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Peltier recognized for peer support work by Gregory Pleshaw
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gender non-conforming young adult from northern California was recognized this week for their work helping other youth in troubled times. Eureka resident Qaiel Peltier was one Gregory Pleshaw of four people recognized at the May 6 Qaiel Peltier event hosted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration just outside Washington, D.C. The SAMHSA event coincided with National Children Mental Health Awareness Day and the importance of focusing attention on children’s health from birth onward. Peltier, 23, prefers the pronoun “they” and said the key to creating healthy youth in communities requires peer advocacy and peer support groups to help youth thrive in their communities. Peltier was at the Tuesday event, held in conjunction with the National Council for Behavioral Health’s annual conference, that included an appearance by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio; his wife, Chirlane McCray; and their daughter, Chiara de Blasio, who recently went public with her own mental health and addiction struggles. The other honorees are Sean Campbell, Michelle Vance, and Jim Saintgermain. A few days before the event, Peltier sat quietly at their kitchen table in Eureka, appending rhinestones to brooches as gifts to give to their friends in the Eureka chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The group, which Peltier has been a member of for four years, had recently had a death in the family and they were planning to attend a memorial later in the day. Peltier said that involvement with the Sisters and other queer-positive groups in the area had helped them to get over the stigma of being queer in rural California. “I grew up near here in McKinleyville, where it really wasn’t okay to be out,” Peltier said. “When I was a kid, this whole area was pretty rural and close-minded about queer people. Some things have changed and some haven’t but I have been out here for most of my life.” Growing up, Peltier felt very strongly that they were a girl, but said that reading about gender issues on the Internet helped to empower them that it was possible to be neither a girl nor a boy, but to be gender-queer and perhaps “something in between.” “Gender non-conforming means that I’m a transgender person but that I’m not necSee page 14 >>
Vol. 44 • No. 19 • May 8-14, 2014
Charge dropped against Hercules teen by Heather Cassell
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Jane Philomen Cleland
Flips and fun at Family Night
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aura Fitch and her son, Simon, 6, had fun in the kinder gym at Our Family Coalition’s annual Family Night at the Downtown Berkeley YMCA Saturday, May 3. This was the 16th annual event, which drew kids and their parents from around the East Bay who enjoyed a jam-packed evening of swimming, sports, arts and crafts, and of course, pizza.
battery charge has been dropped against a transgender teenager in the East Bay who was defending herself in a schoolyard fight last year, advocates said this week. Jewlyes Gutierrez, 16, expressed relief upon learning that Contra Courtesy SF Pride Costa County Superior Jewlyes Gutierrez Court Judge Thomas M. Maddock dismissed the charge May 1. “I finally have the chance to relax,” said See page 12 >>
Hopeful moms see fertility options by Seth Hemmelgarn
said clients are “incredibly loyal. ... More and more people are sending friends into n June 2010, Erica Westheimer and her the office.” partner, Mariana Mueller, started tryA variety of services are available ing to have a baby. through the center. Ghadir said those Westheimer, now 40, did three rounds include testing eggs “for genetic diseases of intrauterine insemination, where and all kinds of health issues.” sperm is injected into the uterus using a Additionally, with male couples, syringe and a thin catheter, but the proce“We’re able to process sperm and make dure didn’t work. embryos for both partners at one cycle, Then, she did two rounds of in-vitro so we can make embryos for both of the fertilization, where the egg is fertilized guys using their sperm separately.” outside the body and then inserted back In San Francisco, many people go in. to Pacific Fertility Center, where staff “This was the only route we could do include Dr. Eldon Schriock, who was to have a family,” said Westheimer, a film a member of the medical team that producer who lives in Los Angeles with performed the first in-vitro fertilizaCourtesy Erica Westheimer Mueller, who’s 39 and a private chef, and tion treatment in northern California. their daughter, Emma, 2. Westheimer Erica Westheimer, left, and Mariana Mueller shared a Schriock said he’s also a longtime advoand Mueller married in 2013. cate of fertility services for LGBTs. photo of themselves with their daughter, Emma. The process was “not easy,” said WesIn partnership with Swirl Radio, the theimer, but “we couldn’t be happier havcenter often offers seminars geared toing done it.” become reality.” About 20 percent of the busiward LGBTs. Wednesday, May 14, it will With Mother’s Day approaching Sunday, ness’s clients are LGBT, he said, and the center, offer an educational program aimed at educatMay 11, having children may be on the minds which sees more than 2,000 patients a year, reing women of the LGBTQ community about of more prospective lesbian mothers. cently created a section on its website specififertility options and creating a family. Westheimer credits Dr. Shahin Ghadir, a cally for same-sex couples at www.scrcivf.com/ Schriock, who’s straight, said he’s seeing founding partner of Southern California Retreatment/lgbt-families/. The practice also sees more people look ahead these days. productive Center, for his help in building her single men and women who are LGBT. “More people are coming in now for fufamily. Ghadir, who’s straight, said the center is seeture planning,” whereas before, people would Ghadir said the center “is one of the largest ing more LGBT clients. come in because they’d tried to have a child service providers for the LGBT community “It’s becoming more acceptable, and I think but couldn’t, he said. Current inability to have in terms of helping them make their families it’s becoming more available,” he said. He also See page 13 >>
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