Upcoming Events

First Thursday – Art Opening and Reception

Thursday, January 5th, 2012; 6 pm

The January Oklahomans for Equality showcase and exhibit of local artists at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center will present the works of Heathyr Chenoweth and Rosie Lynch – Acrylics and Watercolor plus Photography in a show beginning with a reception on Thursday, January 5th  from 6 – 9pm and continuing throughout the month.

January Art

Fitness Programming

Fitness Programming

At the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center

Boot Camp

Wednesday & Thursday  
6:30 pm

Instructor Brad Sullivan leads this high impact cardio-vasular work out guaranteed to pump you up and burn that fat right off of your body.

Country Two Step Class

Thursday
7:30pm
Instructor Boyd Dodson leads the Country and Western two step class, one partner going  forward and the other partner going backward.

Yoga

Friday
5:30 pm

Instructor Leo De Andrade will help you learn the true meaning of Yoga. To “yoke”, the body, mind and spirit through breath and meditation.

All fitness classes are free to OkEq members
and $5 per class for non-members

Martin Luther King Parade 2012

Monday, January 16th, 2012; 11 am

MLKIng
The Martin Luther King Parade is scheduled for Monday January 16th with step off time at 11:00 am. Oklahomans for Equality is registered for a marching contingent and is looking for members who want to march with our walking contingent. Please contact lucas.green@okeq.org if you would like to participate. We will gather at the Equality Center at 9:30 am.

Wild Hearts Ball

Saturday, February 11th, 2012; 7 pm

The Love Train is making a stop at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center. At the 11th Annual Wild Hearts Ball, we will honor those couples who have tied the knot with a very special OkEq wedding cake. For those looking to meet your future mate, we will have Singles Speed Dating available. Special guests of honor will be the Plaintiffs of the Oklahoma Marriage Equality Lawsuit and their attorneys.

Party Dress is appropriate, Door Prizes for couples with the longest relationship, Cash Bar, Raffles, Great Food, DJ Noieze, Party Pics available by Steven Michael Hall Photography 

 LamarMartinez

Tulsa Pride announces 2012 Pride Emcee

Tulsa Pride is June 2nd – 3rd, 2012

Tulsa Pride welcomes Pandora Boxx as the Headliner and Emcee at Tulsa Pride 2012. Pandora Boxx is best known for appearing on the second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race television series. Entertainment Weekly called Boxx their pick for “America’s Next Drag Superstar”. Boxx also appeared on the two seasons of Drag Race spin-off series RuPaul’s Drag U. She also appeared in a television commercial for Absolut Vodka that aired during the third season of Drag Race dressed as a Bloody Mary. She also hosted and performed in the One Night Stand Up Dragtastic NYC special that aired on Logo in January 2011.

Pandora Boxx

Pride Store

Tulsa BagOur featured item in the Equality Center Pride Store is the Rainbow Tulsa Tote bag. Available for $5, these bags make a great accessory for anyone wanting to show their rainbow and Tulsa pride.

Nancy and Joe McDonald Rainbow Library

‘Beauty and Power’ by Mark Johnson

You may check out this addition to our comprehensive resource library at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center
 Beauty and Power
This compelling study of gender and sexual diversity in the Southern Philippines addresses general questions about the relationship between the making of gender and sexualities, the politics of national and ethnic identities and processes of cultural transformation in a world of contract labourers and transnational consumers. The book focuses, in particular, on the meaning and experience of local ‘gays’ — transvestite/transgender-homosexual men — who are at once celebrated as purveyors of beauty (defined in terms of a global American otherness) and valorized as impotent men and defiled women. In short, America functions both as a sign of their abjected status and as a space for imagining and reformulating various gendered identities.

Check for this book and more by visiting our library database online

Nancy and Joe McDonald Rainbow Library

Clean and Sober NEW YEAR’S EVE Party

Saturday, December 31st; 8 pm – 12 am
New Years EveDennis R. Neill Equality Center
This is an Alcohol & Drug Free Event
18 and over
Free Admission but cash donations accepted

Join us at the Equality Center for a clean and sober journey into a high energy dance party with DJ, live entertainment and warm conversations. Light hors d’ouveres will be served along with non-alcoholic punch. Ring in the New Year and join us to watch the Blue Dome District fireworks and New Years Countdown.

