The following 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 to check on possible cancellations or changes that might have occurred since they were originally posted here. See Local News for non-CCSJ events and activities organized and/or occurring in the Morgantown area. See WVU News for Social and Environmental Justice related activties and events organized or occurring at West Virginia University.
NOW is focusing on encouraging people to register and vote this year and also supporting the equal rights amendment and abortion. For more information, go to their Facebook page or email Amanda Ray, the state NOW president, at amandajray@yahoo.com. There is a new NOW chapter starting in Huntington. The kickoff will be an “Unhappy Hour” with Barbara Evans Fleischauer on Tuesday, September 24th.
See more about ACLU West Virginia here or Facebook. Email them at mail@acluwv.org.
The ACLU opposes Amendment 1 that will be on the West Virginia ballot this fall. According to their website, “Amendment 1 would change the West Virginia Constitution to prohibit ‘the practice of medically assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing of a person.’ Cynically, the proposed amendment concludes by stating that this does not prohibit the practice of capital punishment.” For more information, please go tohttps://www.acluwv.org/en/news/life-and-death-ballot-vote-no-amendment-1-november.
Fairness West Virginia is a civil rights advocacy organtization dedicated to the fair and equal treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender West Virginians.
Fairness West Virginia has a calendar of state-wide PRIDE events here.
Follow Fairness West Virginia on Facebook.
The WVTC is a grassroots organization that works to ensure the wellbeing, safety and lived equity of all trans, nonbinary, and gender expansive community members within the state of West Virginia.”
For more information, please go their Facebook page.
Drag Queen Bingo - Halloween Edition
“Prepare for a wicked night at Drag Queen Bingo ~ Halloween Edition! 👑🎃
“On Sunday, October 6th from 5-8pm, haunt your way to Lee St Lounge for a frightfully fabulous evening of bingo and fierce queens. Just $20 to play and you’ll be hexed with laughs, prizes, and maybe a few ghostly surprises. 👻
“Get those looks together for our Costume Contest!
“Categories include: ✨ Prettiest (who says witches can’t be glam?); 👹 Ugliest (we want to see that full monster mode!); 👻 Scariest (make us scream, darling!); 🎭 Most Original (surprise us!); 👑 Viki Williams Drag Queen Look-A-Like (spooky realness!)
“Each category comes with a $25 cash prize—so bring your deadliest looks and slay! 🕸️ 21+ only (no tricks, just treats 🍸 ) Expect cackling queens, killer costumes, and maybe a few skeletons out of the closet.”
Power of One and Legends of Pride Gala: “SAVE THE DATE! 👀✨ Saturday, November 16, 2024, at the Women’s Club in Charleston, Rainbow Pride of WV will be hosting an iconic affair… the Power of One & Legends of Pride gala! 🦄 💐🌟
“Event details to come."
“Mark your calendars… it’s going to be legendary.”
This group organized in December 2021 in Charleston “to illuminate the experiences of LGBTQ+ people of color in West Virginia and provide them with a safe space of fellowship,” according to a story in the Juneteenth edition of Black By God: The West Virginian. For more information, email WVBPfoundation@outlook.com or Kasha@wvpfoundation.com.
According to its website, “We are an emerging news and storytelling organization centering Black voices from the Mountain State. We provide a more nuanced portrayal of the Black experience in the Appalachian region.” Crystal Good is the editor/publisher/founder of Black By God.
There is a weekly online edition and a quarterly print edition.
To contact Black by God, email Info@Blackbygod.org or call 304-207-0352. The mailing address is 2156 University Ave. Suite 400, Morgantown, WV, 26505. To make a tax-deductible donation, go to blackbygod.org/donate.
Justice & Jubilee is a movement for liberation, rooted in progressive Christianity and born in WV. They are a founding partner of the WV Collective, and they’ve got an incredible thing coming your way. A new series airing next month. Black women make up 1.5% - 2.5 % of the State’s population. A small but vibrant group, they are often overlooked and unheard. We believe that the least heard people have the most important things to say.
Spilling The Black Girl Tea: “Spilling The Black Girl Tea: Unfiltered Stories from the heart of Appalachia” is a multi-media, anti-racism project uplifting the experiences and work of Black women who call West Virginia home. The storytellers in the project are 17 Black girls and women raging in age from 16 to 80, candidly sharing their experiences in candid conversations. The participants are students, community leaders, educators, advocates, activists, and entrepreneurs who are talking about what matters to them most. Some of these women are long-time friends. Some have just met for the first time. All of them are telling their stories their way. This limited, four-episode series is set to launch on Monday, September 9, and each of the following Mondays throughout September. You can watch the episodes on, Justice and Jubilee You Tube Channeland listen on The Accidental Tomatoes Podcast. Subscribers to the Justice & Jubilee email list will gain exclusive, early access to the weekly episodes. Watch you inboxes throughout the month of September, as Justice & Jubilee will deliver each weekly episode at the top of the week to its subscribers. If you are not subscribed to their email list, update your email preferences with us. Follow Justice & Jubilee on social media to see who’s involved in the conversations and what they’re talking about. Follow Justice & Jubilee on Facebook, Instagram, and X/Twitter. Visit the Black Girl Tea website. Funding for this project is provided by Justice & Jubilee, the ACLU of West Virginia, the United Methodist Foundation of West Virginia , and the Groundwork Project.