Thank you to everyone who attended Tuesday night’s meeting. At last count we had thirty-five people in attendance, the largest turnout for a regular meeting in a while.
We kicked off the meeting with introductions and some laughs. Immediately following, our first order of business was the swearing in of recently elected board members by Annalisa Perea. Congratulations to our newest executive board:
- Terry Stasio, President
- Marsha Conant, Vice President
- Myra Coble, Treasurer
- Artemes C. Gidram, Secretary
- Monte Forkas, Director of Outreach
- Courtney Becker-Foster, Member At Large
Following the swearing in of our officers, Annalisa addressed the club about issues of concern to our club and the LGBTQ+ community.
Robin McGehee, LGBTQ+ Liaison to the Mayor’s office announced the upcoming LGBTQ+ Townhall on April 22 at Fresno City College (details below). Fresno Stonewall Democrats has registered to table at this event and will need a couple volunteers to talk to community members that walk up looking for information.
At the end of May is the California Democratic Party State Convention where new officers and regional directors will be elected. Elisa Rivera, a candidate for CADEM Regional Director District 10, spoke to the club about her intentions and goals if elected. She is one of several candidates, but the only one so far to request to speak to the club membership and ask for our endorsement. Members passed a motion to have an Endorsement vote at next month’s meeting on May 13th. Elisa completed our club questionnaire and it will be posted to our website soon for everyone to review.
Peter Robertson with the Fresno State Alumni Association spoke about the annual Rainbow Graduation Ceremony. Fresno State Alumnus, Jorge Barajas Magdaleno, who graduated last year, spoke about going back to school, his identity, and the importance of this ceremony. This year’s Rainbow Graduation will be on May 17th (details below). The club passed a motion to donate $250 toward the cost of regalia for students participating this year. Marsha challenged meeting attendees to also donate and over $600 was pledged. Later Peter Robertson informed us that he received over $2,000 in donations as a result of our meeting.
Artemes Gidram gave a report on Equality California’s recent LGBTQ+ Day of Advocacy that was held in Sacramento. Artemes and other members of PFLAG Fresno traveled there on a chartered bus that was paid for with donations by PFLAG members and other donors on social media.
Patty Cappelutti gave a report on last weekend’s “Hands Off” protest in Fresno, one of over 1,600 across the country that took place on the same day. Attendance was estimated to be over 2,000 at the Fresno protest.
Regular business followed, with the approval of last month’s minutes, review of the current Treasurer’s Report, and followed by the President and Vice President’s Reports.
Terry Stasio and Marsha Conant discussed plans for this year’s Fresno Rainbow Pride Parade & Festival (details below) for which the club is a sponsor again this year at the $500 level. Some fun ideas for new swag were discussed and debated but ultimately voted down. The board will review other ideas.
Also discussed was the second Democratic Happy Hour, focused on introducing new people to the Democratic Party and politics. This event will be held on April 29th (details below).
Terry Stasio also announced that plans for an April or May fundraiser had to be moved out to July or August due to the earlier months being packed with other events and holidays
Fresno Stonewall Democrats will meet again on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, at 5:30 PM, at Los Amigos Mexican Restaurant. The agenda and minutes will be available soon in the Google Drvie. You can access those files and more at https://bit.ly/fsd-mtgdocs
All Democrats are welcome to attend meetings regardless of membership status.
NOTICE: At the Tuesday meeting members voted to have an endorsement vote for CADEM District 10 Regional Director, to be held at the May 13th Monthly Meeting. As per club bylaws, this notice is in compliance with the “due notice” requirement of 28 days.
