Maine
Full Weekend of Pro-homosexual Events Planned
By Mike Hein
Nov 13, 2007 - 2:35:27 PM

EqualityMaine, University of Southern Maine, and Maine Community Foundation are Sponsors

Southern and Coastal Maine is preparing for a host of radical homosexual and transgender events this week. 

The events, a meeting of the University of Southern Maine (USM) "Queer Insurgency" student group, USM's and Maine SpeakOut's "2007 Transgender Day of Rememberance," and the Maine Community Foundation (Maine Equity Fund) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning 2007 Symposium are scheduled for November 15, 16, and 17, respectively.

According to its own USM-sponsored webpage, Queer Insurgency is an organization dedicated "to foster radical queer activism on [USM's] campus...and help create a queer community [at USM]." 

Queer Insurgency meets on Thursdays, including on November 15, at 7 p.m. in the Center for Sexualities and Gender Diversity at the Woodbury Campus Center on the Portland Campus.  Queer Insurgency's President is Kiersten Fletcher, its Treasurer is N. Ryan Toothaker, and its USM faculty advisor is Sarah Parker-Holmes.

Transgender Sponsor

On Friday, November 16, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., USM, the Maine Transgender Network, and the Community Counseling Center's Maine SpeakOut Project, will host the 2007 Transgender Day of Remembrance.  According to their press release flyer, this event will be "a social event with networking and caucus opportunities for the transgender community and allies." 

The event will conclude with "a ceremonial reading of the names of those individuals who have been the victims of anti-transgender and gender-based violence."  This event's contact person is Jennifer Hodsdon, who can be reached by email at speakout@commcc.org and by phone at (207) 874-1030. Wrapping up Maine's Mid-November series of homosexual-friendly events will be the Maine Community Foundation/Maine Equity Fund's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Symposium 2007, held all day Saturday, November 16.  This homosexual and transgender symposium will be held at the Samoset Resort in Rockland, ME from 8:45 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. 

Bill Lippert

Speaking at the event will be Hank Schmelzer, President and CEO of the Maine Community Foundation, Brenda Buchanan of Peaks Island, the Maine Equity Fund Chairman, and Bill Kieffer of Bethel, a Maine Equity Fund Advisor.  The Keynote Address will be given by Bill Lippert, an "out" homosexual Vermont State Legislator and childcare worker.

Additional information about the event can be obtained from the Maine Community Foundation's Helen McCain at 1 Monument Way, Suite 200, Portland, ME 04101.  She can be reached by email at hmccain@mainecf.org and by phone at (207) 761-2440.

Through the Maine Equity Fund, the Maine Community Foundation gives up to $40,000 annually to homosexual and transgender organizations and events.  For 2006, the Maine Community Foundation's Maine Equity Fund gave grants for these purposes:

• $2,500 "to fund a young adult group...that will provide a safe place to affirm their gender and sexuality" in Bangor
  
• $2,000 to EqualityMaine "to conduct a broad educational campaign for [homosexual] marriage equality in Maine
• $2,000 to "Make Beautiful Tribe" of Penobscot "for the 2007 'Guys Like Us' young gay men's retreat"
• $1,500 to Northern Lambda Nord of Blaine (ME) "toward the revitalization of Northern Lambda Nord"
  
• $3,500 to the Penobscot Theatre Company of Bangor "to present the play 'I Am My Own Wife' as part of the mainstage 2006-2007 season and to tour the production to other venues in Northern and Eastern Maine"