The BOP Connection - June 2017

The BOP Connection June 2017 A Newsletter bi the Bisexual Organizing Project  Edited by Cary Crawford  Co-edited by Sally Corbett   Happy Pride Month! Photos from Bi-lesque: Gender Anarchy!  On Sunday, May 21, our community gathered at LUSH to celebrate our trans, non-binary, two spirit, and gender non-conforming identities with a groundbreaking event featuring variety performances of burlesque, drag, pole, and more! The PHENOMENAL performers included local superstars Marcell Michelle Obama, Sweetpea, Blaze Bordeaux, Jean Luc Dicard, Esmé Rodríguez, Stella Rosa, Natalie Venom, and Vod Sinclair. The show was a smashing success!  Check out tons more photos on our Facebook page!  Photos courtesy of Nadia Honary   LGBTQIA+ Resource Fair at Century College Sally Corbett and I attended the resource fair at Century College West Campus in late April. We tabled with other organizations like the Rainbow Health Initiative, the Bridge, Planned Parenthood, Tubman Center, Outfront, Americorps, The Nest, Red Door, Minnesota Aids, and PFLAG.  Other colleges and universities LBGTQ+  groups came  from UMD, Hamline, and  Metro State, I had a chance to communicate with Maxwell Poessnecker M.S, the organizer and Associate Director of Student Life at Century College.  They said the purpose of PRIDE Week is to highlight LGBTQIA+ awareness during the month of April. Max started a PRIDE Week, as a way to showcase the Lavender Graduation Celebration. Much like Coming Out Week, PRIDE Week is an opportunity to create visibility and urgency around LGBTQ+ equity and inclusion.  The purpose of the event is to make a greater impact beyond Lavender Graduation Celebration, the college hosts a collection of events for continual campus engagement and education. This will be an annual event. Yay!  During PRIDE Week, Century College held events including: -LGBTQIA2S+ Resource Fair, a Keynote Speaker, Nate Cannon: The Invisible Man, PRIDE BBQ, Soup, Gender, and Sexuality, and a campus-wide Day of Silence campaign and rally. BOP at LGBTQ Lobby Day By Sally Corbett On April 20, I attended LGBTQ Lobby Day at the Minnesota State Capitol, hosted by OutFront MN, on behalf of BOP. It was an exciting and inspiring day of activism in action! The day's events began with a selection of workshop institutes highlighting topics such as de-escalation, safety of youth in schools, and unity in the face of adversity. Workshops were followed by a town hall forum with Representative Keith Ellison, who heard testimonies from community members about how being queer and trans affects our lives. Many attendees told personal stories about their struggles surrounding access to healthcare, and facing discrimination in housing and employment. Ellison declared his commitment to representing our issues at the federal level, and giving voice to our concerns.  The town hall hearing was followed by a rally in the Capitol rotunda. State legislators banded together at the podium to voice their dedication to supporting LGBTQ+ rights for their constituents. Other speakers represented racial, religious, and gender diverse communities, and told moving accounts of their personal experiences. Parents advocated for safe and respectful schools for their transgender children, and youth spoke of their experiences with conversion therapy. The roster of speakers filled rally-goers with inspiration and a sense of empowerment.  After the rally, constituents had the opportunity to meet with their legislators  and other members of their districts, and share their experiences to directly advocate for LGBTQ+ equity and ask their representatives for public support. OutFront provided outlines and coaching for these meetings, making them an inviting and accessible endeavor for everyone, and alleviating any pressure  to be a policy expert.   OutFront's official platform emphasized three core issues involving bills proposed in the current legislative session. Banning conversion therapy, especially for LGBTQ+ youth, and defeating religious exemption laws and anti-trans legislation were the foundation of the platform. OutFront's focused, timely goals and effective organization made LGBTQ+ Lobby Day an inspiriting, powerful event for the queer community.  Member Profile: Bill Burleson Bill Burleson came out in 1988, and although he hung out with the gay and lesbian crowd at the time, they tended to dismiss his relationships with his girlfriends, until he married his wife in 1991, and they couldn’t anymore.  He began to look for a bi community, and found it at the BECAUSE conference in 1993.  He met several friends there, and has attended most of the conferences since.  He met someone who told him about a bi men’s support group, and when that group ended a year later, he and a friend approached the Men’s Center about hosting another.  He and his friend, David founded and facilitated that group for several years.  Bill said it was well liked, hosting often 25 on a Friday night. He still has fond memories and many friends from that time. Later he served as Vice Chair of the Men’s Center as he became more involved during 1997-1998. He had been working as a glass artist and was a store/studio owner, but his as his taste for social service grew, he took a job at RAAN, Rural Action AIDS Action Network as an office manager half-time.  Shortly thereafter he became full time, and began facilitating bi and gay men’s support groups across the state.  Two groups stuck out for him, one in Hinkley that met in the basement of Toby’s Truck Stop, which later became Pine City Pride, and an LBGT group in Detroit Lakes.   