Since 1971 the L.A.
Gay & Lesbian Center has been building the health, advocating
for the rights and enriching the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) people.
The Center's wide
array of services includes: free HIV/AIDS care and medications for
those most in need; housing, food, clothing and support for homeless
LGBT youth; support and advocacy services for LGBT seniors and
LGBT-parented families.
The Center also
offers low-cost counseling and addiction-recovery services;
legal services; health education and HIV prevention programs;
transgender services; a cultural arts program and much more.
Spectators who stand on the side of the road
and cheer on riders during AIDS/LifeCycle might do a double take when
Gayle Weiston-Serdan and Torie Weiston-Serdan pass.
The couple is putting their own spin on the seven-day ride from San
Francisco to L.A., which benefits the Center’s HIV/AIDS services, by
cycling on a tandem bike (which is to say, a bicycle built for two).
The first-time ALC riders, who’ve adopted
the
moniker ‘Team WeiGay,’ have been tandem riding since the earliest days
of their relationship. One of their first dates was joining another couple for a double date with double-seated tandem bikes. They fell in love with each other and tandem cycling. Read the rest of the Vanguard story.
Renée Zellweger,
Gina Gershon, Heart Headline ‘An Evening with Women’
Your Heart will race and you’ll be Bound
to your seat at the Center’s “An Evening with
Women: Celebrating Music, Art & Equality”
on Saturday, May 1 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The glamorous event
–L.A.’s premiere event for lesbians, bisexual women and their
supporters—will feature silver screen stars Renée
Zellweger (Bridget Jones's Diary, Chicago)
and Gina Gershon (Showgirls)
and giants from the music
industry, including Heart and
songwriter/producer Linda Perry.
The star-studded evening includes
dinner, a show and
a large silent auction featuring incredible travel and entertainment
packages and much more.
Q&A: The Case Against Prop. 8
Sky Johnson, the Center’s Senior
Policy Counsel, has
been working for equal rights and social justice for more than 25
years. He oversees the Center’sVote for EqualityProject,
which works to advance marriage equality through canvasses, phone banks
and other actions. Johnson recently shared his thoughts about the
federal trial challenging Prop. 8.
What is likely to
happen?
Johnson:
Walker’s decision seems
likely to be favorable. Either way, it will almost certainly be
appealed, first to the Ninth Circuit and then in all probability to the
U.S. Supreme Court.
A final decision
is likely two or more years away.
A Supreme
Court victory could strike down all marriage bans across the country
and allow for same-sex marriage everywhere in the U.S.A.; a defeat
would establish an adverse federal precedent, but it would not affect
marriage equality in the states where it already exists.
And
although such an adverse ruling could well make some ongoing
state-by-state efforts for marriage equality more challenging, it would
not in any way stop those efforts from going forward.
