Tell Us Your Story
Have a great story? We'd like to share it with others in the LGBT community.
Tell UsGifts in Action
Donor: Inspired by Matthew Shepard
Guest blogger Lindsey Gregerson is a Pride Foundation donor that was inspired to share her story after attending the Seattle Children’s Theatre’s production of The Laramie Project (a project supported by Pride Foundation).
I started donating to Pride Foundation because I wanted to make sure that our community’s projects continued to flourish and connect with younger generations of LGBT people and allies. Last night, at the opening of The Laramie Project I got to see first hand the impact of my support.
In case you don’t know, The Laramie Project is the story of Matthew Shepard, a gay twenty-one-year-old student at the University of Wyoming who was kidnapped, beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die in the middle of the prairie outside Laramie, Wyoming. The play focuses on the townspeople of Laramie and how the death of Matthew and the surrounding media attention affected their community. The dialogue is taken from real interviews and recording with a wide range of townsfolk including the doctor who cared for both Matthew and one of his murderers, Matthew’s friends, the officer that first responded at the fence that he was bound to and other everyday people. A powerful scene included a statement by Matthew’s father at the sentencing hearing of one of the accused.
Though Matthew was murdered more than decade ago, the story still resonates today as we know we have not eliminated homophobia, nor do I believe that we can ever rest on the laurels that our community activists have helped to secure to date. It’s a powerful reminder of how we must continue to share this story with each other and to young people.
One of set pieces in the play was a fence placed in the background of the stage. That fence represented the place where a young man, preparing for a career in activism, was beaten and left for 18 hours in the Wyoming cold to die. It was an image I will not soon forget.
The first responder was quoted as saying, “…the only part of his face that was not covered in blood was where tears had fallen.”
Thank you to everyone at SCT for their brave and mature performances. Thank you to Pride Foundation for keeping us alive, awake and aware with your support of important projects like this one.
The Laramie Project runs through to July 31st at the Charlotte Martin Theatre in Seattle. Visit www.sct.org for more info.
What’s your story? Help us celebrate 25 years!
Pride Foundation’s history is a collection of stories – your stories. They are stories about challenge, isolation and struggle. And they are stories of community, resilience and triumph.
Visit our special anniversary website at IamPrideFoundation.org and share your story today! What does Pride Foundation mean to you and your local community? Where would you like to see us 25 years from now?
After 25 years of giving together and building community there are literally thousands of stories that show the remarkable progress made in our push for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equality. We will continue adding stories throughout the year and we hope you will include yours. While there be sure to check out our timeline and the listing of special anniversary events happening around the region throughout the year.
25 Years of Stories
The Idaho Women’s Network has received numerous Pride Foundation grants, including one in the Spring of 2008 for their work to ensure equality for Idaho’s LGBT community. Executive Director, Donna Wade, related this story from their work.“The Idaho Women’s Network is one of the oldest women-led social justice organizations in Idaho and we are proud to work at the connection of traditional women’s rights movement and the gay rights movement. A key step in this movement is to provide basic security in employment,
Taryn from IWN organizing
housing, and accommodation by passing an amendment to the Idaho Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. During the 2008 legislative session, Idaho Women’s Network took the lead on organizing a rally to pressure legislators into giving the Human Rights Act a public hearing, after it had been denied. In response, we organized a rally at the Capital, which drew a crowd of 60 to 70 supporters who held signs and got attention from significant media sources. Most of all, it provided an entire community- silenced by their legislature- an opportunity to demonstrate and have their voices heard.
We will continue our work with an eye to the future, hoping that in five years, the movement to amend the Idaho Human Rights Act will be strong and visible. We will have established supporters, leaders, and allies in every part of the state and will have been working to pass city non-discrimination policies in several Idaho cities. We will have built a long list of supporters from small and large businesses, to faith-based organizations and religious groups, to individuals and families- all ready to mobilize and put needed pressure on legislators.”
Western States Center of Portland, OR received funding from Pride Foundation in 2009 for their Uniting Communities program, which is building a stronger voice for LGBTQ people of color and stronger alliances between LGBTQ organizations and those organizing communities of color.
In the past 20 years Oregon has faced more than 33 anti-gay ballot measures at the state and local levels. While most of the previous statewide measures were defeated, in 2004 voters approved Measure 36, which banned marriage between same-sex couples. It was a difficult campaign in which the religious Right was able to use race as a wedge. From hiring a person of color as the spokesperson for the campaign to ads that specifically targeted communities of color, the opposition exploited the voices and faces of people of color to project their homophobia. In response The Western States Center’s developed the Family, Community and Sexuality Project to engage communities of color around LGBTQ equality and support organizations in our region fighting attacks on LGBTQ families.
Latinos Unidos Siempre (LUS) is one of the participants of the Family, Community and Sexuality Project. The LUS chapter leaders at McKay High School in Salem reached out to the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) after attending several workshops run by Western States Center and Seattle Young People’s Project. LUS and the GSA then decided to hold a joint leadership retreat where LUS student member Gustavo Ayon shared his journal entries on how he become an ally to LGBTQ students. By creating a safe space, a young Latino man felt comfortable coming out to his peers. This profound story deepened the commitment of the organization and convinced other LUS chapters to collaborate with GSAs in their schools.
It is very difficult to get foundation funds for our LGBTQ work so it was very helpful to get a Pride Foundation grant. It allowed us to develop tools for organizations to assess their LGBTQ inclusivity, and provide trainings on how to integrate LGBTQ members and issues into their programs, culture, personnel, and policies.
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