News and Events

Arcus Foundation Executive Director to Speak at Pride Brunch

06-5-2023

Kalamazoo Pride, the largest fundraiser of the year for the Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center (KGLRC), announces Kevin Jennings, the Executive Director of the Arcus Foundation, as the speaker at our 2013 Pride Brunch on June 15.

Jennings has led Arcus, a leading global foundation advancing pressing social justice and conservation issues that was founded in Kalamazoo in 1999, since 2012. Specifically, Arcus works to advance LGBT equality, as well as to conserve and protect the great apes.

Jennings has a long and distinguished career as an educator, a social justice activist, a teacher, and an author. He served as Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education 2009-2011 and led the Obama Administration’s anti-bullying initiative, which culminated in March 2011 with the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention.

Jennings began his career as a high school history teacher and coach. He served as the faculty advisor to the nation’s first Gay Straight Alliance, leading him in 1990 to found the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a national education organization bringing together LGBT and straight teachers, parents, students, and community members wanting to end anti-LGBT bias in our schools.

Jennings, who was a cofounder of LGBT History Month in 1994, will specifically address LGBT history in his remarks. “You can take the teacher out of the classroom, but you can’t take the classroom out of the teacher, I guess!” Jennings remarked. “In all seriousness, LGBT activists and their allies are making history in Kalamazoo, and I want to help folks understand they are part of a proud tradition of people who have been fighting for justice for LGBT people in America for nearly a century.”

Kevin will speak at the event, taking place at The Wine Loft, 161 East Michigan Avenue. The Pride Brunch has become a part of Kalamazoo Pride weekend and runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 15. The cost is $30, which can be paid in advance at the KGLRC or at the door, and tickets include brunch and Saturday admission to Kalamazoo Pride.

Individuals are asked to RSVP by June 12 to [email protected], or by phone at (269) 349-4234.

Deadline extended: Triangle Mentorship Program seeks mentors, mentees

06-4-2023

The deadline to become a mentor and mentee has been extended. Applications are now being accepted through June 21, 2013.

The Triangle Mentorship Program (TMP) of the Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center is the first of its kind in Southwest Michigan. The TMP offers a unique and wonderful opportunity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and allied high school students as well as their mentors. The program will team each mentee with one working professional mentor.

Being a mentor has a positive impact on teens; studies show teens who have role models are more likely to be successful in school and enhance their relationships with family and peers. Additionally, youth are less likely to engage in self-destructive behaviors such as drug and alcohol abuse or dropping out of school.

We are launching the program in the fall 2013 and are looking for interested mentors and mentees. Applications will be accepted through May 31, 2023 June 21, 2013.

Potential mentors

Requirements:

  • LGBTQ and allied working professional adults

One-year commitment:

  • Mentor orientation
  • One day/month with mentee
  • Participate in three of the four full group seasonal meet-ups, one of which is day long retreat in the fall of 2013
  • Opportunity to take mentee to work, out to lunch, to a sporting event, museum, or other engaging activities

Download mentor application and more info

“I was most concerned about not being relevant. But then I realized I can talk about my own experiences, and I can listen. Young people need someone to listen to them sometimes. And I can provide that. Knowing I was providing a safe space for a youth made it a very rewarding experience.” - Jonathan Richards, mentor

Potential mentees

Requirements:

  • LGBTQ or allied incoming freshman-seniors

One-year commitment:

  • Parent/student orientation
  • One day/month with mentor
  • Participate in three of the four full group seasonal meet-ups, one of which is day long retreat in the fall of 2013
  • Opportunity to spend time with mentor at their work, for lunch, at sporting event, at a museum, or in other engaging activities

Download mentee application and more info

“I enjoyed the triangle mentorship program because it allowed me to make lasting connections with people who care about me. It also gave me someone to turn to when I had nobody else, and I got to be around adults who had gone through similar situations to me when they were growing up.” - Colette Royal, mentee

Please return your completed application for the Triangle Mentorship Program by June 21, 2023 to:
Jay Maddock
629 Pioneer St.
Kalamazoo, MI 49008

Contact Jay Maddock by phone at 269.349.4234 or by email [email protected] with questions.

KGLRC joins the launch of Give OUT Day

05-3-2023

From http://giveout.razoo.com:

Bolder Giving in partnership with the Kevin Mossier Foundation and Forward Motion is excited to announce the launch of Give OUT Day, a new national initiative that aims to mobilize thousands of individual donors on May 9th, 2013, across the country to give in support of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer (LGBTQ) nonprofit community.

“Less than 5% of the LGBTQ community gives to an LGBTQ cause, according to research from the Horizons Foundation and Movement Advancement Project,” says Bolder Giving’s Executive Director Jason Franklin. “Give OUT Day aims to raise awareness of the need to support LGBTQ nonprofits and elevate the level of LGBTQ philanthropy.”

