The Cimarron Alliance
Foundation has a rich history of fighting to
defend LGBT rights in Oklahoma and working to
educate and enlighten the people of our great
state in order to create a Fair and Just
Oklahoma. Take a look below at some of the
recent highlights of the Cimarron Alliance
Foundation.
Cimarron Sponsors
2008 Attendees to Creating Change
Cimarron
Alliance Foundation sponsored two attendees at
the NGLTF Creating Change conference held in
Detroit, February 7 – 10. Rob Howard, from
Cimarron, and Rev. Neill Spurgin, from Cathedral
of Hope UCC, attended the event, as well as
colleagues from Oklahomans for Equality
including Dr. Laura Belmonte, and Justice
Waidner, their Executive Director.
Creating Change features two pre-conference day
long sessions; a Leadership Academy, which
studies leadership issues more intensely; and
hundreds of workshops. This year’s conference
was the 20th, and the third year that
Cimarron has sponsored attendees. The next
NGLTF Creating Change conference is January 28
thru February 1, 2009, in Denver.
The conference is an exciting and informative
few days for learning about the movement,
non-profit organization management, and to
network with others in the movement. The
conference is attended by over 2000 activists,
with a huge contingent of young people. The
broad spectrum of our community attends,
including strong participation from transgender
persons. Their attendance and participation
helps the LGB part of our community better
understand the T part – sometimes we assume that
we know about transgender issues just because we
are all part of the same movement. The
opportunity to meet and better understand
transgender issues is one of the most exciting
parts of the conference.
In addition to the workshops, there is a daily
“Plenary” session, where the entire group
gathers to hear human rights pioneers and
leaders talk. Major speakers this year included
Julian Bond, the President of the NAACP. It is
significant that Julian Bond spoke to a large
gathering of LGBT activists, and asserted that
fight for equality deserves the support of all
people who are fighting for equality. Matt
Foreman, the departing Executive Director of
NGLTF, gave his “State of the Movement” speech,
highlighting success and challenges in the past
year. He strongly advocated that it is
imperative to our movement that we pass an
Employment Non-Discrimination Act that includes
Gender Identity. An ENDA law that excluded
Transgender persons came close to passage in
Congress in 2007.
Also
speaking was Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, of
New Hampshire, the first openly gay person
elevated to Bishop in his church. He called on
both the LGBT movement, and the spiritual
movement, to join hands and fight for inclusion
in our churches. Other stirring speakers were
Mandy Carter, one of the founders of Southerners
on New Ground (SONG), and Barbara Satin, a
Transgender activist from Minneapolis.
The 2008 Creating Change conference was the best
so far. It was a great opportunity to gain new
information, renew acquaintances, and make new
contacts in the national LGBT movement. In
2004, only one person from Oklahoma attended
Creating Change. In the past three years there
has been significant improvement in that number,
due in part to the efforts of Cimarron Alliance
Foundation.
Plan now to attend the conference in Denver in
January 2009. Cimarron has not yet developed
its plan for assisting those who wish to attend,
but we will keep you informed as the year
progresses.
To see NGLTF’s extensive
coverage of Creating Change 2008
Oklahoma Holocaust
Remembrance Exhibit
In fall of 2005,
Cimarron Alliance Foundation brought an
exhibition from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum
to Oklahoma City featuring Nazi Persecution of
Homosexuals 1933-1945, Rescuers: Portraits of
Moral Courage and the films Paragraph 175 and
Resisting Paradise. Presented in conjunction
with proud community sponsors, the exhibit was
one of the most successful and talked about
events of the last several years.
Visit the Oklahoma Holocaust Remembrance Exhibit
website.
Cimarron Takes
Oklahoma City to Court and Wins
During the weeks leading
to LGBT Pride festivities in 2001, Oklahoma City
Mayor Kirk Humphries ordered for the Cimarron
Pride Banners to be taken down from the parade
route on Classen Boulevard. Not willing to stand
for injustice, the Cimarron Alliance Foundation
took the city to federal court. After a costly
litigation, the federal court agreed with the
Cimarron Alliance Foundation that the First
Amendment applies to all citizens and ordered
the banners be put back up. For the first time,
Cimarron is opening up the design of the new
banners to the entire Oklahoma LGBT community.
Find out how to
enter a design and become part of a proud
history.
