Pride 2008 Speakers coming SOON!Western NC Community Health ServicesOn stage: 12:35 - 12:40
Western NC Community Health Services ,Inc (WNCCHS) is a private,nonprofit organization located at 10 Ridgelawn Rd in West Asheville. Founded in 1994 by Carlos Gomez, Polly Ross M.D. and Minnie Jones our vision is a society with universal access to health care. Our mission is to promote the health and well-being of the individuals, families and communities we serve through caring communities.

PFLAGOn stage: 1:20 - 1:25
Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG) is a national nonprofit organization with over 200,000 members and supporters and over 500 affiliates in the United States. This vast grassroots network is cultivated, resourced and serviced by the PFLAG national office, located in Washington, DC, the national Board of Directors and 13 Regional Directors.

For more information about PFLAG, please visit www.pflag.org

NC Coalition Against Domestic ViolenceOn stage: 2:05 - 2:10
The mission of NCCADV is to provide the membership and allied professionals with the tools necessary to build a society that is dedicated to ending violence against women through support, education and awareness.

For more information about NC Coalition Against Domestic Violence, please visit www.nccadv.org

Ian Palmquist, Equality North CarolinaOn stage: 2:50 - 3:00
Equality NC is a statewide group dedicated to securing equal rights and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. We work toward that goal by effectively lobbying the North Carolina General Assembly, executive branch, and local governments on issues like employment discrimination, hate violence, privacy rights, sexuality education, adoption, domestic partnership, HIV/AIDS, and more. We also work to engage North Carolinians with educational programming and outreach efforts.

For more information about Equality NC, please visit www.equalitync.org

Elke KennedyOn stage: 3:00 - 3:10
Elke Kennedy of Greenville SC is the founder of Sean's Last Wish Foundation which was formed to raise awareness about hate crime legislation and to combat prejudice and hate. Kennedy has lived in SC since 1985. She is the mother of three children and two step sons. On May 16th 2007 Sean Kennedy was murdered outside a local bar and his death is being investigated as hate crime - though South Carolina currently has no hate crime laws. In Sean's memory, Elke Kennedy and her family established Sean's Last Wish Foundation. With her family, she has begun touring the state of South Carolina to talk about bias-motivated crimes and the need for hate crime legislation and education that addresses the bias and prejudice that motivates these crimes.

For more information about the foundation, please visit www.seanslastwish.com

Rich Hurley, Human Rights CampaignOn stage: 3:50 - 3:55
Rich Hurley, Charlotte, NC, is on the national Board of Governors of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) representing the state of North Carolina. He has been an active volunteer, steering committee and board member in NC for HRC for the past 5 years. He will be speaking on behalf of the Human Rights Campaign sharing their national mission of equality, current efforts regarding Hate Crimes, ENDA and Don't Ask, Don't Tell as well as how anyone can get involved locally with the NC chapter.

Founded in 1980, the Human Rights Campaign advocates on behalf of GLBT Americans, mobilizes grassroots actions in diverse communities, invests strategically to elect fair-minded individuals to office and educates the public about GLBT issues.

For more information about HRC, please visit www.hrc.org or www.hrccarolinas.org

Western North Carolina AIDS ProjectOn stage: 4:55 - 5:00
The Education programs of WNCAP are very diversified and are targeted to special groups such as teenagers, women, gay and bisexual men, lesbians and transgendered people, minorities, substance abusers and the mentally handicapped. In addition to these programs, WNCAP also offers educational material and resources.

For more information about WNCAP, please visit www.wncap.org