“We are excited to be part of history in the making through the 1st Give OUT Day and for it be launched here at Creating Change 2013,” says Rea Carey, Executive Director of the National Gay & Lesbian Taskforce. “This effort is particularly timely now as LGBTQ rights are gaining support and attention. There is a large untapped potential donor base, both within the LGBTQ community and among straight allies that Give OUT Day will engage.”

 

KGLRC joins CenterLink

05-1-2024

The Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center has joined CenterLink as one of 130 member LGBT community centers around the world.

CenterLink exists to support the development of strong, sustainable LGBT community centers and to build a unified center movement. CenterLink was founded in 1994 as a member-based coalition to support the development of strong, sustainable LGBT community centers. The organization plays an important role in supporting the growth of LGBT centers across the country and addressing the challenges they face, by helping them to improve their organizational and service delivery capacity and increase access to public resources. Based in Fort Lauderdale, FL, CenterLink works with other national organizations to advance the rights of LGBT individuals and to provide LGBT community centers with information and analysis of key issues.

CenterLink also acts as a voice for LGBT community centers in national grassroots organizing, coalition building and social activism in order to strengthen and build a unified center movement.

We hope this partnership will strengthen our voice on a national level and allow the KGLRC to improve programming and resources available to our community.

More pro-equality voters needed, take the pledge.

04-30-2013

The KGLRC has identified over 1500 pro-equality voters in Southwest Michigan in the last two months. That’s awesome! But we still need to identify another ten thousand voters if we want to move closer to a Michigan that supports equality.

If you are a pro-equality voter but haven’t joined us yet, now’s your chance! Take the “i commit” pledge. By taking this pledge, you are committing to hold your elected officials accountable. In turn, we’ll know that if we need your help to pass equal rights for the LGBT community, we can count on you.

Michigan is a great state. But it’s not so great if you’re Lesbian or Transgender, if you’re Bisexual, Gay, or Queer. Let’s change that. Together. Because Michigan deserves better. Take the pledge.

Triangle Mentorship Program seeks mentors, mentees

04-24-2013

The Triangle Mentorship Program (TMP) of the Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center is the first of its kind in Southwest Michigan. The TMP offers a unique and wonderful opportunity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and allied high school students as well as their mentors. The program will team each mentee with one working professional mentor.

Being a mentor has a positive impact on teens; studies show teens who have role models are more likely to be successful in school and enhance their relationships with family and peers. Additionally, youth are less likely to engage in self-destructive behaviors such as drug and alcohol abuse or dropping out of school.

We are launching the program in the fall 2013 and are looking for interested mentors and mentees. Applications will be accepted through May 31, 2013.

Potential mentors

Requirements:

  • LGBTQ and allied working professional adults

One-year commitment:

  • Mentor orientation
  • One day/month with mentee
  • Participate in three of the four full group seasonal meet-ups, one of which is day long retreat in the fall of 2013
  • Opportunity to take mentee to work, out to lunch, to a sporting event, museum, or other engaging activities

Download mentor application and more info

Potential mentees

Requirements:

  • LGBTQ or allied incoming freshman-seniors

One-year commitment:

  • Parent/student orientation
  • One day/month with mentor
  • Participate in three of the four full group seasonal meet-ups, one of which is day long retreat in the fall of 2013
  • Opportunity to spend time with mentor at their work, for lunch, at sporting event, at a museum, or in other engaging activities

Download mentee application and more info

Please return your completed application for the Triangle Mentorship Program by May 31, 2023 to:
Jay Maddock
629 Pioneer St.
Kalamazoo, MI 49008

Contact Jay Maddock by phone at 269.349.4234 or by email [email protected] with questions.

Understanding the marriage equality supreme court cases and possible outcomes

04-14-2013

Time and Location

May 6, 12-3 pm
Food Dance
401 East Michigan Avenue
Kalamazoo, MI 49007

Registration

Register Now

About Event

Isn’t if funny how everyone became a Supreme Court expert after the oral arguments on marriage? Now it’s your turn to really be an expert! Come hear the exciting Jay Kaplan speak about the arguments, the different possible outcomes, and their impact on us right here in Michigan.

Jay is the LGBT Legal Project Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Michigan and is sure to leave you thoroughly informed and energized about what’s going on with the legal status of LGBT relationships in the country.

Join the KGLRC and Jay at Food Dance for this unique opportunity. $35 will get you cutting-edge insight on the marriage cases, soup or salad, and one of the following entrées:

  • Chicken Dance
  • Jammin’ Portobello
  • Grilled Sandwiches
  • BBQ Rocksteady
  • Mac and Cheese
  • Salmon Salad
  • Fruited Chicken Salad

Advance registration is required. Space is limited.

