2006 MODELS OF HOPE
Lisa Moore
RedBone Press

Lisa C. Moore is the founder and editor of RedBone Press, which publishes work celebrating the culture of black lesbians and gay men and promoting understanding between black gays and lesbians and the black mainstream. Moore is the editor of does your mama know? An Anthology of Black Lesbian Coming Out Stories, and co-editor of Spirited: Affirming the Soul and Black Gay/Lesbian Identity. Most recently, RedBone Press published Blood Beats: Vol. 2, film and music criticism by PEN Award-winner Ernest Hardy; reprinted In the Life: A Black Gay Anthology and Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men; and co-published (with Vintage Entity Press) Carry the Word: A Bibliography of Black LGBTQ Books. Moore is board president of Fire & Ink, an advocacy organization for LGBT writers of African descent.
Photo © 2009 by Michael-Christopher

2006 MODELS OF HOPE
C.C. Carter
Poet, Writer and Activist

C.C. Carter earned her MA in Creative Writing from Queens College, NY and is the Women's Component Director of A Real Read's Performance Ensemble. Since the ensemble's formation she has performed in all of their productions, both locally and nationally. C.C. also designed costuming for A Real Read presents A Real Read, Love Can Sometimes Be..., Home For The Holidays, and the Milwaukee debut of Comin' Straight At'Cha. She has opened for Sharon Bridgforth's Root Wy'mn at the Randolph Street Art Gallery, played MC in Larry Duckett's We Heard The Night Outside at the Bailiwick Repertory, at The Lammies Literary Book Review Awards, and was the opening act for BGM recording artist Nedrea Johnson

C.C's poetry and prose has been published into two chapbooks and included in various anthologies. Since winning the Lambda Book Review's first Poetry Slam in Washington DC, she has twice been selected as the featured artist in New York City Poetry Reader's Series for In Our Own Write and Realness and Rhythms. CC. is the recipient of the Guild Complex's Fifth Annual Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Poetry award. She was featured in Venus Magazine as one of Chicago's Leading Ladies.

2007 MODELS OF HOPE
Pat Baillie
Albuquerque Pride, Inc.

Pat Baillie joined Out & Equal in January 2008 after retiring the second time in her career from Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Prior to that, she served in the US Air Force retiring in 1993 as a Major. Her entire career has been involved with training, adult education, and activism and she is ready to pull all those parts of her history together at Out & Equal to make a difference for those in the workplace. Pat graduated from California State University, Northridge with a Master's Degree in Physical Education, Biology and Psychology. After college, she joined the Air Force and worked as a Weapons Controller and Space Operations officer. She was also active in LGBT causes her entire career and decided to retire on the day that President Clinton announced "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." She was then able to publicly come out and was the featured speaker at the Veteran's Day memorial in Sacramento, California in 1993. She has also worked extensively with sexual freedom issue as a spokesperson and educator and has work on national grass roots organizing. In Albuquerque, Pat worked within Honeywell on their Diversity Council and was asked to present on LGBT issues at the statewide EEOC conferences as well as being the only "out" employee that could be a resource. She also helped to grow the local and statewide LGBT community as the Co-President of Albuquerque Pride for over 10 years. She continued to be involved in community events from political to social until she realized she was ready to return to California. Her goal was to work in a non-profit on LGBT issues. Out & Equal added to that the ability to use her years of training experience so in December 2007, Pat moved back to California. She now is setting up house in San Jose and creating a family with a long time friend and now roommate. Their plans are to foster at risk teens and maybe adopt. She has moved back near family and is jumping back into skiing, softball, and taking up soccer when not commuting. She is getting used to being a Californian again but loving that she is back home.