First Thursday-Art Opening and Reception

Thursday, January 5th, 2012; 6 pm

The January Oklahomans for Equality showcase and exhibit of local artists at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center will present the works of Heathyr Chenoweth and Rosie Lynch – Acrylics and Watercolor plus Photography in a show beginning with a reception on Thursday, January 5th  from 6 – 9pm and continuing throughout the month.

January Art

2011 Year End Request

From OkEq Executive Director, Toby Jenkins

Toby Jenkins

In 2011, Oklahomans for Equality (OkEq) achieved unprecedented benchmarks in our 31-year history of seeking equal rights for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender individuals and families.

Advocacy: The Dennis R. Neill Equality Center was the first and only community center in the country to host military recruiters.

Education: OkEq hosted the largest heartland regional LGBT Conference for Change, with more than 700 attendees, national leaders and public policymakers participating last February.

Programs: OkEq established our very first comprehensive services for older LGBT individuals. Tulsa Pride 2012 will be celebrating 30 years of Gay Pride. Fitness programs include our first Women’s Rugby team and we sent our first softball team to the Gay World Series in Chicago.
 
Alliances: Helping Oklahoma become a more just and equal state. We celebrate with our partner organization, the Cimarron Alliance Foundation, Oklahoma City’s recent addition of sexual orientation to its city employee nondiscrimination policy.  We partnered with PFLAG to take 180 Tulsa Public School students to the state Capitol last March, to advocate for a statewide policy to address bullying in our schools.

The Dennis R. Neill Equality Center became the only LGBT community center in the country to be totally debt free in May, and it is still the only one among the top 15 LGBT community centers that receives no taxpayer dollars.

We could not do any of these things without our supportive community. Please consider OkEq for your year-end gift to close out 2011. Visit our website at www.okeq.org to make your donation today.

Sincerely,

Toby Jenkins,
Executive Director

Guys Dine Too

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012; 6:30 pm

The January meeting of Guys Dine Too will be at The Dilly Deli
on January 3rd around 6:30 PM.
The Dilly Deli is located on the 
corner of 2nd and Elgin in Downtown Tulsa
www.dillydelitulsa.com
Guys Dine Too is a social program for Gay Men,
and their male Allies/friends,
and meets at a different restaurant every month.
Please RSVP to Richard Haley at gaydine2@yahoo.com
if you plan on attending.

Pride Store Holiday Specials

New Year StoreIf you are looking for some New Year’s party decorations, consider some items from the Pride Store at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center. We are stocked with a variety of items that would compliment a festive New Year’s Eve party. From streamers to windsocks and ribbon tape to rainbow banners, you are sure to find something to show your Pride for the New Year.

Nancy and Joe McDonald Rainbow Library

Cheryl Peck‘Fat Girls and Lawn Chairs’ by Cheryl Peck

You may check out this addition to our comprehensive resource library at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center

Cheryl Peck has many stories to tell-of her naughty cat, her quirky family, and her experiences as a large gay woman in the American heartland. Now in a potpourri of real tales by turns poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, Cheryl talks about family and growing up, love and loss. With self-deprecating humor and compassionate insight, she remembers the time she hit her baby sister in the head with a rock, how her father taught her to swim by throwing her into deep water, and the day when-while weighing in at 300 pounds-she became an inspirational goddess at her local gym. Filled with universal stories about a daughter’s love for her parents and the eternal quest for finding meaning in it all, this book reveals many seemingly unremarkable moments that make a life-the weighty events that, like fat girls sitting on lawn chairs, just won’t let go.

Check for this book and more by visiting our library database online

Nancy and Joe McDonald Rainbow Library

Pony Express

Saturday, January 14th, 2012; 10 pm
“Pony Express” 
A FUN filled social game!
Pony Express

Hosted by Grand Dutchess IV – Stacey McBride O’Neil
and the Imperial Court of All Oklahoma

Club Maverick
Saturday, January 14, 2012
10 PM

If you have always wanted to say something to a certain person, well here is your chance!! It’s fun, exciting and Anonymous…
that is if you want to keep it that way!

For more information contact the ICAO at impcourtok@gmail.com or visit website www.impcourtok.webs.com and click the calendar date

Equality Center Holiday Hours

The Week of December 25th – January 1st, 2012, the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center will be open from 3 – 9 pm, including Christmas and New Year’s Day. Many OkEq programs will be on hiatus that week. Be sure to check the calendar on the OkEq website to check on programming times.