HEROES & HISTORY

5 THINGS TO KNOW

Phoenix LGBT center to rise from the ashes with a $275,000 donation.

September 14, 2017 compassq Comments Off on Phoenix LGBT center to rise from the ashes with a $275,000 donation.

A Phoenix LGBT youth organization received a $275,000 donation to help build a new facility after a July 12 fire destroyed the center’s previous location. The one.n.ten youth center said Tuesday that the Bob and Renee Parsons Foundation made the donation to help complete construction on the new center, which will be located at the Parsons Center for Health and Wellness at Central Avenue and Portland Street.

HEROES

Gay fathers become activists for Aussie same-sex marriage.

September 14, 2017 compassq Comments Off on Gay fathers become activists for Aussie same-sex marriage.

It was a scene that plays out nearly every day in schoolyards across Australia: A couple, standing among a dozen other parents, waited for the final school bell to ring. On cue, Reid Duggan-Tierney, 7, came bounding out of school last Friday and ran toward Michael and Jarrad Duggan-Tierney — his fathers.

A & E

Sharing LGBT history in Connecticut.

September 14, 2017 compassq Comments Off on Sharing LGBT history in Connecticut.

A piece of history will be on display this month, and organizers hope the money raised will help establish the state’s first historic site focused primarily on presenting LGBTQ history. Connecticut Landmarks will hold a fundraiser on the 50-acre Palmer-Warner property in East Haddam which was home to preservation architect Frederic Palmer and his partner Howard Metzger from 1945 – 1971.

HEROES

40 years for the LGBT Jewish synagogue.

September 14, 2017 compassq Comments Off on 40 years for the LGBT Jewish synagogue.

Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, one of the United States’ oldest LGBT synagogues, kicks off the Jewish New Year with a celebration of its 40th anniversary next week. The congregation will be holding its High Holy Days services at the Herbst Theatre, and the public is welcome to attend, officials said.

5 THINGS TO KNOW

UN losing the first independent LGBT expert.

September 13, 2017 compassq Comments Off on UN losing the first independent LGBT expert.

Vitit Muntarbhorn, an international law professor from Thailand and the first-ever United Nations (U.N.) Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, has resigned effective October 31. In a September 8 letter to the U.N. Human Rights Council, he regretfully cited illness and family obligations as the reasons for stepping down.

5 THINGS TO KNOW

Thank you and RIP Edith Windsor for your fight for same-sex marriage.

September 13, 2017 compassq Comments Off on Thank you and RIP Edith Windsor for your fight for same-sex marriage.

Edith Windsor, the gay-rights activist whose landmark case led the Supreme Court to grant same-sex married couples federal recognition for the first time and rights to a host of federal benefits that until then only married heterosexuals had enjoyed, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. She was 88.