Family Pride Honors “Buster” Family

ashington, DC — According to a
press release from The Family
1 Pride Coalition, the Gillian Pieper

and Karen Pike family will receive the organi-
zation’s fourth annual “Families of Courage”
award at its 10th annual Family Week event in
Provincetown July 30-Aug. 6.

The Pieper/Pike family was featured
in the “Postcards from Buster” episode that
ignited a national debate after U.S. Education
Secretary Margaret Spellings strongly
denounced the program.

“We are deeply touched by this
award from the Family Pride Coalition,”
Pieper and Pike said. “We simply did what
any mother would deem necessary. When bul-
lies come knocking, you stand up for your
child’s safety and rights. The real courage lies
in our children who stood up along side us and
fought for their family’s right to be seen and
loved by America. That’s courage.”

Family Pride is the only national
organization exclusively dedicated to securing
equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgen-
der (LGBT) parents and their families. Jennifer

Chrisler, executive director of Family Pride,
said, “It is real families, sharing real facts about
their lives that will dramatically reshape our

The Pieperl Pike Family: (back) K

David, Emma and James.

civil rights battles. The Pieper/Pike family will
long be remembered as heroes of our move-

 

Pieper and Pike said’, “What
Margaret Spellings and PBS took from us,
Family Pride has returned tenfold.”

A longtime activist for human rights
and diversity in the workplace, Pieper is a
nationally-renowned presenter and a founding
member of Vermont Safe Harbors, a
Department of Education-sponsored effort to
maintain safe, civil schools for LGBT youth,
families and staff.

An award-winning photojournalist,
Pike's work has appeared in countless publica-
tions, including Time, Newsweek, The
Washington Post, The New York Times and the
best-selling book America 24/7. As an activist
for human rights, Pike has provided a visual
image of social justice throughout her career,
donating her time to non-profit organizations,
documenting poverty across the world and
standing up for sexual minority and gender
identity rights.

Pieper and Pike were united in a
Vermont civil union in 2002. The couple lives
with their three children, Emma (12), James
(12) and David (10), in Hinesburg. V

re (left) and Gillian; (front, from left)

ment for doing just that — sharing the real story
of who their family is.”

For more information on Family Week, see
wwwfamilyprideorg or call (202) 331-5015.

Vermonters Attend Boston Elders
Town lweeting

BY ROBERT Wou=r=

Bgston — Three Vermonters, _
eggy Luhrs, Jackie Weinstock

V and I (Robert Wolff), attended the

LGBT Aging Project’s Town
Meeting for Elders and Boomers, on
June 6, 2005. Speakers included U.S. .
Representative Barney Frank; Amber
Hollibaugh of the National Gay &
Lesbian Task Force; Arline Isaacson
of the Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian
Political Caucus; David Aronstein of
Stonewall Communities; and Lisa
Krinsky of the Aging Project. The
event, moderated by Dale Mitchell,

Executive Director of ETHOS, a
Jamaica Plain community service
entity specializing in longterrn care
options, was a Boston Gay Pride
event and an official “mini” White
House Conference on Aging.

/ Barney Frank spoke to the
roughly 50 participants, reminding
them about how far the lgbt cause
has come since the 1960s. He also
underlined the difficulties of making
real progress during a time when the
Republicans control the Executive
and Legislative branches of the feder-
al government, stressing the impor-
tance of working toward 1ong—terrn
goals. The other speakers focused on

the work they have been doing to
serve lgbt elders and their organiza-
tions’ plans for future development of
services.

The Vermonters sought
information for use as we move for-
ward with the Vermont Queer Elder
Project at R.U.l .2? Queer
Community Center.‘Luhrs is a long-
time Burlington activist and an

‘ Americorps Vista Volunteer at the

center; Weinstock is an Associate
Professor of Integrated Professional
Studies at the University of Vermont
and member of the SafeSpace board
of directors; and I am a theatrical
designer, a potter and a member of

the R.U.l .2?QCC board of directors.
We three are developing a program,
which will, among other things, pres-
ent workshops for health care profes-
sionals.

The leaders of the Vermont
Queer Elder Project (VQEP) are
aware that many lgbtq people enter-
ing hospitals, rehabilitation centers,
and other institutions providing
health care, are treated with less than
proper respect and certainly without
what could be termed “Queer
Awareness.” Elders may fear entering
these facilities because their partners
might not be allowed to participate in
their care and support as they would
if they were a heterosexual couple,
for example.

The participants from
Vermont were particularly interested
in the activities and future plans of

the LGBT Aging Project and the
National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.
NGLTF is developing programs that
will allow community leaders to
learn from programs in other locales
through an enhanced communication
network. We also received pointers
on specific steps that would assist the
development of the Vermont Queer
Elder Project and some of the chal-
lenges that could retard its growth if
not well handled. Lisa Krinsky of the
Aging Project strongly suggested.
focusing our energies on mainstream
health, service providers and on
teaching cultural competency among
service leaders and staff. V _

Samara Foundation Grants $23K

urlington — The Samara
Foundation announced its
grants and scholarship awards in
June, totaling $23,000. That repre-
sents the smallest amount given by
the foundation in the last five years.
The foundation’s giving

peaked in 2002, with total awards of
$39,000, according to foundation
Executive Director Bill Lippert’s
figures. In 2003, the amount award-
ed was $25,000. including three
$1,000 scholarships. In 2004 the

total was $31,000, including
$23,500 in grants, five $1,000 schol-
arships, and a special additional
“regrant” of $2500 given to
Mountain Pride Media.

According to Lippert, the
reasons for the decline are complex.
“In the first three years we gave out
grants, we made a strategic decision
to give out larger amounts than we
could necessarily sustain, in part to
get our name out there,” Lippert
said. In addition, the foundation’s

board wanted “to move significant
amounts of money into the commu-
nity,” since it was then the only
Vermontfoundation specifically
responsive to lgbtq concerns. For

g the same reason, the foundation

funds general operating expenses, a
rarity among foundations.

Another reason for the
recent decline in Samara grants is
the existence of the Unity Project, a
partnership of the Vermont
Community Foundation and Samara,

as a new source of grant funding.
The time-lirnited Unity Project —
funded in part through a challenge
grant from the Gill Foundation and
other large foundations — had over
$200,000 to award to Vermont lgbtq
projects as of 2004, of which just '
over $78,753 was awarded last year,
with $118,950 available this year.

The additional source of
funding for the lgbt community
projects has allowed Samara to rein
in its award amounts without leav-
ing organizations high and dry,
Lippert said. However, the Unity
Project is slated to end its existence
by disbursing all of its funds this

year.

And finally, Lippert said,
“Our board of directors has made a
strategic decision to be true to our
multiple stakeholders: our donors,
our investors, our grantees, and
those whose gifts will come to us in
the future as bequests.” That means
limiting grant awards to available
dividends and interest, while build-
ing and maintaining the foundation’s
endowment, he said. “Annual granti-
ng is not the only measure of what
we’re up to,” he concluded.

Fundraising, according to
figures provided by Lippert, brought
in $69,000 in continued on page 6