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“Why 'coming out' can take a lifetime" - No Hate In Our States

9/29/2023

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Why 'coming out' can take a lifetime

No Hate In Our States

​BBC 

Prejudice, discrimination and ignorance cause measurable harm to LGBT+ people's health and wellbeing, but family support can make a big difference.

Attitudes in many societies may be changing, but plenty of prejudice against the LGBT+ community still abounds across the world. In the US, LGBT+ people are nine times more likely than non-LGBT+ people to be victims of violent hate crimes...Families cannot protect their LGBT+ relatives from all the challenges they will face – but the quality of support from our relatives can make a big difference. In fact, family support is a serious predictor of the wellbeing of LGBT+ people across the lifespan. However, declaring tolerance, and providing meaningful support, can be two very different things. Read this incredibly in-depth article here.

I have my own recollections of this in my life. I was 8 years old when I finally understood I was different from most people I knew. My father constantly disparaged my uncle for "acting gay” when, in reality, I believe he was simply what would be considered more “effeminate” in nature. These complaints from my father hurt me personally because my uncle Vince was the only person in my family who truly mentored me.

I often cry when reading articles about queerness, whether they are supportive or unsupportive stories. Even the good ones make me sad because I wish I had had something besides threats of military school from my dad whenever I showed signs of not being a mini-me for him and his hunting buddies.

Reading this article has helped me put things in perspective just a little bit more. I wanted to share this with the PACG community because LGBTQ+ allies need to understand. Why? Because even people that think they're kind can unintentionally hurt the queer people they love. And the prolific hate in America today is debilitating for the queer community. And, likely, for you as well.

This comprehensive article has certainly tracked with my experience as a young queer person growing up in the 60s. The hate has always been here but I'm a lot more afraid of where society is headed now than I ever have been before. Articles like this can help. They won't stop the queer haters, but might open the eyes of people who think they care but aren't exactly showing support in careful, meaningful ways. We can all be more mindful.

Dee VanThournout
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October 2023 Green Drinks - Trash in the QCA

9/29/2023

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October Green Drinks - Trash in the Quad Cities
​
Thursday, October 5th at 5:00 pm

Huckleberry’s Pizza
223 18th Street
Rock Island, IL (map)
​
Environmental Forum 

Green Drinks Topic: Investigations into Urban Refuse in the Quad Cities


Our speaker, Steve Gustafson, is a long-time environmental advocate in the Quad Cities. In addition to being vice-chair of the PSCW, he also volunteers with Nahant Marsh, Xtream Cleanup, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) StatePreserves Advisory Board. Steve has been involved in numerous environmental initiatives and projects through the years.

Steve will discuss the recent efforts made by various local organizations to better understand the nature of the trash found on land and in the streams of the Quad Cities. He will also discuss the pilot study that the City of Davenport, Scott County Waste Commission and PSCW are able to embark on with the Center for Environmental Cooperation.
​
Please register at this link.

Susan Leuthauser

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PACG Book Club - "The Bluest Eye"  October, 2023

9/29/2023

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PACG Book Club - The Bluest Eye  by Toni Morrison
Monday, October 16th at 5 pm - hybrid meeting

Picture
Edwards Congregational UCC
3420 Jersey Ridge Rd
Davenport, IA (map)

​
PACG Book Club

Our next PACG Book Club discussion will be a hybrid in-person and Zoom meeting at Edwards Congregational UCC. If you want to come in person, the address is above. If you want to join by Zoom, contact our Office Manager or me for the link.

The book is The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Here is a quote about the book from Goodreads:


"The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison's first novel, a book heralded for its richness of language and boldness of vision. Set in the author's girlhood hometown of Lorain, Ohio, it tells the story of black, eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove. Pecola prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be as beautiful and beloved as all the blond, blue-eyed children in America. In the autumn of 1941, the year the marigolds in the Breedloves' garden do not bloom. Pecola's life does change—in painful, devastating ways.

With its vivid evocation of the fear and loneliness at the heart of a child's yearning, and the tragedy of its fulfillment, The Bluest Eye remains one of Toni Morrisons's most powerful, unforgettable novels, and a significant work of American fiction."

