April Follies

APRIL FOLLIES returns to Reading Community Players on Saturday, April 12th at 7pm!!!! Please join us at this awesome benefit for The SPECTRUM LGBTQ Youth Group of Planned Parenthood!!!! 

STARRING:
The 2013 Queen of CABARET: Sariya Love
The 2011 Queen of CABARET: Amie Vanité Kincade
TriXie Lee De'Flair
Shirli D'Vine
Dr. Fame
Sakura
Chase N Dames
James Stilianos
and The Youth of The SPECTRUM

 

$10 Adults, $5 Students (K-12)

Tickets are on sale: 
http://danielkincadeentertainment.com/tickets.html
Sponsored By: Planned Parenthood*, Reading Community Players, Daniel Kincade Entertainment*, Knight's Rental, Pure Romance, Celtic Myth and Moonlight*, BT Gallery Retro Vintage Shop*, and Paisley Moon*

KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY ANNUAL DRAG SHOW TO BENEFIT GLBTQ GROUPS

KUTZTOWN, Pa., April 2 — Kutztown University’s GLBTQ Resource Center and Allies will present their ninth annual Drag Show on Thursday, April 10 at 7 p.m. in Schaeffer Auditorium.  Tickets are $5 for KU students with ID and $10 for the general public.  All tickets will be sold at the door and seats are first-come first-served.  Donations will also be accepted during the event.

The show will feature performances by students and professional drag queens and drag kings.  DVDs of the show will be available for purchase after the event.  All proceeds benefit The Trevor Project and TransCentralPA.

Founded in 1998 by the creators of the Academy Award®-winning short film TREVOR, The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13-24.

TransCentralPA is committed to providing advocacy and caring support for transgender individuals, their significant others, families, friends and allies. TransCentralPA also provides gender education and information to businesses, organizations, educational institutions and governmental agencies.

For more information contact the GLBTQ Resource Center at 484-646-4111 or allies@kutztown.edu.

KU HOSTS PRIDE AND PREJUDICE CONFERENCE TO EXPLORE GLBTQA ISSUES

KUTZTOWN, Pa., Feb. 20 — Kutztown University's Human Diversity Commission is sponsoring a conference on gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning and ally (GLBTQA) issues entitled "Pride & Prejudice: GLBTQA Issues Today,” from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Friday, March 7 in the McFarland Student Union.

This year's conference is meant to facilitate discussion, new ideas and education about current issues in the GLBTQA community. Everyone is invited to attend: allies, those who identify as GLBTQ and those who wish to be better informed. The day's discussion topics include mentoring LGBTQ students, activism and self-awareness, personal identity, the intersection of identities and being out in the workplace, among others.

Keynote speakers for this event are state Rep. Brian Sims, distinguished policy attorney and civil rights advocate; and the Rev. Frank Schaefer, a pastor who was defrocked by the United Methodist church for officiating at his gay son's wedding. 

This is a free event and open to the public, but preregistration is required. To register, visit http://libguides.kutztown.edu/KUdiversity14. For more information, please contact Jerry Schearer, KU's associate dean for inclusion and outreach, at schearer@kutztown.edu or 610-683-4923.

 

WRITER, ACTIVIST AND TV PERSONALITY DAN SAVAGE TO SPEAK AT KU

KUTZTOWN, Pa., Feb. 27—Dan Savage, founder of the anti-bullying YouTube campaign “It Gets Better Project,” which provides hope for young  lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) people facing harassment, will present “Savage Love Live” at 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 11 in Schaeffer Auditorium.

Savage, who is also a best-selling author, TV personality and popular sex advice columnist, is best known for his political and social commentary, as well as his honest approach to sex, love and relationships.

His “It Gets Better Project” has become a global movement, inspiring more than 50 million views of 50,000 It Gets Better” videos. The book “It Gets Better,” co-edited by Savage and Terry Miller, was published in March 2011, and an MTV documentary aired in February 2012.

Savage’s sex advice column, “Savage Love,” is syndicated in newspapers and websites throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. He is the editorial director of The Stranger, Seattle’s weekly alternative newspaper, and his writing has appeared in several publications, including The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Rolling Stone, The Onion, and on www.salon.com.

In addition to his appearances on CNN, MSNBC and “The Colbert Report,” Savage is a contributor to Ira Glass’s “This American Life,” and has appeared on “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross, HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” and ABC's “20/20.”

Savage’s latest project is his television series for MTV, “Savage U.” Cameras follow Savage and his producer Lauren Hutchinson as they travel to college campuses across the country, taking students’ questions and offering a crash course on relationships, responsibility, sex, love and life.

Savage grew up in Chicago and now lives in Seattle, Washington, with his husband Terry Miller and their son, DJ.

