Legislation supports Agat Gym repairs
-Michele Catahay
Guam - The Committee on Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Public Broadcasting at the request of the Guam Youth Congress has introduced legislation that would fund the repairs to the Agat Gym. Bill 484, if passed into law, would appropriate $10,000 from the Fiscal Year 2011 healthy futures fund revenues to the Agat Mayor's Office to repair the dilapidated gym.
Arguments heat up over domestic partnership legislation
Things have continued to heat up for the Domestic Partnership Bill. The leader of the island's Catholic faithful has said the revised bill went from bad to worse, prompting criticism from the Guam Youth Congress. And now, there's more.
Town halls choreographed by the Guam Youth Congress and heated rhetoric coming from the Catholic Church opposing Bill 138's substitute version seem to have placed progress at a standstill. Tim Rohr, the owner of the John Paul the Great Bookstores never considered himself an activist, but now, he and several other members of the community have banded together to form an opposition coalition of their own, which neither aligns with the church nor the gay community.
He told KUAM News, "What got me involved was when the media kept framing it as an argument between the Archbishop and the gay community, and I thought no this is not what this is about. We need to raise the bar a little bit."
Derrick Hills, president of the Guam Youth Congress refused to stand idly by while the archbishop shot down his dreams. "When you have the archbishop and other Archdiocese coming out, I believe that the credibility of the church is coming into question," he challenged.
At the core of this debate is the future of the family unit. Rohr and his newly-formed coalition maintain that it is our personal responsibility to shine a light on the institution of marriage. "Our concern is that marriage has been devalued anyway in society, by our laws, and even our church's haven't paid attention to it the way they should. Everyone talks about it, it all goes back to the home," he said. "What are we doing at least within our laws to strengthen our homes? Well, nothing."
Chule' Tatte Guahan - Reclaim Guahan Rally - GYC Speaker Derick Baza Hills
The people of Guam have been watching in silence as the future of our island drastically changes before our eyes. Due to our political status and current leadership, we have had little-to-no say in plans for our future.
A collective of youth and grassroots organizations came together to organize a rally for change entitled Reclaim Guåhan: Chule Tatte Guåhan. The collective aims to break the silence and empower people to express what they envision for our island.
The rally took place May 23rd, 2009 at Skinner's Plaza in Hagatna, Guam. It featured art, music and different speakers. In this video Guam Youth Congress Speaker Derick Hills is speaking.