About Jay Kaplan

Read More +

Stories of the KGLRC: We cannot be quiet

03-2-2024

Editor’s note: This is an ongoing series of articles featuring KGLRC staff, volunteers and community members.

Brad Allison, 45, has spent the last year thinking about leaving his home in West Michigan and migrating to Canada or moving to Uruguay in order to be with his partner and fiancé Christian (Chris) Gonzalez. Brad is the U.S. end of a bi-national relationship, and he and his fiancé are facing struggles to be together amid discriminatory immigration and federal marriage laws.

A warehouse supervisor for the Kellogg Company, Brad met Chris through Facebook more than two years ago. Chris showed up as a friend suggestion, as they share similar interests. “I had recently separated from a 15 year relationship and really was not looking for a partner. I was, at the time, enjoying my single life,” Brad said. “At first glance, I thought he was very handsome. He accepted my friend request, and we started chatting through Facebook. Also at the time, he was with his (now) ex-partner, and I respected that.”

Brad and Chris became good friends. They are both big gamers – Brad is into Xbox and Chris likes all types of game systems – and they also share a big love for music. In December 2011, they really started to discuss more about life and love. At that point, Chris was single, and Brad was ready to develop another serious relationship.

Brad Aliison

“We officially became a couple on February 15, 2024 and were engaged on May 12,” Brad shares.

Once they were a couple, things started to get complicated with immigration and the effect that the Defense of Marriage Act had on their relationship. Brad admits that it’s all a learning process.

“At the time Chris and I got together – when we really knew that we would spend our lives together – I was ignorant of the laws. I knew that the Defense of Marriage Act existed, but I did not really know that it would affect me the way it has,” he said.

“Under federal guidelines, since DOMA defines a spouse or marriage to be between a man and a woman, I cannot even apply for a fiancé visa for Chris,” Brad shares. “Or rather, I can apply, but I know at this time it will be denied.”

In wanting to be together long-term, Brad and Chris are weighing their options. They could wait out the process to see if DOMA is overturned and/or immigration reform occurs. Brad could seek a position in Canada through Kellogg Company or move to Uruguay facing limited job opportunities.

“We could wait out the process in hopes that the U.S. Supreme Court will strike down DOMA and/or immigration reforms will also include the Uniting American Families Act,” according to Brad. “We actually have more hope on the former that the death of DOMA will come in June. The minute that DOMA is killed by the Supreme Court, same-sex bi-national couples will be able to apply for their partner. Because this is an existing law and not a new law that needs time to go into effect, it will be stricken off the books once the ruling is handed down.”

Because Brad works for an international company with facilities in Canada, transferring to Canada is a secondary option, and one that he has been exploring for the past several months. “If I were to be offered a job through Kellogg Company in Canada, I would be able to migrate there, and they do recognize Chris as part of my family,” says Brad. “However, qualified visa jobs available in Canada are far and few between.”

The couple’s final alternative is for Brad to move to Uruguay.

“The last option is to give up everything I have established here – family, home, a good job and friends – and migrate to Uruguay,” Brad states. “Uruguay is supposed to have marriage equality by this summer so it would be a very easy move; however I am not fluent in Spanish, so my job options would be very limited there, and Chris has aspirations of doing his art and graphic design here in the United States.”

Brad’s ideal resolution would be that the Uniting American Families Act be included in any immigration reform bill signed into law by President Obama.

“I feel that the current immigration laws are not hurting my relationship with Chris, but it is DOMA that is my Berlin Wall (as I call it),” says Brad. “However, I do feel that immigration law has to be reformed with common sense. I heard the other day that it needs to be called ‘common sense’ immigration reform and not ‘comprehensive’ immigration reform. Any new immigration reform has to include GLBT families.”

Since their relationship began, Brad has visited Chris in Uruguay four times and is traveling to see him again in March 2013, the day before the Supreme Court begins to hear oral arguments for Prop 8 and then the next day on DOMA.

Between travels, Brad has focused his efforts on spreading the word locally about his situation, working with several Kalamazoo-area organizations, including the Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center, who is supportive in this cause.

“The Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center set me up to be a guest speaker at a conference hosted by the Hispanic American Council,” states Brad. “This conference was attended by several politicians including Representative Fred Upton. I was able to briefly speak with him at the end of the meeting. I also met his administrator so I made a very important connection there.”

Brad recently submitted a call for a resolution to the City of Kalamazoo clerk’s office. The resolution is for the City of Kalamazoo to support the Uniting American Families Act. This resolution will appear on the city clerk report.

“I am going to ask the city council to adopt the resolution, and I will be speaking during the public comments,” Brad shares. “I hope that some of the KGLRC community members will be in attendance to support me and call to attention to some of the city commissioners that this resolution needs to be passed.”