This event is co-sponsored by Kutztown University’s Foundation and Alumni Engagement office; Association of Campus Events; Department of Communication Studies and Theatre; Department of English; and GLBTQ Center.

Flapjack Fundraiser

 Come out and be served by ROYALTY! Drag Queen Royalty! Miss Reading Pride Celebration, Gracie Freebush and her lovely friends, Fanci DisMount. Aida Snatchwell, and Veronica Kitten will be serving up all you can eat pancakes and sausage on Saturday, November 30 from 8am-10am at Applebees on 5th St Hwy. Adults are $6.50 and children under 12 are $4. Tickets are available for pre-purchase (contact a RPC Committee Member) and are also available at the door! Santa will also be joining us!!! All proceeds benefit RPC 2014.

Flapjack tickets

Adult $6.50 USD

Child $4.00 USD

A Legendary Evening ... of Famous Fakes: Dinner Theatre With the Stars

Join us for this Reading Pride Celebration Fundraiser, hosted by Miss Reading Pride Celebration 2013, Gracie Freebush! A Legendary Evening ... of Famous Fakes will be held in the grand dining room at Adrienne's Inn at Centre Park in the beautiful historic district of Reading PA. Guest stars include Joey Josephs as Judy Garland, Precious Caliente as Lady Gaga, Gio Michaels as Liza Minnelli, Karyn Thomas as Reba McEntire, and of course, Gracie Freebush as CHER!

Tickets for this event are $30 if pre-purchased with cash from any committee member ($35 online), and include salad, dinner, dessert, and limited beer or wine. BYOB is available. Doors open at 5, dinner is served promptly at 6. Tickets MUST be purchased in advance! TICKETS ARE VERY LIMITED so don't wait! This is an evening you won't want to miss!

As always, music will be provided by none other than DJ JOURNEY!

ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT READING PRIDE CELEBRATION, A 501(c)3 NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION!


RSVP to our Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1417554801792412/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular

Remember: There are a limited number of tickets available. To save $5, please pay in cash to a Reading Pride committee member. Online tickets sales will end on November 1st.


Menu option

Interfaith Celebration of Love



 Celebrating Divine Love for the LGBT Community Saturday, October 19, 6 PM Reform Congregation Oheb Sholom 555 Warwick Drive, Wyomissing

This Interfaith LGBT service draws together people of different faiths in a celebration of love, both the love we share with one another and the love of the holy. A Native American Cleansing Ceremony begins the service and will be followed by Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, and other speakers. A reception will follow. The Celebration of Love is sponsored by the Reading Pride Interfaith Committee.

Americans For Workplace Equality

Americans For Workplace Equality (workplaceequality.org ) will be working in Berks County during their fall campaign. In Pennsylvania, they will be focusing on convincing Pat Toomey to vote "Yes" on ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would extend the same workplace protections to LGBT persons that everyone else currently enjoys. They are kicking off  the campaign with community meetings around the state, including the following one in Reading:

Tuesday, 9/17 at 7:00 PM
First Unitarian Church of Berks County
416 Franklin St  Reading, PA 19602



Sock Hop


The ROSE Transgender Support Organization in York, Pennsylvania is hosting a Sock Hop Fund Raising Event for the ROSE Organization at Altlands Ranch, Friday, October 18, 2013

Altlands Ranch a large and spacious friendly gay night club that always welcomes the Transgender community and is a few miles west of York, Pa sitting between Thomasville and Abbottstown, Pa. 

The Sock Hop will start around 8 PM and last until around 1 AM. There will be Rock and Roll music from the 50's and 60's all night long with a few contests like a Hula Hoop contest, best dressed couple who look like they are from the 50's and 60's and a few others. A Live band is schedule to appear called Crystl Dee and the Dreamers. The band members are members of ROSE who have played in Rock and Roll bands from back in the 60's and a few who have played in bands lately. The lead guitarist has worked with several well known Professional Rock and Roll bands on labels from that time period. 

They will be serving Hamburgers and Hot Dogs and maybe French Fries at cost or as close to cost from that time period as possible. So if you're looking for a great fun filled night out, filled with dancing and great Rock and Roll music all night long that will bring back wonderful memories for some. Then make sure you mark your calendars so you don't miss this fun filled night. It will be a night you will remember. See you at the Sock Hop.

An Open Letter from Reading Pride Celebration

On Sunday July 21, 2013, the seventh annual Reading Pride Celebration will take place at Centre Park, located in Reading’s beautiful Centre Park Historic District. Our purpose is twofold: to celebrate unity and diversity in the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Community of the Greater Reading Area, and to demonstrate pride in our struggle for equality and the advancement of our common humanity. And this year we have much to be proud of. The striking down of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 26, propelling us upon a now unstoppable trajectory toward eventual marriage equality nationwide; the affirmation of full marriage equality in California, which is now the thirteenth state in the nation to afford equal marital rights to gay citizens; and the May 23 decision by the Boy Scouts of America to permit openly gay youth under 18 years of age in their membership.

