American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana
ACLU
Award to go to Indiana Equality Field Organizer
Dino Sierp Recognized for Work
on Behalf of LGBT Hoosiers
The
American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana has announced that Dino Sierp,
Indiana Equality Field Organizer is the 2009 recipient of the Chris Gonzales
Award for her role in advancing civil liberties for the lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender (LGBT) citizens of Indiana. Mr.
Gilbert Holmes, Executive Director for the ACLU of Indiana, explains “In choosing
Dino for the award, we felt that her work with Indiana Equality best
exemplified the values embraced by the late Chris Gonzales. Her efforts, along
with the work of Indiana Equality, will be essential in securing basic civil
rights for LGBT Hoosiers”. The
award is presented annually in commemoration of Indiana Youth Group founder
Chris Gonzales to an individual or organization that has advanced civil
liberties for LGBT Hoosiers. Sierp
joined Indiana Equality in early 2009 as the organizations first Field
Organizer. The position was made
possible through a grant from the Tides Foundation with the purpose of expand
civil rights protections based on either sexual orientation and gender
identity/expression through local human rights ordinances. For
over 30 years, Ms. Sierp has provided educational programming and events for
gay, lesbian, mental health, health care and minority communities. This includes serving as a volunteer,
fundraiser or employee of numerous Indiana organizations including the Indiana
AIDS Walk and Festival, AIDS Spotlight, Y-ME of Central Indiana, Branching Out
Productions, The Julian Center, Butler University, Indianapolis Public Schools,
and the Women’s Hospital of Indianapolis. Along with her work with Indiana Equality
Sierp currently serves as a volunteer with the Indiana Canine Assistant Network,
a local nonprofit that works with inmates in Indiana state prisons who do the
two year training of service dogs which are then placed with children and adults
living with physical disabilities.
Congratulations to Dino, a longtime personal acquaintance and a tremendous asset to our Indiana LGBT community!
Posted by: Don Sherfick | November 15, 2009 at 07:27 PM