The Live and Let Live Alano Club honored The San Diego Human Dignity Foundation (SDHDF) at a special ceremony at the Alano Club’s meeting site in University Heights on Feb. 21.

The Alano Club’s board of directors recognized The San Diego Human Dignity Foundation to say thank you for the $2,000 grant the Foundation provided during 2008-09.

The Alano Club’s board co-chairs, John D. and Shirley L., presented an engraved thank you plaque to Tony Freeman, executive director, San Diego Human Dignity Foundation, at the special ceremony. Tony Freeman cut a red ribbon unveiling new, rolling room dividers that will be used to enhance privacy and define the room size in the large meeting room at the Alano Club.

“The old room dividers had been held together with duct tape, glue and lots of TLC,” said Alano Club boardmember Dave S.

The Live and Let Live Alano Club board of directors expressed great thanks to The San Diego Human Dignity Foundation for the grant.

In an effort to bolster visibility of San Diego’s LGBT community and assist various service organizations that support it, San Diego LGBT Pride has announced the 2009 “Friend of Pride” program that allows donors to contribute online at six different levels.

To reflect the 2009 Pride season, individuals donating $20.09 or more will be invited to serve as an usher for the 300-foot-long rainbow flag that will be seen by more than 160,000 spectators in this year’s Pride parade, scheduled for 11 a.m., July 18, through the heart of Hillcrest.

Contributions will fund a variety of programs that support GLBT civil rights activism and awareness in San Diego and mentorship of Pride organizations around the world. Friends of Pride will also support HIV testing, youth Pride programs, senior-support services, and the Center’s Youth Housing Project. Additionally, donations play an important role in the production of the annual Pride parade, which relies on fund-raising to cover 90 percent of its cost. Those donating at least $250 receive two festival tickets and will be recognized from the stage at the festival. Additional benefits are available at other donor levels, including: $500 (Captain of Pride); $1,000 (Leader of Pride); $2,500 (Patron of Pride); and $5,000 (Benefactor of Pride).

“We are excited by the community involvement generated by the Friends of Pride program,” said Ron Ortega deHarte, Pride’s executive director. Pride enjoys an enormous amount of heartfelt support for all the work the organization does to enhance the lives of GLBT people. We are confident that during these tough economic times that Friends of Pride will financially support the significant impact Pride has on their community.”

To date, San Diego LGBT Pride has given more than $1.3 million to a host of community organizations and charities, including $609,000 to help fund vital programs of the San Diego LGBT Community Center.

Friend of Pride donations are tax deductible and can be made directly on the Pride Web site: SanDiegoPride.org, under “donations.” Donors will receive acknowledgement for their contributions on the Web site and in Pride’s newsletter. For more information, call the San Diego Pride office at 619-297-7683.

City Councilmembers Carl DeMaio and Donna Frye applauded reforms enacted Feb. 10 that will improve the openness and effectiveness of the City Council. The Council will now hold six evening meetings per year to enhance public participation, selection of the council president will be made in December after newly elected members take office, and the Pledge of Allegiance will also become a formal part of the regular Tuesday meeting schedule.

“The City Council took an important first step to change how City Hall works to make it more open and effective,” DeMaio commented. “After months of work, we enacted reforms that will enhance public participation in city government.” Councilmember Donna Frye added, “I’m looking forward to the next round of reforms in our open government efforts.”

The reforms are part of a larger package of 15 reforms Councilmembers DeMaio and Frye teamed up to improve the openness, effectiveness and independence of the City Council. For more information on the City Council and its meetings, visit www.sandiego.gov/citycouncil.

The Gay Men’s Chorus of San Diego will proudly kick off its 17th Season of Singing Out with its April concert, “Really Big Songs.” This concert, featuring some of the most dynamic music ever written for men’s voices, will include selections from the worlds of opera and operetta, the movies, Broadway, and beyond. “Really Big Songs” will be performed on Saturday, April 25, at 8 p.m. and again on Sunday, April 26, at 3 p.m., inside the beautiful Sherwood Auditorium which is part of the Museum of Contemporary Arts San Diego, located at 700 Prospect Street in Downtown La Jolla.

“I have wanted to produce this kind of concert for years, and it was originally conceived as an ‘opera’ concert,” explained Gary Holt, Artistic Director of the Gay Men’s Chorus. “But every time I sat down to work on programming, I discovered yet another gem for men’s voices that was just too audaciously big and beautiful to leave out. I continued to assemble great music from film, the Broadway stage, operetta, oratorio, and contemporary pop charts. The end result was, well, a bunch of ‘really big songs!’”

GMCSD’s April show will thrill opera-lovers with Puccini’s beloved “Nessun Dorma” from Turandot, as well as Richard Wagner’s spectacular “Pilgrim’s Chorus” from Tannhauser. Fans of Gilbert & Sullivan’s fun-filled operettas will delight in seeing the full Chorus in kabuki drag as they portray The Mikado’s “Gentlemen of Japan.” Meanwhile aficionados of Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim will love the hilariously-staged version of “It’s Hot Up Here” from his hit musical Sunday in the Park With George.

Other featured “Really Big Songs” include cabaret sensation Lina Koutrakos’ electrifying “Love Grows Here,” the thundering tympanis of Carl Orff’s “In Taberna” from his masterwork Carmina Burana, the Dixie Chicks’ chart-topping country hit “Cowboy Take Me Away,” and an outrageously over-the-top concert closer that the Gay Men’s Chorus doesn’t want to describe in detail as yet. Just think “pansies.” GMCSD promises this will be a multi-faceted concert with something sure to delight everyone’s tastes!

Tickets for “Really Big Songs” will be available soon from all Gay Men’s Chorus members and via the GMCSD Web site, where audience members can look at a map of the Sherwood Auditorium, select their very own seats and purchase their tickets. Seating inside the Sherwood Auditorium is reserved and tickets range from $25-$35 for Saturday evening’s performance and just $20-$30 for the Sunday matinee. The Gay Men’s Chorus has reduced its ticket prices to accommodate even more potential supporters, with discounts still available for seniors, students, military, and groups. For more information about the Gay Men’s Chorus of San Diego or “Really Big Songs,” call 619-57-GMCSD or visit www.gmcsd.com

Restaurant goers at Urban Mo’s and Baja Betty’s can look forward to seeing their favorite hosts, bartenders, servers, and food runners relocate for their evening shifts on Tuesday March 31, beginning at 5 p.m. and ending at 11 p.m.

Staff members at Urban Mo’s and Baja Betty’s will be switching teams with Betty’s employees taking over Mo’s, and Mo’s employees will be at the helm at Betty’s. The event is called “The Big Switch.”

“We thought this would be a fun event for our staff as well as the community,” said Chris Shaw, who owns Urban Mo’s and Baja Betty’s. “So many of our employees have such strong followings – we thought it might be fun to switch things up a bit and get the regulars from each restaurant into the other. It’s something we’ve never done before – and everyone is pretty excited about it.”

The Big Switch is more than staff members switching teams – it’s also a fund-raiser for the community. Shaw will donate 25 percent of the revenue at each restaurant during the event to The San Diego LGBT Community Center.

The Big Switch will take place on Tuesday, March 31, between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m.

Urban Mo’s is located at 308 University Ave. and Baja Betty’s is located at 1421 University Ave., in Hillcrest. For more information on The Big Switch, call 619-491-0400 or visit www.urbanmos.com.