SAGDA Meeting Minutes - 8/02/08

Welcome to the new minutes of SAGDA, Pittsburgh's Teen Sexual & Gender Diversity Alliance. SAGDA's job is to give a laid-back conversational space for lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, transgender, transsexual, intersex, genderqueer, queer, asexual, questioning, straight-allied, and all the other permutations within the spectrum!

We chose the date to the SAGDA "Living History" party. It will be October 11th. The time is still to be determined (what works for you)?

Why call it the "Living History" party? Because while we often read history, we never think of ourselves as the history of the future. Let's change the world! And make art! And read! And dance dance dance!

On the reading tip, one of the portions of our party will be to make a video of us talking about our favorite books and how we're going to take the lessons of those books into the future.

We then watched the music video for Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" (video | lyrics) for our monthly discussion, after reading some interesting biographical information about Katy Perry. SAGDA members felt that the song is way too formulaic, just a catchy pop tune with just enough controversy to make it big. Adding the words "I kissed a girl" to the regular pop standard isn't anything special or interesting. One SAGDA member thought it was like a "gay jingle," while another thought it did anything but put a positive spin on sexual diversity. In the song, kissing girls is "not what good girls do." Does that mean it's only for "bad girls"?

All in all, SAGDA members decided that the video makes no sense. It's just Katy Perry dancing around in nice shoes.

Of course, you can always borrow Katy Perry's One of the Boys from your local library and decide for yourself.

SAGDA Meeting Minutes 07/05/08

Welcome to the new minutes of SAGDA, Pittsburgh's Teen Sexual & Gender Diversity Alliance. SAGDA's job is to give a laid-back conversational space for lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, transgender, transsexual, intersex, genderqueer, queer, asexual, questioning, straight-allied, and all the other permutations within the spectrum!

We started with introductions from Angelito, our resident representative from the Persad Center's Closing the Gap program. Closing the Gap is a paid opportunity for sexually and gender-diverse teens to do peer counseling and mental health outreach. If you are interested in the program, or if you would like to schedule some time to talk to somebody about what's on your mind, contact them at 412-441-9786.

We then introduced ourselves and talked about our favorite candy. Candies that received multiple votes included Reece's Pieces and Chocolate Skittles (ew!). Some of us don't eat candy, due to health issues.

We then talked about what sort of programs we're interested in. One person mentioned an LGBTQ teen movie night, which may be possible. How do you feel about it? Which nights do you think would work best? What would you like to see at an LGBTQ teen movie night?

SAGDA teens also got excited over the idea of having a PARTY, in celebration of LGBTQ-related books and reading. This party will likely take place in the Fall in either late September or early October (any suggestions?). SAGDA members expressed the following desires for the party:

• food (pizza, chocolate anything, drinks)
• music (have teens bring iPods for cool, diverse music, as well as karaoke)
• dancing
• BOOKS! (how can we make this a special celebration for books?)

We then discussed the Advocate article They’re Here, They’re Queer, and They Don’t Need Us... Or Do They?, about the "new generation" of LGBTQ teenagers and their relationship to adults.

SAGDA members had some suggestions for adults looking to make a meaningful difference in the lives of LGBTQ teens:

• It's important that adults do not take sexual advantage of teens who are looking to them for support. You should not be their gateway to sexual experiences.
• Be more subjective in understanding the needs of LGBTQ teens. Don't assume your experience is the same.
• Realize that there is a large perspective shift in teens' lives that offer LGBTQ teens friendship, acceptance, love, and identification in a lot of areas of society. Not everybody is a victim!

Thanks, and don't forget to attend the next SAGDA meeting on June 19th, on the second floor of Kiva Han (420 S. Craig St.) @ 2:00 PM!

~Joseph
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - Main

SAGDA Meeting Minutes 06/07/08

Welcome to the meeting minutes from SAGDA, Pittsburgh's Teen Sexual and Gender Diversity Alliance. For those still not in the know, SAGDA is a meeting group where lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, genderqueer, intersex, questionining, non-identified, and straight/cisgendered teens can come together for information-swapping, discussion, Apples to Apples, and more (whew)! We meet every 1st and 3rd Saturday at the 2nd floor of Kiva Han (420 S. Craig St., in Oakland).

SAGDA posters are finished and feature artwork by Keith Haring (thanks to the Keith Haring Foundation)! Over the next several months, posters will be sent to all the libraries in Allegheny County, Pittsburgh Public Schools, are various community organizations and stores around the area.

We're also going to have a presence at Pittsburgh PrideFest, which will be Sunday, June 22nd from 1:00-6:00 PM @ Liberty Ave., Downtown (directions are at the link above). We plan on having buttons & bracelets. But we'll definitely have BOOKS!

Come join us!

~Joseph
Carnegie Libray of Pittsburgh, Main

SAGDA Meeting Minutes - 05/03/08

The Carnegie Pittsburgh's Teen Sexual and Gender Diversity Alliance (find us on Facebook! search "SAGDA") was back in session on Saturday, with some new members. We talked about stuff. Want to know what? Read on...

