Diverse Harmony
Encyclopedia
Diverse Harmony is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 youth chorus
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

 based in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

. Founded in 2002 it is the first Gay-Straight Alliance
Gay-straight alliance
Gay–straight alliances are student organizations, found primarily in North American high schools and universities, that are intended to provide a safe and supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth and their straight allies .-Goal:The goal of most, if not all,...

 Youth chorus in the United States. The chorus’ stated mission is "to create a safe, affirming environment where everyone is accepted for who they are." In addition to singing members, the chorus has an extensive support network of volunteers, subscribers and donors; they are also a non-profit organization. Diverse Harmony is a member of the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA Choruses), and was the first youth chorus to participate in a GALA Choruses Festival. The chorus appeared in the independent film Why We Sing which has been screened at LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 film festivals and on PBS stations across the United States.

In 2006 they became the first youth choir to perform at the Gay Games
Gay Games
The Gay Games is the world's largest sporting and cultural event organized by and specifically for LGBT athletes, artists, musicians, and others. It welcomes participants of every sexual orientation and every skill level...

.

Background

Washington state has over 300 gay–straight alliance clubs that are "trying to end bullying and harassment of LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 students, and promoting tolerance and acceptance for everyone in an educational atmosphere" LGBT middle and high school students - roughly covering the teenaged years - have been shown to feel safer just knowing a GSA was at their school; the clubs provide support, opportunities to discuss political and social issues as well as socializing opportunities. The brainchild of the original musical director Rhonda Juliano, Diverse Harmony grew out of the opportunities that many clubs offered to socialize by showcasing talents and performing for one another.
The chorus is currently directed by Jared Brayton Bollenbacher.

Diverse Harmony roughly 35 choristers voicing their music. The group accepts young people ages 13–22 regardless of sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...

.

History

The group started in 2002 after music teacher Rhonda Juliano decided to form the choir to coincide with her own coming out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....

 and blending families with her partner. "During the past 20 years, lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

, gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

, bisexual, transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....

 and questioning students began confiding in Rhonda. She provided the only space where they felt completely safe and free to be themselves - in her classes."

On 1 March 2004, KOMO-TV
KOMO-TV
KOMO-TV, virtual channel 4, is a television station in Seattle, Washington. It is an affiliate of ABC and broadcasts on digital channel 38. KOMO-TV is the flagship station of Fisher Communications, and its studios and offices are co-located with sister radio stations KOMO , KVI , and KPLZ-FM ...

's Brook Stanford became Diverse Harmony's Companis "mission worker" serving as the community outreach director. In 2004 Diverse Harmony opened Seattle's pride week
Gay pride
LGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...

 at Saint Mark Episcopal Cathedral with "Let There Be Pride" and shared the bill with the Seattle Women's Chorus. Diverse Harmony is a member of the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA Choruses), and was the first youth chorus to participate in a GALA Choruses Festival. The chorus has performed twice at the International music festival put on by the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses; in 2004 at the Place des Arts
Place des Arts
right|frame|View of the Place des Arts esplanade. The Musée d'art contemporain is on the left; behind it is the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, with the Théâtre Maisonneuve on the rightPlace des Arts is a major performing arts centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada....

 in Montreal, Quebec and again in 2008 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, commonly called The Arsht Center, is Florida's largest performing arts center and is located on Biscayne Boulevard in the Omni neighborhood of Downtown, Miami, Florida, United States...

 in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

. Through these associations they became one of four choirs predominantly featured in the independent film "Why We Sing" which has been screened at LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 film festivals and on 300 PBS stations across the United States.

In 2005, a theme was “The Courage to Love” and they shared the stage with the Seattle Men's Chorus
Seattle Men's Chorus
Seattle Men's Chorus founded in 1979 in Seattle, Washington, bills itself as the largest community chorus in America, and the largest gay men's chorus in the world...

 and the Seattle Women’s Chorus. In 2006 the theme was "Believe" and they presented at Seattle's First Baptist Church. In 2006 they also performed at the Interfaith Pride Service celebrating Washington State's new Anti-Discrimination Law and the victory of Andersen v. King County
Andersen v. King County
Andersen v. King County, 138 P.3d 963 — formerly Andersen v. Sims — is a case filed by eight Washingtonian lesbian and gay couples, who sued King County and the state of Washington for denying them marriage licenses under the state’s 1998 Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between...

.

Diverse Harmony also performed at Gay Games VII
Gay Games VII
The 2006 Gay Games , colloquially called the Chicago Gaymes, is part of a family of international sports and cultural festivals called Gay Games, sanctioned by the Federation of Gay Games and organized by the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community of the host city of Chicago, Illinois in the...

 in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, the first youth choir ever to perform at the Gay Games
Gay Games
The Gay Games is the world's largest sporting and cultural event organized by and specifically for LGBT athletes, artists, musicians, and others. It welcomes participants of every sexual orientation and every skill level...

 as well as concerts at Chicago Cultural Center and Pilgrim Congregational Church. On 2 June 2007 their annual concert featured actress Alexandra Billings
Alexandra Billings
Alexandra Scott Billings is an American transgender actress. She is the first trans woman to have played a transgender character on television.- Early life :...

. On 19 October 2006 Diverse Harmony was the beneficiary of "One Night Only", a "gala cabaret evening" and the last performances at Thumpers, a popular performance venue that was closing after twenty-one years.

The 30 May 2008 spring
Spring (season)
Spring is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition period between winter and summer. Spring and "springtime" refer to the season, and broadly to ideas of rebirth, renewal and regrowth. The specific definition of the exact timing of "spring" varies according to local climate, cultures and...

 concert was "Awake!" utilizing spirituality themes and exploring the human condition
Human condition
The human condition encompasses the experiences of being human in a social, cultural, and personal context. It can be described as the irreducible part of humanity that is inherent and not connected to gender, race, class, etc. — a search for purpose, sense of curiosity, the inevitability of...

; "a musical collage that journeys from a dark past, through a better today, and into a hopeful tomorrow". This was also reflected in their artistic poster created by chorus members incorporating, amongst other iconic symbols, a rainbow likely in reference to the rainbow flag
Rainbow flag (LGBT movement)
The rainbow flag, sometimes pride flag, LGBT pride flag or gay pride flag, is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender pride and LGBT social movements in use since the 1970s. The colours reflect the diversity of the LGBT community, and the flag is often used as a symbol of gay pride in...

.

The June 2011 show was "Double Shot Cafe", a performance covering themes of acceptance and self-worth while dealing with the contemporary issues of homophobia, transphobia, bullying and youth suicide. This original show, written by Diverse Harmony Choristers Kat Miller and Adam Quillian, included musical numbers "The Gospel of Google" and "Not a Fairy Tale".
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