Erie Gay Business Alliance formed

from Erie Gay Business Alliance

On April 3, about 20 people attended the first meeting of the Erie Gay Business Alliance at Breeze Steakhouse and Grille. Plans were quickly made for a candidates night about two weeks after that. The group also chose a name and a review of area gay business guides took place.

The candidates night took place on Sunday, April 20, at Craze Dance Club with about 50 people attending. All four Democratic candidates for Pennsylvania's third Congressional district attended and spoke. Independent candidate Steve Porter emailed that he had a previous commitment, and Republican incumbent Phil English neither attended nor responded to the invitation.

Representatives from the Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Ron Paul presidential campaigns spoke. Videos recorded by Spotlight TV are posted at YouTube and are linked from the online version of this article at the Erie Gay News site. The organizers wish to thank the owners and staff of Craze, John Cooper for his donations, Keith Drzal for moderating the event and lining up candidate attendance and Michael Mahler for contacting all the campaigns.

A candidates night is also being planned for the general election in the fall, to be held at the Zone Dance Club.

The Erie Gay Business Alliance will hold its next meeting Thursday, June 5 at 7 PM at the Zodiac Dinor, 2610 State St, Erie. Future activities will be discussed and there will also be a report about a meeting between Erie Gay Business Alliance members and Plexus, a similar group in Cleveland. Plexus considers itself "The Chamber of Commerce for the LGBT community and its allies", provides access to networking events for its members and publishes a LGBT Visitors Guide. It is also affiliated with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

The group from Erie will be attending a networking event and will meet with Plexus leaders at that time. They will report back to the Erie Gay Business Alliance membership at its June 5 meeting. More information about Plexus can be found at its website: www.thinkplexus.org

Those who are already part of the group are asked to contact professionals and business people who might be interested and bring them to the June 5 meeting.