librarians toward lesbian, bisexual, gay or
transgendered individuals. A dynamic and compelling speaker, he will present his
findings and how they apply to law librarianship. A historian of librarianship, he
can place lesbigay issues in context and provide concrete positive recommendations
for the workplace and the Association as a whole in effectively confronting this
last, neglected area of bias, prejudice and disrespect. Small groups will be
formed to discuss the issues raised, which will be summarized in a final gathering
of the entire group.
Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Reception - Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues, William Way
Center, 1315 Spruce Street
Wednesday, 3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.
Hate Crimes: Examining the Issues
Hate crimes are criminal acts against a person or group motivated by bias and
prejudice against the victim or the group. Although the United States has had
civil rights statutes designating hate crimes on the books for more than 30 years,
the law remains narrow in its scope. The current federal law does not include bias
against someone because of gender, sexual orientation or disability as a basis for
a hate crime. The panel of speakers will educate participants about the status of
current and pending hate crime legislation in the United States, issues in today's
society affecting the spread of hate crimes in this country (i.e., Has the Internet
influenced the spread of hate crimes?), and major U.S. hate crime cases.
Minutes of the Annual Business Meeting
of the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Concerns,
Social Responsibilities SIS,
American Association of Law Libraries
Monday, July 19, 1999
Renaissance Hotel, Washington, DC
The Chair, Scott Burgh, called the meeting to order at 4:50 p.m.
Treasurer's report
Approval of Minutes
Old Business
- Reception
- The Chair thanked Laura Whitbeck and Tina Ramoy, the members responsible
for arranging the reception. The Chair also acknowledged the underwriting
support of LEXIS-NEXIS, West Group, and CCH. The reception will be held at
the national Women's Democratic Club. All openly-gay members have been
invited, and Barney Frank has confirmed that he will attend. Provided the
membership does not object, a photographer will be on hand to commemorate
the event.
- Vendor Employment and Benefits Survey Committee
- This committee is charged with conducting a survey of legal information companies on their gay-related employment policies. Martha Brown of AALL staff has provided the committee with a list of vendors exhibiting at the 1999 Annual meeting. The committee plans to supplement this list, and then to create the survey. Scott Burgh and Marilyn Nicely are contacts for those interested in volunteering to work on the committee.
- Holoch Bequest
- Last year the Standing Committee voted to use the interest on this bequest for scholarships and grants. The incoming Chair, Todd Bennett, called for volunteers to help flesh out how to allocate these funds.
New Business
- Diversity Committee of AALL
- The Standing Committee's contact with the Diversity Committee, Sarah
Gregory, reported that this year, although the Diversity Committee had
agreed to address the issue of sexual orientation as it related to diversity,
no formal discussion in fact took place.
- Next year, the Diversity Committee does plan to discuss why there is such tension among the issues of race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. The Standing Committee's contact with the Diversity Committee, Sarah Gregory, would like input from members of the Standing Committee on what needs to be addressed in this area.
- Bibliography
- In 1994, the Standing Committee published the bibliography "Sexual Orientation and the Law," in Law Library Journal. Several members are interested in updating this bibliography, and more volunteers are needed. (Marilyn Nicely and Todd Bennett have volunteered to assist in updating. Carol Alpert will assist in coordinating the project. Potential volunteers should contact Carol.
- Program Proposals for 2000
- The Standing Committee will be submitting (under the auspices of the Social Responsibilities SIS) at least one program proposal for the 2000 Annual Meeting. Members are encourage to submit program ideas to the incoming Chair, Todd Bennett.
- Times for future Standing Committee Meetings
- Michael Saint-Onge of AALL and Karen Westwood of the Social Responsibilities SIS discussed efforts to reduce conflicts among SIS meetings, programs, and other Annual Meeting events. This means that the meeting time for the Standing Committee may change so that it will not conflict with other SIS meetings. The Chair noted that he felt is was important that the Standing Committee business meeting take place before the Tuesday evening reception.
- Thanks to the 1998-1999 Board
- The Chair thanked the 1998-99 Board for their service.
