News and Events Update from S.B.’s Gay Community

October has been buzzing with news and events in Santa Barbara’s gay and lesbian community. Things quickly got rolling with an energetic crowd at S.B.’s annual AIDS Walk, and, a week later, the Gay and Lesbian Business Association celebrated its student scholarships and humanitarian awards recipients. If you act quickly (as in, by today, Thu., Oct. 15), you can still snag the early-bird rate ($60) for a festival pass for the 18th annual OUTrageous Film Festival, happening this year November 12-15. Visit outrageousfilmfestival.org for more information and to buy tickets.

Heart & Sole AIDS Walk: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s line-item veto this July brought the total amount eliminated from the state’s Office of AIDS budget to a whopping $82 million. In the wake of that decision, S.B. County’s HIV/AIDS resource center, Pacific Pride Foundation (PPF), immediately had to lay off 11 employees and reduce its food pantry budget by half. Thus, this year perhaps more than ever, PPF’s AIDS Walk needed to be a resounding success. More than 60 teams registered and more than 650 walkers came out on Saturday, October 3, for the annual 10-K event, which early estimates show raised $81,000, according to AIDS Walk Coordinator Colette Schabram. The depleted food pantry is still in dire need, however; visit pacificpridefoundation.org to see a shopping list of suggested donations.

Humanitarian Awards & Student Scholarships: The Gay and Lesbian Business Association (GLBA) recently celebrated the recipients of its annual humanitarian awards and student scholarships. Since 1985, GLBA has been working in Santa Barbara County to increase the cultural and economic presence of the community’s gay and lesbian population.

GLBA is the only source of financial assistance for gay and lesbian students in S.B. County, and it has awarded more than $100,000 in scholarships throughout its history. This past Saturday at the S.B. Municipal Golf Course’s Mulligan’s Cafe & Bar, the association awarded four students with $4,250 in scholarships. Amanda Wallner, a political science major and president of the Campus Democrats at UCSB, received the Stephen Logan Memorial Scholarship. Jimmy Cabrera Jr.-a communications major at Cal State Long Beach who participated in this May’s Changing Gears Long Beach Bike Ride, which benefits HIV/AIDS outreach-earned the Robert L. Johns Vocational Scholarship, awarded since 2003 specifically to help students achieve their professional goals. Jay Carlon, president and founder of the Queer United Artists Collective at UC Irvine, recently embarked on his graduate education in dance choreography; he got the Carl Joseph Adelhardt Memorial Scholarship, whose namesake was a longtime Santa Barbaran dedicated to increasing diversity and equality in his community. Lastly, Daniel Szuhay, a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at Carp’s Pacifica Graduate Institute who’s completing his marriage and family therapist internship hours at L.A.’s Gay & Lesbian Center, received the Raffin-Gathercole Scholarship.

In addition, GLBA has honored more than 91 individuals and organizations since first handing out its humanitarian awards in 1986. Saturday’s late-afternoon ceremony fted the GLBA scholarship recipients as well as 2009’s humanitarian awardees. This year, Jill Shalhoob (Business Award) and the Great Outdoors (Community Award) were honored alongside John Chufar and Mayor Marty Blum, both of whom received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Special guests the Reverend Troy Perry-founder of the famed Metropolitan Community Church, the Los Angles-based Protestant congregation with a specific outreach to gays and lesbians since it inception in 1968-and his longtime partner, Phillip Ray De Blieck, also were in attendance.

Live Culture Mixer: The winter counterpart to summertime’s hugely successful Sunset at the Canary happy-hour mixer series is upon us. The first installment was a free wine tasting (plus live music and discounted food offerings) this past Tuesday at Paseo Nuevo’s Live Culture (11 W. De la Guerra St.). The once-a-month event (happening the second Tuesday of each month) started off with a bang, and the new venue is a promising space for mixing and mingling. For more details, visit liveculturelounge.com.