ShoutOut Winter 2022
About Us
The LGBTQ Resource Center is committed to promoting awareness of the diversity of experiences, contributions and needs of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer. We do this by providing education, social and recreational opportunities through the Gulfport Public Library, including books, films, music, speakers, exhibitions and other events, as well as an online presence.
Contact Us
Phone: (727) 893-1074
Web: mygulfport.us/lgbtq-resources
Email: LGBTQGulfport@gmail.com
Gulfport Public Library
5501 28th Ave, South, Gulfport, FL 33707
Annual Meeting Goes Virtual
One of the requirements of being a recognized 501(c)3 organization like your Resource Center is that the state requires us to hold an annual meeting each year. With the ongoing concerns about COVID we are holding the meeting as a virtual event on Zoom. Anyone from the public may attend but only Resource Center members may vote. We hope you can join us!
Contact Us for Login Details
Phone: (727) 893-1074
Email: LGBTQGulfport@gmail.com
Featured at the Library
Fiction
Only Most Devasted By Sophie Gonzales
At the End of Everything By Marieke Nijkamp
Manywhere By Morgan Thomas
Getting Clean with Stevie Green By Swan Huntley
Mechanics of Love By Meka James
The Wrong End of the Telescope By Rabih Alameddine
To Break a Covenant By Alison Ames
Things We Couldn’t Say By Jay Coles
Tell Me I’m Worthless By Alison Rumfitt
The Vanishing Half: A Novel By Brit Bennett
The Way I Used to Be By Amber Smith
NonFiction
Queer Love in Color By Jamal Jordan
The Secret to Superhuman Strength By Alison Bechdel
Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing: Essays By Lauren Hough
The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers By Mark Gevisser
Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust,
and Murder in Queer New York By Elon Green
Fairest: A Memoir By Meredith Talusan
Love, Activism, and the Respectable Life
of Alice Dunbar-Nelson By Tara T. Green
Baggage By Alan Cumming
DVDs
Wild Tigers I Have Known
Baja Come Down
LA Plays Itself: The Fred Halsted Collection
Ahead of the Curve
Good Kisser
Bay Voices Usher in the Holidays with Warmth and Grace Notes
Bay Voices, an all-volunteer chorus of gay men under the direction of Stephen Allen, filled the Gulfport Public Library with harmony on December 7 in the LGBTQ Resource Center’s first live event since February 2020. Music lovers filled the central library area to capacity. Most wore masks and could be overheard reassuring seatmates that they were fully vaccinated. This was the fifth annual holiday concerts, and one of only three Bay Voices performances this season. As singer John Lulias said, “The Resource Center audience is special to the Bay Voices.” The annual concert feeds chorus members’ spirits at the same time as it brings joy to their listeners. To learn more about Bay Voices, contact John at: lulias@aol.com.
Donations Boost Resource Center’s Bottom Line
Your Resource Center has been grateful to many groups and organizations who have recently donated both time and money to our bottom line. Donations have come from civic events (SIK Promotions donated money from the Pride Artwalk), from the corporate world (Raymond James is a wonderful supporter with both money and volunteers) and even a thousand-dollar check from Different Church, a welcoming and inclusive faith-based organization.
Our award-winning reputation and strong support from the Gulfport Library, your city council and YOU continue to capture the attention of donors. Our long-range plans include some truly community-altering initiatives. We’ll keep you posted!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
President’s Message: ShoutOut Winter Issue, Jan. 2022 – – HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Sometimes, less is more. The articles in this issue of ShoutOut and the video showcasing the LGBTQ Resource Center that is embedded illustrate how your volunteer board – and volunteers for programs like ReadOut and ArtOut – are working hard to manifest the Center’s mission of “promoting awareness of the diversity of contribution, experiences and needs of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer.”
You support that mission with your membership in the Resource Center and with your donations of time, talent and treasure. THANK YOU!
May the coming year be healthy, happy and filled with all good things for each and all of us!
Susan Gore
Board President
LGBTQ Resource Center
Meet Your Resource Center Board: Bill Ward
Every organization needs a talented person with numbers to keep the books and serve as treasurer. For the past two years, that person for your Resource Center has been Bill Ward. In addition to serving as treasurer, he was instrumental in our application to be recognized as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Bill is rolling off the board at our February 23rd Annual Meeting, leaving very big shoes to fill!
Born in St Louis, Bill grew up in Milwaukee. He went to Iowa State University where he received a BS in Electrical Engineering. A low draft number got him into the Army for about 3 years. He says he had an interesting tour in Augsburg, Germany, where he joined the Rugby team and was the club’s treasurer. He also did technical work in the local community theater overseas.
After a brief return to Virginia, Bill went on to a long tour in Hawaii, again volunteering with the local Army community theater. While there he did a lot of sailing and joined the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America. A return to Virginia completed his career with the Army.
Bill retired in 2003 and moved to Gulfport. He built sets for Gulfport Community Players, but moved over to freeFall Theatre when they opened in 2008. He was on the Board of St. Pete Pride for two years, serving as Treasurer for one of them. He was also Treasurer of Island Community Theatre and served as Treasurer for Stanley Solomon’s run for City Council there. For several years, Bill was on the Gulfport Home Tour committee. He now serves on the Board of Consultants of the Florida Orchestra, and for a few years sat on their Finance Committee.
