Coming Out Day Celebration

National Coming Out Day was celebrated October 9th here in Fresno. It was celebrated on the front plaza

of our own City Hall. This is the second year we’ve celebrated NCOD there. It seems only right to hold the

venue there since last year Mayor Autry used the plaza to discriminate against our brothers and sisters in

the LGBT community. What better place to have our very own celebration?

The event started at 4 and finished up at about 5:45. For an hour and 45 minutes we had the pleasure of

hearing from several wonderful speakers: Alan Gilmore, Jacqueline Frank, Bev Senkowski, Sue Stone, Robin McGeehee, and our guest speaker Christine Chavez-Gonzales. Each speaker shed light on the

importance of validation of being ones self and not having to hide in a closet. Mrs. Chavez-Gonzales spoke

of her grandfather Caesar Chavez and his fight for equal rights across all groupings of people, even

those of the LGBT community and how he influenced her to do the same.

About 74 people attended the event. Many brought chairs or blankets for this sunny event. The media

coverage was phenomenal. There was coverage for Telemundo 21. NBC 24, FOX 26, ABC 30, CBS 47, and The Fresno Bee. We were all happy to greet our friends, family, and neighbors with bright smiles. Jay Hubbell of the Stonewall Democrats made himself available to register attendees to vote.

The music for the event was made possible by Maria of “A Spin This DJ”. She was a great addition to the event. Her Top 40 kept the celebration in motion.

All in all a good time was had by all. The celebration was very peaceful and heart warming. It

felt good to be “OUT”. Thank you to everyone who attended and a big thank you to everyone who made this

possible.

Becki Jones

[email protected]

The event was sponsored by Equality California and co-organized by GayFresno.com.

Speakers (in order of appearance):

Becki Jones welcomes all	Alan Gilmore, Planned Parenthood	Jacqueline Frank
Jacqueline Frank	Bev Senkowski	Bev Senkowski
Becki announces intermission	Sue Stone, CCA President	Sue Stone, CCA President
Robin McGehee	Robin McGehee	Robin McGehee
Christine Chavez	Christine Chavez	Christine Chavez

Attandees enjoy the event:
Justin Daley Joey Houtekamer	Our Bakersfield Allies	Lorenzo Holguin, VP of CCA Mike Martinez, QueerFresno


Maria, A Spin This DJ	Jay Hubbell mans the voter booth	CCA tables to show others their benefits