Second Pride Updates

I have been remiss in my self-imposed obligation to inform you, my dear readers, about what's going on in Second Pride.

In my own defense I would like to point out that due to timezone restrictions I have not been able to attend any of the meetings lately and that the Second Pride website has been down.

The website is now partly up and running again and I have the pleasure of informing you of two things.

Call for Secretary/Co-Chair
There has been a call for candidates for the position of Secretary/Co-Chair and two candidates have put their names forward.

Carson Darkstone

Andre Fyre

Please visit the Co-Chair Candidate Discussion Forum to see and join in the discussion.

General Meeting, Saturday January 24, 2015, at 10 AM SLT
The proposed agenda for this meeting is
1: Call To Order:
2: Department Reports:
    A: Chair
    B: Build:
    C: Events:
    D: Community Relations
    E: Security
    F: Treasurer Report
    G: IT
3: New Business
    A: Set Official Dates for Pride
4: Old Business
5: Board Vacancies
    A: Co-Chair Secretary Election
    B: Call for Elections for IT & Marketing
6: Motion to Adjourn

That sounds like an interesting meeting, doesn't it? And it's at a doable time for me too, so hopefully I will see ya'll there!

Reminder: SP Meeting Today - CANCELLED!

Read my post SP Meeting Sunday October 26, 2014, 2PM for the agenda and SLurl.

UPDATE:
Second Pride General Meeting planned for the Second Pride Headquarters Conference Hall. Schedule for Sunday October 26th has been cancelled due to an oversight. A new date will be set shortly.

Ezziedq Mirabella
Chair

SP Meeting, Sunday October 26, 2014, 2PM

Second Pride will have a General Meeting at the Second Pride Headquarters Conference Hall (SLurl) next Sunday.

The proposed agenda for the General Meeting:
1. Call To Order:
2. Department Reports
- Chair
- Build
- Events
- Community Relations
- Security
- Treasurer Report
3. New Business
4. Old Business
5. Adjourn

Second Pride Meeting - October 2, 2014

Second Pride will have a General Meeting at the Second Pride Headquarters Conference Hall (SLurl) tomorrow Thursday October 2, 2014, at 7 PM SLT.

As posted on the Second Pride website the proposed agenda for the General Meeting will be
1. Call To Order:
2. Department Reports:
   - Chair

   - Build
   - Events
   - Community Relations
   - Security
   - Treasurer Report
   - IT
3. New Business
   - Website Transfer
4. Board Vacancies
5. Date for Next Meeting
6. Adjourn

Ezzie - New Chairperson of Second Pride

Ezzie Mirabella
(archive photo)

At the Second Pride board meeting held last Tuesday the board unanimously voted Ezziedq "Ezzie" Mirabella to be the new chair of Second Pride.

After the vote Ezzie Mirabella thanked the board with the following words:

"I want to thank my fellow board member who I all consider friends for this appointment. I aim to do the best job possible as Chair and look forward to an exciting time ahead of us before we celebrate Pride in June 2015. I am truly humbled by this appointment and I ask those members present to step forward and work on a committee during the next year your help would be appreciated along with your valuable input."

For information on other business at the meeting please see Second Pride: Minutes of the Second Pride Board Meeting September 23, 2014.

Although I have previously maintained that no vote should be needed for this move (The SP Election 2014: Some Reflections), I have no objections on how this matter was settled by the board, especially since the outcome was the same.

Ezzie Joins the Blogosphere

Ezziedq Mirabella, the newly elected Co-Chair/Secretary of the board of Second Pride, has joined the blogosphere today: Ezzie's Second Life.

Ezzie promises to tell us about what he is doing and what is happening with him in Second Life.

Welcome to the hectic world of blogging, Ezzie!

SP Board Meeting Tuesday

The Board of Directors of Second Pride will have a General Meeting Tuesday September 23, 2014 at 06:00 PM SLT in the Second Pride Headquarters Conference Hall.

