Sanie D. Andres
LOS ANGELES – Equality California (EQCA) has named Sanie D. Andres the recipient of its first-ever “Good Neighbor” Equality Award recognizing excellence in grassroots lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender activism.
A marriage and family therapist, Andres is president of the board of the newly launched OUTreach Center, the only LGBTQ resource in California’s High Desert. Sanie will receive this honor Saturday (Aug. 18) at the 2012 Los Angeles Equality Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
The Good Neighbor award is the first Equality Award whose honoree is determined not by EQCA but through nomination by grassroots community members.
Andres, a gay Filipino-American raised in Antelope Valley, was nominated by his peers for his leadership in building coalitions, community empowerment, and inspiring individuals of all ages to engage in making Los Angeles County’s northernmost communities safer for their LGBTQ residents.
Under his direction, the OUTreach Center, formerly the AV GLBT Community Center, has gained new visibility and has opened up dialogue with community leaders that has positively influenced the way many Antelope Valley residents feel about equality for all.
In 2009, Andres founded The Out Project; a program that serves more than 40 LGBT youth weekly and that was honored by the Stonewall Young Democrats at the 2011 Harvey Milk Awards. He has inspired teens to launch Gay-Straight Alliance clubs at several Antelope Valley high schools, and spearheaded a protest of hate crime graffiti in Lancaster that brought out more than 120 allies – the area’s largest-ever community mobilization on LGBTQ issues.
As Antelope Valley’s Pride Committee Chair, Andres has grown the annual event from a 500-attendee picnic to a full-day celebration with 10 major sponsors and more than 2,300 attendees on the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds.
Under Andres’ leadership, The OUTreach Center is organizing a launch of a PFLAG chapter in Antelope Valley, coordinating a transgender support group, and continuing to sponsor LGBT-related human rights trainings for local educators. His collaboration with the Teachers’ Association of Lancaster led to the first-ever school climate survey in Lancaster, and resulted in a grant to jointly develop LGBT literature kits for local classrooms and libraries.
Andres is a clinical supervisor at Penny Lane in Lancaster and a registered art therapist. He lectures on cultural competency and LGBT issues in foster care through his role as adjunct faculty at National University and Antelope Valley College, and he has served as a board member of the Lesbian and Gay Psychotherapy Association.
He also currently serves as secretary on the City of Lancaster’s Museum and Public Art Foundation board.
(Information via press release from the OUTreach Center.)
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Activism-: a doctrine or practice that emphasizes direct vigorous action especially in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue.
I commend this man for his involvement, however I sometimes become frustrated by the formation of groups who cater to one group of society. I think often times these groups start out with
noble intentions, but often morph into something not so good. I think at a certain point these groups begin manipulating the people they were formed to protect. Just look at the NAACP, LA RAZA, NOW .
Also I am all for equality but I think there is a lot of effort being put forth for 4% of the population. I think people who are gay have rights, just as the rest of us have the right to feel uneasy when a gay couple is making out in a public place.
Agree. Nobody can intelligently argue with that. Operative word: “intelligently”.
What about when a heterosexual couple is making out in public? Does that bother you? Or, how about people just have a little bit of class and get a room?
It depends, is it a loving peck or a makeout session? People making out in public bugs me. And I react the same when its a gay or straight couple making out. My own personal observation is that I have never seen a gay couple give one another a peck, I have seen on several occasions gay couples making out in public. It seems as though they are doing it as a statement, like hey look at us we are gay and want everybody to know it and accept it.
I agree with you.
Maybe I’m prude, but I’ve always thought people who make out in public are obnoxious.
I feel like asking them, “…Is your relationship so fragile and/or questionable that you feel the need to make a statement by making out in public?”
Damn, some people on here are stuck in the 1930′s.
Congrats Sanie, you deserve it!
Stuck in the 70s…..things were much better then.
It’s fantastic feeling the cool winds of change starting to blow in the Antelope Valley! Congratulations Sanie for the work you do and the young people you inspire. You’re vision for The OUTreach Center and your courage in the Antelope Valley are changing the way people think about what it means to be Queer living in a conservative area. Your bravery is truly commendable and you should be proud.
One could never tell Sannie was Gay just looking at his photo.
Yes Bobbie NOBODY… Hooray for The Gays.
