Bonnie Cullison & Marcia Massey

Bonnie Cullison (born March 24, 1954) is an American teacher, labor official and politician from Montgomery County, Maryland. A Democrat, she was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 2010, representing the state's 19th district. She took office on January 12, 2011. On June 23, 2013 she married her domestic partner of 30 years, Marcia Massey. She is one of eight openly LGBT members of the Maryland General Assembly, alongside Sen. Rich Madaleno (D–Kensington) and Dels. Anne Kaiser (D–Burtonsville), Heather Mizeur (D–Takoma Park), Peter Murphy (D–Bryans Road), Maggie McIntosh (D–Baltimore), Mary L. Washington (D–Baltimore) and Luke Clippinger (D–Baltimore).

Raised in a military family, Cullison lived in four states and two European countries until she was 18. She returned to Maryland for college since her parents had maintained residency in their home state. Cullison earned both bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park and began working for the St. Mary's County school district in 1978. She moved to Montgomery County in 1981, serving as a special education teacher in the public schools. She spent 19 years as a special education teacher, during which time she was elected to office in the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), an 11,000-member teachers' union. In 2003, she was elected the union's president, a post she held for six years. She retired from MCEA in 2009 and now works for the National Education Association.

Cullison mounted a bid for the Maryland House of Delegates in 2010, running in the three-member 19th district. The district includes the Montgomery County communities of Silver Spring, Wheaton, Leisure World, Northwood, Four Corners, Aspen Hill, Kemp Mill, Olney, Derwood, Laytonsville and unincorporated areas of Rockville and Gaithersburg. Incumbents Roger Manno and Henry B. Heller had decided against seeking reelection, creating two open seats in the 19th.


Bonnie Cullison, Marcia Massey and Bonnie Rubin-Sugarman attend 'Trophy Kids' World Film Festival Premiere at Laemmle Sunset 5 Theatre on June 5, 2011 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Michael Bezjian/WireImage)

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Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_Cullison

2014 Rainbow Awards Submission: Ice Fairy

Gay Contemporary Romance
Ice Fairy by S. L. Danielson
Series: Ice Fairy
Paperback: 418 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (January 24, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1496005503
ISBN-13: 978-1496005502
Amazon: Ice Fairy
Amazon Kindle: Ice Fairy

Samuru (Sam) Ogawa is on track to be in his life’s dream…the Olympics as a figure-skater. All is gliding along smoothly until he literally bumps into one of the biggest bullies he’s ever met; a hockey player named Brett Zephyr. He’s well known for being a brash, hot-headed, caveman who thinks about nothing but hockey and his bimbo girlfriend.
Things are tense and the walls between them build until unforeseen events begin to break the ice between them. But as the coolness melts away; other players come in to build them back as quickly as they fell. Family forces, friends, and secrets threaten to destroy all they’ve created.
Can Sam and Brett make things work or are they just too opposite? Can a figure skater find true love with a hockey player?

Charities Donation program progress:
25$ YouthCare: www.youthcare.org/
25$ Terrence Higgins Trust: www.tht.org.uk/
25$ Odyssey Youth Center: www.odysseyyouth.org/
25$ Lancaster LGBT Center: http://www.centralpalgbtcenter.org/
30$ Covenant: www.covenanthouseno.org/
50$ Wes for Youth: wesforyouth.privacemail.com/
50$ PFLAG: community.pflag.org/
50$ Lambert House: www.lamberthouse.org/
75$ CARE: careprogram.org/
75$ Inland Northwest LGBT Center: www.thelgbtcenter.org/
75$ Ruth Ellis Center: http://www.ruthelliscenter.org/
100$ The Center Colorado: http://www.glbtcolorado.org/
105$ Moveable Feast: http://www.mfeast.org/
150$ GLYS: http://www.glyswny.org/
160$ UCAN: www.ucanchicago.org/
175$ Point Foundation: www.pointfoundation.org/
205$ The Trevor Project: www.thetrevorproject.org/
210$ Lambda Legal: www.lambdalegal.org/
317$ Galop: www.galop.org.uk/
372$ COLORS: www.colorsyouth.org/
437$ Lost-n-Found Youth: www.lost-n-found.org/
450$ SAGE: giveto.sageusa.org/
772$ Other Funds
815$ Ali Forney Center: www.aliforneycenter.org/
TOTAL: 4773$*

* more than 150$ is a direct donation from a supporter of the Rainbow Awards who isn't submitting; while some authors were more than generous, arriving to donate 5 times the suggested amount, being the submission fee a non mandatory and voluntary direct donation, we were struggling to raise the same amount as last year and there is who decided to cover part of it. I thank you for all you are doing, and if you wish to donate to the above links, please drop me a note with your donation and I will update the total.

2014 Rainbow Awards Guidelines: reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4162490.html

GayRomLit Retreat: S.A. McAuley

Starting from March up until September I will feature authors attending the GayRomLit Retreat in Chicago (October 16-19, 2014: http://gayromlit.com/grl-authors).

Today author S.A. McAuley: Genre hopping GLBTQ author, sleeps little, reads a lot, happiest in a foreign country, twitchy when not mentally in motion.
Website: http://samcauley.com

S.A. McAuley and Wilde City Press are offering a copy of Tread Marks & Trademarks to one commenter on this blog. You can comment on LJ or DW if you have an account (I will send a PM to the winner), if you don't have an account, please leave a comment on DW with a contact email.

Tread Marks & Trademarks by S. A. McAuley
Paperback: 202 pages
Publisher: Wilde City Press, LLC; 2 edition (February 17, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1925031845
ISBN-13: 978-1925031843
Amazon: Tread Marks & Trademarks
Amazon Kindle: Tread Marks & Trademarks

Alex Maddox may be a genius. Or not. In thirty-four days he'll know for sure. The robot he's been perfecting for the last four years is finally ready. Alex won't accept anything less than perfection-if he can keep a broken air conditioner, a flaky twin brother, a thirtieth birthday, and falling for the Norse god of advertising from derailing him. Christian Lawson is an advertising god. A blond hottie with the beautiful brains to match. He's worked hard to move past the accident that nearly took his legs, but it's been years since he let any man get close enough to see just how deep his scars really go. Christian isn't the advertising executive Alex expected, and Alex isn't the coolly confident inventor Christian's had his eye on for years. But what they discover in each other may just be better than what either of them could have hoped for.