Fun By The Pool - WPF 2011

Fun By The Pool - WPF 2011

Spark! The Welcome Reception

Disney 2010

Just took Steven to Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom for the first time. He has never been to Disney. We went with my sis and a good friend and had a chilly, tiring Blast! I'll post more later.

Where did the Summer go?

Ron at Thomas Barker's Birthday Brunch
Beco, Sanaa and me at the Miami Recognition Dinner

Kids chilling at Happening #27 at the Chapel of St. Andrew's in Boca Raton

Me, Leopoldo, Steven, Alexis as the Village People on Halloween

Shawn and Leo on Halloween

The Summer seems to have gone and the Fall weather is on and off. The Northern visitors have started to make their way down. I am already getting ready to make a deep fried turkey for Thanksgiving, getting Christmas holidays planned, and in between planning the Welcome Reception and the VIP Party for the Winter Party Festival 2011.

I've been getting on to Facebook more than blogging. I have been in and out and running about, that I don't sit down to update as I should.

Well ... above are a few pics you might enjoy .... Peace!

Miami Recognition Dinner 2010

Time is ticking. We are one week away from the Miami Recognition Dinner and "all hands are on deck" getting things ready. It is going to be a great evening.

Kendall S. Natvig donated this vintage movie poster (French) for the Silent Auction. It is 45 1/2" x 61 1/2". The condition is good and the colors are vibrant. So far we have over 350 items for the auction.

Mr. S will be volunteering at the Silent Auction and I will be working the crowd......

Tickets still available at: www.miamirecognitiondinner.org

Fall For The Arts

.. areason to like South Florida...

At the last youth event I worked on in August, we participated in a Sunrise Yoga/Meditation. It was a beautiful morning and you just looked around and had to say "I love living here!"

Save the Date: Winter Party Festival 2011

Planning has begun and it is going to be a great week of events.

I am on the 2011 Winter Party Fesival Committee and I am the Chair this year for the Opening Night Reception (March 9, 2011) and the C0-Chair for the VIP Cocktail Party.

...this is why we do it....

Barcardi Americas Headquarters

Me during the "Departure Lounge" the Opening Reception of the Winter Party Festival

Tonight, Mr. S and I are going to the new Barcadi Americas Headquarters in Coral Gables for the official presentation of the the check from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to the Dade Community Foundation. It is the largest contribution to date in the appoximate amount of $203,500.00.

This represents two-thirds of the net proceeds from the Winter Party Festival and the Miami Recognition Dinner. The Dade Community Foundation established the GLBT Community Projects Fund to administer the grants to local organizations. I am glad to be a part, and member, of the Task Force.

Grey Goose (part of the Barcardi Family) will be the host for the evening and providing the beverages and hors d'oeuvres in the Barcardi Lounge and Museum. They are national sponsor of the Task Force and are an ally in

building the grassroots power of the Miami-Dade LGBT community.

P.S.

I am on the 2010 Miami Recognition Dinner Committe and

the 2011 Winter Party Festival Coommittee

I am the Chair for the 2011 Winter Party Fesitval Opening Reception/Night and also

the Chair for the Winter Party Festival VIP Party.

http://www.winterparty.com/

http://www.miamirecognitiondinner.com/

Miami Recognition Dinner 2009

Join us for the 2010 Miami Recognition Dinner. Just announced: Alan Cumming will be recievinig our National Award.

Check out more at: www.miamirecognitiondinner.com

Mr. S and I have spent the last month with the refurbish/renovation of Twist for their annual anniversary party. They will be celebrating their 17th year..... True to form, they exist on chaos. The party is on Wes, June 30, with free cocktails and food from 9 to 11 .... sooooo we will still be painting, fixing, cleaning all day to have things done.

On July 1, we depart for Boston to meet up with Nancy and Michael. We will the yearly Mecca to the Jersey Shore for the 4th of July and then spend some more time in Boston before coming back.

We are really looking forward to some time away and the great company, stories, food and drink that always accompanied the visit in Mantoloking, NJ.