Brad shares advice to those who want to assist in his effort.

“Be vocal about this and other issues that matter,” he states. “We cannot be quiet about these things. Especially right now before the Supreme Court ruling and the congressional debate on immigration reform issues. If we are quiet, then those who make the decisions on Capitol Hill will do so without knowing what the real issues are.”

While this issue is receiving national attention, for Brad, it’s a personal one.

“I never in my life thought I would be affected by discrimination,” he says. “ Being gay I was bullied when I was younger, but I did not really care about that. Now my own government is bullying me.”

It all circles back to love and family. Brad continues to share his story so that he and Chris – as well as other bi-national gay couples – can be together.

He shares this final thought on his relationship with Chris: “We deeply love each other and for some reason, destiny has put us together. He is my core, and I am his. I am the tree, and he is the roots. Without the roots, the tree will die. All we want is to live a happy and productive family life together. Is that too much to ask?”

Stories of the KGLRC: I knew I wanted to get involved

02-20-2013

Editor’s note: This is an ongoing series of articles featuring KGLRC staff, volunteers and community members.

Jane Fisher

Jane Fisher, 17, first heard of the Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center a few years ago while attending Kalamazoo Pride, but it wasn’t until a friend began attending youth group meetings in June 2012 that she joined in as well.

“By participating in the KGLRC youth group, I’ve learned a lot about some of the issues that are important to the queer community, and how they impact people like me and the other people that go to youth group,” says Fisher. “I’ve learned a lot about myself as a person, and a lot about the other people that I’ve met.”

Individuals in the youth group were asked if they wanted to sign up to volunteer with the iCommit campaign in the fall of 2012. Fisher was too young to vote in the 2012 election, but knew she wanted to get involved in some sort of political campaign. “When the opportunity to get involved with the iCommit campaign came up, I took it. I put my name down. She called me a few days later, I signed up for a shift, and that was that.”

Jane’s favorite part about participating in the iCommit campaign was definitely the people involved. “I loved getting to know everyone involved with the campaign,” she says. “They’re all really awesome people!”

When she first volunteered with the iCommit campaign, she wanted to help out in any way that she could. “I guess I hoped I could better myself by learning more and getting a bit more active, and I hoped I could help out the KGLRC by giving as much time as I was able to,” she states. “I really just wanted to be able to help out and fulfill my responsibilities as a citizen and hopefully educate some people along the way.”

In addition to volunteer work at the KGLRC, Jane participates in youth group meetings on Thursdays and says they are fun. “It’s cool to be able to meet and talk with other people in high school,” she says. “Participating in KGLRC events has taught me a lot about the community and helped me get to know a lot of people I wouldn’t know otherwise. It’s also helped me become a lot more comfortable with myself and more aware of the people around me.”

When Jane isn’t busy volunteering or attending youth group, she works as a math grader for the Academically Talented Youth Program through Western Michigan University and participates on Kalamazoo Central’s mock trial team. She also reads, plays board games and goes to movies often with her dad.

“I’m really thankful for everything the KGLRC does to help out wherever they can,” she says.

Presentation: The Affordable Care Act and LGBT Consumers

02-7-2023

To outline the changes in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and discuss healthcare reform in the State of Michigan, The Center for American Progress has teamed up with Michigan Consumers for Healthcare and Equality Michigan to bring a focused discussion to Kalamazoo.

The ACA presents unprecedented opportunities for improving the health of LGBT individuals and communities, and it benefits all Americans. However, becoming an empowered healthcare consumer can be puzzling, so several entities have joined together to demystify the changes.

Hosted by the Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center, the discussion entitled “The Affordable Care Act and LGBT Consumers: How Healthcare Reform Improves Access to Quality, Affordable Healthcare” will take place Wednesday, February 13. The presentation will start at 9 a.m. in Room 5 on the lower level of the Bronson Gilmore Center for Health Education, located at 7 Healthcare Plaza, Kalamazoo.

All are invited to join state and national healthcare reform experts to learn about the exciting changes and challenges ahead, and how consumers can become empowered regarding their own healthcare.

Session presenters include Kellan Baker, Health Policy Analyst, and Andrew Cray, Research Associate for LGBT Progress, both from the Center for American Progress and Ryan Sullivan, Policy Lead for Michigan Consumers for Healthcare. This event in Kalamazoo follows presentations set to occur on February 11 at Oakland University and February 12 at Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan.

Topics to be covered during the talk are an overview of LGBT health, changes under the Affordable Care Act (including nondiscrimination and preventive care) and healthcare reform in Michigan comprising essential health benefits.

For more information about the participating organizations, please visit www.consumersforhealthcare.org or www.americanprogress.org/issues/lgbt/view/.

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