Maine's Publicly-Funded "Gay" FrostbiteME 2008 Weekend
By Staff
Mar 6, 2008 - 2:52:29 PM
Homosexual Events include AIDS Clinic Open House, Children's Museum Free Admission
Portland, Maine is playing host to the homosexual community's inaugural FrostbiteME 2008 weekend on March 7, 8, and 9. The event's motto is "A GLBT [Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transgendered] + Friends Event, Portland, Maine," and it is being organized by the newly created GayMaine.org website.
Many of Maine's largest businesses, and at least two governmental entities: the Convention & Visitors Bureau of Greater Portland and the Amtrak Downeaster, have given significant financial support to the homosexual weekend's efforts. Other family-friendly entertainment venues, such as the Children's Museum of Maine, the Portland (ME) Pirates hockey club, and the Sunday River ski resort offer steep discounts or free admission in honor of the weekend, but only if homosexuals show their FrostbiteME 2008 badges.
Four Portland-area hotels, the Eastland Park Hotel, Holiday Inn by the Bay, the Wild Iris Inn, and the Portland Harbor Hotel, offer special discounted weekend packages for homosexuals participating in FrostbiteME 2008, which include free alcohol, saunas, homemade granola, and "special chocolate novelties."
According to the GayMaine.org website: "FrostbiteME 2008 is the first-ever event of GayMaine.org, a grassroots effort to develop a vibrant and connected GLBT [Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transgendered] and friends community in Southern Maine." In all, fifty-four Southern Maine businesses are listed as financial sponsors of, or have discounted services specifically due to, the homosexual FrostbiteME 2008 weekend.
Major businesses financially supporting and publicly sponsoring the homosexual event include Diversified Business Communications (which owns Bangor's WABI/Channel 5 television station), the Portland Pirates hockey club, Sunday River ski resort, JetBlue Airways, the Convention & Visitors Bureau of Greater Portland, Dreyfus Financial Services, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the non-profit Maine Community Foundation, the Amtrak Downeaster, the Rainbow Business & Professional Associates (RBPA), and the non-profit Maine & Company.
The RBPA's public membership directory boasts over 130 Maine homosexual professionals and homosexual contacts within businesses located in Maine. It can be viewed online at http://rbpa.org/members. The Maine Community Foundation's Maine Equity Fund gives over $40,000 annually in grants for homosexual and transgendered organizations and events in Maine.
Maine & Company, which publicly supports the homosexual FrostbiteME 2008 events, is a private non-profit corporation that assists Maine's businesses in growth and development. Maine & Company's Directors and Members include Bob Hanf, President of Bangor Hydro-Electric Company, Sara Burns, President & CEO of Central Maine Power, Bruce A. Coggeshall, Managing Partner of Pierce Atwood LLP, Dana F. Connors, President of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, Edward Dinan, President of Verizon Communications in Maine, Erin Hoeflinger, Vice President/General Manager of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine, Raymond "Chip" Kelley, Senior Vice President of Key Bank of Maine, Harold C. Pachios, Managing Partner of Flaherty Beliveau & Pachios, Melinda Poore, Vice President of Government & Community Affairs for Time Warner Cable, Commissioner John Richardson of Maine's Department of Economic & Community Development, David Warren, Managing Partner of Verrill Dana, LLP, Lawrence A. Wold, President of TD Banknorth Maine, Charles A. Morrison, President of the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce, Godfrey Wood, Executive Director of the Greater Portland Chamber of Commerce, Steve Culver, Vice President of Government Relations for Hannaford Bros., Lisa Martin, Executive Director of the Manufacturers Association of Maine, and Kimberly Lindlof, President of the MidMaine Chamber of Commerce.
Smaller, local businesses financially supporting and publicly sponsoring the homosexual FrostbiteME 2008 include the Blue Hill, Maine-based Wise Acre frozen treats, Portland's Frannie Peabody AIDS Clinic, the Portland Museum of Art, the Portland Arts and Cultural Alliance, Portland's Jonathan Douglas massage parlor, Portland Certified Public Accountant Peter J. Callnan of Honeck O'Toole C.P.A.s, and the New York-based Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice.
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| Immanuel Baptist Church, Portland |
Events listed for the weekend include a champagne reception at a Portland furniture store and an Open House at the local AIDS Clinic on Friday, a wine and cheese tasting event and dancing at the Styxx nightclub until 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, and a Sunday afternoon film screening of the documentary "For the Bible Tells Me So" followed by a discussion of the homosexual-friendly movie led by Portland's Immanuel Baptist Church.
The homosexual lobbying group, EqualityMaine, holds their 24th Annual Awards Dinner in Portland on Saturday evening, March 8, as part of the FrostbiteME 2008 weekend of events. Sponsors for the evening, each of whom have donated between $750 to $2,500 to EqualityMaine directly, include Time Warner Cable, Norway Savings Bank, Diversified Business Communications, Five County Credit Union, Vogel & Dubois, and the Portland Phoenix newspaper.
Merrill Lynch is the "presenting sponsor" for the dinner, having contributed $7,500 to EqualityMaine directly for the distinction. Tickets to the awards dinner are $60 each.
EqualityMaine will be honoring Rev. Dr. Mark Allen Doty with their "Faith in Action Award," the Maine Civil Liberties Union with their "Partners for [Homosexual Marriage] Equality Award," and Jill Barkley with their "Young Leaders Award."
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| Rev. Dr. Doty |
Rev. Dr. Doty is an openly homosexual man who leads Bangor's Hammond Street Congregational Church (U.C.C.). He was a signatory to a letter submitted as written testimony in support of directly funding abortions for poor women to the Maine Legislature at a public hearing last May. Rev. Doty also was a featured speaker at a Soulforce homosexual youth rally last August held on the Statehouse steps in Augusta.
The Maine Civil Liberties Union supported EqualityMaine last year in their successful effort to expand special benefits to homosexuals through Maine's existing Family Medical Leave Act. The MCLU also threatened Maine's Legislature last year with legal action if the abortion funding bill they supported was not passed.
Jill Barkley is the lesbian organizer of Portland's annual "Dyke March," which was sponsored and promoted by EqualityMaine. She also sent the League an email last June in which she accused the League of perpetuating "hate" in its reporting. Barkley said the League's reporting caused someone to vandalize the Longfellow Monument in Portland by spraypainting the words "Dyke Square" on it.
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