Doc Is Balled & Chained

My friend Doc Spad, the former Chair of Second Pride, married in his first life yesterday afternoon. Doc himself informed us about the planned nuptials on his blog on Thursday; Doc Spad...a few thoughts: From my virtual world to Reality...

Who would have thought it, huh?

This free, unfettered bachelor that has been roaming around in SecondLife and crushed the hearts of so many wistful men is no more. Instead we now have a grown up, reliable and dependable married man with "a Volvo, a villa and a voff-voff", i.e. a dog. (Direct translation from a Swedish joke about what defines the pillar of Swedish community, a married man.)

My best wishes go to the amazing man who successfully bagged Doc (Do you happen to give lessons in that art, sir?). My warmest congratulations go to the two of you, may you have a long and wonderful life together!

Second Pride - Finally A Full Board Again

I have been remiss in my bogging to keep you updated on Second Pride, if you desperately need someone to blame I suggest you speak to Mr. Tomais Ashdene.

However, there was a board meeting last Thursday (which I unfortunately could not attend due to timezone hassles) that presented quite a few interesting developments. If you should wish to read the complete and unadorned minutes please visit the Second Pride website, Meeting Minutes of SP Board Meeting Nov 20, 2013 (url).

Here are my personal reflections on what occurred.

The attending membership was informed that Damian Tar had chosen to resign as Chairperson of the Second Pride board. He was duly thanked for his services to Second Pride.

This news saddened me greatly. Damian has been treated abominably by parts of the gay community, both in the election process and afterwards. He has received countless vicious and unreasonable personal attacks ever since he declared his intention of running for Chair. Damian has not even been granted the common decencies, that are fundamental principles of every democratic society, the right of being considered innocent until proven guilty or the chance to be heard in his own defence. Instead he has been judged, condemned and hung out to dry by the mob in whispering campaigns on social forums with little or no mercy shown.

I have grown to like, respect and admire Damian, but I can also see that in the end the hostility and focus on his person took away his and the boards ability to perform the important work they are elected to do. With the added burden of his sickness it is understandable that he, for his own good and the good of Second Pride, finally decided to step down. Like the board, I wish Damian all the best for the future.

Petr Hasting-Vanbeeck was appointed to replace Damian as chairperson.

Petr is a hardworking, no-nonsense and charming man who is well equipped to handle this position. I trust him and his level headedness to assure that the board's focus now is turned to the business at hand.

Andy Long was appointed to the position of Secretary/Co-Chair. I welcome this appointment also, although I will implore the new secretary to in the future spell my last name correctly, i.e. McMillan with two capital M's.

Sutry Long was appointed to the vacant position of Security Director. I am certain that Sutry will be an asset in the boards continued work.

So we finally have a full board again, lets get some work done people!

IT Director Jagger Naughton informed that Baz Ceawlin had agreed to become his co-chair.

At the meeting Petr then commenced to announce the creation of an ad hoc committee to review the bylaws of Second Pride.The committee is to be co-chaired by board directors Karl Karlchek and Marge Beaumont and include "Doc Spad, Bock Mcmillan (sic!) and one more as yet unnamed committee member".

Life Is A Cabaret @ Spinners

Yesterday I gave ya'll the prologue, well parts of it, because I said nothing about the many, many hours I spent shaving my face and every nook and cranny of my body. In some hard-to-reach places I even had to beg for assistance by an unnamed hair-remover. But let's forget about those traumatic moments now, suffice it to say that it takes some pain to be pretty.

Guykita, Butchette and the radiant Bocquerelle arrived to the venue on the specified time only to find that we were the only three in full drag, well except for Andy Long and his beautiful husbands, Story and Sutry. Not only that but - to add disaster to discomfort - it turned out there was an alpha layer on the ballroom floor that made Butchette's and my amazing gowns from Paris Metro disappear. "Alpha on alpha, just doesn't work, as every noob knows!", said Butchette (or something to that effect) as we moved on to the stage (which was non-alpha).

Guykita, Butchette & Bocquerelle
Photo by Butch Diavolo 

Butchette looking absolutely divine
Photo by Butch Diavolo

Isn't it amazing what can be accomplished with highlights and lowlights? Just look at Butchette's wonderful bosom, who would think that if you saw him from the side he was as flat chested as he always is.

