September 22nd, 2009.

Last night during the North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce’s Pride Dinner at the Warwick Melrose Hotel, keynote speaker Cleve Jones issued a challenge: If you can’t make it to the National Equality March in October, send someone in your place.

Shortly after Jones concluded his remarks, six chamber members and/or Pride dinner attendees responded, with each agreeing to pay for one of the local LGBT youth on hand to go to Washington. The six beneficiaries from Youth First Texas, shown after the dinner, are Will Mason, Chris Lopez, Victor Rodriguez, Steven Richmond, John McKnight and Hai Duong. They are pictured along with chamber member Jay Forte, far right.

Sending the youth to D.C. reportedly was the idea of longtime lesbian activists Louise Young and Vivienne Armstrong, who conceived it during the dinner and will be sponsoring one of the youth. Afterward, Young noted that many of Dallas’ pioneering activists, including Bill Nelson and Don Baker, attended the first gay-rights march on Washington in 1979.

“I think it’s so important for the next generation of activists to have some of the experiences that have sustained us,” Young said. “These things [marches] are very energizing.”

UPDATE: According to Chamber President and CEO Tony Vedda, the others who agreed to send a youth to D.C. were Cordey Lash, Derrick Brown, Mark Reed (2) and Jonathan Palant.

— John Wright

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ndHmretcvU[/youtube]

Videography by: Heather Viguerias, David Alvarado, Jessica Ogle, Jason Clemente, and Michael Mueller

Graphic by: Michael Todd

Edited by: Michael Mueller

Family

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj6h_g3_jjc[/youtube]

Drugs

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR1D–daL1k[/youtube]

School

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekTl14dd3CY[/youtube]

Suicide

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR5Lg6dlmT8[/youtube]

Youth First Texas

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDXSf2blBO8[/youtube]

Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner Sigourney Weaver stars in this emotional true story about a 1970′s religious suburban housewife and mother who struggles to accept her young son Bobby’s homosexuality. What happens to Bobby is tragic and causes Mary to question her faith; ultimately this mom changes her views in ways that she never could have imagined.

To those of you who live in Dallas, there is a free watching party for the new movie Saturday Night!

Join Q Cinema, Trinity MCC Church of Arlington and PFLAG-Fort Worth for a special free screening of the new Lifetime movie Prayers for Bobby at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24 at TCU’s Moudy #164 South. The Moudy Building at 2800 S. University (the large glass and concrete building at the corner of University Drive and Cantey Street on the TCU campus.) Discussion and refreshments will be immediately after.

The question now, is “When?”, but this is just about the best news we’ve heard from the Obama campaign regarding the decade old policy banning gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military. It’s exciting not just because Obama will be fulfilling a campaign promise, but because after eight years of press secretaries serving as little more than obfuscating puppets, Robert Gibbs will answer your questions – and by way of YouTube. The question comes at about 4:18 in the video.

We would to say thank you to the Dallas Voice who took the time to cover our Winter Ball 2008 event.

The City of Dallas was one of hundreds that participated in a nationwide protest against the passage of California’s Proposition 8 which bans gay marriage.

The passing of Prop 8 caused a week long protest in California which has since spread across the countries like the New York City which brought out an incredible estimated 10,000 protesters.