Lez Underground - June by Team Lesbians

Time for pride 2013 Festivals & Parades nationwide

happy pride! We’ve picked various pride festivals and parades that are taking place between June & October 2013. Some locations will have more information such as dates and times available than others, hence the locations with breakdowns. For other areas we have provided only the dates of the events. In any case, we recommend that you check with local listings in the case that times, dates, or locations have changed. We cannot and do not guarantee any date listed within the pride calendar. Locations listed previously that have already taken place, have been removed. Regardless of where you choose to celebrate Pride this year, we hope that you have fun, take lots of pictures, and also remember the importance of the festivals and parades. Also, we have the cover contest for the July issue of Lez Underground,

THE RAINBOW FLAG: Gilbert Baker, an artist from San Francisco, designed the first rainbow flag in 1978. Originally consisting of eight stripes, the colors symbolized sexuality, life, healing, sunlight, nature, magic/ art, serenity/harmony, and spirit. In later years, the pink and turquoise stripes were removed forming the flag with six stripes that is largely recognized by most today as the “Rainbow Flag”. Though there have been many assumptions as to why the flag was first made, today it tends to mostly signify pride and unity.

so do not forget to submit your photos and information to us via email! For more information, please view the requirements and deadllines on page 11.

STONEWALL

Lez Underground Pride Calendar 2013 Atlanta

October 12 Pride Festival October 13 Pride Parade

The famous Stonewall Riot took place on June 28, 1969, when police raided a gay bar in Greenwich Village, New York, the Stonewall Inn. Fellow patrons were fed up of the discrimination and decided to fight back resulting in one of the most well-known riots in American history.

Time for pride 2013 Baltimore

June 14 Twilight on the Terrace

Chicago

June 22-23 Pride Fest

June 15 Pride Parade, Pride Block Party June 16 Pride Festival

June 30 Pride Parade

DEMONSTRATIONS Surprisingly or not, the first “pride parades” were not ones filled with floats, parties, trinkets, or guest hosts, they were actually demonstrations or “annual reminders” for equality within the LGBT community. Dating back to the 1950s and 1960s, there were two organizations that strived to have pickets and annual demonstrations for gay rights in America, the Daughters of Bilitis and the Mattachine Society.

THE LAMBDA SYMBOL The Lambda symbol is a Greek symbol and was a sign of the Gay Activist Alliance. It was a commonly used Gay Rights symbol prior to the Rainbow Flag.

Cincinnati

June 29 Pride Festival & Parade September 6 Pride Night @ Kings Island.

Columbus

June 21 Pride Festival June 22 Pride Parade June 23 Pride Brunch

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Dallas

GAY RIGHTS AWARENESS Sept 15 Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade

& Festival

President Barack Obama made his-

Denver

tory on January 21, 2013 when he

June 15-16 PrideFest

addressed gay rights in his inaugural speech. This was the first time in history that gay rights had ever been addressed by a president in an inaugural speech.

Time for pride 2013 Detroit

THE DOMA July 23-28 Hotter than July (Black Gay

In March 2013, the high court

began hearing arguments regard-

Pride)

ing the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA). DOMA is a congressional law that states, marriage is defined as only between one man and one woman.

Heartland - NE

June 20 Harvey Milk Candle Light Vigil June 21 Opening Ceremonies June 22 Parade in Council Bluffs (*Omaha, Nebraska, Lincoln)

LEGALIZATION Since 2003, the number of Americans that support samesex marriage has significantly increased. On May 1, 2013 civil unions for gay couples became legal in the state of Colorado, which is a major step in the fight for equality, considering the fact that same-sex marriage was banned in Colorado in 2006.

Houston

June 21-30 Pride Week June 26 Rock the Runway June 27 Pride Superstar Finale June 29 Pride Festival, Pride Parade

Knoxville

June 22 Pridefest & Parade

Currently, over 200 state legislators have voted to legalize same-sex marriage in 13 states; however, same-sex marriage is only legal in 10 states (ME, MD, MA, CT, IA, VT, NH, NY, CO, and WA) and the District of Columbia. 5 4

Time for pride 2013 Festivals & Parades nationwide MORE HISTORY - In 1973, the APA removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. - In 1973, Maryland was the first state to define marriage as a union of one man and one woman. - In 1977, Gay activist Harvey Milk was elected to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors (and assassinated a year later). - In 1982, Wisconsin was the first state to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Lexington

- In 1986, the U.S. Supreme June 29 Gay Pride Festival

Memphis

June 14-16 Black Pride

Court ruled that the Constitution did not protect the right of gay adults to engage in consensual sodomy in private. in Bowers v. Hardwick. - In 1993, the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy took effect.

Time for pride 2013 HISTORY cont. Minneapolis Twin Cities

June 19-30 Pride Festival

- In 1995, Utah passed a law prohibiting same-sex marriage. More than 30 other states followed with so-called Defense of Marriage laws. - In 1996 President Clinton signed the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

New Orleans

June 20-24 Gay Pride Festival

- In 1996, Gallup began tracking public opinion on legalizing same-sex marriage. - In 1998, Gay teen Matthew Shepard was murdered in Wyoming. - In 2000, Vermont became the

New York City

June 26 Family Night June 28 The Rally June 29 VIP Rooftop Party, Rapture/River June 30 Pridefest, The March

first state to legalize same-sex civil unions in America.