Hope y'all have a great and safe weekend!

www.miamirecognitiondinner.com

Retired Bishop Criticizes Anti-Gay Policies ....

Retired bishop criticizes anti-gay policies, calls for networking, developing Ugandan LGBT community
Senyonjo: "God is not only for heterosexuals"
By Pat McCaughan, May 20, 2010


From The Episcopal News Service (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/) :

Retired Bishop Christopher Senyonjo of Buganda has a simple, if dangerous message: "God is not only for heterosexuals … [if you are gay] accept yourself, love yourself."
Senyonjo, 78, recently kicked off a six-week speaking tour at St. Paul's Church, Pomona, in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles to raise awareness about repressive anti-gay policies in Uganda, where lawmakers recently considered imposing a death penalty on gays.

He also called upon advocacy groups to network to help develop the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) and other under-served communities in Uganda and to promote understanding and education.

The married grandfather of 11 has been compared to Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Martin Luther King Jr. because of his outspoken gay rights activism. His advocacy was born of listening to the struggles of others, he said recently.

"The church should be on the side of those who suffer, who are persecuted and who have been misunderstood," he told about 75 people gathered at the May 11 forum in Pomona. "To me it is sad. Very often, people go to the Bible and read it the way they want to and say if you don't read the Bible this way you are out, an outcast. I know; because I've been there."

But, he added: "Christ came to bring justice and love. Culture is not static and Christ can transform culture," he said, noting "Christ's imperative was to love, not to hate your brother because he is different."

The Rev. Canon Albert Ogle, Integrity USA's vice president for national and international affairs, said the 35-year-old LGBT advocacy group within the Episcopal Church sponsored Senyonjo's tour.

They hope to create awareness, he said, because of Senyonjo's "witness and his speaking truth to power at a time when few will oppose what amounts to state-legislated genocide."

Senyonjo has met with groups in Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Orange County and Los Angeles, Ogle said. Other stops include Minneapolis and New York, Dublin and Belfast.

Ogle said the tour is part of a fundraising effort to support Integrity Uganda's office as well as a literacy project. Eventually, he said, the goal is "to build a coalition of progressive Ugandan organizations … to partner on such things as LGBT issues, women's rights, human rights, HIV/AIDS and democracy. We want to invite people to visit Uganda to help create awareness."


Retirement and a new ministry

Senyonjo said his ministry as chaplain to Integrity Uganda began after he retired in 1998. He was ordained a priest at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in 1964 after earning a master of sacred theology degree at New York's Union Theological Seminary. He was consecrated a bishop in 1974 and served 24 years in the Diocese of West Buganda before retiring and starting a counseling service.

"One day a young priest came to me and said there were some young people who he thought needed my help. They had nowhere to turn because of their sexual orientation. They came and talked. I listened very carefully," he recalled.

Now, he said, "I am helping these people to come to terms with their sexual orientation. I know I'm doing the right thing, the work of God. I tell these young people who come to me, to be yourself … accept yourself. God knows you and God loves you. God is not only for heterosexuals."

But his self-described mission put him on a collision course with church officials. In 2006, Archbishop Henry Orombi stripped him of all church responsibilities and financial support and he is no longer recognized as a bishop in the Anglican Church of Uganda.

Senyonjo described "a time in 2009 when I remained in the United States, after I started saying that homosexuals should be listened to. Things were very difficult in Uganda then, I was being told that if I went back I would be in trouble."

Eventually he returned to Uganda, only to discover that conditions had worsened.

Even though the Bahati Bill, named for David Bahati, who introduced it, was tabled by government officials earlier this month, "there are still people who are interested to see that kind of bill passed. It is very harsh, inhumane," Senyonjo said.

The bill called for gays to be executed in some cases. It also said that gays should be extradited, and required Ugandans to report to the authorities within 24 hours anyone known to have committed a homosexual act.

"Humans are different; we should learn to live with our differences," Senyonjo told the Pomona gathering. "We need to go forward and respect human rights and to me human sexuality is a human right.

