Co-sponsored by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Foundation and Cincinnati Women’s Political Caucus (CWPC) 

Nancy Minson, a Cincinnati native and longtime activist for social justice and human rights, was a central force for LGBT equality during a period of intense national focus on the city's struggle against intolerance. Minson's roots in the Jewish community, her fluency in local and state politics, her wide-ranging relationships, and her trademark optimism and humor helped fuel the effort to pass a comprehensive nondiscrimination ordinance in 1992. Part of the ordinance protecting LGBT people faced repeal in a divisive 1993 ballot measure known as Issue 3. 

For more than a decade, Minson fostered efforts to build a citywide coalition to undo that measure and encouraged private and public recognition for LGBT people and same-sex couples. Following a successful petition drive aimed at the repeal of Issue 3 (Article XII), city voters rejected the antigay charter amendment at the polls in 2004, removing a stigma that Minson had long lamented. Minson passed away in September 2009 at the age of 63. But her legacy of perseverance, progressive vision, and wit live on. In her memory, the Task Force is establishing the Nancy Minson Memorial Recognition for Righteous and Courageous Action. 

The Recognition will honor each year one ally of the LGBT community whose strategic actions contribute to a major policy victory for LGBT equality. The prize would be awarded at the National Conference for LGBT Equality: Creating Change, which the Task Force hosts each February. The May 16 reception provides an opportunity for friends, admirers, and allies--including the Cincinnati Women's Political Caucus--to join in contributing to the Nancy Minson Recognition at the Task Force.

Charlene Strong & "for my wife..."

Charlene Strong is a Human Rights Commissioner in Washington state and the subject of the award-winning documentary film "for my wife..." The film chronicles the making of an activist for marriage equality. Thrust into the spotlight after the tragic death of her wife Kate in 2006, Strong faced not only the sudden loss, but also the humiliation of hospital and funeral home staff. Instead of retreating in her grief, Strong decided to take a stand. Her dramatic testimony before lawmakers helped pass Washington state's landmark domestic partnership protections. She also became the face and voice of the campaign to defend the laws at the polls and won the first-ever ratification of such family-recognition policies in a statewide vote. Strong's journey against injustice, such as the 1996 law known as the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, takes her into the media and across the country and finally to meeting with President Barack Obama in the company of her late wife's mother. Charlene Strong, a designer and nationally acclaimed speaker, lives in Seattle. In 2008, she endowed the Kate Fleming Memorial Internship in Movement Storytelling at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. She has been featured as a leading change-maker in the national radio magazine The Moth and as a person of character bridging differences in America on the USA Network.

Please Join

Scott Knox * Larry & Sherry Minson * Marianna Bettman

Al Gerhardstein * Georgine Getty * Rabbi Robert Barr

Jenny O'Donnell * Barb Rinto * Tim Burke * Doreen Quinn

Louise Spiegel * Frances Pepper * Barbara Myers * Hans Johnson

for

Light of One, Power of Many

A Night to Honor Nancy Minson

Monday, May 16, 2011

6 to 9 p.m.

The Carnegie in Covington, Kentucky

Reception: 6:00 to 7:00 p.m

Celebration of Nancy Minson: 7:00 to 7:45 p.m.

Film screening of "for my wife..." : 7:45 p.m.

Refreshments by Jeff Thomas Catering

Tickets: $25 each online or $30 each by mail or at the door

Get your ticket online today at: www.thetaskforce.org/formywife

Or send contributions (postmarked no later than May 6 and with "Tickets: Nancy Minson Recognition" marked in memo section) to: The Task Force, attn: Nancy Minson Recognition, 1325 Massachusetts Ave., NW, 6th Floor, Washington, DC  20005.

For more information, please contact Alex Breitman at abreitman@thetaskforce.org.

Or call event co-chairs Hans Johnson at 202-329-7202 or Barbara Myers at 513-321-4063.

Contributions to the Task Force Foundation for the Nancy Minson Recognition are charitable in nature and tax-deductible.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force builds the grassroots power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. We do this by training activists, equipping state and local organizations with the skills needed to organize broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and building the organizational capacity of our movement. Our Policy Institute, the movement’s premier think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality and to counter right-wing lies. As part of a broader social justice movement, we work to create a nation that respects the diversity of human expression and identity and creates opportunity for all. 

www.thetaskforce.org

The Cincinnati Women's Political Caucus is a multi-partisan coalition to advance women's status through political action and to assure that women of diverse backgrounds have an equal voice in decision-making at all levels of our democracy. We encourage and support qualified women in seeking political office, gaining appointed positions, and securing leadership roles within the political parties. We advocate for reproductive freedom for all women and full equality for LGBT people. And we draft, support, and lobby for appropriate legislation at all levels of government. 

www.cincinnatiwomenspoliticalcaucus.org