- Jan 17, 2021
By: Kristen Pinchbeck
Bloom Baby Bloom!
2021 is off to a tumultuous start to say the least. Between the pandemic raging in LA County with one person dying every 6 minutes due to Covid 19, Trump supporters storming the capital in an attempted and failed coup, and a hate group rising up right in our backyard of El Monte, we have been under full assault mode from every angle.
Amidst all of this craziness, our center is still meeting and still working to bring a safe space to the San Gabriel Valley where we can all come together.
We recently had our January Volunteer meeting where we all talked about what the center means to us and what our hopes are for the future. Our President, Camila, said that her hopes for this year are for us to “expand our beauty” throughout the San Gabriel Valley this year.
What are we doing to expand our Beauty?
Right now it seems like there is so much ugliness in the world around us, so our center wants to be a little spot of light for our neighbors. In our volunteer meeting, many volunteers shared stories of the way the center has been a light in their lives by providing a safe space where they can be their true selves and grow into their authenticity.
We want to help everyone in the SGV learn to be their true selves and grow in their authenticity by bringing this glittering light to you! Our two main methods of expanding our beauty throughout the San Gabriel Valley is through Education and Advocacy.
We are currently doing this through our different peer support groups, which can be found on our calendar of events. We will also be adding a couple new peer support groups this year, so stay on the look out for those!
The center is also working to expand Education in the SGV and beyond through our new Safe Space training program. So far two school districts have reached out to bring Safe Space training to them. This is a very exciting moment for us at the center!
We are also reaching out and being more active within our community. Our president recently wrote a letter to the El Monte City Council in response to the rise of a recent hate group. Her beautiful and strong letter is posted on our blog for those who are interested. Also, she was interviewed for the San Gabriel Valley Podcast.
Help Us Expand Our Beauty!
If you are looking for more beauty in your life, we are ready for you! Join us for a peer support group or a volunteer meeting. Bring your unique beauty and expertise into our group and help us Bloom Baby Bloom so we can share our beauty within the San Gabriel Valley!
The SGV is an incredibly diverse place with so many different people and places. As the center starts her next decade in the community, we want to know what ways would you like to see us expand more beauty into our communities? Be Kind To Yourself!
- Jan 6, 2021
Updated: Jan 17, 2021
In alignment with our Mission of promoting a safer and inclusive San Gabriel Valley for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, we release this statement to emphasize that we do not stand for any hate in the SGV.
On this, the fifth day of 2021, we also want to hold space for Kimberly Patricia Cope, the first reported trans death of the year. We vow to acknowledge the world we live in. We are taking a small step towards acknowledgment of our own community by mourning this tragic loss, and also by noting that there are more than 1.8 million LGBTQ+ people living in California and understanding that the safety of LGBTQ+ people is a basic human right. We understand that cultivating a safe and inclusive environment means we feel a responsibility to advocate for the LGBTQ+ community to the El Monte City Council in the hopes of building a foundation of respect and education that is needed for the future of LGBTQ+ bodies.
As a community center, our work is built on a basis of respect and advocacy for LGBTQ+ bodies in the San Gabriel Valley. We want to acknowledge that the current spotlight on El Monte is not a singular moment, but rather a tipping point that highlights both a blindspot and cements why change is needed in 2021. With 350 trans people killed/murdered in 2020, and 43 of these based in the USA, it is necessary that the advocacy for our basic human rights is acknowledged and acted upon now, more than ever, in the San Gabriel Valley. Today, in the harsh face of LGBTQ+ hate, we understand that promoting our community’s own well being requires us to be proactive and committed. Our team builds this bridge as a call-in to the community at-large to address the state of LGBTQ+ affairs amongst our peers.
The volunteers of our organization want to emphasize that building LGBTQ+ competency means embracing cultural diversity and allowing for the growth of your own personal potential. This is a value similar to that of the City of El Monte’s mission statement. Allowing hate speech to continue calls into question the allyship of elected officials. To ask for visible allyship from our elected officials in support of an already marginalized group is not a rare ask — but today marks a pivotal point in the conversation surrounding LGBTQ+ citizens of El Monte, will their city actively stand with them? One of the seven values is ethical behavior; as a Center we want to highlight that there is a fine line between Hate Speech and a Hate Crime, however, rhetoric often leads to action. Is a community that is violent towards women and the LGBTQ+ community the future that you imagine for El Monte?
