Best of Queer DC: GLOE!(?) (Or, And the sparkly pony goes to…)

I have the sparkliest spot in the GLOE office picked out.

If we were to win Best Community Organization in the Brightest Young Gays 2011 round-up of the Best of Queer DC, then clearly we’d need an appropriately sparkly place of honor.

Yes, you’ve guessed it: GLOE was nominated for a Ponies Choice Award.

We were a bit shocked to see our name next to some really excellent (and much bigger!) organizations, and in all seriousness, are quite honored to be considered among them. GLOE is very proud to be part of our DC, Jewish and LGBTQ communities, and we work everyday to engage queer Jews and our friends in social justice; in arts and culture programs; and in creating community.

And we throw a great party. We’ve been doing all of it for five years now, and I hope we’ll be doing it for at least 50 more.

We know and work with folks at almost all these other places nominated, so believe me when I say they all deserve sparkly ponies.

Because the ballot doesn’t tell you about them, I wanted to:

Food & Friends gets food and nutritional counseling to people with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Whitman-Walker Clinic takes care of the health of the LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS communities. DC Trans Coalition fights for the trans and gender-diverse community of DC. GLOV works to reduce violence again LGBT people and support survivors. SMYAL supports our LGBTQ youth through programs, counseling and education.

There are obviously more local groups who should be on this list. Plus, DC is lucky to have so many organizations that I think of as local, but are actually national, and just happen to be in the neighborhood.

Even if some of the categories are slightly less… wholesome… than others, shall we say, this is still a great reminder of why we do what we do.

Even in DC, even in 2011, I still have people who tell me things along the lines of, “After I came out, I really stopped being Jewish (/Catholic/Muslim) because I didn’t think you could really be both, and with GLOE, I love that I can have those sides together again.”

If you love that, too, we’d love it if you would vote for GLOE.