Now it time for US to launch a non-profit on behalf of the transgender community?

Hello TGCD Members!
A Great WEEK and also not so Great  Week....  
And.........is it time for the transgender community to launch a 501 3c to take care of our own and to monitor our image in film and TV?

It hae been such a long week for me both great and no so great.   The good is the incredible growth of TGCD on-line club, so much so we are having to upgrade our server and capacity again!!!   I guess most of you must like all the features Dionne and I have been adding to the site so please, keep inviting your friends and using the site, it is a problem we WANT to have!!  

Also what a great Fri and Sat night at the Oxwood, Little Black Dress Night was beyond belief, wall to wall people all the to 2AM, while LIVE Band Karaoke (despite the tropical downpour last Friday) is now booked for a 4th straight week this Friday from 9P to MID! 
AND THIS COMING FRIDAY NIGHT (See poster and photo montage below!) we will also be having a themed birthday party for bartender Trisha (dress as your favorite DIVA and/or CELEBRITY! dress night!) DJ Saenz starting at Mid to 2AM.  FYI, we will be adding several more events to our March SHINE calendar so stay tuned!   

VERBAL HATE CRIME ASSAULTS CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE...EVEN ME!
Ok, now for the not so good news. two weeks ago, I was on the receiving end of a verbal hate crime assault  and, although the incident was partially captured on video tape, how sad it was to learn what little help some agencies offered up despite their claim they "represent and assist the transgender community in situations like this."   What was interesting to me was the person who (from their legal department) responded to my plea seem more interested in making sure they had all my info for their transgender grants rather than
getting me the legal aid I desperately needed. I know this agencies track record is pretty good, but it sure dropped the ball in my case. Thank God I am quite a tenacious person and I now have a detective assigned to my case and we are pursuing federal hate crime assistance as well.

So apparently, I am learning, the transgender community makes for great grants and contributions for some non-profits but the commitment is quite shallow beyond that.  I won't mention the agencies involved just yet, but there's a core of TGCD members (including me) that are thinking of starting our OWN action group for the transgender community including an image and representation committee to work with film and TV producers-- much like many minority communities utilize and the gay and lesbian communities.  Our feeling is that if there are companies and people that are willing to give and/or donate financial assistance to help the TS community, then shouldn't we run the organization ourselves?  This reminds of state taxes where we pay for roads and education but a good portion of the money goes instead to state worker pension funds and retirement plans. 

So I am challenging those of you who amongst us that know how to launch a 501 3c, those that might want to be part of the board of directors, those that know how to fund raise, those that want to create the mission plan and direction for such an organization, those that have legal or OTHER skills that could help out and/or those that just have some extra funds to help us raise the 5k needed to launch a 501 3c, drop me an email and I will start a separate mailing list and a forum on TGCD to start getting feedback on this concept and what goals should it set and try to attain.  I hope to hear from more than just a handful of you.   You NEVER know when something like this could happen to YOU! (I honestly never expected it either).
Hope to see you at OXWOOD Friday night and Saturday night for Club SHINE!
Laura Gonzales