YVO news

Hi Folks,
I am copying a post I did for the YVO blog, but since many of the people who read my blog follow Liv's work with YVO and because this is exciting news, I wanted to publish it on my blog too. Yipee..... Canada here we come!



Hey Canada folks,

Hang on to your hats, I just got some amazing news. As Liv has probably told you, I am a board member of the Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association, the association behind the Outgames and the Conference you are attending this week (yikes...it's here already). Anyway, I did some snooping around and got you all a meeting with Martina Navratilova for Friday, July 28th.

You guys, she's a superstar. If you aren't familiar with her acheivements, I would really encourage you to do some research before you meet her. She is from the Czech Republic (but is now a U.S. citizen) and is one of the best, if not THE best, woman's tennis player of all time.

She is also a trailblazer for GLBT human rights and for combatting homophobia in sports...she was one of the first out lesbian professional athletes.

You may remember seeing her in one of the videos you watched early on. She's very committed to helping queer youth through the coming out stages, and advocating for education around the subject.

You will probably also meet Mark Tewksbury, who is a superstar Canadian swimmer who won a gold medal in the Barcelona Olympics.



So, not to freak you out, but this is a BIG deal. I have seen Martina's schedule and she is meeting with VERY few groups while in Montreal (she's only there for a few days). Please take the time to read about her work and think in advance about any questions you might have for her about her work with GLBT youth (or anything else for that matter).

For those of you not going to Montreal, I for one will miss you, but we'll take lots of pictures and remember, this is just the BEGINNING, you'll get your turns at the next great thing (hopefully something like Sundance!).

Thanks again to you all for letting me tag along!
Julie