The radiant Ms Bocquerelle, lairdess of Southern Charm etc.
Photo by Butch Diavolo

Story, Andy & Sutry Long

Kharissa, Pieni & Larz Kas

Poor little Pieni, was threatened by Butchette to be skinned and made into shoes. Brave little Pieni was not frightened by the bully because - as I was told later - "Lol he wuld have been in real trouble then. I has sharp teethies and twelve protective uncles. AND aunties and cousins. Hehe".

After a grueling two hour period eventually more and more people started showing up in the requested attire, although some were still not confident enough.

Former Second Pride Chair Doc Spad with one of our DJ's for the evening Karl Kalchek. 

Ms. Regina Yifu (in a creation she made herself) joined Butchette and me in a dance

Andy Long, the second DJ of the evening, surrounded by wives and a sister

We even had the pleasure of being joined by the renowned SecondLife
performance artist SaveMe Oh for a while (before she was kicked out
for creating lag with her sheep and meadows rezzed all over the ballroom)

Butchette, I and my brother in-law Dej with some of SaveMe's sheep

A dazzling beauty whose name I am afraid I have forgotten.
I am not even sure if she was in drag or is a woman.

Well known party goer, illustrious blogger and curmudgeonly Co-Chair of
Second Pride Petr Hastings-Vanbeeck (someone has to keep the others in line)

Hotboy Lockjaw, our last DJ for the evening, for the occasion dressed as Ms Dolly Parton

Doc Spad: Second Pride... Another Perspective On Truth

Today I received this email from Doc Spad, the outgoing chairman of Second Pride.  I am going to publish in it's entirety, without comments at this time. I will however, in the interest of full disclosure, inform you that Doc Spad has been a friend of mine during the last two years.

"Below is my response to all that has happened over the past few days... you have my express permission to publish this... contact me with any questions 

SECOND PRIDE....ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE ON TRUTH 

Over the past several weeks I have seen what could have been a “normal” election process crumble into a mud-slinging free-for-all rife with rumor, innuendo and attacks from all sides. 

It’s been reduced to personal attacks directed at people that just wanted to run for office of an organization this is supposed to bring the LGBT community together. Instead I see the entire process as as pulling the community apart. I’ve been torn over the past 36 hours or so as to what to say or do. What can I do to try to stop the dissension without making it worse. Every time I look at FB or the forums I see more behaviour that has hurt Pride and created more strife. I have been involved with Pride for over 6 years. I have seen earlier Boards deal with the same issues and over the past two years as Prides chairman have done my best to limit the drama and turmoil that have plagued Pride in the past. Personally, I think we did a fairly good job. Pride has grown substantially in members, vendors, sponsors, and attendees.. Donations have reached a point where the Board is in a position to make contributions to the good work of other LGBT nonprofits and make a substantial donation to RL groups as well. However, the unnecessary drama and lack of truthfulness that have publicly emerged during this election have taken all the hard work of restoring the credibility of Pride and wasted it. 

My actions over the past two weeks have been to do what I can to quell this fire without adding new fuel to it. I fear that there is no way to accomplish that and after I finish writing and posting this response it might make matters worse. But I feel the membership needs to understand my motivations and and why I contacted Cortez in the first place. I disagree with some of what Cortez Brandriss said in her statement to the Board, but do understand her ire, as my notecard on “tickets” must have encouraged a great deal of communication directed to her that she did not deserve. I have the chat logs that might explain better what really happened during that discussion but in releasing them I would bring more undue attention to someone that just wanted to serve our community and never deserved being drug into this. I apologise to her for my role in this whole affair. 

Last year, early in the election, I had, myself, suggested to some of the other candidates that they form a “ticket”. After some thought, I decided it was a bad idea, and nothing was ever done with regard to the formation of any alliances. A new Board was elected and a very diverse group of people took their positions on the Board. I had worked with Khar and Tootsie on the previous Board and knew them both well. None of the other people on last year's Board were friends of mine. I knew who they were, but none of us were close friends. It was a diverse Board with people having new and fresh ideas. No one or one group “controlled” the board and because of that there was a lively and effective exchange of ideas and I think the success of the Pride Festival this year showed what a diverse and independent group of people could accomplish. I was but one vote on the Board and many times my ideas were “shot down”.The independence of each board member allowed for a dynamic effective Board that worked on the basis of “what was best for Pride”. 