Proposed Agenda for Second Pride General Meeting:

1. Call To Order:

2. Department Reports:
    A) Build:
    B) Events:

    C) Community Relations
    D) Security
    E) Treasurer Report

3. Chair Selection

4. New Business

5. Proposed Date for Next General Meeting Saturday

6. Motion to Adjourn

Source: Notice in the Second Pride Festival group

New SP Board to be Installed Today

The recently elected board of Second Pride will be seated at the board meeting today, Saturday September 13, 2014, at 11 AM SLT in the Second Pride Conference Hall (SLurl).

I hope to see you all there!

SP Elections 2014: The Results Are In

This years Second Pride election results are in. As all the candidates to the board ran unopposed the voter turnout was, as could be expected, extremely low and easy to certify for the Election Committee.

The newly elected members to the Second Pride Board of Directors are

Ezzie Mirabella
Secretary & Co-Chair

Marge Beaumont
Treasurer

LLedge Eames
Events Director

Karl Kalchek
Community Relations Director

Jak Calcutt
Building Director

Sutry
Security Director

The board will assume office at the upcoming board meeting on Saturday September 13, 2014, at 11 AM SLT. At this time all powers will be transferred from the resigning to the elected officers.

The first order of business for the newly elected board should be to decide how to handle the vacancy on the position of Chairperson and after that on the remaining vacant seats on the board (Marketing and Communication/IT).

The SP Election 2014: Some Reflections

The Second Pride elections this year are well underway, the candidates have declared themselves and the discussion has started in the Second Pride discussion forum (url). The forum will be closed at midnight Friday August 29th, so head on over and join in.

There are six candidates for the nine positions on the Second Pride board, all the six candidates are running unopposed. This, however, doesn't mean that there aren't some interesting complications.

Let me start by informing you about this years line-up. After that I will share some of my thoughts on the situation.

As I said, there are nine positions according to the bylaws

1. Chairman
No candidate

2. Secretary & Co-Chair

Ezziedq "Ezzie" Mirabella
New election








3. Treasurer

Marge Beaumont
Reelection








4. Events Director

LLedge Eames
New election








5. Community Relations Director

Karl Kalchek
Reelection








6. Building Director

Jak Calcutt
Reelection








7. Security Director

Sutry
Reelection








8. Marketing Director
No candidate

9. Communication/IT Director
No candidate

---

My first reaction, when I saw the candidates that had declared themselves, was sadness and astonishment that there were not more candidates and not candidates to all positions on the board.

On second thought, however, I realized that it is a major undertaking to commit oneself to a year long duty of service to the LGBT community in SecondLife. As a candidate one promises the electorate that - if elected - one has the ability and willingness to put ones time and efforts to the cause of Second Pride. Many of us have restrictions set by family, work or health that prevent us from making such a commitment, we should therefore cherish and be grateful to those that are able and willing.

Another reason for the lack of candidates must certainly be the ugliness that occurred before, during and after the last election. Even if someone was willing and able to run, they must have considered the slander, the backstabbing and the malicious rumor mongering that has occurred repeatedly in our community over the last year. It takes a special kind of brave person to risk having their first and second lives scrutinized, exposed and/or maligned by anonymous or semi-anonymous "detectives", blogs and avatars on social media, especially since it is virtually impossible - or extremely complicated - to hold them accountable in criminal or civil action.

My second reaction was a feeling of reassurance and gratitude that four of the board members of the previous board had been brave and strong enough to decide to run again. All four have proven their capacity for the job in the past difficult year when Second Pride was at the brink of imploding completely through the undermining work of the destructive forces. I also welcome the new candidates, Ezzie and LLedge. Fresh blood with new thoughts and ideas are valuable for any organization that wishes to evolve and move with the times.

Although all the present candidates can now be certain of being elected as they are running unopposed and it only takes one vote to get elected, which I will supply if no one else does, there is the matter of the three vacant positions to consider. Most important of these is the position of chairperson. My friend Dodo Ahanu has raised the question in the discussion forum and has asked the candidates how they view the vacancy on this position.

I don't entirely share the views that have been expressed in the discussion forum and would therefore like to give you my interpretation of the situation, which is not entirely covered by the bylaws as a situation like this has not been foreseen.

In my opinion, based on what is available in the bylaws and a general knowledge of rules governing associations, this is how the situation of the vacancy on the chair position should be handled.

