The Center will host its monthly Community Coalition Breakfast on Friday, Feb. 17, from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. This month’s topic will be “A Marriage Update,” designed to provide participants with the most up-to-date information on marriage equality work, locally and throughout the state, and provide news on the possible discriminatory ballot measure that would ban marriage for same-sex couples and repeal existing domestic partnership protections.

The featured speakers will be Dale Kelly Bankhead, campaign manager for the Equality for All campaign; Sid Voorakkara, chair of San Diegans Against Marriage Discrimination; Eddie Valtierra, coordinator of The Center’s Marriage Equality and Education Project; and Fernando Lopez, field coordinator with Equality California.

A full breakfast is available for a $10 donation; coffee and tea are complimentary. RSVPs are not required. Call (619) 692-2077 for further information.

Pride at Work is hosting a reception for their national executive board and staff on Friday, Feb. 24, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the home of Bill Beck and David Huskey.

One of the featured guests will be Nancy Wohlforth, secretary/treasurer of the Office and Professional Employees International Union. Honorary hosts include state Senator Christine Kehoe and District 3 City Councilmember Toni Atkins.

The event will promote the group’s national convention, which is scheduled to take place in San Diego Sept. 7-10 at the Mission Bay Hilton, and to help raise funds for the group’s national marriage organizer, Sandra Telep.

Tickets are $100 for hosts and $25 for guests. For address and further information, contact Brian Polejes, San Diego area Pride at Work chapter chair, at (619) 865-6784.

Pride at Work is the GLBT constituency group of the AFL-CIO.

A public memorial service for Dr. Drew Mattison will take place on Saturday, Feb. 18, at 10:00 a.m. at the Old Globe Theatre’s Cassius Carter Centre Stage.

Mattison was one of the original founders of the HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center at UCSD and author of the best-selling book The Male Couple. He died Dec. 29 of stomach cancer.

The Cassius Carter Centre Stage is located in Balboa Park. Call (619) 231-1941 for more information.

Free or low cost mammograms, breast exams and other free health screens will be available at the Women’s Wellness Fair, taking place at The Center on Saturday, Feb. 18. Workshops will be offered on yoga, massage, healthy gourmet meals, couples and intimacy, financial fitness and transgender health. There will also be women’s wellness booths with free services, giveaways, refreshments, dental dams, cookbooks, T-shirts and more. Get a mammogram and receive a goodie bag.

The event is free to attend. Contact Claudia Lucero at (619) 692-2077 ext. 206 for more information. The Center is located at 3909 Centre St. in Hillcrest.

Equality for All, a California campaign to defeat a proposed state constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality and repeal existing domestic partnership protections for same sex couples, announced the appointment of its campaign manager, Dale Kelly Bankhead.

Bankhead has served on the executive committee of Equality for All since last summer. For the past eight years, she has served as the public affairs director for the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties. Bankhead has worked on numerous statewide ballot measures, including Proposition 54, dubbed the “Racial Privacy Initiative,” sponsored by former University of California regent Ward Connerly; Proposition 66, the ballot measure to reform California’s Three Strikes Law; and Proposition 22, the 2000 anti-same-sex marriage measure sponsored by the late state Senator Pete Knight. She is the co-chair of San Diegans Against Marriage Discrimination and is vice president of The Center’s board of directors.

Equality for All was created in 2005 in response to statements by two groups of conservative anti-GLBT activists that they intended to seek voter approval of constitutional amendments to permanently ban marriage equality for same-sex couples and to roll back California’s recently expanded domestic partnership laws. Last month, both conservative groups announced that they had failed to qualify for the June 2006 ballot and might not qualify for the November ballot.

“California is the first state in which conservative organizations have been unable to qualify an anti-marriage equality measure for the ballot,” Bankhead said. “We cannot help but believe that our strong organization and fund-raising were part of the reason they had difficulty obtaining support.

“But we all know from recent experience in California that one major donor can galvanize and qualify an initiative in a matter of weeks,” she continued. “We do not want to be caught flat-footed in such a situation, so we must continue our vigorous campaign of voter contact and education until we know for sure they have failed again.”

Anti-same-sex marriage groups have until April to submit signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

The Hillcrest Youth Center is partnering with Comprehensive Health Services to make available free or low-cost medical care and advice to young people ages 14-24. The weekly clinic will offer access to a full range of medical services ranging from free flu shots to information on sexual health. The clinic will take place every Monday evening from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the San Diego Rescue Mission Building, located at 120 Elm St. in San Diego.

“We are so pleased to work with Comprehensive Health Services to offer young people an opportunity to gain information about their overall health in a relaxed and accessible way,” said Britton Neubacher, coordinator at Hillcrest Youth Center. “As part of our partnership with Comprehensive Health Services, the Hillcrest Youth Center will provide an LGBT support group weekly at the clinic. In addition, the evening will include refreshments and other incentives to make the clinic even more appealing to young people.”

For more information, contact Britton Neubacher at (619) 497-4920 ext. 113 or e-mail bneubacher@thecentersd.org.

San Diego residents Craig Guerra and Reynaldo Casares, of House 2 House Guys, recently spent time in New Orleans assisting the GLBT community to get their homes back in order.

For the houses that escaped serious damage, the next challenge is dealing with the rebuilding and the mold that has continued to thrive in the humidity of the south.

The pair plan to return to New Orleans in March and has teamed with Travis Nixon and Scott Bryant of Absolutely Electric to complete the necessary tasks. There will be a fund-raiser on Tuesday, Feb. 21, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Twiggs Coffee Shop (4590 Park Blvd.) to help defray some of the cost of the reconstruction efforts. The fund-raiser is free to the public (donations accepted), and will feature live music, inspirational readings and photographs for sale by local artists. Individuals interested in making contributions can also contact Reynaldo at info@house2houseguys.com or Craig at 619-298-4679.

Sid Voorakkara, a program officer with the California Endowment who has served as a consultant for California Consumers United and Californians for Tax Fairness, will join The Center’s board of directors.

Voorakkara previously served as a field director for the United Nations Foundation and as a communications advisor for U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt. He has extensive communications and campaign experience.

Voorakkara has been active in working to end marriage discrimination in California, and currently serves as co-chair of San Diegans Against Marriage Discrimination.