First thing on the agenda was checking in with teens who celebrated the Day of Silence, to see how it went. CAPA had one of the sparsest years yet, because people thought 1) it cost money to participate and 2) it was only for "gay kids." Of course, the answer to both of those questions is "No!" The Day of Silence is free for students in the school to participate, and it's for anyone who is interested in protesting the many ways in which students are silenced from being themselves, due to bullying and harassment.

Allderdice, on the other hand, had more people than expected, despite having no posters. Like CAPA students were a little confused about who was allowed to participate (yes, it's for EVERYBODY!). They also thought that they had to put duct tape over their mouths (ouch!), though all you really need to do is hand out cards with a statement explaining why you aren't speaking. Another interesting aspect limiting interest in the Day of Silence is the belief that the Day of Silence puts teens "back into the closet." The organizers hope that by bringing attention to harassment and the silence that people already experience in the closet of their choice, that more and more people are going to have space to start fully communicating themselves to their friends, family, and schoolmates.

North Allegheny surprised people with a small but enthusiastic Day of Silence, which spread through word of mouth. People wore all black in mourning.

So how can SAGDA we help ourselves promote the Day of Silence? Perhaps by making some buttons. Let's think about it.

Off the topic of the Day of Silence, SAGDA has a budget! We need to come up with events or other projects to spend our money on. Please submit your suggestions to the comments.

We also discussed the story of the pregnant man, as well as how transgender rights organizations have been distancing themselves from the story. The group more or less agree that these organizations should be supporting this man in the decisions he's making about his body. Fear of a public backlash seems to be against the principles that transgender rights organizations should uphold.

If you have an interesting article you want to share, bring it to our next meeting, which is Saturday, May 17th @ 2:00 PM, on the second floor of Kiva Han.

Notable upcoming dates:

Youth Invasion is Saturday, May 10th @ the Andy Warhol Museum
Pittsburgh PrideFest is Sunday, June 22nd @ Liberty Ave., Downtown

We may be having tables at both of these events, so if you have any ideas of what we should do, post a comment!

Joseph
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Main - Teen

CLP Teens <3s David Levithan 4ever

It's official: David Levithan has been to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and has left a trail of broken hearts and empty ice cream containers in the wake.

Last Thursday was the third and penultimate event into our Behind the Books: Authors Talk to Teens series, and it was quite the experience. After reading from the new short story collection How They Met, and Other Stories and answering questions from the audience, David Levithan joined us for one awesome afterparty, sponsored by our Teen Sexual and Gender Diversity Alliance (check us out on Facebook).

Needless to say, it was a great time. I could go on for hours about what it's like to meet one of your absolutely all-time favorite authors and be left melted on the floor like an ice cream cone in August, but instead I'll leave it to the teens.

Tim said:

I really enjoyed how down to earth he was, and that we had the opportunity to talk one-on-one during the after party. He was very personable, and will most likely make me anticipate far too much for the times that I meet someone in my top 3 favorite authors in the future.

Sam said:

Ah! David Levithan is awesome fantastic times a million and two! The party was a lot of fun. You know how awesome it was? John from Canada came all the way down from Ontario to come to it. Yeah, beat that!

We've got lots of pictures (via Tim) on the Flickr page, and you can even relive the moments on Youtube (again thanks to Tim).

SAGDA Meeting Minutes - 12/15/07

I'm proud to announce that the David Levithan afterparty is ON! David Levithan is speaking on Thursday, February 21st @ 7:00 PM. Our party will kick off around 8:00 PM and continue to 10:00 PM. Please plan on coming to both, and inviting all of your friends! Here's what we have in store so far (message me with additional info):

* LOTS OF ICE CREAM, both dairy and soy
* karaoke, via Singstar POP edition
* "gender deconstruction" crafts
* music, maybe?

What are your thoughts? What can we do to make this a night to remember?

We had our last meeting last Saturday, December 15th. In addition to playing an intense game of Apples to Apples, we met with representatives from Closing the Gap, a new initiative from the Persad Center. Closing the Gap is a peer counseling program that is looking for paid counselors between the ages of 14-18. If you want more information, or to obtain an application, you can download all the files here

We hope to see you at the next meeting (first of 2008), on Saturday, January 5th. As always, it will be at 2:00 PM and on the second floor of Kiva Han (420 S. Craig St.). Have a great day, and a wonderful 2008!

Best wishes,
Joseph

Minutes from the Teen Sexual and Gender Diversity Alliance (11/3/2007)

Not too much to report. Only two people came. Please come! We need your support to help keep up the group alive. So if you think the idea is cool but haven't made it out, we beg, plead, and urge you to come!

Next meeting is November 17th, 2:00 PM, at Kiva Han (420 S. Craig St., Pittsburgh, PA 15213)

But onto the discussion:

• Programs: we need something exciting to get people excited about the group... but what? We thought about a party featuring ice cream, movies, face painting, crazy gender-freaking dress-up fun, and more. How does that sound?


• Posters: let's think of poster ideas we can put around the community. We propose Keith Haring-style drawing with a snappy, positive line that gets people thinking. We would then use one corner to suggest some books, and the other to promote the program. What LGBTQ-related books are you interested in featuring? What should our poster slogan be?

Please share your thoughts!