D.C. Center Plans 2008
Meeting at GLBT community center discusses DC's HIV/AIDS report, situation with former Director, calendar listings
The D.C. Center, metropolitan Washington’s GLBT community center, held an annual brunch and planning meeting Saturday, Dec. 8, asking community leaders to offer upcoming events for 2008, to be compiled into a master calendar.
Prior to the task at hand, Center President Michael Sessa took a moment to clarify The D.C. Center’s relationship with Robert Bruening, who managed The D.C. Center as a contract employee in 2004-2005 until Sessa ended that contract, shortly after becoming head of the organization himself. Federal officials last week accused Bruening of stealing from the estate of Jerrie Linder, a longtime community activist who died in 2005, as reported by the Washington Times Dec. 3. Sessa told the attendees, about a dozen people representing various groups, that The D.C. Center is in no way connected to the affair. He added, however, that there is some concern regarding the whereabouts of Linder’s body.
”The shakedown of all this is…we don’t know where the body is,” he said. ”I think it’s horrible to leave things off this way.”
The meeting also delved into the new report regarding HIV/AIDS statistics in District, and the role of local GLBT community organizations in a city particularly driven by national organizations and perspectives.
While the three-hour meeting allowed attendees to submit their 2008 calendar listings, the submission period will remain open for a few days for electronic submissions to Center Board Vice Chair Joseph Palacios at josephpalacios@thedccenter.org.
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