Youth First Texas presents:
The 2nd Annual Youth Fashion Show:
“Give ‘Em Heel:Candy Extravaganza!”
Featuring youth designers and fabulous youth performers from YFT!

Thursday, July 8th 2010 at The Rose Room located upstairs at S4.
Doors open at 6:30 pm – $10 Admission.
Fancy Mocktails and Free Food!

All proceeds benefits Youth First Texas’ New Youth Center and Programming.

All ages welcome – Must have an ID to get in (School IDs will be accepted as IDs as long as they are picture IDs)

This is an Alcohol and Drug free event.

For information about becoming a sponsor, please contact Vic Rodriguez at v.r.rodriguez@live.com.

The film festival will be held on Saturday, June 19, 2010 (11AM to 5PM) in Addison. Tickets ($15) can be purchased at the DOA Blood Bath Entertainment website.

The event will be emceed by two of YFT youth: Efran Garza and Erika Ochoa.

DALLAS  – Gay and lesbian youth from Youth First Texas  demonstrated at a silent flash mob Friday at the Rosa Parks Plaza to  honor the National Day of Silence.

With their mouth covered in  duct tape and homemade surgical mask, the youth joined hundreds of  thousands of students nationwide to take a vow of silence to bring  attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in their  schools.

The flash mob took place at 5 p.m. in which participants  literally froze in place for five minutes while other park patrons  continued on with their daily lives. Some park patrons were confused  while others stood stunned at the sight of the frozen youth.

After  the flash mob ended at the Plaza, the youth started phase two of their  silent protest on a one-mile train ride to the Southern Methodist  University campus where a “Breaking the Silence” event was being held by  the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network.

Founded in 1996, the Day of Silence has become the largest single  student-led action towards creating safer schools for all, regardless of  sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

In a bold move, President Barack Obama on Thursday in support of  LGBT rights presented a memorandum to the Department of Health and Human  Services to establish a rule that would prevent hospitals from denying  visitation privileges to gay and lesbian partners.

“There are few moments in our lives that call for greater compassion  and companionship than when a loved one is admitted to the hospital.  … Yet every day, all across America, patients are denied the  kindnesses and caring of a loved one at their sides,” the president  said.

Obama ordered that any hospital receiving Medicare and Medicaid  funding must allow patients to decide who can visit them and prohibit  discrimination based on a variety of characteristics, including sexual  orientation and gender identity.

It all started thanks to Beaux Wellborn, a YFT Volunteer and the Assitant Director of Campus Harmony Inc. The Dallas Voice Instant Tea Blog shares more about the project on their website. To read more about this project, click here.

September 22nd, 2009.

Last night during the North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce’s Pride Dinner at the Warwick Melrose Hotel, keynote speaker Cleve Jones issued a challenge: If you can’t make it to the National Equality March in October, send someone in your place.

Shortly after Jones concluded his remarks, six chamber members and/or Pride dinner attendees responded, with each agreeing to pay for one of the local LGBT youth on hand to go to Washington. The six beneficiaries from Youth First Texas, shown after the dinner, are Will Mason, Chris Lopez, Victor Rodriguez, Steven Richmond, John McKnight and Hai Duong. They are pictured along with chamber member Jay Forte, far right.

Sending the youth to D.C. reportedly was the idea of longtime lesbian activists Louise Young and Vivienne Armstrong, who conceived it during the dinner and will be sponsoring one of the youth. Afterward, Young noted that many of Dallas’ pioneering activists, including Bill Nelson and Don Baker, attended the first gay-rights march on Washington in 1979.

“I think it’s so important for the next generation of activists to have some of the experiences that have sustained us,” Young said. “These things [marches] are very energizing.”

UPDATE: According to Chamber President and CEO Tony Vedda, the others who agreed to send a youth to D.C. were Cordey Lash, Derrick Brown, Mark Reed (2) and Jonathan Palant.

— John Wright

Picture it: Wednesday, August 5, 2009. Per a story carried by the Associated Press, the American Psychological Association declares that therapists should avoid directing gay clients toward treatment designed to “cure” them of their sexuality. Instead, the APA advocates a more sensible approach, such as introducing celibacy as an option to relieve conflict, or suggesting that a given patient consider channeling his/her faith in the direction of a religion that exhibits tolerance over unwavering fundamentalism.

This development is interesting because at about the same time an online article reported about a candlelight vigil being held in Dallas in the wake of last weekend’s shooting at a gay community center in Tel Aviv, Israel. According to reports in the New York Times, the BBC, and other news outlets, a lone masked gunman entered the basement facility, Café Noir, and unleashed a spray of bullets leaving two dead and eleven more injured. Witnesses describe the scene as a “slaughterhouse” and note that not all the youth who frequented the establishment were out to their parents, thus further complicating an already difficult situation. The two that were slain have been identified as Nir Katz (26) and Liz Trobishi (16); meanwhile, the gunman remains at large.

