HEAR ME OUT | SPONSORED BY UW CREDIT UNION
LGBT HISTORY MONTH AND MORE
MAKE OCTOBER A CROWDED PAGE ON THE CALENDAR By Paul Masterson
O
ctober is full of high holidays for the LGBTQ community. Aside from being LGBT History Month, October includes Halloween on October 31 (this year, it falls on a Saturday!), Intersex Awareness Day on Monday, Oct. 26, and National Coming Out Day, celebrated on Sunday, Oct. 11. The latter marks an important rite of passage among LGBTQ folks, the official recognition of one’s identity. For some, it can be a matter-of-fact moment with life going on unchanged; for others, it can be a dramatic one with nothing remaining the same thereafter. Appropriately enough, National Coming Out Day is also the occasion for the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center’s annual Big Night Out Gala fundraising event, which will be held Friday, Oct. 9. Over the years, it has become a major source of the
72
|
Shepherd Express
theme of “Celebrate Our History,” the gala will be live streamed on Facebook and YouTube Live with a lineup of high-quality entertainment, educational videos and an online auction. As always, the funds raised will be dedicated to the Center’s spectrum of services that include programs for seniors, youth, transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, as well as food and clothing banks among others. Additionally, the Center’s planned move in 2021 will certainly be an additional financial cost for the upcoming fiscal year. Center’s income. Last year’s event, held at Discovery World with 600 in attendance, raised $137,000, or 19% of 2019’s total revenue. However, like most traditionally public gatherings nowadays, the upcoming Big Night Out will be held virtually. With a
LONG-AWAITED MOVE Announced during the Center’s virtual annual meeting in late June, the long-awaited relocation is in the offing with the selection of the new locale projected for
