FRESNO STONEWALL DEMOCRATS invite ALL Democrats to join us to show our unity and support of the LGBTQ+ Community, by walking/riding in the Pride Parade, and/or staffing our information booth at the Festival.
Parade begins at 10AM. Festival is open from 11AM-6PM. WE NEED VOLUNTEERS FOR THE FOLLOWING SHIFTS:
8:00-9:00 AM Shift — Set up Festival Booth at FCC
8:30-9:30 AM Shift — Decorate Float (Olive & Palm) & Parade Check In
04/09 5:30 PM – Fresno Stonewall Democrats Monthly Meeting with guest Robin McGehee, Fresno City LGBTQ+ Liaison, and Zander Moricz on Zoom on organizing against “Don’t Say Gay”
04/14 2:00 PM – PFLAG Fresno Monthly Meeting: Speaker will be Adam Chang with Oasis Legal Services, experienced in immigration legal services for the LGBTQ+ community.
04/21 12:00 PM – Volunteer Round Up for Fresno Rainbow Pride at Dave & Busters: Long and short term volunteer opportunities. Experience not required. Everyone is welcome. Questions: tracie.fresnorainbowpride@gmail.com
5/19 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Fresno State Rainbow Graduation at Satellite Student Union. Fresno State LGBTQ+ and allied graduates will be provided rainbow-themed medals, stoles and tassels as graduation gifts! The crowdfunding campaign is April 2 to 30, 2024. We welcome your support! https://crowdfunding.fresnostate.edu/project/41929
JUNE 2024
06/01 10:00 AM – Fresno Rainbow Pride & Festival: https://fresnorainbowpride.com
Please join us for dinner, drinks, and our monthly meeting Tuesday, April 9th. All Democrats are welcome to attend meetings. Annual memberships cost $20 for the whole year and help us accomplish our mission and objectives.
Special guest Robin McGehee will talk about her work with the City of Fresno, as the newly appointed LGBTQ+ Liaison to the Office of the Mayor, as well as her National work to organize against the ‘Don’t Say Gay” efforts in the state of Florida and beyond. She will have one of the youth that she organizes with, Zander Moricz Zooming in from ground zero!
Meeting documents (agenda, minutes, reports, etc) can be viewed / downloaded at: https://bit.ly/fsd-mtgdocs
We hope you can join us at this meeting. If you have additions to the agenda, future speaker suggestions, or announcements to be included on our meeting handout please send them to info@fresnostonewalldemocrats.org.
Our March meeting with Dr. Peter Robertson was very well attended and held in the larger meeting room that is so much nicer for our group. The huge TV made it possible for everyone to clearly see Dr. Robertson’s presentation and there was even a microphone and speaker setup so he could be heard over the sounds from the other rooms. It was a pleasure to see new faces and recognize some familiar faces from the past, who who came for their very first Stonewall meeting.
During normal business the club motioned and voted to approve a $250 sponsorship for “Democrats In Action”, an annual fundraiser for the Fresno County Democratic Women’s Club, being held this Saturday at 11:30 AM at the Manhattan. The sponsorship includes two tickets for the luncheon. Terry Stasio and Marsha Conant will represent the club at this event.
Club members tonight also voted to become a sponsor of the Fresno Rainbow Pride Parade & Festival at the $400 level. The sponsorship includes a spot in the parade, a booth at the festival, and an ad in the program. We’ll now need all of you to show up on June 1st to walk with us in the parade or ride on our float! We’ll also need a couple volunteers to run our club’s Information & Voter Registration booth at the festival afterward (we will soon have a sign up sheet for this).
SPECIAL ELECTION ANNOUCEMENT (28 day advance notice per our bylaws): Myra Coble has volunteered and been nominated for the currently open position of Treasurer. Next month, at our April 9th meeting, members will vote to elect her officially in that position.
THANK YOU Dr. Peter Robertson for your wonderful presentation on “Fostering Authentic and Sincere LGBTQ+ Allyship”. It was so nice for members to learn about your life, your accomplishments, and what motivated you to follow the path you’re on.
AND THANK YOU Joseph Bascetta for the cake! What an unexpected treat that was! Yum.
Thanks again for all that attended the meeting tonight. It was great to see those of you who return every month, and it was really wonderful to see so many new faces coming to their first meeting. We hope to see you all again at our next meeting in April, if not before. :)
Please join us this month for a special treat as we welcome Dr. Peter Robertson as our speaker.