He had been at the same time becoming involved with BECAUSE starting in 1996/97.  He co-chaired the conference in 1998/99, when it was held at Metro State for the first time.  In 2000 and 2001 it was moved to Milwaukee, then in 2002 it went to Ames Iowa.  The members of the bi community’s groups had begun to wane, like the Bi Connection and Bi Women and Friends, the Men’s support group and women’s at Chrysalis.  So they decided to create a local year- round organization so that they would not have to rely on Outfront as the fiscal sponsor, and could become a fiscally independent entity.  So began BOP in 2000. Bill served as chair as they began planning, this gave rise to the weekly Bi Forum, the Chick Chat, Bis Eat Out, a hotline and a newsletter.  The group was granted a 503C status, released an annual report, and completed a needs assessment all done in 2001. He stepped aside from BOP and In 2002 he started producing Bi Cities, a community access show on cable tv, with Marge Charmoli and Anita Kozan as hosts.  He worked in that capacity for 5 years.  Meanwhile, he was instrumental to the International Conference on Bisexuality in 2003, which BOP hosted.He then changed his focus to writing. He wrote and in 2005 published Bi America: Myths, Truths, and Struggles of an Invisible Community (Rutledge Press), an introduction to bisexuality and the bisexual community. The success of Bi America led to more writing opportunities. He contributed a column in Lavender Magazine 2004/05, called In the Pink, on gay/bi men’s health as part of his work at Red Door Clinic.  He left that job but continued as a columnist with As the Bill Tolls, featuring LBGT community groups.  He wrote essays for various publications, and for Lambda Literary Review as a columnist of bi-focused books, and helped judge the annual bisexual category for 2007, then chaired the committee in 2008.  Meanwhile, Bill’s work in bi activism continued. He served on the board of directors for PFund for 4 years.  In 2012 Bill spearheaded and completed a needs assessment and published for BOP in 2013.  Part of which included forming a new discussion group, the Bi Salon, still continuing today. Since then, Bill has represented BOP at the Pride reception at the White House in 2013, and he participated in the White House bisexual community meeting in 2015.  Bill has recently published a new book, Tales of Block E, stories about the seedy, dangerous fun of this downtown Minneapolis locale.  The block, between 7th and 6th, First and Hennepin Ave, was notorious for porno joints, dive bars, Shinders, and Moby Dick’s, and the World/Academy theater.  The characters in his book are a resident in a flophouse, porno joint workers, and bystanders all pulled into the morass of the culture of the block.  Bill worked for a time in the theater which has since been transformed to the Cowles Center for the Arts. The Nicollet Diner hosted the book launch party on May 30th, where Bill says previously a bi reading night was held for poetry reading, a story slam, essays, with a $100 pot for the winner. I was unable to attend, but I’m sure it was as packed as it had been on that previous literary night. Good luck to Bill, and you can see his book on Talesofblocke.com website, he will be featuring it in a blog, and posting it on Facebook next year.   Shannon Blowtorch & Sweetpea, 89.3 The Current, First Avenue, Smirnoff present​: GROWN & SEXY PRIDE VII!​   GROWN & SEXY always brings the best of the best together at First Avenue Mainroom for PRIDE Weekend! This year will be no different. Mark your calendars for the 7th year of the all-night dance party infused with incredible, dynamic onstage performances. The talent is spectacular, the music is amazing, and all are welcome! BOP will be hanging out at our booth all night, be sure to stop by and say hi!  Starring the Audio-Visual Entertainment of Antic Studios.  ​Featuring: SWEETPEA DJ SHANNON BLOWTORCH Special appearances by: *​ Mica May * Dyke.s Do Drag * Ladies of LaFemme - Gay 90's * Dragged Out * The Vigilantease Collective * Deviance * BRKFST * Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence LET’S CELEBRATE! Friday, June 23rd First Avenue Mainroom 9pm doors 18+ $10 adv/ $14 door ​G&S Pride is made more awesome by the generous support of our sponsor​s: Smirnoff Vodka, First Avenue & 7th St Entry, 89.3 The Current,​AC Hotel Minneapolis Downtown, Redbull,​ Lavender Magazine, Knocked Out Entertainment, Decent Exposure, Midwest Makeup Supply & Venus Unveiled LLC! Editor's Note Let me introduce myself, my name is Cary Crawford, and I’ll be the editor of the BOP newsletter for the duration of the ride.  I hope you enjoy reading about our various activities and personalities, I’ll try to feature an interview with a BOP board member, and a BOP member profile, info about all our activities that we offer for member participation, upcoming events, and features on BOP allies. I’d also like to include member poetry and creative writing, artwork, and photos.So send me yours.   Let me know if you want to interview and write an article, or edit another’s writing.  Right now it’s just me and Sally Corbett.  I’ll try to get this newsletter out quarterly, with a special editions dedicated to the BECAUSE conference and PRIDE weekend.  If you think you’d like to help out or include your work contact me at cary.crawford@bisexualorganizingproject.org, I’d love to see what you’ve got for me.   Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|* Our mailing address is: *|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|* Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list *|IF:REWARDS|* *|HTML:REWARDS|* *|END:IF|*