The University of Minnesota D-P@rk study team is looking for 24 Deaf Men who have sex with men as well as 12 HIV/AIDS counselors among the US Deaf community to interview about health disparities in HIV testing, knowledge and barriers among the American Deaf community. There will be a $30 reward for the participants.
For further information, you can take a look at their website if you would like to be a part of this study.
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Genderqueer DC is a support group at The DC Center for people who identify outside of the gender binary. Whether you're bigender, agender, genderfluid, or just know that you're not 100% cis - this is your group!
This group normally meets on the third Tuesday of every month at the DC Center starting at 7:00 PM.
Be sure to check out the Genderqueer DC Twitter Page or the Genderqueer DC Facebook Page for additional information
The Department of Veterans Affairs is holding a 2013 LGBT Pride Month Observance on June 27th from 12 pm to 1 pm.
The program is at the VA Central Office on 810 Vermont Ave NW, Washington DC. It is being held in the G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery Veterans Conference Center.
The featured speaker this year is Trish Heller, who is a graduate of the US Air Force Academy and former pilot. She currently serves as the Executive Director of Blue Alliance, an Air Force Academy LGBT alumni organization dedicated to supporting the mission of the Academy and its graduate LGBT community.
Anyone attending must arrive at the VA Central Office NLT by 11 am with two forms of identification. This is to help facilitate the security screening process and allow visitors to get to the program on time. Persons planning to attend should also contact Ken Hunter (Kenneth.Hunter2@va.gov, 202-461-4034) to have their name placed on our guest list and for additional information.
As you may know, The DC Center is in the process of moving to its new space at the Reeves Municipal Center (2000 14th Street NW). The move, like our programs and services, is being volunteer-driven and we need your help.
On Thursday, June 20th from 6:15 to 7:45, we are in need of volunteers who can help clear out debris from the continuing demolition of the space before it is fully renovated to make it the best new The DC Center it can possibly be.
If you're interested in helping out, you can e-mail brant@thedccenter, call us at (202) 682-2245 and/or sign up on our SignUpSchedule page here.
As you may have heard, we're moving the DC Center to a new location this summer! Our new home will be in the Reeves Center at 2000 14th St NW. You can feel free to find more information, or help us with funding for our relocation, through this link.
However, we do feel the need to clarify - we haven't moved yet! We'll be moving around August of this year, but please stay tuned to our blog and our newsletter for further details and updates. Looking forward to seeing you there!
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On Saturday, July 27th at 6pm, the famous Washington, DC community center Busboys and Poets will be hosting a screening of the beautiful 2011 French drama film Tomboy as part of Zami, it's monthly presentation of gender and sexuality in culture.
Tomboy, a film which earned universal acclaim and was named by the late Roger Ebert as "tender and affectionate", is about the life of a 10-year old named Laure who chooses to present herself as a boy named Mikhael to the neighborhood children. Both innocent and intelligent, the film focuses on the importance of gender identity and social roles in childhood as it follows Laure/Mikhael's journey against the background of love and play.
As part of Busboys and Poets' special presentation, the film will be presented by College of William and Mary Chair of the Department of History Professor and author of Creating G.I. Jane: Sexuality and Power in the Women's Army Corps during World War II Leisa Meyer. As a researcher of the history of gender and sexuality, you'd certainly not want to miss your chance at hearing Professor Meyer's analysis of this incredible film. Be sure to also remain after the film for a discussion of it between Professor Meyer and the audience.
This event is being sponsored by us here at the DC Center, and we couldn't be happier or prouder to be working with Busboys and Poets to get people to see this one-of-a-kind example of French cinema. We hope we'll see you there on July 27th!
Services and Advocacy for Gay and Lesbian Elders (SAGE Metro DC) and Vitas Healthcare invites you to join them for an informative presentation named FIVE WISHES "The Living Will with a Heart and Soul." 
Join Mautner Project and Whitman-Walker Health for an open house reception on Wednesday, June 26, from 6:00-8:00 PM. All friends, supporters and advocates of Mautner Project are welcome to see our new home, ask questions, and meet Mautner Project and Whitman-Walker staff!
SMYAL's Youth Advocates Program presents:
An Interactive Lunchtime Workshop on LGBTQ Youth Homelessness
When:Monday, June 24th, 2013
11:30 am - 2:30 pm
Location: SMYAL Youth Center, 410 7th St SE, Washington, DC 20003
Lunch provided, but please RSVP so we know how much food to order!
Free
The June GLOV meeting has been scheduled for June 27th at 7PM at the DC Center for the LGBT Community, 1318 U Street NW. These are open meetings so anyone who is interested in getting involved with GLOV is welcome to attend.
The primary mission of Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence (GLOV) is to work to reduce violence against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) individuals (and those perceived as LGBT) through community outreach, education, and monitoring cases to ensure that the rights and dignity of LGBT victims are respected and protected. GLOV also seeks to assist victims of anti-LGBT violence by advocating on their behalf, encouraging reporting, and providing a community of support.
Follow GLOV on Facebook and Twitter.
