This past weekend marked the 20th anniversary of the Sacramento International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (SIGLFF) at the Crest Theatre. The festival ran selected film series each evening from Thursday to Saturday. Founder Alan Cole started the project in 1992 as a student-run film festival that received support from Sacramento State University, Gay and Lesbian Alliance students with grant funding from Associated Students Inc. , which is a official governing body which operates the sponsorship of programs and services to CSUS students. A bevy of sponsors and volunteers support the board of directors, programming and gala committees to prepare and organize the annual festival that takes p

The Sacramento International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival kicked off Thursday evening, celebrating its 20th anniversary of great indie LGBT films and their filmmakers at the Crest Theatre. The festival is a non-profit organization, dedicated to showing independent LGBT films in [in or from?] Northern California. The festival continues through Saturday, with each evening concentrating on different subjects. Thursday evening focuses on male relationships, Friday on female relationships, and Saturday showcases a series of short films. Each year brings opportunities to show more films, give more money to nonprofit LGBT organizations and provide grants to filmmakers. Each evening, films begin

Last night Sacramento Valley Veterans (SVV), along with LGBT Veterans groups, hosted a celebration at Head Hunters/Kennedy Gallery in midtown. The crowd was enthusiastic for several public figures who dropped by to share their support and happiness that the 18-year long Don't Ask, Don't Tell compromise ended. It allowed homosexuals to serve in the military by keeping our sexual orientation under wraps. That was 20 years after I enlisted. I'm gay. I served in the US Navy from '73 to '77 and received an honorable discharge at the end of my enlistment. I've carried a mental smirk about that ever since. During last night's celebration, emcee Ty Redhouse, SVV President and USAF veteran aske

Programming a film festival is an odd and varied process. Some events go out and pro-actively seek the best films that they can find, in an extensive search process – and we see this approach in such local great events as the Sacramento Jewish, French, Japanese, and Gay and Lesbian Film Fests. Other events are submission-based: A call for films is distributed, and filmmakers from a given area submit their works in the hopes of making it to the top of the pile. This latter approach, perhaps best exemplified on a grand scale by the Sundance Film Festival, is also used (on a more modest level) by the Sacramento Film & Music Festival and that given area is the entire world. This year, films

The NorCal AIDS Cycle had a record-setting year in 2011, raising more money for area non-profit organizations than any HIV/AIDS fundraising organization in recent Sacramento history. The event is among the most successful Sacramento charity fundraisers in history based on total dollars raised. The organization will distribute a total of $190,000 to area HIV/AIDS service organizations, returning 70 percent of total funds raised to beneficiary organizations at a check presentation ceremony at 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 8, at Hot Italian, 1627 16th Street, Sacramento. A record 96 cyclists, along with 30 volunteer crew members—who also raised money—participated in the four-day, 330-mile cycling fun

Gay leaders in Sacramento are organizing an effort for their community to be considered in the city’s redistricting process.  The gay community has formed a redistricting committee through the Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce’s foundation.  Rosanna Herber, chair of the new committee, said the center of the city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is in Midtown and downtown. “We would like to see those areas in one district,” Herber said. The LGBT population wants to be considered a “community of interest,” which is one of the elements the City Council will use to redesign its districts, Herber said. Steve Hansen, a member of the city’s advisory redistrictin

The LGBTQ Community and their allies in the Sacramento region is invited to gather at St. John’s Lutheran Church (1701 I Street, Sacramento, CA) this Sunday, November 7, 2010 from 4:00pm – 9:00pm to honor the names of over 750 people who have died violently because they identified themselves as LGBTQ (or were perceived to be LGBTQ) as well as countless others whose names are not known. This is the 12th Annual Service of Remembrance and this year it is sponsored by a coalition of concerned members of the LGBTQ community and their allies. The program will include a variety of spiritual expressions to bring honor to the memories of so many the community has lost. It will be lead by clergy fr

SACRAMENTO , CALIFORNIA - Yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips issued a three-page worldwide injunction calling for the Department of Defense (DoD) to suspend all investigations and discharges related to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy. This development comes weeks after Phillips’ ruling that the policy is unconstitutional, going against the First and Fifth Amendments. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is expected to appeal the decision which will carry the case up the Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit. Sacramento Valley Veterans (SVV) member, Anthony Loverde, provided testimony in the bench trial held in southern California in July this year. The Log Cabin R

 For local businesses all over Sacramento, there’s nothing like making great connections, branching out your network, and reaching consumers in need of your products. The Rainbow Chamber of Commerce provides an umbrella of networking opportunities for gays, lesbians and gay-friendly business owners through monthly mixers to political and community social events. Thanks to the success of its exceptional members, the Rainbow Chamber of Commerce gives back to our city through the Rainbow Chamber Foundation. Providing college scholarships and leadership awards to outstanding gay, lesbian and gay-friendly youth, the RCC Foundation takes tremendous steps forward to help improve the lives of the

Faces, Sacramento’s premier gay night club, is celebrating their 25 year anniversary in colorful fashion this weekend. Faces posted the following on their website to thank the Sacramento community: Faces opened on August 15th 1985, and it is the great community of Sacramento that has kept Faces open for an amazing quarter century. Our nightlife experience in the area has expanded in many ways that make us proud to be a part of your memories and anxious to provide more and more ideas and opportunities to celebrate with you. Friday, August 13th will be our "Kick-Off" party in honor of our 25 years in Sacramento. With a Thank-You to the wonderful community here we begin with NO COVER Frida

