EDGE Ft. Lauderdale

Toni Armstrong Jr. was born in San Antonio, TX in 1954. She changed her name from Toni Lou Armstrong to Toni Armstrong Jr in 1991 to honor her mother. She holds degrees in special education, her chosen profession, from Illinois State College and Northeastern Illinois University Chicago. Toni Jr. lived in Chicago from 1977 until 2006 when she moved to Riviera Beach. She was married in Canada in 2005 to rocket scientist Janis Kidder, her partner since 2001. The couple now makes their home in Palm Beach County. Long active in the cause of equality for LGBT people, Toni Jr. is a successful organizer for both causes and fun as she has demonstrated with her successful launch of BLAST (Bi, Lesbian And Straight Together) in 2008. Although she ’officially’ retired in 2009, she’s a busy person and South Florida Gay News was lucky to catch her when she had a few minutes to answer some questions.

SFGN - Why did you choose the "Meetup" vehicle and not a Web site?

TAJ - Meetup.com is fantastic. For a little over $150/year, it provides a website that has full calendar capabilities, bulletin boards, ways to contact members, ways for members to RSVP for events, and so on. It archives old events, and we can even post photos and tag members by name on the event pages. A small organization like ours could never afford to hire an individual webmaster to provide all of this. [The BLAST site is www.meetup.com/BLASTwpb.]

SFGN - With 800 members it seems BLAST works better than a lot of other organizations. Is this a fair assessment?

TAJ - Well, I’m not sure I’d say it that way. Each organization has its own goals and ways of measuring success. For example, I greatly admire and support PFLAG, Compass, NOW, the long-standing Boca Rap Group, all the various LGBT college groups, Judy and Ro’s Rainbow Women’s Dances, and the LGBT corporate employee groups (all led by lesbian BLAST members, by the way) at Lockheed-Martin, GE, and Florida Power and Light... to name a few.

Our mission is to provide ways for women to set up events by/for/about women in Palm Beach County. The way BLAST defines success isn’t so much in terms of numbers, though we’ve got that with 838 registered members and more than 500 meetups since we launched in 2008. And definitely not in terms of money - we charge no fees, and most events are free. We aren’t a 501(c)(3), so we aren’t eligible for any grant money. Our members donate to support. Events like concerts - Lucie Blue Tremblay, recently, and The Vagina Monologues in February - are always offered on a ’more if you can, less if you can’t’ sliding scale. No woman should ever be turned away just for lack of money.

SFGN - What’s the goal of BLAST?

The goal of BLAST isn’t to build an organization - it’s to build a community where lesbians, bi women, transwomen, and our straight female allies have opportunities to socialize and network around their interests, to meet friends, to hear about events, to develop leadership skills, and to gain more LGBT and feminist cultural literacy.

SFGN - Do you meet regularly? Where/when? Meetup implies more of an ad hoc environment.

TAJ - Actually, the Meetup format is very conducive to both individual events and ongoing groups. For example, the Science GALS meet occasionally; sessions have included Frankenfoods (done by a science teacher with lots of knowledge about genetically modified foods) and Space Shuttles (by a woman who worked on the Challenger and Columbia accident investigations). Other things that meet occasionally are WACT (Women of All Colors and Cultures Together brunches); Creative Women Salons; biking; hookah group and Cigar Lounge Lizards; sign language events; and aquatic-based outings such as snorkeling, kayaking, and stand-up paddle boarding. Other BLAST events meet on a monthly or even weekly schedule - our fantastic Tropical Punch softball team, for example, and the pagan circle, the drum circle, Women Out at Work, the discussion group, the book group, the movie club - and many others.

SFGN - You have a significant background in the LGBT rights arena. How did you get started in that and what do you feel is the most significant thing you have done so far?

TAJ - The advancement of LGBT and women’s equality and visibility have been important to me since the 1970s. Involvement in these communities has been the best, healthiest thing that ever could have happened to me - and I feel a responsibility to help others. Looking back, I feel the most significant thing I have brought to the table is my desire and abilities to bring people together for the greater good. I’ve been a successful networker in lesbian-feminist women’s music through being a concert producer and publisher, including the internationally distributed magazine HOT WIRE: The Journal of Women’s Music and Culture. In the Chicagoland area, I helped high school students and teachers start more than 40 gay-straight alliance clubs in the 1990s and early 2000s, back when schools absolutely did not want this to happen. Also, I was involved with The Color Triangle, a coalition of leaders with the mission statement to end racism in Chicago’s LGBT community. Anything that increases equality and visibility while helping people bond with each other calls to me.

Readers can find more information on Toni Armstrong Jr at http://www.chicagogayhistory.org/biography.html?id=600]

To learn more about BLAST and the +/- 26 special interest groups that participate under their banner visit www.meetup.com/BLASTwpb