RA-news

Newsletter of the Rainbow Alliance at the University of Florida
April 2006, Vol. 4, No. 5


Please contribute to the Rainbow Alliance Fund.

Next Rainbow Alliance Dinner: Tuesday, April 11, Stonewood Grille on Newberry Road at Royal Park in Gainesville. 6 pm for cocktails, 6:30 pm for dinner. Please RSVP.

Our special guest at this dinner will be Dana Berkowitz, winner of this year's Rainbow Alliance Award (story below).

Upcoming Local Events

 4/1-30  Pride Awareness Month (see story below for a complete list of activities)
 4/9  Orange-Blue Game
 10/7 Second Annual LGBT Homecoming

Other Events

 3/27-4/3 23rd World Conference of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (Geneva, Switzerland)
 4/2006 Florida Collegiate Pride Conference, Univ. of Central Florida
 4/5-8 "Transgender 2006," International Foundation for Gender Eduation (IFGE) Annual Conference, Philadelphia
 5/18-20 GenderYOUTH Leadership Summit (Washington, DC)
 7/15-22 7th Gay Games, Chicago
 7/29-8/5 1st World OutGames, Montreal

The Rainbow Alliance is the organization for University of Florida faculty, staff, and alumni concerned with matters related to sexual orientation and gender identity. RA welcomes all members of the University community who share its goals.


Contents

Features

Local . . . . . . . . .

BTW....

Departments

Features

Dana A. Berkowitz Receives 2006 Rainbow Alliance Award

On March 29, Dana A. Berkowitz received the Rainbow Alliance Award at the 2006 Multicultural and Diversity Student Awards Ceremony. She was given the award based on the excellent work she has done for her dissertation project "Gay Men: Negotiating Procreative, Fatherhood, and Family Identities."

Dana is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology. She is investigating how gay men develop an awareness of their own potential roles as father, and to what extent their heterosexual surroundings affect the way in which their procreative consciousness and identity are shaped. Dana has conducted interviews with gay men in four states for this groundbreaking research, and she has already published sole-authored articles in two scholarly journals.

Dana's professors agree that she is one of the most outstanding graduate students that the Deparment of Sociology has seen in recent years.

We congratulate Dana on her award and look forward to hearing more of her in an outstanding career.

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Pride Awareness Month Features Events for Everyone

If you want to know what an incredible group of LGBT students we have at UF, read on!

This year, as it have for several years, UF's Pride Student Union has planned an outstanding program of events for the month of April, otherwise known as Pride Awareness Month. All are welcome to come to the events! Don't be bashful... get all the details at: http://www.ufpride.org/events.html

April 3
5th Annual Pride Carnival - Reitz Union North Lawn - 11 am to 4 pm.
Pride Student Union Election - Reitz Union Room 346 - 8 pm

April 4
Bisexual Brunch - Reitz Union Room 284 - 2 pm.
Free food and an eclectic cast of spoken word poets.

April 5
Paint your Orgasm - Reitz Union North Lawn - 10 am to 2 pm.
Paint a t-shirt and maybe learn something about LGBTQ health and safe sex.

America's Divas - Reitz Union Grand Ballroom - Doors 8:30 pm. Show 9 pm.
The drag show of drag shows.

April 7
Queer Ball - Gator Nights @ the Reitz Union - 8 pm to 1 am.
Come participate in the gay prom you never had!

April 11
Margaret Cho - Stephen C. O'Connell Center - Doors 8 pm. Show 9 pm.
The show is free and sure to be hilarious. Official Web site: http://www.margaretcho.com/

April 12
Marriage Equality for All - North Terrace - 11 am to 3 pm.
Learn! Speak Out!

TJ Jourian from TransGeneration - Graham Gallery - Doors 7:3O pm. Start 8 pm.
Fresh from the docu-series TransGeneration, TJ will speak about coming out, media representation of trans individuals, trans college student needs.

April 17
S. Bear Bergman - Reitz Union Rion Ballroom - Doors 7:3O pm. Start 8 pm.
Bergman will present a lecture/performance about the body/gender relationship... how we hide, highlight, and reconstruct our bodies to convey messages about gender. http://www.sbearbergman.com/

Graduate Student Panel- Dauer Hall Room 212 - 11:45 am - 1:15 pm.
The panel will discuss present and future LGBTQ research at UF

April 18
Ms. Coco Peru - Reitz Union Rion Ballroom - Doors 8 pm. Start 8:30 pm.
Storyteller/monologist extraordinaire!
http://www.misscoco.com/

April 19
Speak Up, Speak Out - Orange & Brew - 8 pm.
Music by Red Boy and Amy Steinberg. Bring your own mayhem!

April 2O
GenderPAC - Graham Gallery - Doors 7:30 pm. Start 8 pm.
...translate theory into activism... workshop this!

April 21
Shabbat Pride - Presidential Dining Room, Reitz Union - 6 pm to 10 pm.
First ever "Stonewall sader"?

