If “Annual Meeting” doesn’t sound like your ideal way to spend a Sunday afternoon, I invite you to reconsider!
Bisexual Organizing Project (BOP) hosts an annual meeting that is warm and inviting, and nourishes the body and the mind. Come learn about what BOP has been doing and what is planned for 2015. 12:30 PM: Light lunch 1:00 PM: Presentation The Annual Meeting will be held at the community meeting room downstairs at : Hosmer Library 347 E 36th St Minneapolis, MN 55408 When you go in the front door, take an immediate right and go down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, the meeting room will be to your left through the double doors. If you need to take the elevator, it's to the left of the front doors. Go down one level, and the meeting room will be on your left as you leave the elevator. Last year BOP introduced its Strategic Plan 2014-2019. This year’s presentation will cover the progress BOP has made both on the strategic plan and on advancing the social justice vision of the 2014 board. You will also learn about: open committee chair positions, program lead openings, big and small volunteer opportunities throughout the year, and opportunities for personal development. BOP’s new volunteer coordinator will be on hand to answer your questions about getting involved! Annual elections will follow the presentation. All people attending the meeting may vote. Nominations are made during the meeting. If you are unable to attend but wish to participate, please email bop@bisexualoranizingproject.org. Don’t be shy about getting involved! BOP elections are very low key. The following positions will be elected:
Board chair Camille Holthaus and board secretary Martha Hardy are halfway through their two-year terms. The 2014 board made a commitment to work toward social justice within the bi+ community as well as for the bi+ community. A program to provide education to the board and the community about dismantling privilege was started. BOP began reviewing programs and systems within BOP in order to provide better access and inclusion for bi+ people and community allies with marginalized identities. The 2015 board is expected to continue this work. To this end, the 2014 board members who plan to run for election again are specifically seeking people of color and trans/genderqueer individuals who are interested in being a part of these changes to join them on the board.
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We, the undersigned members of the bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, fluid, queer and unlabeled (bi+) community - representing an ethnically and racially diverse group - express our sadness and outrage at the lack of justice for Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The racist motivations surrounding their deaths and the prejudiced failure to secure legal justice for them and their grieving families has had a profoundly debilitating effect on us all.
We understand that these recent deaths are not isolated incidents, but part of a long-standing, persistent pattern of systemic racism and anti-black violence. Black and Brown people of all genders, orientations, ages, abilities and backgrounds are being targeted for these injustices. These abuses must not continue.As individuals and as diverse organizations, we act in solidarity with people of color in our bi+ communities, our cities, and our nation to collectively address this human rights travesty. We call on our members to join us in our unified demand for racial equity and an end to police brutality. Let us work together for justice, alongside the protesters and organizations engaged in this struggle, and especially in support of groups led by Black and Brown people. This is a time to affirm that #BlackLivesMatter. Inaction and silence is not the solution. This is a time to join in the struggle to dismantle systemic racism. This is a time to elevate and amplify Black voices in our unified demand for justice. This is a time for action. The time for justice is now. CLICK HERE TO SIGN THIS #BlackLivesMatter SOLIDARITY STATEMENT. List of Supporters of the Statement: http://bit.ly/161e2IX BOP members Martha Hardy and Sarah Weaver recently published "Preserving BTQLG History and Preventing Bi Erasure" in the January, 2015 issue of The Tretter Letter: Newsletter for Friends of the Tretter Collection from The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies at University of Minnesota Libraries. Here's an excerpt: Archives like the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection protect, preserve, and make accessible primary sources that document the lives of queer communities. We highlight the “B” in BTQLG because too often bisexuals and other non-monosexual communities are subject to a phenomenon called bisexual erasure. Bisexual erasure is the tendency for bisexuality to be denied an existence by refusing to believe it is a valid orientation, or by omitting it as an identity in history and media.(1) With the support of community members, the Tretter Collection can play an important role in correcting the problem of bisexual erasure simply by doing what the best archives do well, collecting a diverse array of primary source materials, describing them appropriately to make them findable, and making these materials accessible to users. Click here to read the rest of the article and the entire January, 2015 issue of The Tretter Letter.
If you are interested in donating materials to The Tretter Collection, please contact Lisa Vecoli, Curator of the Tretter Collection. You can also talk with Martha Hardy, Tretter Collection Advisory Board Member and Director, Bisexual Organizing Project at martha.hardy@bisexualorganizingproject.org. |
BECAUSEBECAUSE 2023
September 30 - October 1, 2023 Wellstone Center St Paul, MN We hope you will join us for the BECAUSE Conference in fall 2023! MissionBuild, serve and advocate for an empowered bisexual, pansexual, fluid, queer, and unlabeled (bi+) community to promote social justice. Vision
Within the next five years grow Bisexual Organizing Project (BOP) into a successfully-run Upper Midwest nonprofit organization with annual funding of $100,000 that provides community building, education, and advocacy for the bisexual, pansexual, fluid, queer, and unlabeled (bi+) community and our allies.
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