This year, before all of the candidates even declared, a group of people did in fact create an alliance This alliance was formed by Dex and included several other candidates running for various positions, most of them selected by Dex and asked to run by him. There is nothing in the by-laws that prevents this. There is nothing wrong with Dex asking others to run for some of the other offices. I was concerned by the prospect of having a single group of people led by one person, in control of the Board. Were these people assembled because of the abilities they brought to Pride or because of the votes they could deliver from the various groups they were affiliated with.? I felt that a slate might stymie and restrict new ideas and in effect place one person in control of the entire Board. These concerns grew as the election progressed and the selected slate of candidates both denied the nature of their alliance while simultaneously making statements hinting at rule changes and other actions that they had apparently agreed to, but which they were not discussed in a public forum. We have seen this in past Pride boards and it resulted in stagnation.The board was run from a perspective of “my way or the highway” mentality. This created drama and because of a single perspective being the only way, Pride suffered. 

When I looked at the candidates for Event Director I was encouraged by the entry of Cortez. Here was a person that could bring great things to Pride. She had experience running events that resulted in huge involvement from many communities and I was excited seeing her in the running. As far as I was concerned she was head and shoulders above the other two candidates and would bring great things to Pride. Then I learned about the “ticket” created by Dex. Another candidate for the Events chair, Mz Marville was part of his “team” as were others. I was alarmed in hearing about a threat to Cortez, and I contacted her. I asked her if she might consider joining forces with Hotboy in an attempt to garner greater support and counter the effect of the “ticket” against her. They both brought different talents to the job. She suggested that she could concentrate on the fundraising and social events and he had great experience in working in clubs and DJ’s. She even suggested that the next Board divide the job up into two board positions. Not a bad idea. But her dismay at knowing that Mz Marville was allied with “someone running for Board chairman” disturbed her and in her own words...”this process, people changing rules and adding people to their ticket in the middle of an election just seems to completely insult all of the work that has gone into making this election process happen”. The end result was that Cortez pulled out of the election. 

I assume responsibility for bringing news of the "ticket" and the idea of how she might counter that strategy. In my enthusiasm to see a worthy candidate elected, it violated her sense of fairness. In retrospect, it was an error of judgement for a board chair to take this role. I wish I had approached it in a different way. I’m saddened and dismayed that Cortez left the election. She was one of the most qualified and talented people that has run for a Pride office in a long time. My only intention was to present to her a means of countering what I considered a formidable challenge to her candidacy.Unfortunately, my motives and my intention backfired in a way that was wholly unintended. 

After some thought I decided to send the note card out concerning “tickets”. A notecard to the entire membership that specifically stated that there was nothing “illegal” about forming such tickets, but that people might consider voting for people because they are the best person for the job and not because they are part of an alliance. I was hoping to encourage candidates and voters to consider that there was more at stake in this election than getting elected, that Pride’s independent Board was at stake. 

Apparently, this note card, where I mentioned that “a candidate” had dropped out because of the “ticket”, brought considerable and undeserved attention to Cortez and she wrote the Board a private note explaining her reasons for withdrawing and condemning me. I can understand her wrath at me after she had received numerous IM’s from people and her feeling that I used her as an example in my note card. That was never my intention. I believed she was an outstanding candidate - one that would win in a normal election in which the best candidates were chosen based on their qualifications and not their affiliations with other candidates. All I attempted to do was try to suggest a way to counter an organized alliance that was detrimental to her candidacy. 

As one might surmise, Dex was thrilled in receiving her note. Ms Bradiriss' justifiable anger made it look like. I was behind some grand conspiracy. The Board discussed this in a Skype conversation. I wanted to issue an apology to her in public assuming responsibility for my part in this.( I did send her an apology personally). Dex wanted her private note to the Board released to the public. Cortez was contacted and she expressly asked that her note remain private and that she did not want to be bothered about this any longer and that she would continue her PLATINUM sponsorship next year at Pride. 

Evidently, Dex thought he knew better and decided to release her note against her wishes. In doing so Dex deliberately violated Cortez’s trust and unilaterally went against what the Board had decided. This unfortunately resulted in a subsequent communication form Cortez where she pulled entirely out of Pride and will not be participating in future Pride festivals. . Dex's unilateral decision to publish this information - knowing that one of our largest sponsors was already angry and had expressly asked us not to, did not just rob me of an opportunity to apologize for my role, but more importantly illustrates a calculation that the damage it would do - to me - to Cortez - and to the credibility of Second Pride was less important than his own short term gain. 

