Greensboro PFLAG newsletter, December 2002

              Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
GREENSBORO, N.C.
Vol. 9 No. 12
December, 2002
Holiday Party held
A good time was had by all who managed to escape
the snow and ice and make it to Winston-Salem for the
annual PFLAG Christmas Party on Dec. 7. There was lots
of good food, entertainment, and fellowship as the Winston-
Salem, Greensboro, and Alamance chapters joined for the
holiday celebration.
Time to renew your membership
Now is the time for all PFLAG members to renew
their annual membership. Your dues support the newsletter
as well as the work of PFLAG both locally and nationally.
Dues help us locally to meet costs that our grants
do not cover..such as our love offering to Friendship Friends
for providing space for our meetings, potlucks, and storage
for our supplies. Our dues help support our national
initiatives toward providing safe schools for our children.
By paying our dues our chapter is represented which
contributes toward the national membership of PFLAG.
Our current tax deductible dues amounts are the
following:
Individual = $25
Household = $35
Limited Income = $15
Angel = $100
Make your check payable to Greensboro PFLAG
and bring it to the next meeting or mail your check to
Greensboro PFLAG, P.O. Box 4153, Greensboro NC 27404.
Greensboro PI
December meeting
December 17, 7:30 p.m
Friendship Friends Meeting House
1103 New Garden Road
Editor's Note: I apologize for the lateness of this
newsletter, due to the lack of electricity during last week's ice
storm and final exams at A & T this week. - Tom Clarke
Welcome to PFLAG. We offer a safe,
confidential space in which to explore our feelings and
understandings about the gay experience, especially
"coming out" and what this means to families and other
loved ones. Listen and share as much or as little as you
feel comfortable with, knowing that others can
understand. Welcome especially to our returning
members whose love is so healing.         	
NEWS BRIEFS
Some bright spots in November elections
After the November elections, with Republicans
now in control of Congress, gay political observers predict
that it will be very difficult to pass pro-gay legislation at the
federal level. In fact, there will likely be hard-fought battles
to protect gains of recent years.
Nevertheless, there were bright spots in the
otherwise gloomy election returns. Aside from an expected
rebuff of gay marriage in Nevada, the election was a coast-
to-coast success for gay issues and candidates. The three
openly gay members of Congress won re-election by
landslide margins; Providence, R.I., became the largest city
with an openly gay mayor; and activists prevailed in three
referendums on municipal nondiscrimination codes.
Openly gay candidates fared well in races for
federal and stale offices, led by the three incumbent
members of Congress. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., was
unopposed, while Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., and Tammy Baldwin,
D-Wis., each won more than 60 percent of the votes.
An even bigger landslide occurred in Providence,
where Democrat David Cicilline won 84 percent of the
votes. The Rhode Island capital, with a population of
174,000, will surpass Tempe, Ariz., as the largest city with
an openly gay mayor, according to the Gay and Lesbian
Victory Fund.
In Ypsilanti, Mich., voters rejected an amendment
to the City Charter that would have removed "sexual
orientation" from the non-discrimination ordinance, as well
as excluded gays from inclusion as a protected class in any
future measures passed by the city. Voters defeated the
charter amendment 3,080 to 1,739, or 64 percent to 36
percent, according to unofficial results.
Tacoma, Wash., voters rejected Initiative No. 1,
which asked voters to delete sexual orientation and gender
identity from the antidiscrimination law that the City
Council passed in April. This was the third time in 12 years
that Tacoma voters were asked to decide whether the city-
should protect sexual minorities from discrimination.
Voters in Westbrook, Maine, narrowly upheld a gay
rights ordinance approved by the City Council in July. The
vote Tuesday was 51 percent in favor of the measure and 49
percent opposed. The ordinance - outlawing discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, housing,
credit and public accommodations—is one of 10 such
measures on the books in Maine cities and towns.
An anti-discrimination amendment including
protections for gays and lesbians was added to the Sarasota,
Fla., charter, with 73 percent of voters, (cont'd on page 2)