"Change starts with a few people," he added. He noted that Jesus "started with twelve. But what is needed is networking together. We need to develop the African LGBT community."

The Rev. Mark Hallahan, rector of St. Paul's Church, said he committed the Pomona congregation to helping to raise awareness and to supporting Senyonjo's efforts.

"His ministry is really to speak for those who don't have a voice, and we know that in Uganda right now the LGBT community is very much in danger," Hallahan said.

"We, as people of faith and also people of action, people of justice need to help people like Bishop Christopher in making their work and voice stronger by our involvement and support," he said.

"We believe when Jesus said all were invited to the table of God's bounty, he meant all," agreed the Rev. John Forney, an organizer for Progressive Christians Uniting (PCU) who helped arrange the Pomona event.

"PCU has been on the forefront of the struggle for equality, the struggle to raise up the least of these," Forney added. "As a straight person he [Senyonjo] is willing to stick out his neck for what he believes because of the gospel which values everyone, even those the government says are of no account."

-- The Rev. Pat McCaughan is a national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service. She is based in Los Angeles.

Two historic ministries were welcomed in a huge and joyous celebration May 15 as thousands witnessed Diane Jardine Bruce and Mary Douglas Glasspool being consecrated bishops suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

During the three-hour service at the Long Beach Arena, themed 'Rejoice!' Bruce and Glasspool were ordained and consecrated the 16th and 17th women bishops in the Episcopal Church. Bruce is the first woman to be elected a bishop in the Los Angeles diocese. Glasspool, elected Dec. 5, a day after Bruce, is the diocese's first—and the Episcopal Church's second—gay, partnered bishop.
Representatives from the Tongva, Chumash, Tataviam and Acjachemem Native American tribes, upon whose lands the Los Angeles diocese is located, welcomed 3,000 clergy and laity, family and friends, and civic, ecumenical and other guests, blessing the gathering, building and the land with smoldering sage incense and songs for the "two beautiful shepherds" at the start of the ceremony.

Los Angeles' rich diversity was represented in song and dance, amid a mosaic of varying races, ethnicities, ages, genders, and sexual orientations -- none of which mattered, said Bishop Jon Bruno, a co-consecrator and homilist, "because we are all people of God."

In a sermon frequently interrupted by applause and laughter, Bruno paid tribute to the historical occasion, recalling how he had once protested women's ordination, and now would be serving with two women bishops.

"The world's transformed only if we turn to each and every one of our brothers and sisters and see the face of Christ superimposed on them," he said. "The ones we disagree with the most are the ones we're obligated to share our lives and teach the most."

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori served as chief consecrator in the multi-lingual Spanish, Korean, Tagalog and English service. The festivities included seven processions, led by Korean drummers, University of California Riverside bagpipers, and the Taiko Project Drummers. A Gospel procession was led by the Rev. Lester Mackenzie to the steady beat of the djembe, an African drum.

Musical offerings included: Shepherd's Flute, a Chinese American praise band from St. Thomas Church in Hacienda Heights, and a gospel rendition of "All My Trials, Lord," sung by the Rev. Canon Deborah Dunn, rector of St. Peter's Church in Santa Maria, California.

Filipino, Chinese and African American dance groups performed, as did a mariachi band. A 125-voice choir from the diocese's 147 congregations offered musical selections from Nigerian, South African, Italian and other traditions.

About 30 bishops, including the Rt. Rev. Martin DeJesus Barahona of El Salvador and retired Ugandan bishop Christopher Senyonjo, attended the service.

Retired Massachusetts suffragan bishop Barbara Harris, who in 1988 became the first woman bishop in the Episcopal Church and worldwide Anglican Communion, served as one of seven co-consecrating bishops. She received sustained applause and a standing ovation when Bruno paid tribute to her in his sermon.

"It's a joy to participate in her consecration," Harris later said of Glasspool, who in 1988 nominated Harris for bishop. "We're great friends. Little did either of us know that both of us would be sitting in the House of Bishops."

"She is going to make a very good bishop," Harris added. "She's a wonderful, caring, loving, pastoral person."