FOSTERING AUTHENTIC AND SINCERE LGBTQ+ ALLYSHIP. Dr. Peter Robertson (he/his/him) shares award-winning doctoral dissertation research and findings, completed at Fresno State. (Dissertation chair and faculty mentor: Dr. Jonathan Pryor).
ABOUT PETER ROBERTSON: Dr. Peter Robertson (he/his/him) has been referred to as a “change maker” on behalf of Fresno’s disenfranchised and marginalized communities. For the past 36 years, he has been passionate about serving others and strives to lead by example.
A four-time graduate of Fresno State (BA, MA, MBA, and EdD), the genesis for his activism was fostered as an undergraduate student. He was a founding member of United Student Pride, a co-founder of the Fresno Reel Pride Film Festival, and named a grand marshal for the inaugural Fresno Rainbow Pride Parade. In 2023, he was presented the Harvey Milk Award: Champion of Change by the City of Fresno. Recently, he was appointed the co-chair of the President’s LGBTQ2+ and Allies Advisory Council at Fresno State.
As a Fresno State staff member, he has continued to advocate for creating a powerful sense of belonging while maintaining respect for students, alumnx and allies, as well as faculty and staff. As a volunteer, he established the Bulldog Pride Fund, and started the Rainbow Alumnx and Allies Club.
Robertson is the director of alumni connections with the Fresno State Alumni Association, where he has worked for, donated to, and volunteered with the past 21 years.
Fresno Stonewall Democrats met on January 9, 2024, to decide on candidate endorsements for the upcoming Primary Election on March 5, 2024. We are pleased to share the following endorsements:
STATE ENDORSEMENTS CA Assembly District 6: Evan Minton
CITY & COUNTY OF FRESNO ENDORSEMENTS Fresno Co. Board of Supervisors District 2: Bryce Herrera Fresno Co. Board of Supervisors District 3: Miguel Arias Fresno Co. Board of Supervisors District 5: Jennifer Cruz Fresno City Council District 2: Mike Karbassi Fresno City Council District 4: Tyler Maxwell
Fresno Stonewall Democrats will be conducting our Endorsement Meeting on Tuesday, January 9th, where members will vote to decide which candidates to endorse for the upcoming Primary Election on March 5, 2024. Candidates in local races (Fresno County Supervisor, Fresno City Council, and Mayor) have been invited to attend if they would like to address members before the selection process begins (candidates will be allowed to speak for two minutes).
Fresno Stonewall Democrats has asked candidates to complete our Questionnaire to inform our members as to their positions on issues related to our mission and goals. Below are candidates who completed our questionnaire.
We will also be considering endorsements in two State races:
U.S. Senate
State Assembly AD-6
We didn’t receive questionnaires from candidates for these offices but we’d like to mention that Evan Minton for State Assembly AD-6(click here for his Bio) was our guest speaker in September 2023, is a champion for Transgender issues, and is the only Democrat running for that office.
Endorsement of a candidate requires 60% of members voting. New members must wait a grace period of twienty-eight (28) days before they are eligible to vote — this means only members who joined on December 12, 2023 or earlier may participate in this process.
5:30 PM – Dinner, drinks, and general discussion of hot topics or current events 6:00 PM – Meeting Calls to Order
The Agenda, previous meeting minutes, and other relevant meeting documents, are available online here:
We are meeting this month on Friday, December 8th at 6:30 pm for a party! Please join us at Patty & Keith Cappelluti’s Fabulous Home to enjoy holiday music, good food, tasty drinks, and great company!
We hope to have some silent auction items available for you!
We will also be collecting non-perishable food items for the Fresno EOC’s LGBTQ+ Resource Center downtown as well as hygiene products (shampoo, conditioner, soap, brushes, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, lotion, feminine products, etc).
Everyone is invited to attend this free event and kick off the holiday season with us.
We hope you can attend this free event and enjoy the company of other like-minded Democrats. Whether you can make it or not, Fresno Stonewall Democrats appreciates your support and wish you a fabulous holiday season and all the best in 2024.
NEXT GENERAL MEETING: JANUARY 9, 2024
In January the club will meet to consider and vote on candidate endorsements for the upcoming election cycle. Our endorsements serve as a Voting Guide for many of the club’s members and followers who might be undecided on some positions. If you’re a paid member you are encouraged to attend this meeting to participate in the decision making process. If you are not a paid member you may join the membership to participate as long as you do so by December 12 (new members must wait 28 days before they are eligible to vote in club matters).