First of all we need to recognize that even if the position of chairperson is only one of the nine board members, this position is special. The chair is "first among equals", with a special significance and special powers. We then also must recognize that there is a difference between a general election and a by-election.

An association must have a chairperson and this chairperson should be elected in a general election. I have no qualms whatsoever about the positions of Marketing Director or Communication/IT Director being filled in a by-election after a "call for directors" by the elected board, but that is not acceptable for the position of chairperson.

After the general election we will have a vacancy in the position of chairperson, but we will have elected a Secretary/co-Chair, whose job description contains stepping in as chairperson if there is none. As an association must have a chairperson, the elected Co-Chair therefore automatically becomes chairperson.

The board then, through a "call for directors" has to fill the position of Secretary/Co-Chair along with the other two other vacant positions.

I would appreciate your thoughts and input on my reasoning.

Second Pride Meeting - August 2, 2014

A Second Pride Board Meeting has been called to Saturday August 2, 2014, at 11 AM SLT.

The agenda for the meeting (as posted on the Second Pride website).
1. Call to order
2. Proposal 1 – Correcting references of Membership Director to be Community Relations Director.
3. Proposal 2 – A proposal to articulate criteria by which excess donations should be awarded to other non-profit groups, and to increase transparency of the process to the membership.
4. Proposal 3 – A proposal to increase confidence and transparency in the election of Board of Directors.
5. Proposal 4 – A proposal to reduce the appearance of Conflicts of Interest when sitting board members run for re-election.
6. Discussion of Charitable donation
- Approval of amount to donate
- Discussion of how the money is to be distributed.
7 Putting Second Pride and the sim in search
8. Review of Election Procedures
9. New Business
10. Adjournment

Report from the SP Annual Meeting 2014

Due to a busy first and SecondLife I have not been able to post a report from the Annual Meeting of Second Pride earlier, but here are a summary of my impressions.

For the minutes from the meeting and a full running transcript, please visit Second Pride; Second Pride Annual Meeting Minutes July 19, 2014.

Marge Beaumont, Karl Kalchek, Sutry, Petr Hastings-Vanbeeck, Kharissa Indigo & Baz Ceawlin

We started off with the department reports.

Chair - Petr thanked all that had volunteered their time and done a great job for Second Pride. He also reminded us all that the organization relies on volunteerism.

Treasurer - Marge gave us a summary of the financial status, in short all is well and the finances are in good order. (As a personal observation let me say that I believe that Marge may have been in contact with Esme Capelo concerning her presentation, as you see from the example below she used cute cats.) 

Community Relations - Karl informed us that the membership had increased with 25% over the year. He also reminded us that we should be proud of this year was an increasing diversity of the vendors, sponsors, and performers who were part of Second Pride Festival this year. There were many new sponsors and many sponsors who returned after leaving Second Pride for one reason or another over the years.

Security - Sutry reported that there had only been a few griefers that had been swiftly dealt with by the excellent volunteers on the security committee. 

Events - Khar informed us that working with the sponsors created some new and different ideas in this area, by combining main stage events with other stages and settings throughout the entire festival grounds highlighting each unique area. We also had our first King and Queen pageant, 57 DJ’s, a live band, a rock concert and some very talented live singers. This year having an interactive website and a Festival Guide with detailed information about the vendors and events was very helpful, as well as having the DJ’s register online. Having less stages then last year and list of availability of DJ’s on line made it much easier and faster to make the schedule. Kharissa concluded by leaving a short list of suggestions to the coming board.

IT - Baz told us that the Event survey had received about 45 responses from festival attendees. The vast majority or the responses have been Good to Excellent. The breakdown was:
Excellent 48%
Good 34%
Neutral 9%
Poor 5%
Terrible 5%
There were many constructive comments and suggestions made.. the survey will be summarized and passed on to next years board.
---

Next we moved on to the question of proposed recipients of donations. A committee has been formed to decide criteria for worthy recipients of donations from Second Pride. The committee will make recommendations to the full board. A method to garner input from the community on where the money should ultimately be dispersed will be made soon.