Incredibly, police officials were originally quick to classify the shooting as a hate crime rather than a terrorist attack, which is almost understandable given the frequency with which terrorism occurs in the Middle East. On the other hand, how are these things really different? After all, intimidation—often through violence—is one of the hallmarks of terrorists. Sure, it’s easy to think that nationalism is at the core of terrorism. At the same time, however, surely a large-scale hate crime such as this is designed to intimidate. If it weren’t, would Tel Aviv city officials have ordered the temporary closures of the city’s gay clubs? Thankfully, Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, cut through the semantic red-tape and declared that, yes, the shooting has the markings of terrorism (per the Jerusalem Post). Of course, public policy and public perception are two different things. The latter is particularly tricky. For example, in a BBC news report, hotel employee Yaron Arad states, “We know that Tel Aviv has a very lively gay community with plenty of activities going around.” He further adds, “That’s actually the surprising issue, there is not at all any homophobic activity in Tel Aviv.” On the other hand, according to the same BBC report, orthodox extremists frequently target Gay Pride activities in Israel’s capital city, Jerusalem. In 2005, for example, three people were stabbed during a Jerusalem Gay Pride parade. The perpetrator, Yshai Schlisel, proclaimed his purpose was to kill the participants “in the name of God.”

All of which brings us back to the APA. Youth First Texas applauds mental health care professionals who want to enlighten their patients—and the world with them—by suggesting a change from hardcore religious beliefs to those of tolerance and acceptance. Deep inside, however, we still hurt.

In an effort to show our support, YFT  held a moment of silence to honor those who were effected by these tragic events, and we also put together a care package for the Tel Aviv youth center where the massacres occurred.

Hello to our Volunteers and Members of the Board,

Please mark you calenders! The annual Volunteer Appreciation Party is slated for Thursday, August 6, 2009, from 7pm-9pm.

Not only will we have an ice cream social and competitive games with prizes, but we will also pay tribute to the important work the volunteers contribute for the betterment of the youth through a prestigious (and sometimes silly) awards ceremony.

This is a YOUTH produced event, so don’t miss out on this evening!

All nominees will be notified by July 18th. (We tell you this only so you can begin drafting your acceptance speeches!)

Again, thanks for all you do. Come and be a part of this most important night!

Please RSVP your attendance to Grace Chow (eegleburger@gmail.com), one of our summer interns on the iLead Team. She will confirm your attendance, and she will also notify all volunteers of their nominations no later than July 18th.

Thanks for fighting the good fight, y’all!

xoJudith

–
Judith C. Dumont
Director of Administration
Youth First Texas
214.879.0400
www.youthfirsttexas.com

But it is the Gaytona 500 — and racecars aren’t even needed. Well, at least the kind the big boys play with. This is a race where quick fingers matter more than down-shifting a clutch, because these racecars are of the remote control kind.
“It’s gonna be awesome,” says Johnny Cooper.

Gaytona 500 is Cooper’s baby. As the marketing and development director for Youth First Texas, his goal is to develop stability for the group through fundraising. Coming off a successful first event with the Hall Street Journal fundraiser at Zubar in March, Cooper saw the July 4 weekend as another opportunity to spread the word about YFT … and bring in some scratch.

“We had no real comprehensive plan to bring money in. My goal is to promote YFT within the community. It surprises me how many people don’t know about YFT and that we’re here and we’re a resource,” he says.

Wanting more than just a barbecue, he thought nothing said Texan more than NASCAR; thus was born the Gaytona 500. YFT will take over the back parking lot of Station 4 and Sue Ellen’s with a 65-foot long track in the shape of a pink triangle. With five racing lanes, checkerboard finish lines and flag waving drag queens, Gaytona 500 will play out in heats in the heat. Prelim winners will compete for first, second and third place trophies.

“We’ve got a little over a dozen racecars sponsored for $500 and up to $2,500,” he says. That’s a pretty big chunk of change, and YFT needs all of it — the group is about to move.

“The board just approved to relocate Youth First Texas to a new space. We’re growing and with the development in this area, we don’t have long-term stability in this space. We developed Gaytona 500 to fundraise for the new space. The lease should be signed this week,” Cooper says.

Although they have raised a significant amount of money already, costs for the move along with renovations keep YFT in a deficit. For construction alone, they need up to $60,000 but Cooper’s plan is to raise a third of that over the summer. They expect to be moved in by October.

While the sponsors help YFT financially, Cooper hopes for a big turnout from the public. “Attendance is going to be crucial for us. It will generate funds. The $10 admission gives people free barbecue and plus, we’ll be selling cold drinks and having a raffle, “Cooper says.

It wouldn’t be NASCAR without the right merch either — who could pass up embroidered trucker hats and event tank tops?

One word should prick up your ears, though: Barbecue. Don’t expect dad’s grilling either. Providing food for the event will be Central 214 executive chef Blythe Beck, host of “The Naughty Kitchen” now filming for the Oxygen Network with her TV crew in town

“We are really excited about the national exposure,” Cooper says.

In the meantime, he’ll take all the local exposure YFT can get. If all goes right this weekend, Cooper plans to make this an annual event. Armed with a strategy of getting money into the group, he now looks forward to its growth and of course, Youth First Texas’ newest home — a finish line he can’t wait to cross.

Sue Ellen’s parking lot on Throckmorton Street. July 5, noon–5 p.m. $10. Youthfirsttexas.org.

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition July 3, 2009.