Out Alliance

Join us for World AIDS Day 2021! On this special day in tribute to those living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, come learn about the upcoming exhibition "Up Aga...inst the Wall: Art, Activism, and the AIDS Poster," which features HIV/AIDS Education Posters from the Atwater Collection at the University of Rochester. This event is free to the public with a suggested donation of $5 per group. Registration is required: bit.ly/MAG_WorldAIDSDay

Join us for World AIDS Day 2021! On this special day in tribute to those living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, come learn about the upcoming exhibition "Up Aga...inst the Wall: Art, Activism, and the AIDS Poster," which features HIV/AIDS Education Posters from the Atwater Collection at the University of Rochester. This event is free to the public with a suggested donation of $5 per group. Registration is required: bit.ly/MAG_WorldAIDSDay

An evening of film and drag! A fundraiser for community leader Michael Gamilla who is fighting Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Workhorse Queen is a film about the proli...fic local Rochester drag scene and the importance of community to a thriving queer performance culture. It’s for this reason that the subjects and crew of Workhorse Queen wanted to come together to celebrate and support Michael Gamilla, Programming Director of ImageOut: The Rochester LGBT Film Festival, as he battles with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. All of the proceeds of this public screening of Workhorse Queen and the performance event following will go toward Michael’s medical costs. Workhorse Queen screened in the ImageOut: First Cut Spring Festival in May, and the crew and subjects of the film are extraordinarily grateful for the support Michael has given to the film, the performers, and the Rochester community. The film will be introduced by film subject Mrs. Kasha Davis and director Angela Washko. After the film screening, audiences will be treated to performances by two of the drag queens highlighted in the film: Mrs. Kasha Davis and Aggy Dune. *All audience members 12 and older will be required to show proof of full Covid-19 vaccination (completed at least 14 days prior to the date of the event) upon arrival. Masks will be required at all times. Unable to attend? You can make a direct donation to Michael at his Venmo @GamealsOnWheels

An evening of film and drag! A fundraiser for community leader Michael Gamilla who is fighting Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Workhorse Queen is a film about the proli...fic local Rochester drag scene and the importance of community to a thriving queer performance culture. It’s for this reason that the subjects and crew of Workhorse Queen wanted to come together to celebrate and support Michael Gamilla, Programming Director of ImageOut: The Rochester LGBT Film Festival, as he battles with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. All of the proceeds of this public screening of Workhorse Queen and the performance event following will go toward Michael’s medical costs. Workhorse Queen screened in the ImageOut: First Cut Spring Festival in May, and the crew and subjects of the film are extraordinarily grateful for the support Michael has given to the film, the performers, and the Rochester community. The film will be introduced by film subject Mrs. Kasha Davis and director Angela Washko. After the film screening, audiences will be treated to performances by two of the drag queens highlighted in the film: Mrs. Kasha Davis and Aggy Dune. *All audience members 12 and older will be required to show proof of full Covid-19 vaccination (completed at least 14 days prior to the date of the event) upon arrival. Masks will be required at all times. Unable to attend? You can make a direct donation to Michael at his Venmo @GamealsOnWheels

Emergency Rental Assistance

Over the weekend one of our community members was attacked for being authentically himself. The Out Alliance condemns the vicious attack on a Samson Tequir. This hate crime must not go unpunished; moreover, we demand that authorities enforce justice to the fullest extent of the law. Samson has o tundergo surgery and will now have to go through recovery time. Please support with your prayers, advocacy, and by donating. CashApp: $SamsonTequir ... Venmo: @SamsonTequir #BlackTransLivesMatter #ALLBlackLivesMatter See more

Thank you to all of you for your continued patience and understanding during this time. We have heard your concerns and requests, both in person and through social media platforms, and appreciate the dialogue. We plan to address everything as we progress. Regarding the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors, we are announcing that the members of the committee have resigned. We thank them for their time, commitment, and volunteerism, and we wish them well in future... endeavors. There have been calls for transparency. We agree with transparency and will share what we can, when we can. Unfortunately, we cannot answer some things. For example, we cannot answer questions related to personnel matters and whistleblower complaints, as these matters are confidential and we are legally bound to not discuss them. There are many thoughts regarding why the Out Alliance is closing. The ultimate reason for us closing our doors is due to the financial impacts of COVID-19. The Out Alliance was struggling financially already, and the pandemic created an additional financial strain from which we could not survive. Right now, we are closed. It is a harsh and painful reality that thousands of nonprofits are experiencing across the nation. We understand the feelings that brings up for so many of us. We have not been able to answer financial questions yet as we are still working on getting the books closed and will have a final audit done. When that is complete, we will share more.