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Time for pride 2013 Festivals & Parades nationwide A FINAL WORD FROM TEAM LESBIANS: Pride 2013 will be one to remember in several cities across the nation as well as in Canada and abroad! No matter where you are, there will be a pride celebration going on somewhere around you. Many pride festivals have awesome entertainers booked for various events, so stay on the look out!

Pittsburgh San Antonio

June 07-16 Pride Week June 07 Pride Advocacy Rally June 15 Pride in the Steet June 16 Pride March, Pridefest

June 29 The Pride San Antonio Bigger

than Texas Parade & Block Party.

Again, we ask that you please keep in mind that the dates of pride festivities may change or be updated, so be sure to check around the internet to stay up to

Time for pride 2013 San Francisco

June 29 Pride Celebration June 30 Pride Celebration, Pride Parade

Seattle

June 29-30 Gay Pride Festival & Parade

Cont. date with pride events. Also, be sure to remember that many cities have more than one pride event. For example, Philadelphia has their pride festival in June, and also has the â&#x20AC;&#x153;OutFestâ&#x20AC;? in early October. We have not listed all of the dates for cities with multiple pride events; however you find these dates and times online via the official pride committees for each location. Regardless of which pride festival you plan on attending, we hope to see you celebrating!

Toronto

June 21-30 Pride Week June 28-29 Pride Community Street Fair June 30 Pride Festival, Pride Parade

Pensacola

Happy Pride! June 14-22 Pride/Marching Towards

Equality

9 8

TRULYFE: SKIN

We should all love who we are even if no one else does...

Sometimes I wish the world would just understand one thing… God didn’t put us here to be comfortable in anybody’s skin but our own. He gave each of us the individual freedom of choice. He left it up to us to decide what we like and what we don’t. We are all entitled to that right as well as to our opinions. We are all going to be judged throughout our lives. People are going to take who you are and hold you to their standards of what is acceptable and what is not and if they don’t think you cut it expect negativity. Expect it but don’t live by it. Be who you are regardless of what anyone else feels and if who you are brings shame to someone else let them carry that because that burden is theirs not yours. At the end of the day you have to like you, you

have to love who you are and be comfortable presenting that person to God when he calls. You’re going to hear a billion opinions throughout your lifetime but u won’t be able to take none of them with you. No thought or judgment is going to hurt or help your final case with God. He will see what is in your heart and what came out of that with your actions and measure your life by that. The opinions of others will have no impact on his final assessment of you so why live by em? I was sitting in my car outside my house the other night, in my zone vibing to some music. When my neighbor comes and knocks on my window. She said. “Why don’t you go on in the house so I can be bad”? At first I was confused

Tru

Presents

Lyfe

Skin

and didn’t realize what she was talking about until she yelled up to her 13 year old daughter to close her window and just be hot. Be hot so that she wouldn’t smell the crack she was about to smoke right beneath her bedroom window.

She has already raised three kids to adulthood and they are headed in the direction of being even worse off than she is and she still has another one to raise. I don’t know what’s wrong with the rest of the world but how can we have problems like that in our society but society is more concerned with me marrying another chick? Again we have a choice God allows us to pick and choose the things that are important to us and this world as a whole has dropped the ball. Love is no longer unconditional thus it’s no longer valid. Love is now based off of agenda there is a purpose behind it other than love. That’s why you should just be who you are because unless they have a specific reason that benefits them people are not going to love you as they should. This world thrives off of mindless behavior and when your words and actions are mindless it means they are thoughtless and no love or care was taken. Therefore God is not present which leads me to believe that the demise of mankind will not be enforced by the hands of God but will be due instead to the society that God allowed Man to create. He gave us all a choice we get to choose who we are and who we want to be. It’s a right that is afforded to all of us and with that right and the choices we make will certainly come opinions. But we can take comfort in the fact that there is nothing final in the judgment of others. It doesn’t hold weight in the end of your life so it shouldn’t during the duration of it either. We should all love who we are even if no one else does because God does regardless of what choices we make. I think we should leave what we consider to be imperfections up to the only source of perfection that exists on this earth. It sounds nice and yet so unreachable. Still I believe we can get there if this world would just understand one thing… God did not put us here to be comfortable in anybody’s skin but our own… 10

TRU

PRIDE COVER CONTEST

Celebrating Pride!

LU PRIDE COVER

CONTEST Your image could be

Pride is on the horizon and as everyone begins to prepare for the festivities, it is important to remember that pride is a time for unity, a time for coming together, and a time to remember all of those that have come before us in the fight towards equality and acceptance. There will be plenty of pride events nationwide and we look forward to pictures and news of them all! We are having a contest for the cover of our July issue of Lez Underground and being that we love celebrating pride, we figured this would be the perfect time to have it! THE CONTEST We are looking for a picture of a pride event or a picture that represents your personal pride to be the cover of our July issue of Lez Underground. There are no forms to fill out in order to sign up for the contest. Once you have your picture ready submit it to us via email with your personal information to teamlesbians@ gmail.com For the official rules, please visit www. teamlesbians.com/activities.htm

here

WWW.TEAMLESBIANS.COM Contest Cover The winner of the contest will have their image placed on the cover of Julyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s issue!

Submissions When you submit your image, include: - Name - Age - Location - Location of the pride event - Date of the event. - Description of the image.

More Information Please visit the official contest page for the complete rules, deadlines, and other information! Also, please read the full Team Lesbians disclaimer prior to submitting!

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