The DC Center will be having a series of happy hour events benefiting new and different programming at The DC Center. These events will be held at MOVA Lounge (2204 14TH ST NW) from 5PM to 8PM. In order to ensure the success of these events, we'd love to have volunteers on hand to set up and help us make sure the events go smoothly.
Our 7th happy hour event benefiting the HIV Working Group will be on July the 9th. Volunteers are needed for two shifts; 4PM to 6:30PM, and 6:30PM to 9PM. You'll get to meet member of the community and the HIV Working Group who are working to fight HIV in DC!
Click here to sign up to volunteer.
Gay District is a community-based organization focused on building understanding of gay culture and personal identity, awareness of community events and civil rights for gay, bi, trans, queer, questioning and intersexed (GBTQQI) men between the ages of 18 and 35 in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
Through a synthesis of interpersonal interaction and community involvement, we aim to promote a more productive GBTQQ community and an enlightened understanding of gay urban living. In addition, we believe that our program will encourage them to become more active in the social justice arena. We strive to reach our mission through facilitated discussions, and regular and ongoing happy hours, weekend outings, community and cultural events, volunteer opportunities, and other occasions created by and for our participants.
Join Gay District on the first and third Fridays of each month for a facilitated group discussion. For the month of May, we will be meeting onJune 7th and June 21st. The meetings begin at 8:30 PM at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. After the meeting, members often head out for dinner together in the neighborhood.
For more information, visit the Gay District website at www.gaydistrict.org or check us out on facebook!
Tamara Pincus will facilitate the next Poly Discussion Group at the DC Center on Thursday, June 20th starting at 7:00 PM. The DC Center is located at 1318 U St NW.
Polyamory is the practice, desire, or acceptance of having more than one intimate relationship at a time with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved. This group is designed to be a forum for people at all different stages to discuss polyamory and other consensual non-monogamous relationships.
Newcomers will be given a basic introduction into what polyamory is and what some of the advantages and disadvantages are. Attendees who are already in relationships will be given the opportunity to discuss their situations and get advice from the group if they feel that would be helpful. This group is open to people of all sexual orientations and people who are interested in non-monogamy in both kinky and non-kinky relationships.
Please join us. To find out more, find us on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/centerpolydc or on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/centerpoly
You are invited to help us continue to plan OutWrite BookFair, which will take place August 2nd-4th. The planning committee is well underway with the schedule, but there are still some finishing touches that need to be made in order to promise another successful year of LGBT literary festivities.
The next two planning meetings will take place at the DC Center:
1318 U Street NW
Washington, DC, 20009
Saturday July 22nd 11am
If you're unfamiliar with this three-day event, the OutWrite Book Fair is a weekend full of book readings, book vendors, book discussions, poetry readings and more. We have both new and used LGBT themed books and magazines for sale all day long. In addition to book vendors, the DC Center has a large number of used LGBT books for sale.
If you'd like to learn more about OutWrite, click here.
Theresa Davis attended the first Split This Rock Poetry Festival in March 2008 and participated in a panel and reading of contributors to the pioneering anthology Word Warriors, edited by Alix Olson. According to the executive director at Split This Rock, they love Theresa Davis! She is the kind of poet Split This Rock is all about - engaged in the community, struggling in her poetry with the challenges we face as a society, telling the truth.
Who wouldn't want to see this all wrapped up into a poetry workshop? You can register for this panel by clicking here.
This workshop is co-sponsored by Split This Rock, an organization devoted to poetry as an agent for expressing social, political, and cultural struggles of today. They work to revitalize poetry through programs that provoke movements for social justice for a diverse group of people.
Sarah Browning is the executive director at Split This Rock, and answered a few questions for me so that I could better understand what the Theresa Davis and STF co-sponsored workshop will be about:
Devon: I see that Split This Rock is an organization that is devoted to a linkage between poetry and activism, in what ways have you advocated for LGBT causes?
Sarah Browning: Split This Rock promotes LGBT poets and poetry that addresses LGBT issues in all our work. We're one of the most queer-friendly poetry organizations in the country, having been written up several times in the Washington Blade.
D: For those that don't know very much about socially or politically relevant poetry, how can work like this create change? More specifically, how can it shed light on issues pertinent to the queer community?
SB: There is so much shaming and silencing of queer people in our society. Poetry is one of the ways that queer people can speak their stories, find one another, make sense of their own experience. We call the work we promote: "Poems of provocation and witness," that is, poems that bear witness to injustice and provoke change. Check out this video of Mark Doty reading his poem about a gay-bashing murder, "Charlie Howard's Descent" at Split This Rock Poetry Festival. Then read the comments, especially this one: "This poem made me cry today in English class. Cry. And then it made me want to change things."
D: Why should people come to this panel?
SB: It's actually a workshop, giving people a chance to slow down and assimilate some of what they've been hearing over the Capturing Fire weekend, inspiring them to write their own truths, their own stories.
Theresa Davis Poetry Workshop co-sponsored by Split This Rock
Sunday June 16th, 2013
2:00-4:00 PM
Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th Street NW