I have always attempted to lead Pride from the perspective of “what is best for Pride”. I’ve always encouraged others on the board and all members to look at Pride from that perspective. Yes, I may have made some mistakes in this whole affair, but my intentions were doing what I thought “was best for Pride”. I have swept many, MANY situations under the rug concerning Dex but I choose to keep quiet about them rather than bring any discredit to Pride. In a recent blog posting, Dex purports to express his outrage and declares that "when I am chair I will not stand for the lack of transparency".. I agree. In view of the information Dex has chosen to release thus far, , membership deserves to know more about our actions in recent Days. Specifically, Dex has made several attempts within the board both to eliminate his only opposing candidate, and to purge questions he does not feel it is fair for him to answer from the public forums. At the eleventh hour he tried to convince the Board that the cut off needed to be rolled back 12 hours, thus disqualifying his only opposing candidate. In effect allowing him to run unopposed. .. After the Board sent out notices to the membership defining the cut off times and dates which were published for over a week and a half. Dex demanded that we change these cut offs retroactively and eliminate his opposition This after the Board agreed to and sent out notifications to the membership stating the cut off dates and times over tens days before. Of course it is easier to win an election if you are able to remove a candidate through a backdoor maneuver. 

I pose this question... were Dexs’ actions in releasing Cortez’s note against her wishes...”the best for Pride” ? Does it help people make a better choice on who to vote for? Remember, I am not running for office. No.. he released it to discredit me. Dex and I have had issues all year... and I have done my best to keep them quiet for the sake of Pride. His only motivation in releasing this private notecard was to hurt me. I’m a big boy and yes maybe I should get a trip to the “woodshed” but his releasing of her note does nothing to further voter’s knowledge in choosing candidates...it was an attack on me. And I’m sorry that Dex’s and my issues have distracted voters from the real issues. 

There is plenty of blame to go around this year for these elections being reduced to a mockery from BOTH sides. Dex’s “scorched earth” mentality justified by his sense of “principle” has harmed Pride. Damian’s use of an alt asking Dex questions was obvious. 

An independent Board is the only way for Pride to effectively manage the attainment of Prides’ Mission. Would it have been easier this past year for me to manage the Board if I had a bunch of hand picked “yes” men ? Absolutely!! Would it have been the best for Pride. Absolutely not!! 

Independent board members allow for the expression of many more ideas and a more dynamic governing body. Yes, it’s messy. People argue and make their case, but in the end each board member independently makes a decision and in most cases reaches a decision that works best. Each member represents one vote. If one Board member is out in “left field” the collective Board tempers the crazy ideas and comes up with a decent solution. I as the Chairman have many times had to bow to the collective will of the Board and then stand up in the end and speak the Boards wishes. That is leadership. That is doing what is BEST FOR PRIDE. 

All I ask is that each of our members vote based on what is best for Pride. And vote to create an independent board. My time here is over. Term limits and a desire to “get my Second Life back” have brought me back to being just a member, just like the rest of you. Yes I would like to see Pride continue to grow and build upon what myself and many others have done, but that will have to be left to whoever we elect this year. I trust that the collective will of the membership will bring Pride a thoughtful and dynamic and independent board that will move us in a positive direction. I also pray and trust that all of the division and strife over these elections can be but in the past and WE ALL WILL DO WHAT IS BEST FOR PRIDE. 

Doc Spad
Outgoing Chairperson Second Pride"

"The True Reasons..."

Today I received in my possession a note card from Cortez Brandriss, who was earlier a candidate for Event Director of the Second Pride 2014 board but who withdrew her candidacy.

The note card is unmodifiable and was according to its properties created by Ms Brandriss, despite this I also sought to get a confirmation from Ms Brandriss. I did this before having read the last sentence in this note card, for which I ask Ms Brandriss' forgiveness.

My main reasons for posting this are twofold, Firstly because I love Second Pride and want it to grow and flourish for many years to come and, secondly, because I believe that the membership of Second Pride has the right to know what is happening behind closed doors. 

I will post it without any further personal comment, other than saying that these SP election seems to be turning out to be extremely ugly and messy, with personal attacks, anonymous bloggers and other monkey business. 

Marius Watz "Web Science artwork"

"7/29/2013 Re: Second Pride Election
C/c Second Pride Current Board

 To Doc Spad,

 I have been very confused as to why, what was supposed to be a very quiet and simple withdrawl from this election has turned to a large population of Pride Candidates and Voters coming to me concerned with my departure from the race.

 I was dismayed to find the answer to my question in a notice, sent by you on 7/27 to the entire Second Pride Community, that my reasons for withdrawing from this race were because of a ticket system.

 I tried to make this very clear when we first spoke, and I will clarify again now-- I withdrew from the Second Pride election because of *our* conversation-- a conversation in which the current Chair of Pride, yourself, came to me with an attempt to coerce me to join forces on a ticket with someone I have not ever met, as a means of throwing the vote. I withdrew my candidacy because I was uncomfortable knowing that the Chair of Second Pride was so willing to discuss other candidates with me, someone you barely knew. I withdrew because I felt that I was being asked to be a pawn in a dramatic game of manipulating the vote. The unprofessional freedom you took in that conversation was what caused me to withdraw my candidacy.

 I ran for Second Pride because I admired the outward professionalism of it's team of chairs, and I wanted to do something important for the LGBT community. Our conversation was steeped in drama that I did not want to be a part of, concerning people I do not know and have never met.

 I submitted a formal and professional withdrawl to Baz that did not go into these reasons, only to learn you have distributed a notice that has informed the entire Second Pride Group I left the race over the ticket system. Through this notice, you have not only publicly spoken for me with information that is not true, but you have also publicly pitted me and my withdrawl against the candidates in this entire election.

 I am outraged by the way you have handled this matter, and at the fact you have now brought me into the drama of Second Pride, when I have done nothing but gracefully bowed out of a situation you made uncomfortable for me to begin with.

 Please do not use my withdrawl as any future means to burden this election.

 With this notecard, I would like to officially announce the true reasons for my withdrawl. I ask that I am no longer contacted by any member of Second Pride about this election.

 Sincerely,Cortez Brandriss

 C/c: Second Pride Board. Kyle Beckett, SquirtN Wonder, Tylo Mabellon, Dextrum Boucher, Kharissa Indigo, Mr Gracemount, Baz Ceawlin, Tootsie Nootan"

Is There A "Ticket" & Why Weren't We Informed?

A message from Doc Spad, the outgoing chairperson of the Second Pride board of 2013, was sent out in the Second Pride group yesterday:

"I would like to share a few of my thoughts with the rest of the membership concerning the upcoming election. 

One of the best qualified candidates just removed herself from the running after learning about a “ticket” that was created by some of the other candidates.

There is nothing that forbids any candidate or group of candidates from forming a “ticket” but it does bring to question whether a ticket is built for reasons of bringing the best qualified people together or is the ticket being used to bring together various factions of the community to ensure that the whole ticket is elected regardless of who is best qualified.

These elections are for the next year’s leadership of Pride. We should all want the BEST candidates to be elected to further the Mission and the goals of Second Pride.

If a ticket is put together to garner votes from the various groups people belong to.... then we are not doing what is best for Pride.... we are just building support just to get elected.

I would encourage everyone involved in these elections to take to heart that Pride is on the brink of fulfilling its goals of unifying our community and really doing a great deal of good for all of us.

I would hope that whether you vote for a “ticket” or not that your choices are well thought out and you are voting for the best qualified people to lead Pride.

Vote for whom you think answers the questions on the forums best, who you think will serve the Board and Pride the best. Who you honestly think will lead Second Pride to greater heights and greater accomplishment. Ask yourself....what is best for Pride? And make sure THAT is the reason you vote for any particular person.

Thanks Doc Spad

Your outgoing Chairperson"

Following this message I have today asked all the candidates still running in the election for the board of Second Pride 2014 these questions.

"In a notice in the Second Pride group yesterday, the outgoing chairperson Doc Spad informs us that a group of candidates have formed an alliance, a.k.a. ticket, in this election. 

1. Have you formed a ticket – however formally or informally - with any of the other candidates running in this year’s election?

