Hello, all!
Well, we’re in that short month…spring is just around the corner, and there’s alot to fill up your calendar!! Here we go!
First, we are happy to welcome Natalie Martin, a local singer/musician, who happens to be trans, will join us for our February 27 meeting to help mtf’s with vocal transitioning. Several teens in our teen group mentioned that they are having difficulty with that aspect of transitioning. Natalie was gracious enough to agree to join us for the meeting and teach some helpful tips! Thank you Natalie! We can decide that evening if we want the whole group to hear her advice, or split into our regular groups.
Additionally, our March 27 meeting will be an educational meeting, rather than support group. Topics this time will include Intimate Partner Violence, and ways to protect yourself from it, and also a focus on LGBTQ Older Adults​ in issues of housing and making a welcoming community in services that we may need as we age. Attached, please find our flyer for this event, and please distribute if you can!
Teens! Another fun event from our friends at Teen Pride Network is planned for Friday, February 17 at the UU Church at 3300 Morehead in Akron/Fairlawn! Get your arts on! Join the gang and create, dance, draw….you get the picture! 7:00-10:00pm
Mark your calendars! The next MetroHealth Transgender Job Fair will be on April 22, 2017 from 9:00-1:00! this is a great event for anyone wanting some help with a job search, and to make some connections with companies who are inclusive! I highly recommend this for anyone graduating from college, looking for a new job, or want to develop new job skills! This event will again be at the MetroHealth Main Campus. Details at www.metrohealth.org/transgender-job-fair
PRIDE in the CLE will take place in downtown Cleveland again this year on Public Square! This year, the parade and festival will be on Saturday, June 3, 2017, and the whole week will be filled with celebration from May 29-June 4! www.lgbtcleveland.org for all the details!
AKRON will be having it’s first PRIDE Celebration this year!! Mark your calendars for Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017 from 12:00-8:00pm www.akronpride.org
Also, for those adults interested, CLAW (Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend) will be held this year the weekend of April 27-30. CLAW has been a helpful donor to OutSupport for the last several years, and we’ve been able to purchase PFLAG booklets to distribute at meetings, rainbow and trans flags for use at several events in the past year, and other items to offer to those who find their way to our meetings. We so appreciate your generous donations to OutSupport, and for all the LGBTQ Charities you support!! Thank you!
Finally, just to let you know what else OutSupport is up to, we’ll be speaking to the Embracing Peace and Justice group on Tuesday, February 28. Also, we will be presenting to a Medina County School Guidance Counselor group (ShareCluster) on March 17. Additionally, some familiar faces will be speaking at the UU church service on Sunday, February 26, where the topic for the day will be about transgender folks, and how better the UU congregation can be even more welcoming than they already are! We continue to update our website with a new calendar! Please let us know if your group is having a meeting, and we’ll make every effort to get it on the calendar! Also, we now have over 500 “likes” on our facebook page! If you haven’t checked either the website or FB, check us out!!
Big news out of Brunswick! Nick Hanek, one of the city’s councilmen, is moving forward with Equality Ohio in making Brunswick a non-discriminatory city! OutSupport will be involved as we can be in this process.This will be a process, as you likely know, but I will keep you posted as far as any developments! Thank you Nick!!
Lastly, I wanted to mention something that I’ve been following on Facebook, and has since made the news. A businessman/local gov’t official in Olmstead Falls had a very unpleasant, anti-trans sign in front of his establishment. Well, he went too far in his free speech, and he, due to the voices who said “NO!!!”, he resigned his position with the city, and took his sign down. You may have seen this on the news! Even better, Olmstead Falls wants to start the process for becoming a non-discriminatory city. Thanks for all who spoke up, and said that that is completely unacceptable to have a sign like that in their community. Well done!
As always,
With kindest regards,
Sandy