| Gay pride week kicks off Sunday with a blessing
The Jersey City Lesbian and Gay Outreach, Inc. and Grace Church Van Vorst will kick off Jersey City Pride Week Sunday by hosting a ceremonial blessing ceremony for same-sex couples. The Rev. Gregory Perez will conduct the service, which will consist of hymns, songs of praise, scriptural and non-scriptural readings, prayer and a special blessing of relationships. Lesbian and Gay couples, their families and friends are all invited to the blessing. Jersey City Pride Week will culminate with the Jersey City Pride Festival on Aug. 26 from noon to 8 p.m. at Exchange Place. For more information, visit www.jclgo.org or www.gracevanvorst.org or call Grace Van Vorst Church at (201) 659-2211, ext. 4. PATRICK VILLANOVA .
Black Pride alleges lack of support from AIDS groups
As In the Life Atlanta prepares to host its 10th annual series of events for Black Gay Pride, organizers criticized an alleged lack of support from local AIDS agencies for the Labor Day weekend festival. "The most disturbing part is we accommodate majority black gay men, high risk, and we can not get a majority of Atlanta AIDS service organizations to come to the plate," ITLA board member Greg Smith wrote in an e-mail to Southern Voice. As the official organizer of Black Gay Pride, In the Life Atlanta sponsors a series of cultural, educational, social and political events from Aug. 30 to Sept. 4, including a two-day "Taking Pride in Healthy Living" conference at the Sheraton Midtown Colony Square, ITLA’s host hotel. Of the 11 sponsors currently listed on the group’s website, three are HIV organizations: AIDS Survival Project, Atlanta-based National AIDS Education & Services for Minorities, and PAUSE (Promoting Awareness of HIV Using Safer Sex Education), a program of the Georgia Department of Human Resources.
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