- Election of officers
- By acclamation the membership elected officers for 1999-2000. Jim Braden will continue to serve as Treasurer, Mary Burgos will serve as Secretary, and Laura Whitbeck will serve as Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect.
- Next year, the Diversity Committee does plan to discuss why there is such tension among the issues of race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. The Standing Committee's contact with the Diversity Committee, Sarah Gregory, would like input from members of the Standing Committee on what needs to be addressed in this area.
At 5:25 p.m. the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Lee Ryan, Secretary
SR-SIS Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues Treasurer's Report, May 2000
| Beginning Balance | 0.00 |
| Income | |
| Reception 1999 door receipts | 1,010.00 |
| Donation (Joseph Hinger) | 20.00 |
| Donation (Dror Faust) | 200.00 |
| Total Income | 1,230.00 |
| Expenses | |
| Office Supplies | 8.01 |
| Reception 1999 tips | 20.00 |
| Total Expenses | 28.01 |
| Ending Balance | 1,201.99 |
Alan Holoch Fund
(This is an AALL restricted fund, with a $10,000 principle,
and an average annual interest accrual of between $400-500, based on the
overall rate of return for all of AALL's investments. Accrued interest
earmarked for scholarship awards)
| Interest income (prior years) as of 9/30/97 | 917.00 | |
| Interest income FY1997/98 as of 9/30/98 | 471.00 | |
| Subtotal (as of July 1999 annual meeting) | 1,388.00 | |
| Estimated Interest income FY 1998/99 as of 9/30/99 | 450.00 | est. |
| Estimated Interest income FY 1999/00 as of 9/30/00 | 450.00 | est. |
| Total estimated interest income as of 9/30/00 | 2,288.00 | est. |
Standing Committee Receptions
| 1998 Anaheim Reception | ||
| Cost | (1,153.52) | |
| Door receipts (43 @$20) |
860.00 | |
| SR-SIS subsidy | 293.52 | |
| Balance | 0.00 | |
| 1999 DC Reception | ||
| Cost | (2,689.50) | |
| Sponsorship CCH | 300.00 | |
| Sponsorship LEXIS-NEXIS | 1,000.00 | |
| Sponsorship West Group | 300.00 | |
| Total Sponsorships* | 1,600.00 | |
| SR-SIS subsidy | 1,089.50 | |
| Balance | 0.00 | |
| (*deposited with SR-SIS) |
Nominations for Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues Offices
To help facilitate the elections process at the meeting in July, we are soliciting nominations for our offices. You may self nominate or make suggestions of others whom you think would be interested and willing to help be a part of the standing committee's leadership team. The available offices are
- Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect
- Secretary
- Treasurer
Additionally, we will need another volunteer to serve as COLLAGE editor. We may also want to consider whether the Standing Committee wants or needs a newsletter separate from the SR-SIS newsletter.
Planning Your Philadelphia Trip
GALLOP- Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia
http://www.libertynet.org/gallop/
Giovanni's Room
http://www.giovannisroom.com or
http://www.queerbooks.com
In business for over 20 years, Giovanni's Room is Philadelphia's Gay and Lesbian bookstore, located at 345 South 12th Street. 215-923-2960. Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 11:30 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. Wednesday, 11:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. Friday, 11:30 a.m. -
10:00 p.m. Saturday: 10:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. Sunday: 1:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Philadelphia Gay News
http://www.epgn.com/
- "Destinations" - a listing of bars and nightclubs
- "Meeting Place" - a long listing of organizations
- "Features" - a listing of upcoming events
Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival,
July 13th - 24th, 2000
http://www.tlavideo.com/piglff/
Nothing much at the site as of 6/2/2000.
Directions to the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues Reception:
Tuesday, July 18, 2000, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
William Way Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center,
1315 Spruce Street.
Walk south on 10th, 11th or 12th Streets, turn right on Spruce and walk to 1315.
Registrations *MUST* be made received by Tuesday, July 11, 2000, so that we can provide the caterer with an accurate count. Please register today!
Comments to: Rebecca Alexander
Last updated 7 June
2000