Yuba

July 06 70's Costume Party Poolside Potluck
On Saturday 07/15/06, Y-S Pride held a 70’s themed potluck at Ginger’s home in Yuba City. It was our biggest turnout of the year! The potluck began with amusing ice breaker games; people got to know one another by sharing answers to various questions; The food was plentiful and amazingly delicious; the people were also plentiful and diverse from all ages and walks of life; some people sat and chatted; some people swam; others listened and danced to music; and some took part in a disco photo shoot.

YSP June 06 Fabulous Poolside Potluck
On Saturday 06/17/06, the monthly YSP potluck was held at the home of Trudy and Sonia in Yuba City. Sonia graciously tended the grill and made some delicious scrimp kabobs. And there was an abundance of food brought in by our attendees. Fun ice breaker games kicked off things and enabled people to get to know each other. The rest of the evening included: football tossing; water fights; limbo; dancing to great music; body painting; and all kinds of shenanigans. It was one of the best potlucks to date.

On Saturday 06/10/06, YSP organized a pizza dinner at Primetime Pizza in Marysville. There were plenty of new faces and plenty of good food.

On Saturday 06/17/06, the monthly YSP potluck was held at the home of Trudy and Sonia in Yuba City. Sonia graciously tended the grill and made some delicious scrimp kabobs. And there was an abundance of food brought in by our attendees. Fun ice breaker games kicked off things and enabled people to get to know each other. The rest of the evening included: football tossing; water fights; limbo; dancing to great music; body painting; and all kinds of shenanigans. It was one of the best potlucks to date.

YSP Director Jeffrey Girard and supportive Presbyterian Pastor Helen Jackson (of Yuba City) speak to a human sexuality class taught by Professor Lisa-Jenson Martin. Girard spoke about growing up gay in Y-S, getting married to a woman, getting involved with an un-accepting church, coming to terms with his sexuality, starting YSP, and becoming an equality activist. Jackson spoke about how and why she accepts homosexuality and why she is compelled to support the LGBTI community.

YSP Director Jeffrey Girard and volunteer Elena attend a Marysville hate crime forum organized by local officials from Yuba County Sheriff’s Department, the FBI, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Also in attendance was Jay, an openly gay teacher at a local school. Girard asked the sheriff’s officials if they practice nondiscrimination and fair treatment of openly gay officers and also residents who seek assistance from the agency. Sheriff’s officials stated that they do not tolerate discrimination and treat all recipients of assistance fairly. Jay also spoke about the need for tolerance education.

YSP Director Jeffrey Girard and volunteer Joyce W. attend a town hall meeting in Yuba City organized by Congressman Wally Herger. Girard blasted Herger for setting the meeting at such an inconvenient time for most constituents (4pm on a workday) and also for not publicizing the event well. Girard was shouted down by the audience as he continued to challenge Herger over his positions on repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” and Herger co-authoring an amendment to the Constitution to ban same-gender marriage. Herger avoided answering the questions and trailed off about how we all should agree to disagree without being disagreeable. Girard pushed Herger for an answer. Herger reiterated his belief in “traditional marriage” and stated that “don’t ask, don’t tell” is best for morale. As reported in the paper the next day, Herger said, “I think it's a sad situation, and my heart goes out to every single person who has (homosexual) inclinations.”

A potluck social organized by YSP takes place a John L’s home in Yuba City. Raffle prizes were won, the people and food were plentiful, and $60+ was raised for YSP expenses and the EQCA Y-S Chapter account.

YSP Director Jeffrey Girard calls in national radio show of the paranormal “Coast to Coast AM” hosted by Art Bell. Bell’s guest was Catholic priest Dr. Rama P. Coomaraswamy spoke about the Catholic Church, exorcisms, his belief that the Vatican has made changes as part of an agenda to create a one-world religion, and also the nature of evil. Coomaraswamy asserted that evil was the reason for the rise in sex abuse against children and homosexuality. Girard was the last caller of the program and the only caller to defend homosexuality as not being evil nor wrong.

An Oscar Awards viewing party organized by Equality California Y-S takes place at Primetime Pizza in Marysville. Raffle prizes were won and $80+ was raised for YSP expenses and the EQCA Y-S Chapter account. A news story about the event was featured in The Appeal-Democrat's entertainment section on the following day.

YSP Director Jeffrey Girard and Yuba City Presbyterian Pastor Helen Jackson attend a Yuba City Church of Nazarene presentation by Brad Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ. Girard urges the church to invite pro-gay speakers, states that it is wrong to impose their religious beliefs about marriage on gays by voting on our equality, and challenges some of Bright’s ideas. Jackson shared why she as a Christian is compelled to accept and support the LGBTI community.

Sometimes it happens. You've been together for a long time (this is a relative term, "long time," that is, a long time to me is the 20-minute drive from work after a 12-hour stint) and you see a side of the person you've been sharing the same life with that you have never seen before. Or that you've sort of wondered about but never really got the chance to see it live and in your face.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it happened to me.

I was lucky enough to be the audience for Jeff's appearance on AM 1600 KUBA's show "Talking Things Over" with Bob Harlan. The studio was quite small with barely enough elbow room to reach for the "Record" button on the camcorder without running the risk of puncturing someone's kidney or lung or, perhaps, coldcocking someone with a swivel of the chair and a wrong-placed forearm to reach for the water cup. As cramped as the studio was, there were big things happening in that space.

Out came the Activist, the fire-eyed, whipsmart tongue with the impassioned voice complete with shirt and tie (coordinated by yours truly) and forceful articulation. Tackling topics such as the recently implemented AB 205 and the amenities it has and hasn't afforded the LBGT community (you still can't get Social Security benefits should your partner fall under fatal circumstances nor can you, as a LGBT person in a domestic partnership, go out of state without a stack of papers that testifies that you are indeed partners in the event you are called for verification) to the ever-frustrating issue of apathy that keeps the LGBT civil rights fight in a state of stagnation.

