presents

We Are Family

Annual Gala Fundraiser

(Click the image below for tickets)

The Annual Gala Fundraiser is tonight, and you can still buy tickets at the door.  Join us and show your support for all families by joining us on this fabulous night with friends, family, and our community.

Your support is greatly appreciated.  If you cannot come, please consider supporting the Resource Center  with an annual membership.

The North County LGBTQ Resource Center will be showing the 2005 film

“Kinky Boots”

Come and join us on Saturday, May 12th @ 6:30 PM @ the Resource Center.  Event is FREE.

A failing shoe factory that’s struggling to maintain its footing following the death of its founder finds the inspiration needed to stay in business from the most unlikely of sources in veteran British director Julian Jarrold’s warmhearted tale of fancy footwear and changing times.

Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a sassy female impersonator with a flair for style and a great mind for design. Though on paper their inventive scheme to save the factory may sound too outrageous to be true, stranger things have happened in the world of business, and if it doesn’t break them, it may just transform them into the richest footwear manufacturers in all of England. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

PG-13, 1 hr. 46 min. | Drama, Comedy | Directed By: Julian Jarrold | Written By: Geoff Deane, Tim Firth | Miramax Films

Max Disposti

This year’s theme for the North County LGBTQ Resource Center’s upcoming Gala on May 19 is all about family.

Family is when our service members, reunited with their loved ones, have to struggle with their affections to avoid making national news. Family is the thousands of couples hoping to have their unions finally recognized as marriage. Families are federal government employees that cannot take care of their spouses because the Defense of Marriage Act denies them the right. Families or the bi-national couples forced to live apart because, in this country, their union is illegal.

Here in North County, a few hundred feet away from the entrance to Camp Pendleton, our families feel the burden of forced invisibility. This year’s Gala is not only about fundraising but is also an opportunity to reestablish dignity and humanity to all our North County families.

Only a year ago, the idea of opening a North County LGBTQ Resource Center was a general thought in our minds, an undefined desire inspired by years of community work and dedication that many North County residents have volunteered for.

At last year’s Gala, guest of honor and keynote speaker Steward Milk compared our effort to the great struggles of the past: establishing a community center in an area that was historically non-supportive. Ironically, a year after, we come to realize that because of these predetermined obstacles, establishing our presence happened because of an amazing support from our LGBT families, allies and service members.

Today, our community is transforming the way North County has been perceived for years. In fact, the presence of many different support and discussion groups, mental health programs, socio-recreational activities and other services the Resource Center provides are making a difference. We are already looking into extending our hours of operation and maybe, one day, moving into a bigger place.

In the meantime, having a safe space to gather, socialize, discuss and organize the LGBTQ self-identified youth it is really what makes any LGBT Center a resource that everyone can use.

Guest of honor and keynote speaker and for this year’s Gala is West Hollywood mayor and civil rights leader John Duran. Duran has years of activism in educating about HIV prevention and AIDS, while being the force behind many of our community’s antidiscrimination efforts. An active duty officer will also share his personal experience after the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and discuss how the presence of the Resource Center benefits our local military.

Of course, music, food and a performance by the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus will add to the experience of a great evening at the beautiful venue, offered by the Oceanside Museum of Art.

If you have not yet reserved your ticket, we encourage you to do so. All proceeds will support the activities of the only LGBTQ Center currently run by volunteer personnel only. For more information or to purchase your ticket to the “We Are Family” Gala, visit ncresourcecenter.org or call 760-672-1848.

One last note for all my friends that may feel family is not who they are. Family can be everyone; it is not a homogenous box, losing the creativity and diversity of our immense and colorful community. An individual that has embraced the love for the larger human community is family, too. We all can make our existence a better one.

The North County LGBTQ Resource Center will be showing the 2007 documentary

“For the Bible Tells Me So”

Come and join us on Saturday, April 28th @ 6:30 PM @ the Resource Center.  Event is FREE

An exploration of the intersection between religion and homosexuality in the U.S. and how the religious right has used its interpretation of the Bible to stigmatize the gay community.

Does God really condemn loving homosexual relationships? Is the chasm separating Christianity from gays and lesbians too wide to cross? Is the Bible an excuse to hate? These questions and more are answered in this award-winning documentary, which brilliantly reconciles homosexuality and Biblical scripture – and reveals that religious anti-gay bias is based almost solely upon a misinterpretation of the Bible.

Through the experiences of five very normal, Christian, American families – including those of former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson – we discover how people of faith handle the realization of having a gay child or family member.

Offering healing, clarity and understanding to anyone caught in the crosshairs of scripture and sexual identity, this landmark film “boldly takes on a loaded topic and examines it both intellectually and emotionally; the result may well leave you blinking away a few tears.” (Seattle Times)

Saturday April 21st at 10:00am we will be holding another volunteer orientation at the Resource Center.  The orientation will last about one hour and 30 minutes.

If interested and able to participate, please send a reply to this e-mail, with your first and last name.  We have 25 seats available and accommodations are first come first served. However, more orientations will be scheduled in the future.

After your initial confirmation you will receive a set of instructions and the agenda for the day.  We are always very thankful for your interest and support.  Thank you!

Join the North County LGBTQ Resource Center in celebrating

Oceanside Green Week 2012

on Saturday, April 28th, from 11 AM- 4 PM, at the Oceanside Pier Amphitheater 

The Resource Center is participating with a booth and volunteers.