Bill’s current interests include attending plays, listening to the Florida Orchestra and seriously dabbling in photography.
ANNUAL MEETING REMINDER – JOIN the LGBTQ Resource Center and JOIN US on Feb. 23!
Voting on – and serving as – Board candidates is another way members support the Resource Center. Don’t forget our Annual Meeting, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 at 7 p.m. in the Gulfport Public Library. The meeting will be simulcast via Zoom for those who are not able or eager to attend in-person events. A meeting notice and agenda will be sent with the Zoom link by February 15. Contact Susan Gore, Board President (lgbtqgulfport@gmail.com), if you have questions or want to volunteer for Board service.
Use the Membership Application at https://mygulfport.us/lgbtq to join the LGBTQ Resource Center. Dues range from $15/individual to $200 for a lifetime family membership.
We want YOU!
The highly acclaimed and award-winning LGBTQ Resource Center of the Gulfport Public Library is seeking qualified candidates to serve on our board of directors. Board members serve two-year terms. Qualifications include: attending monthly board meetings and assisting with our extensive programming. You do not need to identify as LGBTQ or live in Gulfport as long as you have a proven record of commitment to those communities. It’s a tremendously rewarding experience to serve on the board of what the American Library Association has declared as the best of its kind in North America!
If you are interested please email lgbtqgulfport@gmail.com.
Become a ReadOut Sponsor
Now you as an individual can show your support for ReadOut and the LGBTQ community by becoming a ReadOut Individual Sponsor.
Your name will appear on our Honor Board on our website and will be published in ShoutOut, our LGBTQ Resource Center newsletter. Your donation of $50. will support the ReadOut festival and our LGBTQ community in these challenging times.
Free and paid sponsorships also are available. Contact Sarah at Readoutfestival@gmail.com
ReadOut February 18-20, 2022: Lesbian Voices, Stronger Together
The LGBTQ Resource Center is very pleased to announce Michèle Alexandre, Dean of the College of Law at Stetson University in Gulfport, Florida, will be the opening speaker for the 5th annual ReadOut Festival of Lesbian Literature on February 18, 2022. Dean Alexandre will be speaking on strengthening lesbian voices through collaboration across law and literature.
Dean Alexandre is the author of two books: The New Frontiers of Civil Rights Litigation (2019) and Sexploitation: Sexual Profiling and the Illusion of Gender (2014), as well as Stetson Law’s first African-American and queer Dean. She earned her Juris Doctorate at Harvard University, has received Fulbright and Watson fellowships and was named one of Ebony Magazine’s Top 100 influential African Americans of 2013 and one of the 50 “Most Influential Minority Law Professors 50 Years of Age or Younger” by Lawyers of Color Magazine.
Following Alexandre on Friday, Fay Jacobs will present “Make It Funny!” a workshop on how to write humorous fiction, essays and more.
Saturday and Sunday offer full days of livestreamed Pods and pre-recorded readings stung into Pearls on Contemporary Fiction, Memoir, Romance, Sci-fi/Fantasy and Poetry.
Podmates Sue Katz and Elizabeth Woodcraft will discuss how their international writing partnership provided A Booster Against COVID.
Estela Gonzalez and Catharine Wright will explore a different sort of distance with their Pod, Rural Spaces and Queer Women.
Authors and readers will be captivated for Just One More Page, as Elle Ire, Riley Scott, Meredith Doench, Anne Laughlin and M.B. Austin discuss the art of building suspense in every genre.
Want to know how writers’ groups support authors? Becky Bohan, Carol Anne Douglas, Dana Finnegan, Sara Fleming, Ellen Levy, Lois McGuinness and Sara Yager will share their experiences in Going Deep, Soaring High, Bringing Out the Best.
Ellen Levy and Elana Graf reveal The Secret Lives of Historical Novelists in their livestreamed look at the rationale, craft and process of creating lesbian historical fiction.
But wait, there’s more!
ReadOut welcomes Alex (@thebookadvocate) and Sam (@staxsonstaxs), two queer cis-women who fell in love with books, made bookstagram accounts, and are now obsessed with every piece of queer literature they can get their hands on!
Additional speakers, readers and other works-in-progress will be announced as Feb. 18-20 approaches.
ReadOut is a free Zoom-based event, provided by the LGBTQ Resource Center, in partnership with the Gulfport (FL) Public Library.
Donations to offset the cost of producing ReadOut are sincerely appreciated. Use the PayPal or another option when registering. Use this PayPal link to donate.
Free and paid sponsorships also are available. Contact Kelsey at ReadOutfestivalmarketing@gmail.com
Library Hours
Mon.- Fri.: 10AM - 7PM
Saturday: 10AM - 4PM
Sunday: Closed
5501 28th Ave S,
Gulfport FL 33707
Phone: 727-893-1074
Email: libraryinfo@mygulfport.us