The Capitol Mall proved to be a pleasant crowd gatherer for today's Sacramento PRIDE Festival. Southside Park was the starting point for the parade which traveled north on 7th St and ended on Capitol Mall. Here's some snapshots taken during the parade and festival: Fred Palmer holds a rainbow flag gliding down 7th St. in the parade. The River City Sisters march up 7th Street. Darrell Steinberg and Dave Jones sit atop the back seat of a convertible.  Priscilla Carlisle marches up 7th Street. Fans lined the route (above and below) . Ballroom dancers Melissa Bryden and Janell Darrock. The parade dispersed into the crowd at the PRIDE Festival along Capitol Mall betw

Sacramento's PRIDE 2010 kicked off with Dyke Night, an evening of music and entertainment on the west Capitol steps to lead into the new location of this year's festivities on Sacramento’s Capitol Mall near between the Tower Bridge and the Capitol building. Here are some moments: Two women in the audience respond to the performers on stage. Allyn Pharo and her dog Sterling. The crowd filled the lawn in front of the west Capitol steps. Aurora (top and bottom) played to the crowd. Emcee and Organizer Hilary Hodge keep the pace going throughout the evening. Tina Reynolds, Equality Action Now, gave folks an update on Prop.8. Dancers from Hot Pot Studios (above) moved their bodi

With an iconic new location--Sacramento's scenic Capitol Mall, expanded marketing efforts and a growing roster of prestigious corporate sponsors and exhibitors, the 26-year-old Sacramento Pride Festival is expected to break attendance records on Saturday. The June 19 Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., attracting an estimated 10,000 visitors and bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of economic benefit to Sacramento’s downtown area. Festival admission is $10. After a number of years at South Side Park, the Festival will move to Capitol Mall in 2010, where a street-festival layout sandwiched between the Tower Bridge and the State Capitol dome is expected to add novelty

Let’s face it—a sawbuck just doesn’t go very far these days. But thanks to generous corporate sponsorships and a year's worth of robust volunteer effort to build the event, Sacramento Pride is shaping up to be the best value of the region's summer festival season! Sacramento Pride Festival, Saturday, June 19, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., will be held at Sacramento’s scenic Capitol Mall for the first time this year. To go along with its exciting new location, Pride's volunteer organizers are bringing in new attractions, star-power entertainment, and excellent swag--all for the price of a $10 admission ticket. Here is a list of the top 10 added values for guests attending Sacramento Pride: 1) $50

This is not an easy piece for me to write as I have long been active in democratic and gay politics and am loathe to criticize my heritage; my affiliation with the Democratic Party started with my grandparents and parents. In the 90s, I was privileged to serve on the board and as chair of the River City Democratic Club (RCDC) which was the precursor to Stonewall. RCDC worked on a grass roots level to help elect officials who were supportive of LGBT issues as we didn’t have many opportunities to support LGBT candidates. Fortunately that has changed. Also, RCDC recognized our natural alliance with other minorities and formed relationships with many groups to fight for equality and represen

Background Notes Harvey Milk was a leader in the gay rights movement who was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. This made him the nation’s first openly gay man elected to public office in a major U.S. city. It was on November 27, 1978 when San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk were shot to death by a former city supervisor, Dan White, who had just recently resigned but changed his mind and wanted his seat back. This sent a shockwave throughout San Francisco, California, and throughout the nation when the major networks carried the story during the evening newscasts. On October 12, 2009, Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the highly contro

This is not your daddy’s Sacramento Pride! Sacramento Pride is making big changes in 2010, all aimed at transforming the annual regional celebration of LGBT culture and accomplishments into an event worthy of its new tagline, California’s Capital Pride. The list of changes begins with the day-long Pride Festival’s move this year to Sacramento’s Capitol Mall. The Festival will be held Saturday, June 19, from 10 am to 5 pm. Sandwiched between the State Capitol dome on the east and the golden spans of the Tower Bridge on the west, the Festival’s move to the scenic city gateway is intended to raise visibility and emphasize the important role of the LGBT community in Sacramento and statewide.

      A small group of people started gathering in front of McClatchy High School today, at 3 o’clock, to show their support for gay rights. Among the group, were protesters who had gathered earlier at the capitol, students from neighboring schools, and the press.       It was nearing the scheduled time for the arrival of the notorious anti-gay protester, Fred Phelps and his clan, from the Westboro Baptist Church. They were scheduled to arrive at 3;15pm, according to their website godhatesfags.com.       The high school was ready with a dozen staff members standing guard in the front drive way. A number of students chose to dine in restaurants across the street, having a nice vantage point

Chamber donates additional $500 to national gay youth suicide prevention organization The Rainbow Chamber of Commerce of Sacramento, a networking and advocacy organization for lesbian, bisexual, bisexual and transgender and LGBT-friendly businesses, has pledged a $10,000 contribution to the Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Center. The donation will be made in quarterly installments, with an initial $2,500 installment to be paid immediately. Established in 1986, the non-profit Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Center provides programs and services for at-risk lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth, mental health services and support groups for LGBT youth and adults, a free weekly legal clinic

Terry Sidie, founder of the Rainbow Festival (in cowboy hat), strikes a pose with volunteers and Sterling, the civilized dog. Joe Velez leads Sacramento Women's Chorus through several songs. A Small Difference Choral group entertains the crowd. Cheer SF, Cheer Sacramento and Cheer Sirens do their acrobatic routines. Several individuals and groups sang to the crowd and got them dancing. Photos (Joe Velez & Sacramento Women's Chorus | Launa Cornwell Photos | Kati Garner