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Falmouth Unitarian Fellowship, Cape & Islands Gay/Straight Alliance Receive Funds Totaling $4,000

Provincetown, MA - Today The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Foundation and the Provincetown Host Committee announced that they have awarded grants totaling $4,000 to two Cape Cod nonprofits serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community: The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Falmouth and the Cape & Islands Gay and Straight Youth Alliance (CIGSYA). The grants will support the groups' local/regional organizing efforts on the Cape, and reflect the NGLTF Foundation's commitment to strengthening local activism.

CIGSYA will receive $2,500 to organize three events to promote social interaction between GLBT and straight youth under the age of 22 from all across Southeastern Massachusetts. In this effort CIGSYA will collaborate with gay-straight alliances in four other cities in the region: Norwell, New Bedford, Brockton, and Fall River--communities that are both ethnically and economically diverse. One of the key facets of the project is that the youth will be encouraged to take ownership of the project, and will develop, organize ands implement the project activities themselves.

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Falmouth will receive $1,500 to support an "alternative Saint Patrick's Day celebration" which is open to the entire Cape Cod community, particularly its gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) population of Irish heritage. The series of events provide a safe and inclusive alternative to the historically contentious Saint Patrick's Day celebration in Boston--the largest in New England--whose organizers have for more than a decade refused requests to allow Irish and Irish American GLBT people to march as a contingent. As part of the celebration, the UUFF hosts an annual "Celtic Diversity Dinner," specifically organized to support the GLBT community; a community workshop that will examine ways to create a healthy and inclusive celebration of Saint Patrick's Day; and a vigil to call for peace not only in Ireland, but in America and across the world. In addition to the alternative Saint Patrick's Day celebration, the UUFF plans to hold a "Solidarity Sunday" in October to affirm the rights of GLBT people.

"These grants offer NGLTF a chance to give back to a community that has given generously to us for 14 years," said Lorri L. Jean, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "The work that the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and CIGSYA are undertaking are not only innovative, but serve as exemplary models of the Task Force's ongoing commitment to cultivate local GLBT communities and help them grow."

The grants will be presented as part of NGLTF's Fifteenth annual Provincetown Sunset Deck Party, scheduled for Sunday, August 25th from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm at "The Pied" on Commercial Street in Provincetown, MA. At the Deck Party the Task Force will also honor exceptional leaders both within the Provincetown GLBT community and at the national level, including:

• Larry Courtney, whose partner, Eugene "Gene" Clark, died on September 11th at the World Trade Center, is struggling to gain the same benefits being offered to surviving married partners;
  
  
• Sharon Smith, known for her work in California, where she has fought to be recognized as the legal survivor of her partner, Diane Whipple, who was mauled to death by a dog in her San Francisco apartment building;
  
  
• Jon Arterton, the conductor of the Outer Cape Chorale, a founding member of the Flirtations, and a tireless fund-raiser for the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House Restoration; and
  
  
• Elizabeth (Betty) Villari, who originally founded the Provincetown Gym, and is also a dedicated Provincetown activist and volunteer, serving on the board of the local soup kitchen and active in many other worthy charities.

A special VIP Dinner will be held at the Front Street Restaurant on August 24th (the Saturday night preceding the Deck Party) in honor of the award recipients.

• To purchase tickets to the VIP Dinner or the Deck Party, or for any logistical information, please contact Peter Larson, Special Events Manager, by telephone at (202) 332-6483, ext. 3311 or by e-mail to plarson@ngltf.org.
  
  
• To schedule interviews with any of the awardees, for background information on the work of the Task Force, to obtain media passes to the events, please contact Jubi Headley, Director of Communications, at (202) 332-6483, ext. 3303 or by e-mail to jheadley@ngltf.org.

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The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the political power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community from the ground up. We do this by training activists, organizing broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and by building the organizational capacity of our movement. Our Policy Institute, the movement’s premier think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality and to counter right-wing lies. As part of a broader social justice movement, we work to create a nation that respects the diversity of human expression and identity and creates opportunity for all. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., we also have offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis and Cambridge.