Professional Group Plans Service Awards

The Gold Coast Business and Professional Alliance’s fourth annual Community Service Awards will be held Friday.

The 85-member professional networking group was created 10 years ago by the Gay and Lesbian Community Center in Ventura to promote acceptance of race, culture and sexual orientation in the business community.

“I truly feel that if we give people the courage and understanding, and allow them to express themselves in an individual way, we’ll be a healthier community,” said Doug Halter, who will be honored at the awards.

All proceeds from the $50-a-ticket event will benefit the Ventura County Lesbigay Student Scholarship fund, which annually provides two or more scholarships to college-bound or continuing students attending school in Ventura County. Last year’s event raised $10,000, which allowed the group to award both fall and spring scholarships, said Edie Brown, executive director of the gay and lesbian center on East Main Street.

Brown said the scholarships reward students for their bravery and honesty about their sexual orientation.

“Many people say, ‘I don’t know any gay people,’ ” Brown said. “When kids are ‘out’ in schools, it promotes interaction between gays and straights.”

Halter, a city recreation commissioner, campaign manager of the Ventura Chamber of Commerce-backed Yes on Measure A drive, and chairman of the Downtown Community Council, said the day is approaching when acceptance will be promoted in professional groups everywhere.

“The more people get to know all groups, they will understand we want the same thing: to have a good quality of life,” he said.

The awards event will be from 6:30 p.m. to midnight at the Holiday Inn, 450 E. Harbor Blvd. For more information and tickets, call 388-1545.