Join us for a virtual Out Alliance Community Town Hall on Saturday August 1, 2020 at 1:00 pm. Please register in advance and note there is a limit to 300 registrants. register here with zoom link: https://urmc.zoom.us/j/91811395463 (Please note to register with a smart phone, you will need to downloa the zoom mobile app)

Two weeks ago, the Board of the Out Alliance invited past board members and volunteers to meet with the current board. The rationale was to meet with folks who have been where we are today and who know the financial history of the organization. We met on Saturday, July 11th. We identified immediate next steps related to operations which led to the identification of four committees: Transition Committee ... Finance Committee Program Committee Communications Committee Although our doors are currently closed, we have some incredible people who offered to give their time and talent to keep volunteer-based programming active. We continue to work on stabilizing the organization so that we can transition to a reimagined Out Alliance. We look forward to rebuilding the organization with your continued input. If you have finance, grant, marketing, public relations, or strategic planning experience and are interested in volunteering your time, please email Louie Rosario-McCabe at [email protected]. Contacts for the following volunteer-based programs are: SAGE Rochester, email Anne Tischer at [email protected] Shoulders to Stand On, email Evelyn Bailey at [email protected] The Empty Closet, email Victor Santiago at [email protected] We will continue to post updates as we have them. We are grateful for the community’s continued support.

Dear Community, We wanted to update you on some recent movement. First, THANK YOU all for continuing to reach out with your questions, concerns and desire to help. We share your frustrations, your fears, and your sadness. And we share in the resiliency and passion you all have to want a better Out Alliance for the future. Doing that takes time and we thank you for your continued patience. We need each other during this time more than ever and your support means more than you ...know! Tomorrow we are having a meeting with some of you who have offered to help. Please know this meeting is just the beginning and we will have additional meetings so that we can hear from more of you. This is just a start. At tomorrow’s meeting, we plan to explore all possible options and identify folks who can help with key areas moving forward. We will continue to pull more of you in as we identify next steps. Again, tomorrow is just the first meeting. Please continue to reach out, keep letting us know your areas of interest, and how you would like to support the organization. We are listening and taking action.

Thank you to all of you for your continued patience and understanding during this time. We have heard your concerns and requests, both in person and through social media platforms, and appreciate the dialogue. We plan to address everything as we progress. Regarding the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors, we are announcing that the members of the committee have resigned. We thank them for their time, commitment, and volunteerism, and we wish them well in future... endeavors. There have been calls for transparency. We agree with transparency and will share what we can, when we can. Unfortunately, we cannot answer some things. For example, we cannot answer questions related to personnel matters and whistleblower complaints, as these matters are confidential and we are legally bound to not discuss them. There are many thoughts regarding why the Out Alliance is closing. The ultimate reason for us closing our doors is due to the financial impacts of COVID-19. The Out Alliance was struggling financially already, and the pandemic created an additional financial strain from which we could not survive. Right now, we are closed. It is a harsh and painful reality that thousands of nonprofits are experiencing across the nation. We understand the feelings that brings up for so many of us. We have not been able to answer financial questions yet as we are still working on getting the books closed and will have a final audit done. When that is complete, we will share more.

Thank you for your support and continued offers to help! We are so grateful. While we are still working on the timing of the restructuring plan, we need to keep track of those interested in volunteering when the time is right. If you are interested in volunteering with the restructure plan in any way, please email: Shani Wilson ([email protected]) and we’ll add you to our communications list. If you are interested in supporting financially and would like to discuss in ...more detail, please email: Luis Rosario-McCabe ([email protected]) In the past week we: - Focused heavily on shutting down many of the agency's General Operations. This will be our main objective over the next several weeks. - Reached out to development consultants that have offered their time (the recommendations have come from you, thank you!) - Discussed hosting "listening tours" to hear more from the community more to come on this. We appreciate your patience as we navigate through this transition. We will be sending an update each weekend.

We couldn't end the day without celebrating... The Out Alliance commends the decision of the Supreme Court today for ruling in favor of equality for LGBTQ+ persons in employment. The court confirmed that employment discrimination based upon sexual orientation and gender identity is illegal and that members of our LGBTQ+ community are protected under the sex discrimination provisions included in Title VII. Amidst the COVID-19 crisis and movements to support Black lives, we are... glad for this encouraging and important decision. Nevertheless, there is still much to be done to ensure that all people in this country have equal access to public accommodations, health care, housing, credit, education, and other aspects of life as basic human rights. While nondiscrimination in employment matters is crucial, it remains essential for Congress to make these protections applicable to the full spectrum of situations in which discrimination can and does occur, and therefore, The Out Alliance encourages the United States Senate to pass the Equality Act, which would advance LGBTQ+ equality into federal law.

To our community, volunteers, donors, and stakeholders:

I am so incredibly proud to debut the July 2020 Empty Closet Magazine cover. It has been an absolute honor to be a part of the phenomenal legacy of this publication! This IS the new Out Alliance - Tam

Dear friends, Please note: there is a lot of misinformation out there and folks are reacting to this information. Both the Out Alliance Board of Directors and Staff are meeting together this week and we will follow up with the community as soon as we can. Thank you for your support. In unity, ... -Matt and the Board See more

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