Advocating for Equality with GALA

Above: Watch these advocates on 1 of 5 GALA buses traveling to Austin discuss their passion.

GALA has been a proponent of Advocacy Day in Austin since GALA's inception. In the early years that meant raising local awareness about the event and facilitating carpools from North Texas to Austin. In 2013 and 2015, GALA expanded that effort by chartering buses to bring even more advocates from North Texas to Austin to share their stories with their elected officials.

Last November, the 2017 effort was launched with the goal of mobilizing the largest group of North Texans ever to attend Lobby Day. GALA's Bob Shimmin took the lead and reached out to leaders of the region's LGBTQ organizations to make this a reality. The result was a unified effort that included the Cathedral of Hope, Coalition for Aging LGBT, Stonewall Democrats, ACLU Texas, Texas Freedom Network, Transgender Education Network of Texas, LULAC 4871, Resource Center, Lambda Legal, DFW Human Rights Campaign, and Equality Texas.

On Monday, March 20, at 7 AM, five chartered buses departed from Plano and Dallas carrying over 200 passionate advocates for equality. Some participants have been involved in LGBT advocacy for years and many, many others were embarking on their first journey to tell their personal stories about why equality is so important to them. 

This video was captured by videographer George Leonard who traveled with GALA and documented the 2017 Advocacy Day event. It shows the essence of GALA's mission -- bringing together people to advocate and educate in their local communities. GALA will continue to work in North Texas to raise up and give voice to LGBTQ advocates with the hope that our vision of a truly equal community will be realized. 

Your SMALL Donation Will Help GALA Accomplish BIG Things

GALA's volunteers are some of the hardest working advocates in North Texas.

Help GALA meet their goal to raise $2,017 this weekend. GALA will use the donations to create and print updated marketing materials which promote our educational mission and programs.  Prior to this email we have already raised over 30% of our goal on Facebook.  

Every donation ($10, $20, or more if you are able) goes directly to accomplish this project and you can donate on Facebook and encourage your Facebook friends to donate also, or, you can donate directly on GALA website.

Finally, the easiest and most powerful way to support GALA is by making a recurring monthly donation of $5, $10, $25, $50, or more.   Simply send an email to donation@galantx.org and indicate the amount of your tax-deductible monthly pledge. We will reply with an email containing a secure form which will allow you to provide your payment information directly to our credit card processor.

GALA Attends Event at Islamic Center

GALA president Jeanne Rubin represented GALA at the open house of the Islamic Center of Frisco.  Following the event, Jeanne said, "congregants were so open and welcoming. The young adults were especially impressive, articulative and respectful.  GALA is looking forward to planning an event with both of our commuinties as I feel we have a lot in common."

Gather with fair-minded voters to meet candidates for city council, school board, and Collin College trustees. Be informed by knowing who represents us at the local level. This is just as important as knowing who represents us in Austin and Washington DC.

Beer, wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served.  Click a button below for details on the Meet the Candidate event in your  community.

Family Night at Durkin's Pizza

Tuesday, March 28   5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Every 4th Tuesday we gather for Family Night at Durkins.  Stop by this family friendly event to network, socialize, enjoy happy hour, listen to rock n roll, and eat some great pizza! Durkin's owner and ally extraordinarire, Michael Durkin, donates 10% of sales to GALA Youth, our group for LGBTQA youth. 

Come out and bring a friend or two.  It's as easy as eating pizza!

Durkin's Pizza
8930 Hwy 121 at Custer Rd (map)
(in the Target Shopping Center) , McKinney