HEAR ME OUT MY LGBTQ POV | SPONSORED BY UW CREDIT UNION
LGBTQ Progress Awards IN PERSON AT SAINT KATE BY PAUL MASTERSON
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lthough the lingering pandemic forced the cancellation of this year’s PrideFest and Pride Parade, the Shepherd Express is moving forward with the 2021 LGBTQ Progress Awards. This year the Progress Awards will return as a live event, scheduled for August 5 at Saint Kate-The Arts Hotel. For more information, visit shepherdexpress.com/shepherdevents. As in past years, a committee of activists chose the winners based in large part on their pioneering struggle for social justice and inclusion. Here are the recipients of the 2021 LGBTQ Progress Awards.
FORGE
Robert “Bim” Florek
GALANO Recovery Club
Jennifer Murray, MPH
Progress in Equality
LGBTQ Pioneer
Progress in LGBTQ Health
Progress in Education
For over three and a half decades, FORGE, Milwaukee’s transgender advocacy organization, has pursued its mission to build strength and resilience in our transgender and non-binary communities. It accomplishes this through training and assistance for professional service providers, resources and support for individuals, and connection and awareness for the general public.
Like many in the mid-1980s when AIDS struck Milwaukee’s gay male population, Robert “Bim” Florek volunteered to help confront the crisis. Bim (as he prefers to be called) selected a most challenging role as hospice grief counselor at the time when AIDS victims, many abandoned by their families, were left to die alone. His first patient, an 18-year old man, died in his arms. Bim continued there for 11 years.
Addiction has always been a human weakness. Founded in 1973 in response to high rates of addiction within the Milwaukee LGBTQ community, the GALANO Recovery Club has served the mental health needs of its members for nearly half a century.
Jennifer Murray once wrote, “I am here for all the queering of consciousness, connecting with higher purpose, and showing up to be present to the work of finding new ways of learning, knowing, and being!” It is in apparent fulfillment of that purpose that she has been engaged in LGBTQ higher education since 2004. As the Director of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Resource Center, a position she has held since 2007, as Co-Chair of the UWM Chancellor's Advisory Committee for LGBT+ Advocacy, and lecturer, she has established herself as a major contributor to Milwaukee’s LGBTQ progress through education.
In 1994, FORGE began its work as a resource to connect trans masculine individuals. The organization later merged with the Transgender Aging Network. Over the following years FORGE expanded to include anti-violence research, work with sexual violence victims and the cultural competency of those who provide care to them. In 2007, FORGE hosted the FORGE Forward Conference. Over 500 trans individuals from across the country attended. Two years later, FORGE received two major grants to address the needs of sexual assault survivors and their service providers. Today, FORGE continues to contribute to LGBTQ progress, not only locally, but as a nationally recognized leader in its field.
Once begun, Bim’s volunteerism knew no bounds. Among his many roles, he has served as Stage Manager for the Vivent Health (formerly ARCW) AIDS Walk for over 30 years and as Fest City Singers artistic director in the late 1980s. As President of GAMMA since 2012, Bim has inspired that organization to increase membership and broaden its activities, including the philanthropic “GAMMA Gives.” He also leads the group’s annual Pride Parade contingent as his alter ego, Liberace.
With its staff of volunteers, and providing a safe space for its members, GALANO meets those needs through its fellowship and broad range of 12 step programs. GALANO Club facilitates recovery for its members who are confronting addictive behaviors including alcoholism, drug abuse and sexual compulsive behavior. It also has an Al-Anon program for supportive families and friends of those with a drinking problem. Meetings are conducted in person, online or via video and phone, allowing members anonymity and easy access. The GALANO Club also provides networking for a range of related addiction resources. GALANO Club’s contribution to LGBTQ progress is reflected in the hundreds of lives improved and saved by its dedicated service.
Murray has been instrumental in making UWM an LGBTQ+ welcoming institution, creating programming based on her extensive experience in the development of transformative policies and programs. These are based in her dedication to the ideals of inclusion, diversity and equality. Her efforts have brought UWM nationwide recognition as a “Top 25 LGBT friendly campus.”
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