As many of you may have read here in late August, our own Scottie Thomaston (formerly indiemcemopants) has received a signal and well-deserved honor: an invitation to a party hosted by Vice-President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, celebrating the next generation of LGBT leaders. (A White House tour is also part of the event; wouldn't it be awesome if President Obama and/or Mrs. Obama happened to be there to meet him?!)
I highly recommend going to read Nurse Kelley's 8/28 exuberant diary in which she shares this great news about Scottie, following the links therein, and then reading the comment thread. Scottie’s own comments are gracious and funny, not surprisingly, and they show the depth of his own delight at having such an opportunity.
I cannot hope to improve on Nurse Kelley’s eloquent announcement, nor on her review of what it took for Scottie to get himself known well enough nationally to be in consideration for such recognition. (But I can give you a hint: it took courage, perseverance, and no small amount of talent and smarts.) What I can do –- with all of your help –- is make it possible for Scottie to get the most out of this wonderful honor.
Scottie still lives in a small town in Alabama, and the occasions he has to get out of town are quite limited. To take full advantage of this trip to DC, Scottie is planning to extend his stay for three days beyond the minimum time required to attend the event. There are people connected with key LGBT organizations he will be able to meet for the first time, and as you can imagine the chance to do some in-person networking is incredibly important.
His employer, the Courage Campaign, will be paying for his travel costs and some of his lodging. But the extra lodging costs; money for food; money even for a digital camera so that he can take the photos that so many of you have requested — all that remains up to him. All told, his extra costs total approximately $1500, not a small chunk of change. However, we can help lift that burden by contributing to his travel fund now.
Obviously, this request is of a different nature than those coming from people who are in dire straits, on the verge of (or trying to get out of) homelessness, just to name one example. But in terms of quality of life, and the possibility of boosting Scottie to yet another plane of influence, this trip has its own importance. As Kelley mentioned, Scottie’s personal and professional rise these past few years has been steep and impressive. Take a look at his current reportage on legal developments related to Proposition 8, DOMA, and other crucial equality issues and cases for an idea of the contributions he's making. There’s no reason to think he can’t continue to go much, much farther.
If you can help Scottie out at this juncture, there are two ways to contribute:
either by sending money to his PayPal account, scottie.thomaston@gmail.com,
or by sending pre-paid VISA cards to him. (Personal checks are not a feasible option.) If you prefer the latter, please Kosmail Scottie or me for his mailing address.
Scottie has said quite freely that the support he has derived from Kossacks has been invaluable to him. Let’s show him now how much we value his work in return.
5:44 PM PT: As of 8:30 PM EDT, we have reached $320 in contributions! (and more, in effect, given the offer of a camera loan). Hooray and thanks to our generous Kossacks! ♥
6:52 PM PT: New total to report: as of 9:30 PM EDT, we now have a total of $566.50 in contributions and pledges en route! More than one-third of the way to the goal! w00t!
PS--Per loggersbrat's comment, Scottie's travel dates are 9/18-23, so there is a bit of urgency in our request. Thanks for keeping this in mind!
8:13 PM PT: Scottie and I have to call it a night, even without the latest update on the contributions. But we'll get back to you ASAP tomorrow to let you know how well the drive went. In the meantime, please feel free to rec, tip, comment, republish, and contribute as appropriate.
Many thanks to everyone who came by tonight, many thanks for the recs and tips and comments and republishes, many thanks for the contributions. Most of all, many thanks for your enthusiastic support for Scottie all along the way.
Tue Sep 11, 2012 at 8:49 AM PT: As of 11:00 AM EDT, Scottie has received just under $675 in donations and pledges. This is wonderful! Many thanks all around.