​Alta Price

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Save the Date - IATF Showing at the Putnam on October 22nd, 2023

9/27/2023

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Save the Date - I Am the Future showing at the Putnam
Sunday, October 22nd at 2:00 pm

Putnam Museum and Science Center
1717 W 12th ST
Davenport, IA (map)


PACG Board We will be working with the Putam to show our I Am the Future video and educate the community about the importance of being activists for civil rights. Look for more information soon. And if you are interested in helping with this fun event, please contact us at [email protected]. 
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Glenda Guster
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11th Annual Picnic and Pie Auction - After Action Report

9/24/2023

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11th Annual PACG Picnic and Pie Auction - After Action Report

Lagoon Shelter
Bettendorf’s Middle Park

PACG Board and Picnic CommitteeOnce again, over 60 progressives gathered for this year's PACG Picnic and Pie Auction! The weather was beautiful, and everybody enjoyed eating really good food from Taste of Ethiopia and visiting with old friends and new!  

Forum leaders gave us a brief update on all the things they've been doing this past year, and over twenty homemade pies were auctioned off to lucky bidders!

Last, but not least, PACG honored it's cofounder, Cath Bolkcom, for all her years of service to us and to many other organizations in the Quad Cities community!  Cath will be moving out of state to be near her sweet grandson in just a few weeks, but she has guaranteed us she will stay in touch!  

If you couldn't make the picnic this year, we hope  you can join in the fun next year! But meanwhile, try to come the showing of our Civil Rights film, I Am the Future: Standing on the Shoulders of the Past at the Putnam Museum on Sunday, October 22nd from 2 pm to 4 pm. Bring your friends! It's a free, family friendly event - and it's well worth seeing!  
 
Caryn Unsicker
Glenda Guster, PACG President

Caryn Unsicker
Glenda Guster, PACG President
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IA ACLU September Challenge Drop In - PACG Event

9/12/2023

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IA ACLU September Challenge Drop In
Saturday, September 16th from 3:00 to 5:00 pm

Bettendorf home

Gender Equity Forum
We are working with Iowa ACLU to gather signatures for their September Challenge - Reproductive Freedom for All. Read our blog post here. Drop in to get informational materials and learn how to collect signatures for this important initiative.

Contact me for information about this event.

Alta Price
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Honoring QCAD founder Joyce Wiley - No Hate In Our States

9/5/2023

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QCAD - the nonprofit that started LGBTQ+ support in the Quad Cities 33 years ago

Gender Equity Forum

PACG members interested in gender equity or civil rights will appreciate this wonderful article about Joyce and Jack Wiley and QCAD (Quad Citians Affirming Diversity) from the RealMainstream.com's Christine Hawes.

Joyce Wiley taught me how to be an activist! I'll always be grateful for her and Jack for all they did to help me and for their ongoing efforts to make the Quad Cities a better place to live. You may donate here to QCAD in honor of Joyce.

Alta Price
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Iowa ACLU September Challenge: Sign the Reproductive Freedom for All Statement

9/2/2023

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Iowa ACLU September Challenge: Get twice as many people to sign the Reproductive Freedom for All statement!

iowa_aclu_reproductive_freedom_statement_sign-up.pdf
File Size: 92 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

The Gender Equity Forum needs you to participate in this September Challenge from the Iowa American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). This is a statewide effort to double the signatures they have collected so far from 2,000 to 4,000. The Iowa Quad Cities needs to do its part to meet this challenge!

The statement is:
​
I believe all Iowans have the right to make our own decisions about our bodies, lives and futures - free from government control. Therefore, I expect my elected officials to do everything in their power to protect & defend reproductive freedom in our state, including access to safe and legal abortion.

If you live in Iowa and agree with this statement, go here to sign. The signatures will be collected by the Iowa ACLU to share with your state legislators. 

Share this blog post with your friends and family and get them to sign, too. You can also download a sign-up sheet (above) with the Reproductive Freedom Statement to collect signatures that way. Please scan or photograph the sheet when you are done and send it to me to forward to ACLU Iowa.

Alta Price

1 Comment

PACG Book Club - "Cutting for Stone" September, 2023

9/2/2023

1 Comment

 

PACG Book Club - Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Monday, September 18th at 5 pm - hybrid meeting


Edwards Congregational UCC
3420 Jersey Ridge Rd
Davenport, IA (map)

PACG Book Club
Picture
Our next PACG Book Club discussion will be a hybrid in-person and Zoom meeting at Edwards Congregational UCC. If you want to come in person, the address is above. If you want to join by Zoom, contact our Office Manager or me for the link.

The book is Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. Here is a quote about the book from Goodreads:

​
"A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel - an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home.

Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. Yet it will be love, not politics—their passion for the same woman—that will tear them apart and force Marion, fresh out of medical school, to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as an intern at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him—nearly destroying him—Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him.

An unforgettable journey into one man’s remarkable life, and an epic story about the power, intimacy, and curious beauty of the work of healing others."


Alta Price

1 Comment

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Progressive Action for the Common Good (PACG)

 PO Box 544  Bettendorf, IA  52722  
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