Just what the AV needs to go along with the gangs and hate groups. Narcacistic Gay people In Everyone’s Face’s.
Look At US, everyone. We are SO special. We are Gay.
What a remarkable accomplishment.
Proud to be Gay…
Sigh…
Almost as stupid as being proud to be white, black or brown.
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Not to sound like a broken record, but….AMEN.
I should have said William’s PURTH…
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The ONLY way to not be labeled a Homophobe is to be Gay. THEN these creeps use one’s Gayness to demean and blackmail you.
They KNOW its filthy, degenerate and evil and want company.
They want to turn our kids Gay.
ONLY when EVERYONE is Gay will they have the sort of equality they seek.
IGNORE the early death rate of Gays from STD’s and hard core drug use.
Wickedness Never Was Happiness, folks.
And Gay used to be a nice word.
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How about an award just because the guy is a good whatever he is, without bring his sexual preferences into play? Is he better because he is Gay? Better than straight somehow?
How about those that love Armadillos? Is there a special award for them?
And Never Mind those fun loving radical Muslims that kill Gays. Just today there was story in Haeretz about two guys arrested in Lebenon on Suspicion Of Being Gay. No THAT is true Homophobia.
But object to Gay militancy and “Awareness..” and look at the emotional attacks.
Very tolerant indeed.
No one here has advocated killing or arresting Gay people. While the Gay people all ignore or even like and promote such practises by everyone BUT Israel in the mid-east.
Never mind about REAL persecution of Gay people there, just PUSH-PUSH for Gay Everything here where Gay people are already free to be Gay and not arrested or executed.
Gay advocates are phonies and intolerant of anyone that isn’t also Gay.
You like openly Gay people? Knock yourself out. STOP attacking those that do not.
It isn’t helping your weak cause.
The more you bitch and moan the less acceptance you sorts with gather. Or is that your true goal? Moaning about what victims you are? Poor you…
It that you are succeeding. People have been over loaded with Gay Issues.
Move on…
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AMEN!!!
Hi, Lt. Onada. I knew you would be here ranting like a moth to a flame, a ‘flaming Lt. Onada’, perhaps.
William…good to see you back in the mix with Hector. You must be a glutton for verbal punishment. Can’t wait to see what you pull out of your ditty bag this time.
Did you Google Lt. Onada?
Greetings Professor. Just doing my part. Trying to keep everybody’s moral compass pointed in the right direction.
I love it. Your little world is getting smaller and smaller as the people you don’t like are everywhere and it’s closing in on you.
Then, there’s Don Quixote, I mean, Ace, tilting at the windmill next to Lake Palmdale.
The other night, Bill Maher on his Real Time show, criticized the gays who were protesting saying that the country is full of old rednecks who hate gays (and illegals and arugula, or whatever, they hate everything)and we just have to wait for them to die off.
Most young people who will replace you aren’t as backward as you are.
Still troubled over my proving your total hypocrisy last time William? Glad to see you’re keeping informed by watching hard-hitting TV programming.
Do you know who Lt. Onada is yet? You ask questions but you never answer answer any.
You have a ‘moral compass’??? Who knew? You’re probably sitting on it.
I asked you first, so I refuse to answer any of your questions until you give me a simple “yes” or “no” to the following questions: 1)Are you all for the waterboarding of terrorists and unlawful combatants? 2)Are you all for the killing of an unarmed, docile, passive, Osama Bin Laden? I’m not afraid to say “yes” to both.
No response. No surprise.
you guys have the problems not me
all they want is equality, something that EVERYONE deserves! done with you aholes!
Wow Ace, I finally agree with you on something. Contrary to comments by “K” and “Kje”, here is what annoys most straight people about gays: Twenty or so years ago, all gays “wanted” was to be left alone, and allowed to have their sexual preference behind closed doors. Maybe back then, the whole “how is it hurting you?” might have applied. (I won’t get into how it’s destroying the morality of this country, that’s for another discussion). Then, some years back, they demanded “equality”, saying “ALL” they wanted (now) was to get the same rights as married couples (health insurance, visit their partner on their death bed, etc.) They were granted domestic partnerships. Now, the past few years, that’s become not enough. Gays demand WE have tolerance, yet they have no tolerance for our differing views. Unlike years ago when all they wanted was acceptance, now they demand WE LIKE IT! We must LIKE them flaunting their degenerate lifestyle in our faces. They insist we EMBRACE it. All the while, you don’t see me making out with my wife in front of your kids, or otherwise running around flaunting my “straightness” in your face. You don’t see us putting on the “straight” parade, wearing assless chaps, or trying to be the other sex. This country is going off a cliff people!