The meeting next covered the election time table and procedures, among others

• Election procedures will be posted the Second Pride website on July 19th
• Candidate declarations will be accepted from July 31st through midnight SLT August 14th, per the by laws.
• Voting will commence at 00:01 AM September 1st and remain open through midnight September 4th.
• You must have joined the Second Pride Festival Group by midnight July 31st to be able to vote for your candidates.
• Members of the Second Pride Group will need to visit an election kiosk on the Second Pride sim.
• The election kiosk will provide access to an online voting ballot where members can vote for candidates of their choice.
• You MUST be a member of the Second Pride Festival in-world group before midnight July 31st to be eligible to vote. Joining of the Second Pride Group will be closed for the entire election period, July 31st through September 6th.
• Protections have been put in place to block voter fraud through the use of Alt accounts. If you are in a situation were multiple users in your household will be voting from the same device or internet connection, you must inform the election committee prior to voting.

Four proposals for changes in the by-laws were made, in attempts to remedy known problems.

The meeting then stood for one minute of silence in memory of the victims of Flight MH-17, which included over 100 AIDS researchers en route to a conference in Australia. (Picture above)

A call for volunteers to an election committee was made. If you are interested in participating and fulfill the requirements (see the minutes) send a notecard to Karl Kalchek.

Next meeting will be on Saturday August 2nd at 11 AM SLT.

---

All in all it was an unusually long and intense meeting with many interesting subjects. The meeting was conducted in an orderly fashion under the excellent guidance of our chairperson.

Second Pride Board: "Thank You!!!"

I have been a little remiss in my blogging, there has been so much going these last few weeks and I have also been exceptionally lazy due to my ongoing vacation and second bout with pneumonia. (I am completing the antibiotics cure today, so hopefully this will be the end of it!)

This notice was sent out close to two weeks ago in the Second Pride Festival Group.

"THANK YOU!!! 

The board of Second Pride will soon announce the successful close of Second Pride 2014. Before we do, I want to send our very sincere thanks to you, the people who supported our efforts through your sponsor and vendor participation.

Thanks to you and many people like you, Second Pride has the resources to continue on into its 10th year. Second Pride can continue to offer a home and support to charities and organizations that serve Second Life's LGTBQ community. We will also be able to make sizable dollar contributions to real world Charities that make a difference in the lives of LGTBQ people in the larger world. THIS SUCCESS ABSOLUTELY WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT YOUR SUPPORT!

One of the things we are proudest of is the increasing diversity of the vendors, sponsors, and performers who were part of Second Pride this year. We had many new sponsors and sponsors who returned after leaving Second Pride for one reason or another over the years. I was especially proud to see some of the sponsor banners behind the main stage. Straight, Lesbian, and Gay sponsors were side by side - Bears - Twinks - Leather - GOR - all together in support of this annual celebration of our LGTBQ community as they should be. To those of you here for the first time, thank you. For those of you returning, welcome back. And for those of you who have been here year after year - we exist only because of you.

We hope you had a fun and successful Pride. Please let me know how we can improve for next year - send any ideas via NC to Karl Kalchek.

On behalf of all of us on the Second Pride Board
THANK YOU!!!

Karl Kalchek, Community Relations Director
 ---

Those of you who belong to my loyal readership will perhaps be better acquainted with Karl Kalchek as "Jak's adorable little helper"

Additional Feedback

I already filed my response to the survey a while back, but today I sent in an addition to my previous responses, as I had come to the conclusion that I had not been specific enough in my earlier response. So today I filed the following addition.

What did you like best about the festival?

1. The lesbians were back - and I love it!
2. The parade is back - and I love it!
3. The wonderful serene Chapel
4. The beautiful builds
5. The event was extremely well organized with little or no confusion, the board members and their assisting teams did a splendid job.
6. Three sims worked great! The smaller area kept the space close and increased the chances of running into old friends and acquaintances.
7. The sims were restarted every day which mostly kept lag at a reasonable level.

What suggestions do you have for the 2015 Second Pride Festival?

1. I would like to see a new beginning for the Names Project, i.e. the so called AIDS Quilts. It is not acceptable that whether or not donated quilts are displayed or not is dependent on an individuals whims or requirements. This is something that Second Pride can and should do for the LGBT community.
2. Try to get a few more live acts, I know there are singers and musician who would love to take part.
3. I always loved the plays that Marcus Steeplechase and his buddies enacted during Pride, it would be wonderful if we could get something like it back.
4. Poetry readings perhaps?

