The following meeting information concerning state-wide and area news, events, and activities is updated at the beginning of each calendar month. Please check with the originating organization because of likely cancellations or changes since they were originally posted here. See Local News for events and activities in the Morgantown area not organized directly by the CCSJ.
WEST VIRGINIA'S 19TH AMENDMENT CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS
There will be activities around the state during 2020. See here for details. Events in the immediate future are:
March 6 - Opening night - Women of Appalachia: Invitational Exhibition at the WVU Downtown Campus Library from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. The Women of Appalachia Project is curated by Poet Laureate Kari Gunter-Seymour (Ohio University). This exhibit includes work selected by Gunter-Seymour from the 10th anniversary exhibit including Andi Stern, Barbara Fisher, Cheryl Harshman, Emalea Rupe, Kari Gunter-Seymour, Kathy Guest, Lacy Davis, Robin McClintock, Teresa Sager, Wendy Minor and Whitney Folson. The exhibit will end March 28th. Contact: Sally Brown Deskins, Exhibits & Programs Coordinator, West Virginia University Libraries, sbdeskins@mail.wvu.edu.
March 6 - 2020 Schmidlapp Distinguished Lectureship in Women’s Studies: At 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. at the Brad D. Smith Foundation Hall at Marshall University. Joan Quigley, author of Just Another Southern Town: Mary Church Terrell and the Struggle for Racial Justice in the Nation’s Capital. Free and open to the public. Contact: Dr. Laura Michele Diener, diener@marshall.edu.
March 21 - All Day WV Women’s Suffrage Symposium: WV Culture Center
April 4 - All day Special Presentation at the WV Libertarian Party State Nominating Convention: Presentation about Tonie Nathan, the first woman to receive an electoral vote in the 1972 Presidential Election. She passed away a few years ago. This event is meant to honor her legacy and the legacy of expanding voter rights. Contact: David Valente, Libertarian Party of West Virginia Chair, davidtvalente@gmail.com.
KANAWHA VALLEY NOW CHAPTER
Information about the Kanawha Valley NOW chapter is available here at their Facebook page. There is also a new “Name and Gender Change Guide for West Virginia Residents” available here.
WEST VIRGINIA ACLU
The ACLU is tracking many bills through the legislative session. Follow their efforts here.
The ACLU was tracking HB 4508 that would have banned discrimination based on hair style. This bill is dead as it has not moved out of the Government Organization Committee.
WEST VIRGINIA NOW
West Virginia NOW has a Facebook page and a web page.
FAIRNESS WEST VIRGINIA UPDATE
Fairness West Virginia has released an interactive health guide for transgender West Virginians.
“After completing the first year of the West Virginia Transgender Health Initiative, Fairness West Virginia unveiled Friday the first phase of its comprehensive guide for transgender people who need to access medical care in the Mountain State.
“Staff from Fairness West Virginia have spent more than a year training health care and mental health providers across the region in how to provide competent and compassionate care for transgender people. Those providers are now listed in an online guide.”
You can access the guide here.
PRO-LGBTQ BILLS DIE IN LEGISLATURE
Neither the West Virginia House of Delegates nor Senate allowed a vote on the Fairness Act this year. Youth Mental Health Protection Act, a bill to protect minors from the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy, also died on Wednesday, February 26th, the day bills have to pass one house of the legislature, as did Angel’s Law, which “would add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes under the existing hate crimes law .Angel’s Law would also stress restorative justice, which allows a judge to sentence a perpetrator to work within the community they have wronged in lieu of additional jail time.”
SOME GOOD NEWS
Athens, West Virginia, became the 13th city in the state to adopt a local LGBTQ fairness ordinance.