Wingspan, Tucson's LGBT community center and advocacy organization, is going through some major changes due to the economy.

The Range confirmed some difficult news this morning with Wingspan Executive Director Jason Cianciotto, after the organization held an emergency stakeholder meeting at the Community Foundation of Southern Arizona last night.

Cianciotto confirmed he has resigned, but will remain until the end of the month without salary to help the organization in what will be a big transition and shift, involving further layoffs and moving the agency into a new space.

Caz Springer, the organization's media and communications director, was let go, but will continue on until the end of the month. Alison Davison, the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance coordinator, remains, as does the organization's commitment to the transgender community.

The remaining staff also includes Courtney Jones, program director, as well the anti-violence program staff and Eon Youth staff that work with LGBT kids ages 13-23.

Evidently, the biggest challenge for Cianciotto and Wingspan was the unexpected collapse of the economy. Cianciotto joined Wingspan last year, coming onboard after an almost year-long search for the right ED. Unfortunately, the timing wasn't right for Cianciotto and his ideas had to be placed on hold while the organization had to figure out how to survive this downturn.

Wingspan's rent of almost $8,000 a month is a factor in the organization making a physical move. The Range was told that the landlord wasn't interested in renegotiating the lease agreement, but the lease doesn't end until 2010. Cianciotto says he can't comment further on the lease. However, the remaining staff will be moving across the street from its 425 E. 7th Street location into the Eon Youth Lounge space.

Whatever you do, don't trust anyone LGBT.

It was obviously a big mistake to try to win support from a key minority group like the black community by appealing to them with our LGBT struggles and being so rude and ridiculous as to assert that our struggle is ANYTHING like the black struggle. Clearly it was wrong headed and we have now been set straight by the black community leaders who would never concede any similarities exist because it would *gasp* align our two communities in a highly uncomfortable way......The black community does not want to be dragged down into the nasty LGBT struggle as they have (especially the Christians) risen up as high as ever before in this country and don't want to screw that up now by associating with us losers. And whatever they do, they will definitely not be trusting any LGBT POC to tell them ANYTHING about what being gay is like or how understanding more about it might lead to at least some empathy, if not outright votes in our favor.

So, thanks again for taking us impudent, white, high class, shiny, clueless gay folk and putting us in our place. End of story. No further discussion needed at this time.

Um...

Clearly you did not read the article. The author is an LGBT POC. His principle concern is the lack of understanding among LGBT folks about what a civil rights movement really looks like.

PUHLEEZE

Little Alex @ Bilerico claims to be Latino but, if his dorky picture is any indication, he passes for white quite well, thank you.

What he doesn't pass for is the objective intellectual he thinks he is. Quoting him on anything is like quoting Pee Wee Herman on nuclear physics.

a moron is a moron is a moron

and Michael Bedwell is obviously in the front of that line. Latinos, like LGBT persons, can be black, white, yellow, red, or any combination of those. We don't need to "pass" for anything. Pee Wee Herman is probably much more intelligent than Bedwell, judging from his moronic comment.

For anyone confused, my point was, when I thought that kevinerickson was trying to certify the superior credibility of Alex Blaze [rather than Granderson] because he's supposedly an "LGBT POC" was that, based on his photo [and name] alone no one would discriminate against him on the basis of his being "POC" because he didn't display any of the typical external cues to bigots.

If Granderson is an "LGBT POC" that doesn't a priori make him intelligent, insightful, or right...any more than it does the professional lesbian race card shark Jasmyne Cannick.

The bottomline is that Granderson is playing the race card simply to defend Obama not on substance but because he's black [actually biracial but....]. AKA judging him "not by the content of his character but by the color of his skin." Somewhere Jasmyne Cannick is having a rare multiple orgasm.

SomaFM is dubbing Apollo 11's ground to spacecraft communications with appropriately spacey music.

SomaFM could use some dosh, because of the bloody labels demanding a king's ransom.

Via James Tauber, the band SOUR enlisted their fans around the world to use their webcams to help make a video for a song on their first EP.