Wingspan will host an open house for the whole community at the center from 4 pm to 6 pm, Wednesday, July 21. “Come meet staff, board members, learn more about the center and the work of Wingspan, you could even check out a book from the library, and just generally make yourself right at home.” (from their recent newsletter)

Wingspan is located at 430 East Seventh Street, just a short walk east of 4th Ave.
Website: www.wingspan.org. I’m glad to see Wingspan marking the first year anniversary at this new location with an open house.

Eon youth are also invited to enjoy the festivities with the community at the Wingspan center. “Eon works to strengthen the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and straight ally youth community by creating social opportunities, providing information and support on health issues, advocating for youth rights, and challenging society’s perceptions of youth.”

I wrote about their move last July, 2009 from their larger 2 story facility to their present one across E. 7th Street (click here). Drop on by and learn more about the terrific work done by Wingspan, Southern Arizona’s only LGBT center.

Coming up shortly on July 15 from their newsletter as well:

“The Wingspan Anti-Violence Programs (AVP) is organizing a community event to raise awareness of Anti-Gay/Trans bullying in local area middle and elementary schools. The event was motivated by a recent increase in calls to the crisis line from community members personally or vicariously affected by school violence.

The goal for the community event is to draw attention to Anti-Gay/Trans bullying in local area middle and elementary schools and serve as a catalyst for cultural change.

LGBT issues are taboo subjects for many middle and elementary schools, leaving students to suffer in silence. Affected students and their parents need the support.

The AVP staff, AVP advisory committee and community members had an initial planning meeting in June. A follow-up meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 15, 2010 at 5:30 p.m. The meeting will take place at the SAAF offices at 375 S. Euclid Avenue. Interested community members who want to help plan the event are invited to attend the July 15 meeting.” (SAAF stands for Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation)

For more information, please contact AVP Manager Oscar Jimenez at ojimenez@wingspan.org.

Anti-gay bullying is a problem in our Tucson schools, and I’m glad to see this ATV group and other community members working to combat it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 8:20 am and is filed under Health, Life, Politics. Tags for this post: Anti-gay/Trans bullying in schools, AVP, Community, Eon Youth, Family, gays/lesbians, LGBT advocacy center, LGBT issues, open house, Oscar Jimenez, SAAF Offices, school violence, Southern Arizona Aids Foundation, Wingspan, Winspan Anti-Violence Programs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.