We leave you with two action steps tonight: One, have all elected and appointed officials within the city of El Monte attend the San Gabriel Valley LGBTQ+ Center’s Safe Space Training, allowing professional and public officials such as yourselves gain a better understanding of addressing concepts and language regarding LGBTQ+ communities. This will increase the community’s comfort level and expand understanding. Two, implement an ad-hoc committee (appropriately vetted) creating a Statement of LGBTQ+ Equality from the City of El Monte. We are seeing LGBTQ+ support every day in the SGV and we are looking forward to El Monte’s showing of support. Just last June the city of Duarte released a proclamation in honor of Pride Month and it is through these practices of accompliceship that we can build a just and safe future together.
With Hope and Unity,
The Board of Directors
San Gabriel Valley LGBTQ+ Center
- Jan 5, 2021
By: Kristen Pinchbeck
We all had big hopes for what 2020 would bring. We all were thinking we could get to capture some of the excitement and fun from the Roaring 20’s, but what we didn’t realize was that it was going to be a virus roaring through our world instead of all of us out dancing in flapper dresses.
While we were all sheltered in place Marie Kondoing our closets, baking bread, standing in line for toilet paper, or more realistically binge watching our favorite shows (shout out to the Office and Schitt’s Creek) there were some notable developments in our little corner of the world.
In the midst of the social unrest of the summer, Duarte announced they would now start recognizing Pride month with a Pride parade when it is safe to do so.
We also all learned new ways of connecting with friends and family throughout the year. The SGV LGBTQ center moved our group meetings to zoom, or successfully had small meet ups that complied with social distancing regulations. We also got some new volunteers, myself included, and are looking for ways that we can continue to grow the center in new and necessary ways so that it is a welcoming space for our community.
In November after a very tense election season, America elected herself a new president! President Elect, Joe Biden, has a proven record of caring for the LGBTQIA+ community and has already committed to passing legislation to help our community. He has also already named Pete Buttigege to a cabinet position as his cabinet secretary. Also in November, a record number of LGBT candidates were elected across the country from local mayors, all the way up to Sarah McBride being elected as a trans-woman to the Senate.
December had some big events too in 2020. The American Red Cross limited deferral for the Men who have Sex with Men clause to 3 months rather than 1 year. This was huge, and in many other countries this clause was abolished this year. This gives us some hope that this homophobic clause will be reformed permanently in the US. Also in December, at the UK Faith conference, almost 400 global religious leaders from 35 countries called for end to conversion therapy and an end to the ban on same sex relationships. The leaders at this conference acknowledged the ways in which the church has hurt the LGBTQ community and hopes to move forward in a more lovinging and accepting direction. This is huge for the future of the LGBTQ community because we don’t even realize how many laws and how much hatred is handed to our communities at the hands of some harmful religious zealots.
This year also saw the first openly gay couple in a Hallmark movie. Hallmark is a historically extremely conservative channel, so it was huge that they featured their first openly gay couple, even if it was only in a supporting role. Hulu also debuted a lesbian centered holiday movie, although it was not the best.
On The Other Side of the Coin
On the other side of the coin, 2020 was one of the worst years many of us have ever experienced in our lifetime.
2020 saw record unemployment rates;
Over 20 million people tested positive for COVID-19, and over 350,000 have died in the US alone;
Hospitals were completely overrun with sick people which led to massive amounts of deaths as well as severe trauma to the medical staff that we haven’t even begun to see the results of;
Grocery store shortages as people started hoarding;
Depression and anxiety rates soared;
We saw a rise in Fascist, anti-semetic, and other hate groups in our nation;
Russia and other countries voted for constitutional bans on same sex marriage continuing the discrimination and danger for LGBTQ individuals worldwide;
The Trump administration rolled back healthcare protections for transgender americans;
Due to supposed election fraud and election insecurity, Georgia is in a runoff and can hopefully change the Senate majority;
and in our own backyard, Montclair elected themselves a new, very anti-LGBTQ mayor.
It has been hard to remember the good things that have happened this year, when we have been sitting under the crushing weight of all the bad. 2020 brought such a deep, bone tired exhaustion to pretty much everyone as we all faced fear, uncertainty, and hardships of our own. But, even with all the bad, we all learned enough in 2020 to help us see a better way through 2021.
I don’t know about you but, after doing some of my own personal reflection for the dumpster fire that was 2020, I realized that it was a personally huge year for me. It was the year I got to know myself, the year I learned how to set boundaries (this is still a work in progress), and the year I started living into my own truth rather than what I thought I had to be to fit everyone else’s expectations.
If you want to move through 2021 in a mindful way with other people who are trying to effect change in their community, connect with other LGBTQ+ friends in your area, and want to help make the world a better place as we move forward as more aware individuals, reach out to us here at the SGV LGBTQ center!
Join our volunteer group, sign up for a peer group, follow us on Instagram and Facebook, or dip your toe in the water by reaching out. There is a place here for you, and you are welcome! Be kind to yourself :)