They HAVE equality, and have had it for years. Unfortunately it’s probably too late to stop the country from going off that cliff…I think the front tires are already over, and the brakes are shot.
I guess Newt Gingrich and John Edwards haven’t trashed marriage enough for you. You gotta go looking elsewhere for someone to blame.
Marriages crash half the time. Would you fly an airline with that record? And, it ain’t the fault of same-sex couples.
All Gay issues all the time. That is what we all need.
Put Gay people in charge of everything. Opps..! They already control California (The Land Of Fruitz and Nutz..)
The Gays are NOT really perverts who degrade themselves and are intent on destroying marriage…
They are very tolerant themselves of those who are not Gay too.
They just want to be left alone and never want to FORCE their insanity upon others…
They DEMAND Gay Boy Scouts and Gay Scout Leaders…
They DEMAND lots of Gays in the armed forces to protect us all from TRUE Homophobes like those fun loving and also oh so tolerant Islamic Extremists who execute Gays when they catch them.
The Gays are in league with the very people who would hunt them down and murder them The Islamo Facsists who like them want to destroy our country.
And it is I who should “Get A Life..”?
C-R-A-Z-Y…
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Yes they are tolerant of others, unlike you..yes homphobes as you are. Who’s the one being intolerant here and FORCING their ways on othere? I would say people like you that just cant get over people that dont fit their so called “normal” ways. Tell me just exactly do they hurt you?
Perverts?? Most perverts I have seen have been heterosexual males. Takes one to know one Ace. Being gay does not make you a pervert idiot!
The only ones DEMANDING others of anything are people like you. Deal with it gay people are here and they arent going anywhere.
I am a mother of a gay son and I support him completely. I will fight for his rights till the day I die. He has the same right to love and marry as anyone else. You might feel a little different if you had a gay child, although you are probably one of those Aholes that would disown them when you found out. Shame on anyone who would do that, you disgust me!
Where is the ‘Like Button’ button when I need it? LIKE! LIKE! LIKE! LIKE!
You better PREACH!!
Ace is on auto-pilot. He quit thinking years ago.
Was Jerry Sandusky Gay?
In my experience, all child molesters prefer only one gender or the other.
All chicken hawks like young victims. Gay or straight.
Gay is not okay and they or no one else will ever be equal.
The more you folks kvetch and protest the worse things in general become for you all.
Just go away… Shut up and find someone your own age and be Gay.
Knock your selves out.
Get out of our faces..!
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why dont you shut up and go away already Ace, get out of our faces!!
Congrats Sanie! Ace, why dont you shut your homophobic ass up! Must you always make rude comments. Get a life and stay out of everyone elses! Your stupid comments get old and boring. What did the gays ever do to you? I think you just need to come out of the closet already, lol. Those who protest…
OH GOODY..! More Gay stories. We all need to just be Gay. Hooray for everything Gay. Gay TV stars. Gay movies, Gay Pride… Gay everything. We just can’t get enough of The Gays…
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As soon as I saw this story, I knew it was just a matter of time before you brought your little homophobic self onto this thread.
What is with you and gay people anyway? How exactly do they affect your life? Why won’t you give it a rest already?
Congratulations Mr. Sanie D. Andres for helping to bring some much needed LGBT awareness to this Valley. Some people (like Ace) just can’t be helped and those people you just have to ignore.
But for the rest of the population, your contributions are invaluable. Just look at how you and your group were able to turn the AV Fair Board from foe to friend. You deserve the award for that alone, much less all the other countless things that you have done to promote tolerance in this Valley. Kudos to you!!
“S..” The Old Queen…
Buzzing around the hive…
Looking for some more Honey…
Bzzzzzzz…
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This country and world are going straight off a cliff.
I couldn’t have said better.
I also couldn’t agree more. This is so sad, and yet some people openly embrace it.
Yeah, unfortunately “sad” is a good way to describe it.
openly embrace what exactly?
You know……”it”.
DUH….the homosexual life style, that’s what! I refuse to use that stupid PC ‘gay’.
But they’re so happy and “gay” all the time…..