April 22
UC Knightz and Maidenz Benefit Show - University Club - Doors 8 pm. Show 10 pm.
Help send some deserving students to Disney Gay Days to represent the G'ville LGBTQs! $5.

April 24
Lavender Graduation - Grand Ballroom - 6 pm.
Very special. Inspiring.

April 25
Induction and Closing Ceremony - Reitz Union Rooms 361/362/363 - 8 to 11 pm.
Come say goodbye to Pride Awareness Month as we reflect on the events and speakers that have been brought to the University of Florida and welcome in the new executive officers of the Pride Student Union!

April 26
Day of Silence & Rally - Turlington Plaza - 8 am to 4 pm.
Join the G'ville portion of this nationwide day of action. Break the Silence Rally at 3 pm.
http://www.dayofsilence.org/

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Departments

Help Us Build the Rainbow Alliance

1) UF Faculty and Staff: We want every LGBT staff or faculty member and ally to be a Rainbow Alliance member. Tell interested friends and colleagues about Rainbow Alliance. They can check out the Web site at <www.ra-online.org>, or bring them along to a monthly dinner. They can join by sending an e-mail to <info@ra-online.org>.

2) Alumni: Our mailing list of UF alumni is growing. Alumni are a vital part of the University community. Anyone with an interest in improving the LGBT envrionment at the University of Florida should look into Rainbow Alliance. Working together with Pride Student Union and the Director of LGBT Affairs, we are working to keep alumni informed, to help them connect, and to draw on their expertise.

3) Contribute: The Rainbow Alliance Fund at the University of Florida Foundation (established March 2003) is the only one of its kind at the UF Foundation specifically dedicated to the support of the LGBT community at UF. The Fund needs continuing support if we are to realize our goals. As always, details about contributing to the Rainbow Alliance Fund can be found at the end of the newsletter. Details about payroll deduction will be e-mailed to RA members soon. A word to out contributions: Your donation is fully tax-deductible, and the RA Fund is not used to support operations of the Rainbow Alliance. Learn more below.

2) Statewide: Help us connect with staff and faculty on other Florida/Deep South campuses working on LGBT issues. We have some unique challenges in the South. Maybe we can support each other and collaborate on progress.

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Contributing to the Rainbow Alliance Fund

Please consider making a donation to the Rainbow Alliance Fund. It is fully tax deductible. If you are a University of Florida employee, it is very easy to set up payroll deduction. Request a payroll deduction form by writing info@ra-online.org.

Whatever you wish to contribute, including a few dollars a pay period, will really help. Ten dollars a pay period, for example. For most of us, it isn't that much, but it adds up to over $250 dollars a year. If we all gave just that, the Fund would thrive. Call the University of Florida Foundation at 392-1691 and ask them to send you a Payroll Deduction Form. Use the information below to fill out the form.

Contributions will be gratefully accepted from anyone; non-UF individuals who contribute $50 or more will become honorary members of the Rainbow Alliance for one year.

To contribute by check,

(1) Make out your check to the University of Florida Foundation,
(2) Note on the check "Rainbow Alliance Fund 011369",
(3) Send your check to the following address:

UF Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 14425
Gainesville, FL 32604-2425

To contribute with a credit card, call the Annual Giving office at 1-800-279-6796. These contributions are tax deductible.

Your contribution will fund the following:

  • Competitive LGBT Research/Service Awards to be given in Spring semester.
  • Purchase of materials for the collection of LGBT resources currently housed in the Dean of Students office.
  • Rainbow Alliance makes a contribution annually to LGBT student groups to support specific programs.
  • Lay the financial foundation for the University of Florida LGBT Resource Center.

If you have any questions about the Fund or for more information > Charles Brown: cmb@ifas.ufl.edu

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Resources

 UF Local
 State
 

Florida Universities  
Florida Atlantic Univ. (Boca Raton) Lambda United
Florida Gulf Coast Univ. Sexual Orientation Diversity Assoc. (no Web site)
Florida Institute of Technology
Florida International Univ. GLBTA (Faculty and Staff)
Stonewall (GLBTA)
The Diversity Initiative
Florida State Univ. LGB Student Union
New College of Florida Diversity and Gender Center
Univ. of Central Florida (Orlando) GLBSU
CF Resources Page
Univ. of North Florida (Jacksonville) UNF Pride
Univ. of South Florida (Tampa) Pride Alliance
Univ. of West Florida (Pensacola) UWF Gay-Straight Alliance

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How To Join Rainbow Alliance

Membership in Rainbow Alliance is available to all staff and faculty at the University of Florida. Graduate students will be considered for membership. Health Science Center staff and faculty are also welcome to join Rainbow Alliance. Individuals not associated with the University may become honorary members of Rainbow Alliance through an annual contribution to the Rainbow Alliance Fund of $50 or more.

To become a member, send an e-mail to <info@ra-online.org>

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Contributors

Charles Brown, editor
Greg Allen
Chuck Woods

Corrections, comments, copy > Charles Brown: cmb@ifas.ufl.edu

RA-news, newsletter of the Rainbow Alliance at the University of Florida, copyright 2006

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