New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson, who in 2003 became the first openly gay, partnered bishop in the Episcopal Church, was among the bishops attending the service.

Other co-consecrating bishops included retired Los Angeles bishop Frederick H. Borsch; Lawrence Provenzano of Long Island; and Ohio bishop Mark Hollingsworth Jr. Three bishops from Maryland, where Glasspool has served as canon to the bishops for the past eight years, also participated: Bishop Diocesan Eugene Sutton, Bishop Suffragan John Rabb and Bishop Robert Ilhoff, retired diocesan, all of Maryland.

Other guests included President of the House of Deputies Bonnie Anderson and Bishops Dean Nelson of the Southwest California Synod and Bishop Murray D. Finck of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Ecumenical guests included representatives from the United Church of Christ and the Methodist and Presbyterian churches.

The consecration service was disrupted briefly by a man and a young boy who held up a sign and a bible and shouted anti-gay comments. Applause erupted when someone in the congregation yelled back: "We're praying for you."

Referring to the disruption and to other protestors outside, Bruno said, "They don't understand the inclusive nature of the Episcopal Church."

The Anglican Mainstream issued a statement noting that the "consecration of openly gay Mary Glasspool is not a random event but comes from the settled mind of her church. Sadly, this shows that TEC has now explicitly decided to walk apart from most of the rest of the Communion.

The statement, signed by convenor Dr. Philip Giddings and Canon Dr. Chris Sugden, executive secretary, said that the consecration should result in the Episcopal Church "withdrawing, or being excluded from the Anglican Communion's representative bodies."

It called for recognition of the Anglican Church of North America as an authentic Anglican Church within the Communion and for a way to enable orthodox Anglicans remaining within the Episcopal Church to continue in fellowship with the churches of the worldwide Communion.

The Rev. Susan Russell, former Integrity USA President and chair of the diocesan program group on LGBT ministries, said, "What we do here today isn't just for this diocese but … it's a beacon of hope to everyone looking for a community willing to lead in love, justice and compassion for all people."

The service blended ancient rite and modern features and included poignant moments for both Bruce and Glasspool.

Glasspool, 55, had told a May 14 gathering of media that the service "is a benchmark for the whole church."

"We are being the church that we say we are," she added. "We're not just saying it, we're doing it and there's something very powerful about that. It's bigger than the both of us. So I'm looking forward with great awe as well as joy and some 'wow' to whatever the Holy Spirit has in mind."

The daughter of a priest, she had served congregations in Maryland, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and for the past years had served as canon to the bishops in the Baltimore-based Diocese of Maryland. Her life partner of 19 years is Becki Sander, who holds degrees in theology and social work.

Bruce, 53, told the May 14 media conference that she anticipated the moment her stepmother would place the miter on her head as a "very emotional one … because I lost my father on Maundy Thursday (April 1)." The miter, she explained, is a gift from her father and his wife.

A popular preacher and well-known priest, Bruce, who served a dozen years in the Los Angeles diocese prior to her election, is a former Roman Catholic who joined the Episcopal Church in 1986. The former banking executive, who speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish and English, served for nine years as rector of St. Clement by-the-Sea Church in San Clemente. She is married to Stephen Bruce; the couple has two adult children.

The six-county Diocese of Los Angeles encompasses 147 congregations, some 44 schools and 20 institutions and represents about 70,000 Episcopalians.

The Diocese of Los Angeles is one of 109 dioceses that form the Episcopal Church, located in 16 nations and territories, and part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

-- The Rev. Pat McCaughan is a national Episcopal News Service correspondent. She is based in Los Angeles.

Happening #26 - Video

Aqua Girl

Will be working the Welcome Center for Aqua Girl this weekend. Mr. S and I will be going to the T-Dance at Klutch on Sunday ...(old Amnesia ... where they used to have to Foam Party in the early 90's)....

Aquagirl from bonnelly productions on Vimeo.

Puerto Rico - April 2010 Video

Had a good visit with family for a few days. Would like to have a week touring with Mr. S. Enjoy!