The Best Damn Newsletter in New Jersey!TM NEW! October 6: The first monthly meeting of the Current Affairs Discussion Group!
CHALLENGE T he New sl etter of the Gay Act iv is t Allian ce in Morris Cou n t y S e r v i ng New Jer sey’ s G LBTI Commu n it ies Con t in u ou s ly S in c e 1 9 7 2 V o lu m e 40 , I ssu e 8, O cto be r 2 0 14
Come Out! Come Out! Wherever You Are! by Sherri Rase
October 11 is National Coming Out Day. This is a day of remembrance that began in celebration of the anniversary of the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, also known as "The Great March" because of its size and scope and because of its far-reaching effects. Speakers included Eleanor Smeal from the National Organization for Women, Cesar Chavez, the Latino civil rights activist, and Whoopi Goldberg, who has always been a supporter of LGBT people. Imagine more than 200,000 people marching for many of the rights we now enjoy, almost 30 years later! But what does it mean?
of your being? Where all of your energy is put into creating the life you want, living the way you choose? Where you are not building a wall or feeding a mystery or putting energy into a façade that serves no one?
What does it mean to have to continue to fight for the most basic of rights? Living our lives to get basic resources like equal access to a decent place to live? Continuing to fight for equal opportunities in jobs? Continuing to fight for our loved ones to inherit the shared resources under the same tax conditions our parents enjoy? Continuing to fight for children to exist as they are, regardless of gender of birth, regardless of whom they will grow up to love?
Roll up your sleeves. Volunteer with one of the worthy AIDS organizations here in New Jersey. Work with GAAMC, or Habitat for Humanity, or a welcoming church like the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship that GAAMC has called home for the past 42 years. Reach out past your personal sphere and see where other people are. Help them to reach where you are and then move forward together. We owe it to those yet to come, and we owe it to ourselves.
What does it mean to you to live in a world where you can be everything you are meant to be with every fiber
Come out! Come out! Wherever you are in that process, you’re welcome here at GAAMC.
There is still work that needs to be done. Children born since 1987 are coming out every day. Even if those children are not coming out today, or tomorrow, or the day after, we who remember building those "Berlin Walls" and fighting our Cold Wars have a duty to remind our community of the history we share, even while we unravel the mystery of what will be.
Inside Challenge
Challenge Information .................................... page GAAMC Events.............................................. page What's happening at our Monday meetings Bulletin Board.............................................. page Getting Personal........................................... page This Month's Contributors ............................... page Gleanings.................................................... page
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Q-munity Calendar........................................ page 6 Dancing To Architecture .................................. page 8 Music reviews and news with a queer ear RAIN: A Solution for Homeless LGBT Youth .......... page 9 Board Minutes for August 2014....................... page 10 GAAMC Information ...................................... page 12 Bulletin Board EXTRA!.................................. page 13
Challenge is in color online, with more content at issuu.com/gaamc/docs!