2008 MODELS OF HOPE
Brian Brown
New Mexico AIDS Services

2009 MODELS OF HOPE
Joy Silver
RainbowVision Properties

Joy Silver is responsible for the creation of the RainbowVision. Creating GLBT communities has been a goal of hers for 27 years. Joy’s experience includes 25 years in the music business, resort management and women's reproductive services. She was a member of the SAGE Sub-Committee for Senior Housing in NYC, is currently a board member of the GLBT Historical Society and is a member of LGAIN (Lesbian Gay Aging Issues Network) at American Society for Aging. Joy is active in a number of organizations including Equality New Mexico and is frequently called upon by LGBT and mainstream organizations to present information on LGBT seniors. Joy holds an MA in Women’s Studies, and a BA in Political Science.

"Enlightened self interest", a term that comes from her mentor, Merle Hoffman, "continues to inspire and energize my involvement in the creation and development of RainbowVision Communities." RainbowVision is the culmination of many LGBT seniors' dreams: Where do we go, who will take care of us, will we be safe....these are the questions that Joy asked of herself and so many others ask. Joy believes that we must be the change we want to see in ourselves and the world.

2009 MODELS OF HOPE
Alison Bock
Activist and Humanitarian

In today's world, sometimes it seems intimidating to stand up and make a difference. That feeling was no different for Alison Bock, founder and president of the nongovernmental organization Landmines Blow!, when she attended the Nairobi Summit on a Mine-free World in November 2004. "When we attended [the summit] it was the first time I met real landmine survivors from everywhere," says Bock. "I was overwhelmed at how many people needed help and wondered how I could really make a difference because the problem was so huge and we were so small." But in the mine-action community, this defeatist attitude is not an option. "Then I met a landmine survivor from Cambodia who told me to focus on making a difference in the life of one person at a time. You can make a difference in one life. So I did, and the rest, as they say, is history." Bock's selflessness is only amplified more by her determination to continue her work, even in the face of her own personal battles. In 2005, Bock was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a chronic disease that affects the central nervous system. The day after Bock was diagnosed with the disease, she helped fly a young Croatian landmine victim and his brother from Zagreb to a music camp for the blind in New Orleans. Bock also wants to make strides in advocating for women's rights. She is also the creator of Project Safe Water started in 2006.

2010 MODELS OF HOPE
Virginia Stephenson
NMGAIN

Virginia Stephenson has worked in education and advocacy for LGBT people for 12 years. She is the founding director of New Mexico GAIN, a transgender rights organization, and the founder of Soulforce NM. In 2003, she was a lobbyist for the Coalition for Equality, and worked with the NM State legislature to see the passage of the non-discrimination Bill and hate crimes bill, both which included protections for sexual orientation and gender identity. She has served as a director of PFLAG Albuquerque and for Equality New Mexico, also serving as the executive director for EQNM. Most recently, she is traveling to conferences around the nation, teaching workshops on subjects relating to transgender rights and spiritual consciousness. Her first book is scheduled for publication this year, written with Buck Rhodes, concerning the allegorical interpretation of the Bible and the raising of consciousness through the experiential knowledge of sacred texts. Her life mission is to “speed the spiritual consciousness of the world away from patriarchal control and toward a partnership of understanding between nationalities, ethnicities and genders.” This beautiful woman is making a different in the GLBT community.

2010 MODELS OF HOPE
Dan Johnson
Sidewinders

Johnson is a major player when it comes to supporting the GLBT community. Owner of Sidewinders, he has made it a mission to keep the community informed of events whether he is directly involved with them or not. His endless generosity has spread through such groups and organizations as New Mexico Gay Rodeo Association, Equality New Mexico, United Court of the Sandias, Albuquerque Pride and Models of Hope.

2010 MODELS OF HOPE
Roberto Appicciafoco
SW Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

Founder and Director of The Southwest Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Appicciafoco is getting ready to launch the eighth year of showcasing the latest in gay cinema. Appicciafoco enjoys travelling around the country working film festivals to see what’s new in film, which also leads him to meet new people. Although Appicciafoco’s drive is one reason for the festival’s staying power, he attributes the success of the festival to the diversity of New Mexico itself. "The expansion to Santa Fe showed that there really is a strong GLBT presence in New Mexico and a real interest in issues affecting our community."