1. If so, who are the other candidates on this ticket?

1. If so, why did you choose not to disclose this information to the voters?

Respectfully,

Bock McMillan"

SP Annual Membership Meeting 2013

The annual Second Pride membership meeting was held yesterday. It was a well visited meeting that was conducted in an orderly fashion. Extra seats had to rezzed as more members than expected turned up.

My pictures are all  taken at an early time in the proceedings,
I should think we were twice as many when the meeting ended.

Larz Kas looking hot in a new cap with Jarred, in the second row
I and Jared Palianta and at the far back to the right Eric Quimby.

Nigel Riel (far left), Marcellias (center) and HerrDirektor /far right)

From left to right, SquirtN, Mr. G. and Dextrum

From left to right, Doc, Baz, Tootsie and Kharissa

The most important stuff that occurred at the meeting was the information pertaining to the upcoming elections of the new Second Pride Board.

This is from the Second Pride website. Please note it contains important information about 
1) eligibility to the board, 
2) voting privileges in the election, as well as 
3) a need for you - in certain instances - to update your personal information on the Second Pride website so that your vote will not be discarded. 

Election Dates and Procedures:

• Candidate declarations will be accepted from July 7th through midnight SLT July 21st. per the by laws.
• Only Members of the Second Pride Group will be considered and their declaration must be accompanied by a “candidate Statement” which will be done on the second-pride.com website. (No one will be able to declare after midnight on the 21st)
• Candidates will be announced on the second-pride.com website and their candidate statements published on the forums on July 22nd. Members will be able to question the candidates for a period of ten days ending at midnight August 1st.
• On August 2nd Candidates may make their final statements
• From August 2nd through midnight slt on August 4th the forums will be closed from further discussion . Members are encouraged to view the candidates final statements .
• Voting will commence at 00:01AM August 5th through midnight August 9th
• You must have joined the Second Pride Festival Group by midnight August 4th to be able to vote for your candidates.
• At this time the election committee will certify the results of the election and announce to the membership those results no later than midnight August 12th.
• On August 18th at 11AM slt The new Board will be installed and have their 1st meeting as a Board of Second Pride. The existing Board will step down at that time and any transfers will take place at that time.
• Candidates: Candidate Declaration Form

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS
You MUST be a member of the Second Pride in-world group before Midnight August 4th to be eligible to vote. The election committee will be cross referencing the online votes received against the in-world membership list. Please be sure to click on your name at the bottom of this screen [on the second-pride.com website, my remark] (to view and/or update your online profile. Make sure your Second Life Avatar name is part of your profile so that your vote can be verified against the in-world membership.

Good News for the It Gets Better Project in SecondLife

My friend Petr Vanbeeck has posted some good news on his blog today about the "It Gets Better" project in SecondLife.

As some of you may remember I reported about it as one of the high-points of Second Pride last year in my post: It Gets Better in SecondLife.

Read all about the great news on Petr's blog Confessions of a Digital Daddy Bear: It Gets Better Project. In the post Petr also seems to say that he is accepting new additions (see Doc Spad's new addition in the illustration to this post), so those of you who are creative enough and have something good to say should start thinking.

Second Pride: "Help Us, Help You!"

Doc Spad, (photo by GWNews)

This is an important message to all LGBT residents and non-profit groups in SecondLife from Doc Spad, the chairperson of Second Pride. 

I am happy to be able to assist in spreading the word.

Over the last year Second Pride has worked to create to reasonable and effective way to utilize the funds entrusted to it from our sponsors, members and attendees of last year’s Second Pride Festival. Last year’s Board made the decision to use these funds in-world to benefit our LGBT community here in Second Life. The Second Pride Region is the product of those efforts.

By creating a permanent place for all facets of our community to come together, share, support and learn about each other, we feel that this best advances the mission of Pride while providing each of our communities advocacy, educational,  and support groups an opportunity to be seen at the festival and have their message heard year round on the Second Pride sim. Meeting spaces, an event venue, and a message center will be available to any and all LGBT nonprofits. Office spaces and a place to showcase your group will all be provided for free. For some this may be as little as a Landmark  to your existing location, or a possible a satellite location. For those interested, we welcome you to make a permanent home on the Second Pride Region. All is provided free of charge.

I’m pleased to announce that our home is nearly complete and will be the center of the festival this year. We have also secured two additional full private regions donated for the festival. Having the festival on full private regions will allow for better control of the festival grounds and provide less lag and a better experience for all attendees. We are no longer paying Linden Labs for their limited mainland sims.

