The Center’s first Community Coalition Lunch drew a crowd Friday, Feb. 18, when former San Diegan Corri Planck, now the director of advocacy, communications and support for the Family Pride Coalition, spoke about the issues GLBT families face across the nation following the November elections and a slew of new pro and anti-gay legislation.

The only national GLBT parenting organization, Family Pride Coalition has been a resource for GLBT parents and children to find others like them across the nation for the last 25 years.

Planck said the last two years have seen “devastating changes” with regards to anti-GLBT court cases, ballot measures and legislation – more so than ever before.

“We live in a time when LGBT families are more visible, and that is both good and bad,” she said. “The marriages in San Francisco and Massachusetts are something that many thought they’d never see in their lifetime. But we also live in a time when gay dads in Utah and Arkansas can still be forced by the courts to not be near their kids. … Polls show more and more people accept LGBT people, yet constitutional amendments are passed.”

It only took the Oklahoma Legislature 23 days to pass legislation denying adoption rights to same-sex couples, she said, adding, “Child welfare and pediatrics organizations have released studies showing children raised by LGBT parents grow up fine, but the president uses his pulpit to bash our families.”

Planck lauded Rosie O’Donnell’s efforts to highlight Florida’s anti-gay adoption laws shortly after O’Donnell came out publicly. The state has one of the most stringent anti-gay adoption policies in the nation, and recent efforts to overturn them have failed in the courts.

Following an election season in which President Bush swore to push for a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, the Bush administration is upholding their oath to limit the gay rights movement, going so far as to attack gay-friendly cartoon characters.

“The government has enough time to lobby for a federal constitutional amendment, and enough time to demonize SpongeBob and Buster’s friends [on the PBS cartoon “Postcards from Buster”] not for being gay, but for being gay-friendly,” Planck said. “It begs the question: When do they spend time with their own families?”

There were some successful elections of gay candidates, including that of the first Latina lesbian sheriff in Dallas, Tex., and Christine Kehoe to the California state Senate.

And despite 13 states’ constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage – some of them domestic partnerships as well – California saw the Domestic Partners Rights and Responsibilities Act go into effect Jan. 1, giving registered domestic partners all of the state benefits of marriage.

Still, some politicians, including California Senator Dianne Feinstein, attributed the furor over Massachusetts’ legalization of same-sex marriage and the same-sex weddings performed in San Francisco to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry’s loss in November, and said the marriage equality movement was too far, too fast.

Planck rejected the accusation, saying the gay rights movement has always thrived on the concept of “more.”

“More has worked for us since Stonewall,” she said. “We must introduce ourselves as LGBT to more family, friends and neighbors. We need to show up more in the media and highlight our issues. The more visibility we gain, the more likely they [the public] are to support us.”

The Center has permanently changed their Community Coalition meetings, a monthly informational and networking gathering open to the GLBT community and supporters, from breakfast to lunch. The lunch, which runs from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., still takes place on the third Friday of every month in their auditorium. Admission is free, and a full lunch catered by Zapher Dajani of The Abbey Café is $10.