Please join us at our November meeting to hear D’Aungillique Jackson, Fresno State Graduate, Bulldog Pride Fund Scholar, and first LGBTQIA+ Student Body President. Earlier this year she was invited to The 2nd Pride Reception at The White House by Vice President Kamala Harris. D’Aungillique also led the Black Lives Matter Protest in Fresno in 2020, one of the city’s largest and most peaceful demonstrations; she was the youngest member of Fresno’s Commission on Police Reform; and she was President of the Fresno State chapter of the NAACP.
Meeting Agenda and other documents:
As a recent Fresno State graduate, D’Aungillique earned her B.A. in Sociology in the Fall of 2022. She is a people activator and mobilizer. Though she is not native to Fresno, D’Aungillique’s lived experiences as a Black American woman, a military kid, and an LGBTQIA+ youth have ignited within her a passion to advocate for equity and transformative justice wherever she goes.
Her most recent accomplishments include being an invited guest of Vice President Kamala Harris at her “2023 Pride Reception” for esteemed LGBTQ+ organizers, becoming a member of the Central Valley’s “40 under 40” Class of 2023, serving as the 2021-2022 Fresno State Student Body President, Becoming a Bulldog Pride Fund Scholar (2021 – 2022), receiving the 2020 John D. Welty Award for Community Excellence in Community Service, serving as Faith in the Valley’s Community Justice Fellow, serving as the youngest commissioner on Fresno’s Commission for Police Reform, and leading Fresno’s largest, most peaceful protest—the city of Fresno’s Black Lives Matter protest on May 31st, 2020. Above all, D’Aungillique Jackson is most proud to be a recharting member of the Fresno State NAACP college chapter, the 2019-2021 Chapter President, and the current campus advisor for this organization.
Members of our club attended the annual Eleanor Roosevelt Birthday Luncheon organized by the Historic Fresno County Democratic Women’s Club. Honorees at this event were three women in our community that have made significant change for our community, impacted politics, and have been leaders over several decades.
Hon. Dezie Woods-Jones, BWOPA Founder & State President
Hon. Cynthia A. Sterling, BWOPA Fresno/SJV President
Marsha Conant, NWPC Fresno President
FCDWC President Carole Laval welcomed everyone to the event and acknowledged the many elected leaders in the audience as well as candidates who are actively running campaigns. There were many sponsors attending and several other Democratic clubs represented in the audience.
This year’s theme was “It’s Up To The Women”, honoring women who lead.
The Keynote speaker was Susannah Delano, Executive Director of Close The Gap California, a statewide campaign that seeks to close the gender gap in the California Legislature. She gave a great talk on what her organization does, what they’ve accomplished, and what the future looks like.
M.C. Sandra Garcia, Sr. District Representative for Congressman Jim Costa, introduced each of the honorees as they were presented with their awards and addressed the audience.
The event closed with a surprise appearance by Congressman Jim Costa who gave the event a thoughtful closing speech and personally congratulated all three honorees and posed for pictures.
Marsha Conant, the final honoree, is also our own Vice President of Fresno Stonewall Democrats!
Congratulations to all three honorees! We wish all of you all the best.
Please join us for our monthly meeting at Los Amigos Mexican Restaurant. Everyone is invited to order dinner and/or drinks during our social and “hot topic” segment from 5:30pm until 6:00pm, after-which we’ll call the meeting to order and continue with our agenda while you enjoy your dinner. Location: Los Amigos Restaurant 5088 N Blackstone, Fresno, CA (on Blackstone Ave just North of Shaw) Scheduled Speakers: Michael Evans on the Tax Payer Deception Act Meeting Documents: https://bit.ly/fsd-mtgdocs
Please join us for our monthly meeting at Los Amigos Mexican Restaurant. Everyone is invited to order dinner and/or drinks during our social and “hot topic” segment from 5:30pm until 6:00pm, after-which we’ll call the meeting to order and continue with our agenda while you enjoy your dinner. Location: Los Amigos Restaurant 5088 N Blackstone, Fresno, CA (on Blackstone Ave just North of Shaw) Scheduled Speakers: To Be Announced Meeting Documents:
