Month: September 2015
Former Bialik College student marries her same-sex partner
Today I received a copy of the Bialik College newsletter Shelanu (Issue 4, Sep 2015). On the back page is a list of Births, Engagements and Marriages. Ever hopeful, my eye was caught by the marriage announcement of 2004 student Deborah Konopnicki to Amy Hespe. Ground breaking news. Mazal Tov!
To the best of my knowledge Deborah is the first female past student of Bialik College to marry a same-sex partner and the first to be announced in the school newsletter. As a past student of Bialik College myself (1981-83) I am probably the first (male) past student of the school to marry a same-sex partner, having travelled to New Zealand in January 2014 to undertake the formalities.**
Aleph Melbourne wishes Deborah and Amy many years of happiness together (alongside all the other Bialik married couples). Hopefully our marriages to our same-sex partners can be solemnised and/or recognised under Australian law sooner than later.
MB.
** We’ll gladly acknowledge as first any former student of Bialik College who has earlier married a same-sex or gender-diverse partner.
MR: Aleph Melbourne marks 20 years with historical documentary
MEDIA RELEASE
ALEPH MELBOURNE MARKS 20 YEARS WITH HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY
SEPTEMBER 10 2015
Aleph Melbourne is a social, support and advocacy group for same-sex attracted and gender diverse (LGBTIQ) people in Melbourne’s Jewish community.
Aleph Melbourne was formed in 1995 and is marking it’s 20th anniversary by making a short documentary. The movie will cover all aspects of the group and the significant and positive impact it’s had on the community over the past 20 years.
Glen Eira City Council have given Aleph Melbourne a small grant of $3,300 for the project and we have engaged Youthworx Productions to make the documentary. We aim to raise $10,000 to allow us to comfortably make 10-15 minutes of footage. Additional funding will be gratefully welcomed to allow us to include more history, stories, interviews, photos, newspaper articles etc.
We are crowd-funding through IndieGoGo with all details are available at:
https://igg.me/at/aleph20
Major and premier (corporate) sponsorship packages are available. Individual contributors are invited to select from packages that allow participation and acknowledgement in the documentary.
Aleph Melbourne Convenor Michael Barnett said “I am very excited in marking this important milestone by making a documentary of Aleph Melbourne at 20 years. It is vitally important to record the history and achievements of our small group. People will look back in years to come and understand the particular challenges of the time we lived in, in terms of recognition, acceptance and understanding of our sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The documentary is expected to be completed in the first half of 2016 however the initial crowd-funding campaign has a closing deadline of October 8.
Contact
Michael Barnett – Convenor
0417-595-541
michael@aleph.org.au
Media resources
Aleph Melbourne logo – colour (lo-res, hi-res)
Campaign graphic: “Documenting 20 years”
Campaign graphic: “We’ve turned 20 – We’re making a doco”YouTube: “Aleph turns 20! Help us tell the story”
ENDS.
We’re making a documentary (and we need your help)
Click here to find out more about this exciting project: