Newsbits
The second annual lesbigay holiday party will be on Monday, December 12, at 5:30 pm, in Kent 300 (Kress Room). There will be much food, fun and holiday cheer. If you'd like to bring food, contact Annie Barry at ab14@columbia.edu or 854-3219.
The Center, located at 16 E. 60 St, is a non-profit program of Columbia's Department of Psychiatry, established to promote the well-being of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people by offering clinical care, research, and education for mental health professionals, in the expanding field of lesbigay mental health. The Center needs volunteers to assist in ongoing operations. For information call Director Justin Richardson, MD, at 326-8441.
The GABLES Domestic Partnership Task Force has been working this fall with Provost Jonathan Cole, Vice Provost Stephen Rittenberg, and Executive Vice President for Administration Emily Lloyd on extending all remaining spousal benefits to same-sex domestic partners of Columbia officers and faculty. These include tuition exemption for partners taking courses, tuition scholarships for dependents of partners in undergraduate institutions, and survivorship rights to REM housing. Already existing benefits--including health services and access to libraries and the gym--vary depending on whether one is an officer or a faculty member.
Associate Provost Rittenberg has recommended that all remaining benefits offered to spouses be extended to same-sex domestic partners. The recommendation must now be presented to the Council of Deans and then, perhaps in March, to the University Senate and the Trustees.
"BLACK MALE: REPRESENTATIONS OF MASCULINITY IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ART" runs through March 5 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Avenue. It chronicles the changing perceptions of African American masculinity as interpreted in painting, photography, mixed-media work, film, and video. The exhibit presents more than 100 works by 29 leading artists, including Lyle Ashton Harris, Robert Mapplethorpe, Christian Walker, Mel Chin and David Hammons. In an accompanying lecture series, Philip Brian Harper of Harvard University will examine the role of African American gay men. The lectures take place from Dec. 28 through Jan. 22.
Don't forget that The Quilt will arrive on campus on April 22nd. Planning committees are in full swing: publicity and media, fundraising, finance, community outreach, panel making, dance-a-thon (no, not the GMHC Dance-A-Thon!), ceremonies, logistics, and volunteers. People interested in joining a planning committee can contact Molly E. Eagan at mee5@columbia.edu or at 853-2330, and she will help to steer interested parties in the right direction. Also, any people who would like to volunteer on the day of the Quilt or dance-a-thon (the dance is on April 20th), can contact Molly and she will send information.
The 8th Annual National Black Lesbian & Gay Conference & Institutes will be held February 16-20, 1995 in Los Angeles. The theme will be "Black Lesbians and Gays: Our Families Make A Difference." For more information, write: Black Gay & Lesbian Leadership Forum, 1219 So. La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90019. Or phone: 213-964-7820.
Community News -- December/January 1994 -- Volume 2, Number 4