Former Pride board members including Murray-Ramirez are organizing a town hall meeting to discuss the current state and future of San Diego LGBT Pride this Sunday, Jan. 10, at the San Diego LGBT Community Center at 6 p.m.

The San Diego HIV Health Services Planning Council has officially launched its 2010 Survey for People Living with HIV/AIDS. The survey should be filled out by individuals living with HIV/AIDS who reside in San Diego County. As in years past, there is both an online version of the survey available as well as written copies, with both English and Spanish versions available.

The online survey can be accessed from a link on the planning council website at www.sdplanning.org under the ‘what’s new’ tab on the home page or by using the following direct links:

English Version http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/sdplanning

Spanish Version http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/sdplanningspanish

If you are a person living with HIV/AIDS, please fill out the survey as soon as possible. It is important that consumer voices are heard during these tough economic times when HIV/AIDS budgets are being cut.

Agencies that requested written surveys will be receiving them within the next two weeks. If your agency has not yet been contacted and you would like surveys, please contact us. This year the council’s outreach team is interested in going to agencies to do presentations on the importance of the needs assessment and/or to set up tables in agency lobbies to encourage participation. In addition it would be very helpful if agencies could post the links to the survey on agency websites, home pages in computer labs and social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. If you need help with any of these items or if you need additional surveys, please don’t hesitate to ask! We will be in close touch until the survey closes on March 12.

For more information, visit www.sdplanning.org or e-mail shannon.hansen@sdcounty.ca.gov

Cleve Jones, Courage Campaign, Equality California, Californians Against Hate, Unite Here Local 30 will host Boycott to Ring in the New Year, a rally and march, at Manchester Hyatt on Saturday, Jan. 8 at 2 p.m.

It has been two years since Doug Manchester, owner of the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Diego, contributed $125,000 to anti-LGBT rights campaigners – an early infusion of cash that paid for the signature-gathering drive that put Proposition 8 on the ballot.

Over the past eighteen months, the boycott of the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel has become a remarkably successful statement for marriage equality and a powerful example of the coalition between the LGBT movement and the labor movement. The boycott has cost Doug Manchester millions in lost convention revenue and shown clearly that there are consequences for those who attack the rights of minority groups, advocate discrimination and oppose the rights of workers.

Numerous convention groups, including the American Association of Justice and the California State Bar, have opted to leave San Diego rather than continue to stay at the Manchester Hyatt and violate the boycott.

“Two years after Doug Manchester’s contribution to Proposition 8, the boycott of the Manchester Grand Hyatt continues,” said Cleve Jones, founder of the NAMES Project/AIDS Memorial Quilt and Unite Here organizer. “We continue to call on associations and conventions to move their events out of the Manchester Hyatt and stand up for marriage equality and workers.”

For more information, call Dan Rottenstreich at 619-630-4373.

The San Diego Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence will host CODE RED, a benefit for the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign at Bamboo Lounge on Tuesday, Feb. 9, from 7-10 p.m. Those that attend are asked to wear their favorite red outfit for the event.

Heart disease is the number one killer of women, so the American Heart Association created the Go Red for Women campaign to raise awareness and funds to combat this alarming epidemic. Women are dying at a rate of one per minute so help is critical. You can make a difference by attending CODE RED!

CODE RED will feature entertainment by House music DJ Michael Carrera, fabulous raffle prizes and awesome food and drink specials, courtesy of Bamboo Lounge.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are a leading-edge Order of missionary nuns. Since their first appearance in San Francisco, Easter Weekend 1979, the Sisters have been accused of “Ruining it for Everyone” with their habitual injection of gaiety into serious affairs including human rights, political activism and religious intolerance. The Sisters consider it their mission to “ruin” all detrimental conditions including complacency, guilt and the inability to laugh at oneself.

Founded in 2005, the Asylum of the Tortured Heart Incorporated, or the San Diego Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, is a non-profit organization composed of men and women dedicated to the support, education and development of the diverse communities of San Diego.

Their mission is to bring joy to the heart and liberation of the spirit wherever it is needed: in the bar, the bathhouse, the parade, the hospice, the youth shelter, the health center and the street.

The Sisters, as true nuns, follow the traditions of the women over the centuries who have dedicated their lives to selfless service for the betterment of their communities taking vows to serve each other, their neighbors and all San Diegans.

The Sisters are suggesting a $5 donation at the door. Bamboo Lounge is located at 1475 University Ave. in Hillcrest. For more information, e-mail shelbyhellbound@yahoo.com or visit www.sdsisters.org.

The San Diego City Council Jan. 5 confirmed the reappointment of Councilmember Todd Gloria as Chair of the Land Use and Housing (LUH) Committee for 2010.

“The LUH Committee will build on our prior work to develop policies that strengthen neighborhoods,” said Councilmember Gloria. “In 2010, San Diegans will see significant progress made in green building requirements, payday lending governance and community garden establishment, as well as a continued focus on increased affordable housing options.”

Councilmember Gloria will convene LUH meetings approximately once per month. Meeting agendas and actions are available on the City’s website, http://www.sandiego.gov//city-clerk/officialdocs/legisdocs/cccmeetings.shtml.