Breaking Barriers: GALAS Empowers LGBT Armenians

by UHRC on 5/23/10 at 10:11 pm

The Gay and Lesbian Armenian Society (GALAS) held its fifth annual Armenian LGBT Conference titled “Breaking Through: Legally, Politically, Culturally” on Saturday, May 15. The event took place at the Plummer Park Community Center in West Hollywood, bringing together activists from different communities to participate and speak as part of the panel discussion.

The first session included panelists Stephan Johnson of Lamda Legal and Jimmy Nguyen of Equality California. They discussed the current status of the Federal Prop 8 court case, SB 906 (Civil Marriage Religious Freedom Act), and statewide efforts to restore marriage equality. Nguyen reported that after the passage of Proposition 8, which denied marriage equality in California, activists have been working harder and reaching out to more communities to demand equality and action.

The second session was presented by Raffi Hamparian of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and Luis Lopez of Honor Political Action Committee and focused on political issues important to the Armenian and LGBT communities. They discussed the various ways in which activists and community members could take grassroots political action in order to advance their cause. Presenters discussed the most effective methods that can be used to influence decision makers. “The Armenian American community is a broad and diverse entity and one where all voices should be welcomed and heard,” said Hamparian. “The political activism needed to advance justice with respect to the Armenian Genocide and Artsakh is needed from all segments of our community. That means...” [ read more... ]