NEWS A Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center Volume 2 Issue 9 LIKEME Lighthouse Annual Fundraiser All of us here in Kansas City can’t thank Margaret enough for stopping by Kansas City... by Char Daniels s we get nearer and nearer to Mar- is a comedy show with a garet Cho coming to town for the national renowned come- LIKEME® Lighthouse’s annual fund- dian. Come support the raiser,A all the LIKEME® Lighthouse volun- LIKEME® Lighthouse. teers are working like little Christmas Elves Buy a ticket online at www. to prepare for our annual event. We have follytheater.org great auction items at the event. Doors open at 5 p.m. and a great show starts at 7 p.m. TICKETS ARE We’re excited that this first signature GOING FAST event for our community center is being headlined by such a well-known and gen- erous supporter of the LGBT community, Margaret Cho. All of us here in Kansas City BE SURE TO CHECK can’t thank Margaret enough for stopping by Kansas City right in the middle of her tour OUT OUR CELEBRITY season. We are grateful that Margaret wants AUCTION ITEMS ON the LIKEME® Lighthouse to be financially sustained for another year. CHARITYBUZZ.COM NOV. 6 The event is just two weeks away, No- vember 13, at the historic Folly Theater, 400 E. 12th Street. Margaret Cho LIVE Follow Us On Our Social Networks & Web Sites PLACES pg. 2 LIKEME® Lighthouse KCAVP pg. 2 LIKEME® Lighthouse 3909 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64111 A Night of Laughter...pg. 3 (816) 753-7770 Art Show pg. 3 [email protected] Movie Nights pg. 4 MAGLCC Member pg. 5 LIKEME® Organization Summer Hours Same-Sex Couples Immigration - presented Mon. - Sat.: 12 noon - 8 p.m. in Spanish pg. 7 Sunday: 12 noon - 6 p.m. LIKEME® Gear pg. 8 Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved Table of Contents by Jen Harris PLACES pg. 2 PLACES KCAVP pg. 2 A Night of Laughter for the LIKEME Lighthouse pg. 3 Raising the Vibration: Kansas City’s Vibe Art Show pg. 3 Movie Nights pg. 4 Tribe MAGLCC Member pg. 5 Same-Sex Couples Immigration - f you’ve been looking visionaries, and Sara is a remarkable ex- presented in Spanish pg. 7 for a home in which ample of the future of art and performance LIKEME® Gear pg. 8 to experiment with in Kansas City. Her extensive artistic resume Iany level of creative en- includes emceeing, hosting and performing The dates and times for meetings deavor, look no further. in open mic poetry events and circus arts are listed on the LIKEME® Light- Kansas City’s Vibe Tribe such as hula hooping and spinning fire. house Web site calendar at is an artist collective Her musical endeavors link her to sig- likemelighthouse.org with some 100 players nificant Kansas City talent such as the ac- caption regionally whose talents claimed band Dumptruck Butterlips. She Hours of Operation: span the artistic spectrum from seamstresses, refers to Nightlife Jones as her partner-in- Mon. - Sat.: Noon - 8 pm painters, writers, DJs and emcees to air- rhyme (if you haven’t seen him perform, put Sunday: Noon - 6 pm brush makeup artists, graphic designers, that on the list). It was Nightlife’s mantra fire spinners, belly dancers, hula-hoop and “One Vibe, One Tribe” (OVOT) that in- interpretive dancers … The list is endless. spired Sara and others to form The Vibe The Vibe Tribe, which is pursuing not- Tribe in 2011. for-profit status, recently found a home at Sara’s has been pursuing these dreams for 5504 Troost in a space bordering UMKC nearly a decade. Recently, The Vibe Tribe and Rockhurst University. Their mission merged with the KC Drum Tribe to create is to give art to the community while pro- further collaborative genius. This troupe viding artists a safe space for creating, re- continued on page 5 hearsing, collaborating and performing. “The space is primarily used for rehearsals and yoga,” said founder Sara “Miss Conception” Glass. “We also have workshops and are seeking individuals who Winter want to get more involved with the community. We do ask participants to donate if possible. We are all work- Wonder ing artists who contribute as much time and money as NEWS we can, but it helps keep the Ball utilities on. A FREE night of food, fun, “We adopted the principle entertainment and prizes for Editor in Chief: Charlene Daniels that, if you can’t afford to LGBTQ youth and their allies. Managing Editor: Felicia Kyle donate, you can help us in Copy Editor: Elizabeth Andersen a variety of ways including th Reporting: Elizabeth Andersen, Felicia Kyle promoting events, cleaning Friday December 13 Graphics: Howard Callahan the bathrooms, sweeping the 6-9pm Design: Howard Callahan floor before yoga, and espe- At LikeMe Lighthouse cially by bringing a friend or 3909 Main Street two. … We’re trying to bring Kansas City, MO 64111 art and creativity and make 816-753-7770 it accessible to everybody.” 