Stonewall Young Democrats

The Stonewall Young Democrats, also known as SYD, is a Los Angeles based GLBT-rights group in the United States, affiliated with the "Los Angeles Stonewall Democratic Club" with the Democratic Party. The group serves the greater Los Angeles County region but mostly holds it meetings in the West Hollywood area due to its central location to the Greater LA region. The group's website describe themselves as "a community of passionate progressives excited about the political and societal issues of the day who want to give voice to their priorities and take action in a grassroots community-oriented manner on matters of both local and national prominence."

Currently, Stonewall Young Democrats hold bi-monthly general membership meetings during the odd numbered months of the year on the second Monday of the month at various times. These meetings consist of reports from the various elected officers of SYD followed by a panel discussion on an issue important to the LGBTI/Democratic community. In the even numbered months of the year, bi-monthly social mixers occur which can be anything from bowling to a house party.

Stonewall Young Democrats is growing to include other cities across the country as well.

Brief History

Stonewall Young Democrats was founded in 2004 by "John Cleary" and "Andrew Lachman", both members of the "Los Angeles Stonewall Democratic Club", who wanted to start a youth-oriented version of the club, recognizing the need for younger membership. The Los Angeles chapter of Stonewall Democratic Club has for years attempted to create a youth-centric version of itself to get younger gays and lesbians involved with politics but was only able to do so when large amounts of gays and lesbians rallied in support of Howard Dean for his 2004 Presidential campaign. It was only the night when Dean lost his bid for the Democratic Primary that Andrew and SYD Founding President John Cleary sat down and wrote the draft of the group's bylaws, surrounded by people who would become the Founding Members of Stonewall Young Democrats.

SYD is an affiliate of the Los Angeles Stonewall Democratic Club as well as members to other groups such as the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley (DP/SFV), the California Democratic Party, Young Democrats of America, and National Stonewall Democrats.

Membership

Membership to Stonewall Young Democrats is open to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex (LGBTI) individuals and its straight Allies who are under age 36, as to comply with the California Young Democrats requirement of all its Young Democrats groups that charter with them.

*Any persons under 36 can either become At-Large Members or Active Members:
** "Active Membership": Individuals who are of qualifying age and who have paid may vote at any General Membership meeting, run for any of the elected offices, participate in committees, and represent SYD in Democratic events. An individual must be a member of good standing for a period of at least twenty-five (25) days before voting in a meeting.
** "At-large Membership": Any person meeting age and Democratic registration requirements who wishes to be a member without paying dues shall be granted At-large membership. At-large members receive all privileges except the privileges of voting, filing and running for SYD office, representing Stonewall Young Democrats at any Democratic event, automatic membership into Stonewall Democratic Club or any other affiliated organization.

*Any persons 36 and over who wish to be members become "Honorary Members" of the group but cannot vote or hold office.

Executive Board

For the 2007-2008 year, the Executive Board consists of the following members:
*President: Shirin Buckman
*Administrative Vice President: Guyon McCormack
*Political Vice President: Casey H. Robinson
*Community Vice President: Shawn Amsler
*Communications Vice President: Len Nguyen
*Secretary: Michael Colorge
*Controller - Pending
*Parliamentarian - Pending
*Male Member-at-large: David Reddish
*Female Member-at-large: Julia Wells
*Membership Chair - Pending
*Fundraising Chair -

External links

* [http://www.stonewallyoungdems.org/ Stonewall Young Democrats Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/stonewallyoungdemocrats Stonewall Young Democrats MySpace page]
* [http://www.stonewall-dems.org/ Stonewall Democratic Club-Los Angeles]
* [http://www.stonewalldemocrats.org/ National Stonewall Democrats]