Please don't get me wrong, I love the DJ's and the parties but options should be provided to a greater extent, the community is diverse in it's needs.

Darn! I forgot to mention that I missed the combats between Gay Gor and Romanum from last years Pride. The people participating in that were a fun crowd and I had a great time watching and chatting there last year.

Overall, the Festival of 2014 was the best ever!

If you haven'r taken the survey yet, please do so here 2014 Second Pride Festival Feedback

Slipshod Security at Second Pride Festival?

Do we need to nail Security Chair Sutry's (nonexistent) balls to the wall for insufficient security at the Second Pride Festival this year? Perhaps even the rest of the Second Pride board should be held responsible for being negligent (some of whom do have large hairy balls, I'm almost certain)?

Well, I suggest you read this truly shocking eyewitness report by blogger Rusty Redfield (picture left) concerning a possible serious security lapse two days ago and then come back and tell me what you think.

You can read Rusty's heart wrenching testimonial here: Playing with the Big Boys; "035:...".

A New "Names Project" for Second Pride

In response to a question from "someone who wants to be proud of pride" concerning the sad fact that there are no quilts on display this year either, chairman of Second Pride told the bitter truth: "Second Pride does not have control of the AIDS quilts. They are in the inventory of one person/avatar".

That avatar has apparently not come in-world for quite some time, so I am assuming that we can consider the previous memorial quilts as lost and unreachable.

I propose that we start anew. Although I do so without consulting anyone on the Second Pride board, I cannot imagine they will object. The quilts are important for so many of us and surely more than one on the present board.

What I am thinking is that those of us that wish to honor the memory of someone we have lost in the war against the plague creates a memorial quilt, either a new one or by just using a copy of one previously made and send it to the Second Pride Avatar.

The Second Pride avatar is an avatar created, by special dispensation from Linden Lab, for Second Pride mainly for financial purposes, but also to hold all possessions of Second Pride, buildings, landscaping, textures etc, for reuse at future Pride Celebrations.

The special thing about the Second Pride Avatar is that it, with Linden Lab's blessings, can be used by several people that each board decides and is passed from one  board to the next board that follows it.

The important thing here is that we will in the future not be dependent on one individual and whether or not that individual can or will log in.

I am sure it will be too late for this years festival, but we mean to stay on for a while, don't we? What do you guys and girls think? What does the present board think?

I have an old notecard concerning the size, prims and other specifications that I will post here a.s.a.p.

Please wait until we have an all clear for this new "Names Project" before you start sending in your quilts, I am sure none of us will wish to create havoc for the board at this time. They have enough on their hands already.

Pre-Festival Second Pride Meeting

There will be a public Second Pride board meeting on Tuesday June 17, 2014, at 7 PM SLT.

The meeting will be to review the schedule and answer any questions there might be regarding the soon commencing Second Pride Festival. (The festival starts on Saturday June 20.)

I & My Identical Twin

Sometimes we need to be in two places at the same time, but as we know that isn't possible in our first life. However in SecondLife it is. On Friday evening I realized I had promised to be at two separate places at 12 PM (noon) on Saturday.

First I had promised Tomais that I would be at the Wastelands sim for a photo shoot with him, Lee McKay and Ryder Yowman for the "And equality under the law for all" picture. So I needed to have my body there. The second place I needed to be was the Second Pride board meeting taking place at the exact same time. So I needed to have my mind there.

The problem is impossible to solve in first life, but a no-brainer in SecondLife. I logged in the lairds Secretary of State, my oldest and wisest alt Wild Zepp-McMillan to take care of my presence at the Second Pride meeting, while my body rested safely at the Wasteland sim under the protection of my lover.

Wild hasn't been online much and far less outside of the home sim since he was created, so first thing he needed was new clothes. (He only had system clothing and any McMillan would rather be seen naked.) He was sent off to a trip to The Men's Department with an allowance of L$2 000. After only spending about L$500 he was good to go and a pride to see.