816-561-0550 for help · www.kcavp.org [email protected] Kansas City has long Working to end violence in the lives of LGBTQ Youth and Adults been the home to artistic pg. 2 November 2013 Newsletter LIKEME® Lighthouse - Kansas City and hours around. Absolutely. What have been some of the unex- pected challenges of the first year? We’re … creatures of habit. For years and years and years, there was not a LIKEME Lighthouse. It’s just a matter of getting the Lighthouse to pop into people’s minds. Where can I get legal aid? Where can I get tested for HIV this month? [We”> Just want A Night of Laughter for the people to get in the habit. I think some people were reticent because they thought, LIKEME Lighthouse “they’re not going to make it.” But we’re here to stay. … by Schaeffer Nelson Article courtesy of Camp Magazine, Kansas City What was the biggest challenge in the first year? It was that, winning the community’s trust. t’s officially been a hot minute since LIKEME® Lighthouse opened up shop. Something I really appreciate about the The LGBT community center at 39th Lighthouse is it’s a safe place. I walked in Iand Main Streets opened in March 2012, once and a group of older white women and and it has been serving queer Kansas Citians young African American teenagers were just ever since. To celebrate and raise money, gabbing away and cracking up in the back. Chely Wright — the Lighthouse’s founder I almost never, ever see that. Why do you and an out country music star — is bring- think that can be so rare in LGBT spaces, ing a big comedy show to town Nov. 13 for the kind of spaces where we should see racial one night only. diversity and gender diversity? How can we address that? Wright chatted with Camp about her reflec- tions on the LIKEME Lighthouse’s first year Aunt Char [Charlene Daniels, who is and the comedy show. Wright’s aunt and director of operations for the Lighthouse”>, once a week, she sends a Camp: So, it’s been just over a year since the cute email or text [about the Lighthouse”>. LIKEME Lighthouse opened. It was so cool there were 70-year-old grand- mothers visiting with young kids. You never Chely Wright: Yes. It’s been 18 months. see that. What can the LGBT community do to promote that? It is a problem with the What have been some of the biggest joys of the LGBT community. I asked young people, first year of the Lighthouse? “What are we doing wrong, what can we do better?” [They replied”> “Why are all the One of the most gratifying things is watch- galas in New York, why do they appear to be ing the dots become connected. KC has a all gay white men?” That’s not an unfair ob- very thriving and active LGBT commu- servation. … Men make more money; white nity. Knowing that most of those groups are, people make more money. It’s a symptom of number one, aware of the Lighthouse and, our socioeconomic standing on the national number two, connecting to another group at landscape. What can we do? I think we can the Lighthouse — personally for me, that’s talk about it. I think that’s the beginning. gratifying. There’s no way to measure the emotional and, I guess, the visceral feeling What are some ways you want to see the Light- of someone who has gone to the Lighthouse house mature or grow in the next year? and tells you how meaningful it has been in their life. One gal who was 17, her mother More of the same, just more intense. We had driven her an hour to the Lighthouse. have a very full schedule of events. … There’s a misunderstanding about the heartland that Wow. there aren’t healthy, happy LGBT people. People are living great lives. There’s not another LGBT center for hours continued on page 5 Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved pg. 3 Movie Nights Every Tuesday at 7 p.m. Contact Elizabeth Andersen at [email protected] with questions or movie suggestions. Bring a cozy chair and a snack if you like! Nov 5 Nov 12 Nov 19 Nov 26 7:00 pm 7:00 pm 7:00 pm 7:00 pm UMKC Student Union Title: Hedwig and the Angry Title: “Ian Harvie Superhero” Title: Cloudburst Title: Home for the Holidays Inch at UMKC Cast: Olympia Dukakis, Brenda Director: Jodie Foster Starring John Cameron Mitchell, Runtime: 75 minutes Fricker, Ryan Doucette Cast: Holly Hunter, Robert Downey who also adapted and directed the Genre: Documentary/Comedy Rutime: 93 minutes Jr., Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning, film.