Respect Sacramento (formerly GLSEN Sacramento) had been in a sort of hiatus status for quite some time due to lack of community support/interest and a general feeling of burn out that some of us have experienced after several years of attempting to coordinate educational efforts on behalf of sexual minority youth. While the local LGBT community appears to have focused its energies around marriage equality (which we certainly support), we continued to meet about once a month or so to share our experiences in the schools and field questions or concerns from community members who ask for advice or input regarding school issues.
After about a year, we have decided to dissolve the organization effective in February 2009. After paying the last of our obligations and closing our accounts, the $800 or so that we have remaining will be distributed in equal portions to PFLAG Sacramento, the Lavender Library, and the Hiram Johnson High School GSA to help with the costs for this spring's GSA Dance. We will keep the resources and links on this website until October 26, 2009, when Geocities will no longer be in operation. We will respond to email inquiries and refer people to individuals and organizations that can be of assistance.
We have been the primary force behind the creation of an LGBT Task Force for the Sacramento Unified School District, and some of our members will continue to be active with that group as individuals. The Task Force remains one of our proudest accomplishments and lasting legacies.
As individuals, we will support other groups to the extent we can, but all of us are full-time working people, teachers, professors, and students. We had no paid staff or retired volunteers, and the time and energy required to maintain the organization exhausted our capacity to continue.
Our organizational mission was to create safe schools for all sexual minority people in Sacramento area schools. As individuals, we hope to continue that work with friends and organizations throughout the region.
