About I Commit
The election on November 6th, 2012 is crucial to the LGBT community. Five different discriminatory bills have been introduced by the Michigan legislature. The Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center (KGLRC) has a plan of action and we need your commitment to a stronger community and a better Michigan to realize that plan. The KGLRC is working with Michigan Voice, along with LGBT community centers from across the state, to foster civic engagement in our community. With your help we will identify, register, and mobilize the progressive electorate of the greater Kalamazoo area. Voices of resistance will persist, but they stand no chance against united individuals. "Without community, there is no liberation" -Audre LordeRegistered! Now What?
View the KGLRC guide for informed voters. Find the most up-to-date information on ballot initiatives, candidates, and voter rights and responsibilities. Launch the Informed Voter GuideGoals and Achievements
How far have we come? How far do we need to go?Videos
Do you know what bills the Michigan legislators have proposed? These videos explain the bills and why they matter to the LGBT community, our allies, and to eradicating oppression overall. We need to know our issues and what our elected officials are doing.
“We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society” -Angela Davis
Videos are currently being made. Contact us to get involved.
Upcoming Events:
“Hope will never be silent”, said Harvey Milk. Neither will a united community.
- Mother’s of Hope - August 4
- National Night Out Against Crime - August 7
- Super Volunteer Night in Collaboration with the Hispanic American Council - August 16
- YWCA of Kalamazoo Women’s Luncheon - August 26
- Cougar Connection (KVCC) 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. - September 4
- Bronco Bash (WMU) 3-7 p.m. September 7
- Fall Fab Fest (WMU Office of Student Services and KGLRC) 1 p.m. WMU campus - September 9
- Blue Bash (KCC) - September 12
- Canvassing: Every Monday and Wednesday from 5:30-8:30 p.m., and Saturday from 1-4 p.m.
- Phone-banking: Every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30-8:3 0p.m. and Sunday from 1-4 p.m.
Take the Pledge
If you commit to Stay Informed about what is going on, if you commit to Understand the Issues around you, to Ask Questions when something does not make sense to you, to Hold Accountable your elected representatives for voting against equality and you commit to Vote, take our pledge by filling out this form.
Our Team
“When we heal each other, our ancestors rejoice” -Alexis Pauline Gumbs
David Topping
Program Coordinator
David Topping is a recent graduate of Western Michigan University. He graduated in April 2011 with a degree in Creative Writing and Gender & Women Studies. While on campus, David worked with the campus LBGT group OUTspoken and the Office of LBGT Student Services. As program coordinator, David works to assist the KGLRC in building and strengthening the programming offered.
Christine Babcock
Public Relations Intern
Christine has been involved at the KGLRC through volunteering since December 2011. She is extremely enthusiastic for the opportunity to work towards a more equal society through this civic engagement initiative. Christine is passionate about actively working towards a better future for all people in which no person is treated as a second class citizen. Spending her adolescence in a rural southwestern Michigan town, Christine was excited to be a member of a more accepting community when she moved to Kalamazoo in order to attend Western Michigan University. Christine will be entering her third year at Western this fall and is studying Gender & Women’s Studies, English, Communications, and Non-Profit Leadership.
Megan Bauer
Public Relations Intern
Meg has recently joined the queer activist community, and is excited to be an intern with the KGLRC for the ‘I commit’ civic engagement initiative. She spent last summer organizing for Queers for Economic Justice in New York City, where she worked with the under-recognized low-income queer community. Originally from metro Detroit, Meg is a recent Kalamazoo College graduate. She studied political science and German. Meg believes that we are political every time we interact with other people, so everything we do must be intentional.
Volunteer
Want to help canvas or run the phone bank?
Scheduled canvassing and phone bank events:
- Canvassing: Every Monday and Wednesday from 5:30-8:30 p.m., and Saturday from 1-4 p.m.
- Phone-banking: Every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30-8:3 0p.m. and Sunday from 1-4 p.m.