Additional seats open to interested community members.

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland (GLCCB) recently appointed its latest board member, Jennifer Chapin.

Chapin is a specialist with Xerox where she been employed for the past 13 years. She currently works with customers in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. areas. Chapin is also an active member of GALAXe Pride at Work, Xerox Corporation’s employee resource group for LGBT employees and allies. She serves as the chapter president for Greater Washington, D.C. and vice president of education.

Baltimore Pride Festival won the R-Group’s Best of Gay Maryland Award for Best LGBT Event of the Year. Also known as the    aRGgies, the awards were announced on March 31 via a live Internet radio broadcast hosted by Kevin Walling, National Field Director of No Labels, and Ted Hart, founder of the R-Group, Maryland’s largest gay and lesbian social group.

Gay parents tend to fall into two categories— those who became parents before coming out and those who came out before becoming parents.

Support for gay and lesbian parents in either category can come from different places—groups, books, online communities, legal assistance, and peers. Outside of these support systems, many gay parents must navigate through a world in which their family is still a minority.

Pride fundraiser offers cocktails, silent auction, and music

The sixth annual Twilight on the Terrace benefit cocktail party will be held at Gertrude’s at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Friday, June 17.

Maryland Gay Radio will feature a special Pride show June 15 at 3:00 p.m. Guests include Gay,  Lesbian, Bisexual, & Transgender Community Center of Baltimore & Central Maryland (GLCCB) Board President Trevor Ankeny and Director of Programs and Operations Gary Wolnitzek.

Listeners will learn what they can look forward to at this year’s Pride festivities (June 17-19) and also about the GLCCB and the many ways it serves the community.

“Pride is always an exciting time of year; it’s also a great opportunity for all sides of our diverse community to come together and celebrate,” said Wolnitzek. “Throughout the rest of the year, the Center focuses on ways to help our city’s LGBT community, and Pride is the celebration of that effort.”

The show also offers listeners a chance to call in and ask questions.

“Not only are we hoping to engage the public, but we’re also eager to share information about the services the Center already provides, like free HIV and syphilis testing, transgender support groups, and other groups for women, men, and youth,” explained Ankeny.

Maryland Gay Radio is hosted by Ted Hart, founder of the RGroup, Maryland’s largest gay and lesbian social group. Hart started the online radio program in March 2011 as a way to reach a larger audience and draw attention to issues affecting LGBT Marylanders.

“We need to know each other better, we need to know the issues,” explained Hart. “Maryland Gay Radio is a way to illuminate the issues, bring people together, and give a voice to leaders and members of our community.”

Previous Maryland Gay Radio guests include Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler, Equality Maryland Interim Executive Director Lynne Bowman, and Del. Mary Washington among others.

The 30 minute show runs every other Tuesday. The focus of the season’s final show of the season is Supporting Gay Youth, which will feature Mark Patro of PFLAG Baltimore County and Molly McGrath Tierney, director of the Baltimore City Department of Social Services, on June 29.  The show will break for July and August and will return in September.

Individuals interested in proposing future discussion topics or guests are encouraged to contact the RGroup. Podcasts of previous shows are available by visiting RGroup.org and clicking Radio, or at BlogTalkRadio.com/MarylandGayRadio.

Across America, LGBT youth are finding themselves persecuted by the same communities that promise to protect their young people. As a result, they are forced to suffer in silence, furthering a tradition of this vicious victimization. The award-winning documentary by filmmaker Joe Wilson, Out in the Silence, tells the story of a handful of rural Pennsylvania residents struggling for inclusion amidst anti-gay sentiment. The story unfolds when Joe Wilson's same-sex wedding announcement ignites a controversy after it is published in his hometown newspaper, a small Pennsylvania community he left long ago.

Equality Maryland and Pride in Faith are excited to hold the annual prayer breakfast on January 27. The focus of the event is to unite local faith-based leaders in a rare gathering to galvanize renewed support and affirmation from the faith community for anti-discrimination protections, marriage for same sex couples, and equality for LGBT people. The day will include a traditional prayer breakfast followed by a set of lobby meetings with faith leaders and legislators.

MEOW! It’s that time again for a Charm City Kitty Club cabaret-licious show. This time the Kitties go high-tech.