I can understand if you have difficulty telling us apart, but left to right it is
Bock McMillan and Wild Zepp-McMillan

The experiment was a complete success, I am happy to say, and I was able to perform my obligations in both places, thanks to Wild and being in constant communications with Tomais on Skype.

The photo shoot turned out wonderfully and I am extremely proud to have been a part of it.

"And equality under the law for all" Photography by Tomais Ashdene
with (left to right) me, Ryder. Lee and Tomais

You can see more of Tomais photography on his his Flickr photostream here or his Tumblr PhotoMonkey SL (NSFW). However, all four of us were ejected from Wastelands and sent back to our respective homes when we tried to pull off the naked version of the picture.

The Second Pride meeting went well too, for the minutes please visit SP Board Meeting Minutes 4-19-14 and for the transcript please visit Transcript of SP meeting on 4-19-14.

As could be expected, the present Marketing Director World Undercroft and Event Director Merrick Genesis, were relieved of their duties for failure to attend three consecutive meetings in a row without permission from the Chair.

The meeting was informed that the key responsibilities of the Marketing Director would be performed jointly by Karl Kalchek and Baz Ceawlin. As the position of Events Director is crucial for the upcoming Festival, even I could see that the position would have to be filled with someone who had the skills for the office. I was therefore not at all surprised when level headed Marge Beaumont made a motion that the position, in accordance with the bylaws, should be filled immediately by Kharissa Indigo (a.k.a. the Relentless Khar).

Although I myself love Khar and could see that she had the required skills I was worried by this nomination both for Khar's own sake and for the sake of Second Pride as she has been a target of "some contention" (to put it mildly) within the community, so I gave voice to my concerns at the meeting.

After being assured by several members of the board that they would not allow Khar to stand alone as a target and that they had discussed policies to handle such a situation I was satisfied. The board then appointed Khar to the position of Events Director.

We were then introduced to The Sponsor and Vendor packages for the Festival, and the registration form for those who had purchased those packages.

Next meeting will be Sunday, May 4 at 12 PM (noon) SLT.

---
P.S. I would like to clarify that Merrick Genesis absence is due to first life health issues, not through any desire to neglect his duties.

SP Board Meeting - Today at 12 PM (noon)

Agenda

1. Marketing Director - declaring it open.
2. Events Director - declaring it open
3. Status update on Festival.
4. New Business
5. Adjourn

This should be a pretty interesting meeting seeing we are less than three months away from the Festival.

The vendor and sponsor packages are up at the Second Pride website already. Here is a link to the Festival Package Comparison Chart for both vendors and sponsors.

Due to prior engagement I will be attending the meeting as my alt Wild Zepp, who is the Secretary of State of Southern Charm.

Second Pride: Continued Trials and Tribulations (Edited)

This is probably old news for many of you, but as I have failed to report on it earlier I am doing so now.

Andy Long

Jagger Naughton

Last week we saw new changes on the Second Pride board as the board approved the resignations of Co-Chair Andy Long and IT Director Jagger Naughton. Both resignations cited "personal reasons" for this move.

Merrick Genesis

World Undercroft

At the same meeting two other board members, the Events Director Merrick Genesis and the Marketing Director World Undercroft, positions were discussed for "failure to attend meetings for three consecutive sessions without prior permission from the Chairman of the Board". Further discussion will take place at the next meeting when the board may also decide to release them from their positions.

Baz Ceawlin

The board also appointed Baz Ceawlin as new IT Director. As he has previously been a reliable board member we should be hopeful that he will stick with it until the next election.

After this "annus horibilis" with all the coming and going of members of the board, the Second Pride board now, apart from Baz, Merrick and World, consist of these reliable and stalwart people who will hopefully stay with us trough the fast approaching Second Pride festival period.

Petr Hastings Vanbeek, Chairman
a.k.a. "Big Daddy"

Marge Beaumont, Treasurer
a.k.a. "No Nonsense Marge"

Sutry Long, Security Director
a.k.a. "Sutry the Strong"

Karl Kalchek, Community Relations Director
a.k.a. "The Little Helper"

Jak Calcutt, Build Director
a.k.a. "The Best Little Hugger in SecondLife" & "Master Builder Extraordinaire"

P.S. I have corrected this post after receiving some feedback from members of the board.