As I watched him, I noticed an intense passion in his eyes, kindled from anger and frustration. It was then I realized a couple of things: first and foremost, I LOVE this man. Secondly, this intensity is a little frightening. Thirdly, I'm PROUD to have this man in my life and I'm PROUD to be the one standing at this side. As he laid bare for the masses the issues in the local community and the diplomatic antipathy of local politicians to meet the people who make up a good part of their constituency, there was a fire kindled in myself. I went in that closet-sized studio a cameraman and, on break, makeshift public advisor and came out of that closet a more enlightened man with a fire in the belly to make things better for Us, the LGBT community. The show wrapped up and we made our ways to the cars we had arrived in separately.

As we stood in the rain, hugging, I felt a rush of pride in this man and in myself. On the way home, there was a sudden uncertainty as it came to me what we need to do.

We've got to work together, folks, to make our voices heard. The state government has made some leeway but the federal government continues to keep us in the category of second-class citizens. Even now, as I type, there are entities out there gathering signatures to keep our equality off the ballots. Minds cooking up ideas to take away the scant amounts of rights we already have. This is our lives, people. We can't let them take this away.

On 02/16/06 Gov. Schwarzenegger stopped by the Bonanza Inn at Yuba City around 2pm to discuss levee protections (as reported in the following day’s Appeal-Democrat).

Gov. Schwarzenegger’s security force would not allow public spectators to attend the event inside. Once that was clear to the crowd of about 15 people most of them took off. Not only could we not attend, but we had to stand across the street.

I arrived alone and didn’t expect anyone to show up since it was a workday. However, much to my surprise, one of our YSP transgender members, Leslie, joined me I support and helped out by taking photos and video of me. I am truly grateful for such an awesome act of support.

Gov. Schwarzenegger then arrived. After Leslie pointed him out, I shouted across the street “Governor, why is a lesbian good enough to work for you but not receive equal marriage rights?” Who knows if he heard me as he quickly rushed inside, because a star-stuck woman standing nearby started freaking out in excitement over seeing him.

Then, I gathered some EQCA flyers about marriage equality and the anti-gay effort to repeal domestic partner rights along with a YSP flyer and also a flyer for our Yuba College EQCA Get Engaged forum. I asked security if they would pass on the flyers to the Gov. Much to my surprise one of his assistant staff members named Clay Russell came up to me and took the flyers and spoke to me.

Mr. Russell and I spoke for a few minutes. I told him that in my heart I believe that the Governor believes in equality but vetoed last year’s marriage bill because of political fear. He responded by telling me that he stood by the Governor because they believe that changing the same-gender marriage prohibition of Prop 22 – remember this is their view – should be done by a ballot measure and not could not be done through the legislature. To which I replied that subjecting people’s equal rights to the popular vote in an insane thing to do when we have counties in the US in 2004 that wanted to not just ban marriage equality - but outright ban homosexuality altogether.

You don’t put equal rights on the ballot when in 2004, Alabama voters voted against changing racist language in college admission documents. I also explained that you don’t put equal rights on the ballot when many straight people think we are vile sinners and many of them have also never had any meaningful human experience with a gay person.

I also asked Mr. Russell if he though the Governor would speak out against amending the state Constitution to ban same-gender marriage and also take away our domestic partner rights. He told me that he wasn’t sure. I also asked him why the Governor signed most of EQCA’s other equal rights bills but would vetoed the LGBT tolerance education bill last year. He wasn’t sure about that either so he gave me his card and told me to e-mail him for an answer.

Mr. Russell did however claim that, aside from the marriage veto, LGBT groups had given the Governor an otherwise satisfactory rating on equality issues.

Our conversation was interrupted as Mr. Russell was called away following the Governor’s fifteen minute speech. The Governor exited shortly afterwards and I was able to set my camcorder to record as I began to shout across the street pleas for equality to the Governor.

“Please don’t take away our domestic partner rights Governor... Thank you for signing the equality bills that you did sign… Please change your mind on the marriage equality bill,” I exclaimed.

In the meantime, the annoying woman who was star stuck over the Gov. started shouting and almost jumping in front of me, “No no, don’t support gay marriage.” I wanted to slap her. But rest assured I ignored her and kept a civil composure as the Governor and his people drove off.

I then noticed local Assemblyman Rick Keene and asked him for a moment. Much to my surprise, though very briefly, Keene waited patiently while I fumbled to get him some flyers and asked him if he actually knows any gay people and had ever set down at a dinner table of a gay family. Keen told me that he did have gay friends.

I then asked him to please meet with our group and get to know the gay community – even if he maintains his opposition to marriage equality – so that, if nothing else, we can dialogue with each other and try to understand where both sides are coming from. He said sure. I asked how we could make it happen – he told me to call his office.

Because everything was so hectic, I completely forgot to mention to Assemblyman Keene that my fellow local EQCA chapter leaders and I had actually met with one of his staffers at the Capitol just a few weeks ago to discuss equality.

Then, I waited for a little bit and spotted State Sen. Sam Aanestad being chauffeured from the event. I waved to him and am sure that he noticed my EQCA sign.

Then, I waited a little bit more and watched as the media drove away. One photographer actually took a picture of me when he was DRIVING away! How nuts. Then I talked to The Appeal-Democrat’s reporter briefly about whey I was out there: to remind the Governor about marriage equality.

I can only hope that perhaps the Governor’s assistant gave him the information that I asked him to pass on. Hopefully my presence got the Governor thinking about how even in Yuba-Sutter there’s someone out there to remind him about equality.