Thank You!
Thank you to all of the Sponsors, Table Captains, Silent Auction Donors, Supporters, and Community Members, who made this year's Fall Brunch a success!

Thank You to Our Featured Speakers!

• Master of Ceremonies: Chuck Bell, NBC4 Meteorologist
• Featured Speaker: Wayne Besen, Founder, Truth Wins OUT
• Featured Speaker: Darlene Nipper, Director, DC Office of LGBT Affairs

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Thank You to Our Table Captains!

Thank You to Our Silent Auction Donors!
Check back soon for a list of businesses and individuals who generously donated items to our 2006 Silent Auction!

Featured Speakers
SMYAL is pleased to announce the following featured speakers at this year's Fall Brunch!

Born in Boston and raised in Atlanta, Bell’s interest in weather started at a young age. During the 1974 “super-outbreak” of tornadoes and the 1975 “Governor’s Tornado” in Atlanta, Bell and his classmates were forced to “duck and cover” in a safe hallways while the storm raged outside.

Bell’s interest in weather continued at The University of Oklahoma where he earned a degree in meteorology and chased tornadoes whenever possible. Following graduation and an internship at KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City, Bell’s broadcast career included stints at WALB-TV in Albany, Georgia, WYFF-TV in Greenville, South Carolina, and WSLS-TV in Roanoke, Virginia.

In 1999, Bell joined FOX25 in Oklahoma City. He distinguished himself during his coverage of the May 3, 1999 tornado outbreak during which 70 tornadoes killed 48 people and left more than $1.5 billion of damage. Bell stayed on the air for more than 8 hours, warning residents and bringing the latest information to viewers.

Bell joined News4 in October 2004. He lives in Washington, DC.

Additionally, Besen has appeared as a guest on leading news and political talk shows including: the NBC Nightly News, CNN's Talk Back Live and The Point, Fox's O'Reilly Factor and Hannity and Colmes, MSNBC News and PAX's Faith Under Fire.

However, he is best known for stepping outside of academic and media settings to prove that ex-gays are not who they purport to be. Besen has an unprecedented record of exposing ex-gay ministries as a hoax and has a demonstrated record of success:

• Photographed Focus on the Family’s ex-gay poster boy John Paulk in a gay bar. Before his downfall, Paulk had been on the cover of Newsweek, 60 Minutes, Good Morning America and Oprah.
• Uncovered Rev. Jerry Falwell’s personal HIV+ ex-gay leader, Michael Johnston, picking up men on the Internet and having unsafe sexual relations. Johnston also worked with the American Family Association and Coral Ridge Ministries. He was forced to step down and enter a sex addiction facility in Kentucky.
• Helped orchestrate the public “coming out” of ex-gay poster boy Wade Richards, who was working with right wing activist Peter LaBarbera, Love In Action and Saviors Alliance for Lifting the Truth (SALT).
• Revealed that PFOX’s President, the ex-gay therapist Richard Cohen, had been kicked out of the American Counseling Association.
• For his efforts to expose ex-gays, The Advocate magazine named Besen one of America’s “Most Innovative Activists.”
• Spoken at more than 100 universities, churches, business groups and community organizations on this topic, including Harvard Law School, Johns Hopkins University and University of Florida.

Truth Wins OUT (TWO) is a non-profit think tank and educational organization that counters right wing disinformation campaigns, debunks the ex-gay myth, and provides accurate information about the lives of GLBT people. TWO’s mission is to:

• Provide opposition research on the ex-gay industry
• Discredit right wing propaganda
• Educate America about the GLBT community

www.truthwinsout.org

Darlene Nipper brings more than 15 years of management and advocacy experience to the District of Columbia government. She has been an advocate for those affected by HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, mental illness, and other health issues. For the past year, Ms. Nipper has served as a health advocacy consultant.

During the past 15 years, Ms. Nipper has participated in several LGBT organizations and events. Ms. Nipper was a member of the Mayor's LGBT Executive Committee, where she focused on health issues, throughout Wanda Alston's tenure. She also served as a facilitator at the National Youth Advocacy Coalition’s Annual Summit, coordinated depression screening and education events for the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL) in 2001, and ran HIV/AIDS and substance abuse support groups for the Inner City AIDS Network during the early 1990s. Ms. Nipper has also supported the efforts of numerous other organizations including The Mautner Project; Black Lesbian Support Group; Living Miracles, a group focused on encouraging LGBT community members to seek recovery from substance abuse; and Women in the Life.

Ms. Nipper has held leadership positions in national advocacy organizations, including the Black Entertainment Television (BET) Foundation, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), and the National Mental Health Association (NMHA).

• During 2004, she served as the Executive Director BET Foundation.
• Ms. Nipper served as the National Director of NAMI's Multicultural and International Outreach Center in 2001, and she was appointed Chief Operating Officer in 2003.
• Served as Senior Director and then Vice President of Public Education for the National Mental Health Association (NMHA)

Ms. Nipper received her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from Howard University and a Master of Science in Administration from Trinity College. She is currently a board chairman for Vanguard Services Unlimited, a board member of the National Leadership Council on African American Behavioral Health, and a member of the National Institute of Mental Health ITV Research Review Committee.

The Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs (LGBT) is a permanent, cabinet-level office within the Executive Office of the Mayor established by statute in 2006 to address the important concerns of the District's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents. From 2004 to 2006, the office operated under Mayor's Order 2004-148. Prior to 2004, a special assistant to the Mayor for LGBT issues provided constituent services and community outreach. Today, the Office of LGBT Affairs places DC among a select group of cities including Boston, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles with offices or senior officials dedicated to the LGBT community.

www.lgbt.dc.gov