The Board , through many open public discussions with our members, has also relaunched PRISM, our quarterly LGBT community newsletter. This publication is available for LGBT nonprofits to voice their views, educate the community and “get the word out” of their work in Second Life as well as real world efforts. We have also started Second Pride Radio which streams 24/7 on multiple channels which is available for LGBT advocacy, educational, and support groups to advertise, for free, their activities and services to the community. 

second-pride.com is the official Second Pride website and we hope it will become a central clearinghouse for “all things LGBTQ” in Second Life. Soon a complete listing, to include SLurls will be available on the website so that anyone can learn about your group and all educational, support, and advocacy efforts taking place in Second Life.

Help us help you in “getting the word out” about your group and the good it is doing for our LGBT community.

We know that all LGBT groups within Second Life do not always get along, or that they do not all share the same goals or aspirations. Like Pride festivals in real life, we would hope that our pride festival will be reflective of the entire LGBT community and be a place where we can share our common goals of equality, fairness, and inclusion.  Pride is a celebration of our “gayness” and to acknowledge all that we have accomplished through our unity...it’s also a chance to look at the future and what we still have to do. We can better accomplish our common goals as a united LGBT community... join us and be part of the largest and most visible LGBT gathering in Second Life.

Let's Celebrate! 

If you are a non-profit or thinking of starting a support, advocacy, or educational group, but needs a home, Please contact me so we can show you what we are offering and how we might help in letting the rest of the community learn of your group.

Doc Spad

2013 Chairperson

Second Pride

docspadusmc@gmail.com

The Cute Butts of the SP Board

At today's meeting of the Second Pride Board I amused myself with taking a look "behind the scenes" and focused in the male members of the board. Cute bubble butts, don't cha think?

From left to right you see the cute behinds of Baz Ceawlin, Mr G, Doc Spad, Kyle Beckett, Tylo Mabellon, Dextrum Boucher & SquirtN Wonder. Missing in the picture - due to despicable gender discrimination - are the female members of the board Kharissa Indigo and Tootsie Nootan.

As always you can enlarge the picture by clicking on it.

The Lairds Return

So - finally - after many promises and lots of strange excuses the Much Honored Bock McMillan, laird of Southern Charm and prince of Cascade Falls, at long last returned to his beloved home sim yesterday.

Well, to be quite honest, I was not at home very long because I had a Second Pride membership meeting to attend. The meeting went on for more than two and a half hours, which is an unusual long time and rather unexpected if you read the agenda.

I must admit that I may in some small way have contributed to part of the tardiness but otherwise I believe it may have been that many of us were in a slightly cantankerous mood and ended up splitting hairs for no real reason at all. When a whole lot of people get together in this state of mind the outcome is inevitably a very long meeting.

The meeting was not a total waste of time because the board was eventually able to decide to
- adopt new rules of conduct for the membership meetings,
- elect a board for the newly created Second Pride Foundation,
- create a new headquarter for Second Pride,
- create a Second Pride Build avatar and
- buy a special building for certain future events.

A strange thing happened during the meeting when our usually very efficient chairman Doc Spad - or "Sir Doc, Sir" as I call him in my mind - suddenly asked:, "Did you have a question Ars?".

I immediately became alert and started caming around in the conference room to see who this second Ars could be. Then he said "Sorry, I mean Forever did you have a question?". And it dawned on me that he must be reading my group tag and meaning me. We both laughed at the strange incident because he realized his mistake at the same time as I did.

I was happy I have come this far, because six or eight months ago I would not have been able to laugh at it and would have filled it with strange meanings.

However, I did manage to get in a few words with some of my friends and family during the meeting. And at the very end - before I had to leave for lovely and welcoming bed - I squeezed in a hug from my brother-in-law- D R E Y Porchers, nee Messmer, It was good seeing him again because I don´t think we have been in touch since before the summer.

The New Board of Second Pride

The elections for the board of Second Pride 2013 ended at midnight on Sunday. The voting procedure was done electronically on the Second Pride website and seems to have worked without any fault.

As a member of the Election Committee I am proud to present the new board to you:

Doc Spad, Chairman

Kyle Beckett, Secretary/Co-Chairman

SquirtN Wonder, Treasurer

Kharissa Indigo, Events Director

Dextrum Boucher, Membership Director

Mr. Gracemount, Building Director

Tootsie Nootan, Security Director

Tylo Mabellion, Marketing Director

Baz Caewlin, Communications/IT Director

My warmest congratulations to those who have been elected. I also wish them the best of luck with the important work that lays ahead!

A Message From The Chairman

Group Notice From: Second Pride Festival, Doc Spad

Time to declare yourself as a candidate is running out... we still need a few god people....be part of Pride this next year and be part of the fun... check out the website  http://second-pride.com/  hit the "About Us"/ SP Bylaws tab...look over the positions on the Board... then drop us a note card with the position you want to run for. send note cards to Avacar Bluestar or brett Fargis.

Be part of something that makes a difference...

Doc Spad
your Chairperson

Sabotage at SP2012

Second Life - Group notice: Sabotage!!!!
Group Notice From: Second Pride Festival, Doc Spad

Yesterday, Saturday, late in the day someone managed to wreck most of the buildings in the Buenos Aires region of our Pride celebration. The vendor items were untouched...it was just the buildings. A crew of individuals did their best to uncover the shops for visitors to still see the vendor displays. During the day on Sunday various volunteers will get things put back together. so that others might enjoy that region for the remainder of Pride.

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This happened 7 hours ago while I was sleeping. It is - that I know of - not known who these griefers are and their reasons for this willfully destructive attack  People who have the urge to destroy and hurt others to get a thrill in life are sad and contemptible. 

Second Pride 2012 - General Meeting

I am not on the board of Second Pride  or anything, but I find it interesting to be at the general meetings. All the Board meetings are also open to the membership if something isn´t said about it.

The meetings are conducted in English and with a set of formal American rules. I mostly shut up and am learning as I go along.

The meetings are lead with great aptitude by our Chairman. sexy Doc Spad..

Doc started by informing that there was now a candidate for the empty post of Membership director on the board. The guy would leave a CV. and this would be voted upon at the next meeting.

Over to the next question about how the surplus from 2011 should be handled. There is some tension in the rather small group about how SP2012 should handle the matter of the surplus of L$ 373 757 carried over from SP2011.

It seems the board of SP2011 took a decision that all the surplus should be payed on to a charity.with a very long acronym that I cannot remember, while the present board had decided first to use parts of the surplus for necessary investments before paying the vast majority to the charity with the long acronym. (The difference is fairly small, L$29 400 or USD 115).

To some of the membership it has now gotten to be a tiresome matter of principle and the matter always pops up one way or an another despite the fact that the issue has been thoroughly discussed, voted on and decided, now at least two times. Today the board decided to reiterate their former decision about how the funds should be managed. We will see when it  is brought up again next time.

Khar Indigo reported from the Christmas fundraiser, which had been well visited and rather successful, and three more monthly charity events for the future. She has always seeed a a very competent woman to me and seems to have her ducks lined up.

Avacar Bluestar informed us that things were going as planned with establishing the new website. He encouraged everyone to re-register on the new website.(http://second-pride.com/).

Pierrick reported that he was handling the new Facebook page and that the other on the board were welcome to post there too. He was going to give them administrative rights to it a.s.a.p. We went on to ask for help from previous board members and others of information about the largest contributors during earlier festivals. (It seems there is a list of this in the documents he should be able to access but hasn't found yet.)

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My only criticism concerning these meetings are twofold, it seem that members feel free to rehash matters that have already been discussed, voted upon and decided if they did not happen to attend the meeting where all was decided.. The second objection goes to the fact that some people talk in riddles about some conflict which is not known to me in which it seems both Zach Preminger and Lemonodo Oh were involved. I dare not even guess if it was the same thing or what could have happened. I don´t care really, what I am objecting about is the not uncommon references to them and something that happened. If you don't want to spill the beans to us all just chose not to talk about it at all.

Doc Spad: Be A Warrior

My friend Doc Spad, USMC, today calls upon us all to stand up against bullying on his blog Doc Spad...a few thoughts. Read the post "Be A Warrior"

We must never ever let the bullies succeed in their efforts, fight them at every instance. Don´t let them think they are getting away with what they are doing unnoticed, call them out for what they are.

Apart from being a friend of mine, Doc is also the Chairman of the board for Second Pride 2011.