A tide is turning. While much remains to be done, American society is fast moving beyond mere tolerance and toward a broader acceptance of us gay Americans as we truly are: equals. It is not a resignation to some intractable political force. It is something far greater than that. As we continue to come out of the shadows to which we have for so long been relegated, more and more people are getting to know us personally, and in doing so are discovering that we are as ordinary and human as they are. Barriers of false preconceptions are being torn down, and new bridges of reality and understanding are being built.

We also see attitudes in Berks County and Reading slowly evolving. And this is refreshing and exciting. And so on July 21, as we celebrate the many national victories for equality that we’ve seen this year, we also celebrate the continuing evolution of openness and tolerance occurring in Berks County and Reading.
Yet many, whether due to being ill-informed or religiously ignorant, still fail to understand the source of our pride and the nature of our struggle.

We dare to celebrate, not so much our sexuality, but the fullness of our unhindered humanity. We dare to be colorfully proud, even jubilant, of who and what we are without apology in steadfastly fending off ignorance and oppression. While our sexual orientation or gender identities are not inconsequential to whom we are as a unique community, they are not the core of who we are fundamentally. We are not creatures of base sexual predation, as many opponents to equality have falsely asserted over many decades. We are, like all people; among those who our nation’s Founders acknowledged are “created equal” and who are endowed by our Creator with the inalienable rights to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

We are your neighbors.
We are your coworkers.
We are your fellow churchgoers.
We are mothers and fathers with children.
We are police officers.
We are firefighters.
We are rescue volunteers.
We are elected officials.
We are school teachers.
We are students.
We are restaurant servers.
We are coffee shop baristas.
We are retail workers.
We are lawyers and accountants.
We are doctors and nurses.
We are artists and musicians.
We are writers and singers.
We are blue collar and white collar.
We are people of faith and non-faith.
We are pastors and priests.
We worry about our kids.
We get mad at our partners.
We go to work on Mondays.
We coach sports on weekdays.
We visit the pub on Fridays.
We mow our lawns on Saturdays.
We go to church on Sundays.
We pay our bills and pay our rent.
We cry when we’re lonely.
We leap for joy when we find love.
We want to marry and start families.
We are children of God and children of the Earth.
We are your fellow Americans.
We are your fellow human beings.
We are your equals.
And you are ours.
That’s all we want: equality.
No more. No less.
That is our struggle.
And our struggle is our pride.

Diversity is part of the natural architecture of Creation, and so to oppose diversity is unnatural. Our Gay Culture generally, and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Community specifically, is but one color of our country’s coat of many colors. Our cause for equality is not a demand for color-blindness, but rather is a diligent effort to encourage renewed national vision where all our colors can be celebrated as blessed parts of the singular fabric of our common humanity. A common humanity advanced by a principle of fearless tolerance and an ethic of abundant love, rather than diminished by the imposition of any one religious, philosophical, or political ideology whose adherents would have us live as they demand. Ultimately, we desire the sublime liberation found in the radical expression of that one self-evident, sacred, and universal truth: that all people are indeed created equal.

Richard l. Spangler - President
Bethany Bower - Vice-President 
Judith Williams - Secretary
Henry Pruski - Treasurer

Summer Fun with Reading Pride!

Please join us on Sunday July 21st from 12:00-6:00 in Centre Park, Reading for the 7th annual Reading Pride Celebration Festival!

We'll be welcoming in our new Miss Reading Pride, Gracie Freebush!

We have the following entertainment scheduled for the festival:
Drag Performers:
  • Gracie Freebush
  • Whitley Nycole DeAire’
  • AC Cortez
  • Minaj a Twa
  • Sophia Lopez Ninaj
  • Sabastian
  • Roberta Baker
  • Jade DeVere
  • Ashley Lynn
  • Aida Snatchwell
  • Miraj Jolie

Other Entertainers:
  • Madalyn Maty
  • Zulayka Dent
  • Kharizma Bellydancers
  • Earth Rhythms Drum Circle
  • Reading High School Dance Team
  • And of course the headliner, Jade Starling

Speakers:
  • Pa Diversity Network- Liz Bradbury
  • Equality PA
  • Humane Society
  • Ricardo Nieves
  • City Council Rep
Don't forget to join us for the Pre-Pride Party and the After-Pride Party!

Pre-Pride Party

Friday, July 19th
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Reading PA
$5
6:00
Food & Cash Bar Available

 

After Pride Party!

Sunday, July 21st
Goodnights Lounge
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Reading PA
$5.00
21+ with ID to enter
Food & Cash Bar Available