The Ontario Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf (ORAD) and The Trans Program at The 519 Church Street Community Centre are hosting the first-ever Deaf Trans Conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from March 12 to 13, 2010.

This first of its kind conference aims to bring together the Deaf and Trans communities in North America and shed light on both communities.  It will provide an opportunity for individuals and their allies in the Deaf and Trans communities to unite and share common experiences, regardless of language barriers, and to gain a greater understanding of both the Deaf and Trans experience.

Don’t miss panel discussions by medical professionals, workshops by Deaf and Trans individuals, and our special guest presenters: Drago Renteria, Jennifer Mantle, Austin & Eliza Greenwood.

The conference will be presented in both American Sign Language (ASL) and English with ASL-English interpretation.

If you checked your Facebook account in December, you couldn’t miss those pesky Chase Community Giving banner ads plastered all over Facebook announcing that Chase was giving away $5 million dollars. The top 100 organizations garnering the most votes would receive $25,000 from Chase. A second round of voting would then take place and 5 of those organizations would be awarded $100,000 with 1 lucky winner receiving a cool $1 million. This would supposedly all take place by Facebook community vote.

Skeptical? You bet I was. Corporate contests are a dime a dozen and with hundreds of thousands of nonprofits joining the contest each day, chances of winning seemed minuscule.

Enter DeafHope. The fierce competition didn’t deter Executive Director Julie Rems-Smario. Along with her dedicated team, she spent countless of hours garnering votes and then personally taking time to thank each person who voted for her organization. Over 2,200 people cast their vote for DeafHope. And did it pay off? You bet it did. DeafHope received enough community votes to make the top 100 finalists list and won $25,000 to further its work. Let me repeat that: Twenty-five-thousand-dollars! All because people took time to vote in this promotion.

Along with DeafHope, three LGBT organizations were among the 100 finalists. They are GLSEN, the Matthew Shepard Foundation and the Trevor Project. These organizations now have the opportunity to win $100,000 or $1 million in addition to the $25,000 they received in the first round of this contest.

If you’re not familiar with any of these organizations, please take a moment to learn about them and the important work they do and SUPPORT them with YOUR VOTE. Voting begins January 15 and ends January 22. You can vote for up to 5 organizations.

Please Support:

DeafHope:
http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/412815?src=wallpost&ref=mf

GLSEN:
http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/1110553?src=wallpost&ref=mf

Matthew Shepard Foundation:
http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/781026?src=wallpost&ref=mf

The Trevor Project:
http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/781026?src=wallpost&ref=mf

Encourage your friends to do the same. This is one of those times when your vote *really* can make a difference.

All the best,
Drago
Deaf Queer Resource Center
http://www.deafqueer.org

Don’t miss the opportunity to attend this workshop at the upcoming Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf (RAD) Conference!

LGBT Social Networking and Activism on Facebook

Presented by Drago Renteria

Thursday, July 2, 2009

1-2:30PM

Colorado Room
Chicago Sheraton Hotel & Towers
301 East North Water Street
Chicago, IL

About the Workshop: Facebook is a popular social networking website with a massive user base that can be used to unify the Deaf LGBT community and our allies, share information, bring visibility to our organizations and help create social change.  Among the things you’ll learn in this workshop include information about the little-known tools that can help you
protect your privacy and how to use Facebook to network, raise funds and promote your organization’s visibility.

About the Presenter: Dragonsani (“Drago”) Renteria is a Deaf, Chicano transman who is passionate about making a difference.  A long-time activist, organizer and historian in the Deaf and Trans communities, he has devoted a great portion of his time over the past two decades towards creating change in our communities.  He is founder of the national Deaf Queer Resource Center (www.deafqueer.org) and creator of the largest Deaf LGBT group on Facebook, the Deaf Queers & Allies Group, which currently has over 2,000 members.

—-

This workshop is made possible by WCRAD / RAD ’09.  If you haven’t yet made plans to attend RAD, it’s not too late.  Tickets to this and other RAD-related workshops and events can be purchased at http://wcrad.org.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO9hlIBHdUw

(Video length: 4 minutes)

Footage from the May 26 Day of Decision march and rally in San Francisco protesting the California Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Proposition 8.

In this video:  Selena Staley, Shasta Shardae, Jennie Batchelder, Jon Kastrup, Ari Lathuras, David Rose, Samira Sam, and Todd Higgins.

Video shot and edited by Drago Renteria.

Photos from the march and rally are also available on the Deaf Community Members in Support of LGBT Equality and Deaf Queers & Allies Facebook group pages.

Follow us at http://twitter.com/deafqueer

#deafqueer