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LYCI CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS

1 1. Name and logo 1.1. This Society shall be known as "Long Yang Club International", hereafter referred to as LYCI. 1.2 The members of LYCI shall create a logo which represents LYCI 1.3 No other name and logo shall be used in the advertisement or representation of LYCI. 1.4 The name and logo "Long Yang Club" and their derivates (e.g. LYCI) are the property of LYCI and shall not be used without the written permission of the LYCI Executive Committee. Furthermore, no club, chapter or individual will use the name and logo "Long Yang Club" or any variation thereof or title or reference same in any medium unless it is a member in good standing of LYCI. 1.5 Any infraction of the use of the name and logo "Long Yang Club" may result in disciplinary action.

2. Law / Location 2.1. LYCI shall be located in London, UK. The laws of the United Kingdom shall therefore govern LYCI.

3. Purpose 3.1. LYCI is a non-profit, non-sectarian and non-political organization whose purpose is to: · Facilitate through member clubs, social contacts between gay Asians and non-Asians. · Through member clubs, assist individuals in their pursuit of education and/or social development. · Through member clubs, provide a safe and comfortable environment for social gatherings in which to promote understanding of alternative lifestyles and among Asians and non-Asians. 3.2. LYCI will provide guidance and assistance to its members, through its officers. 3.3. In order to maintain and protect the good name of Long Yang Club, LYCI will strive to ensure that high standards of behavior are maintained within its organization. In particular, LYCI will seek to ensure that there is no discrimination within its member clubs on the basis of sexual orientation, race, religion, age or gender to the extent possible within local laws.

4. Membership 4.1. Membership to LYCI shall be open to any society that accepts this constitution and shares the same objectives as LYCI. Only societies may become members of LYCI, not individuals. 4.2. LYCI may expel a member, which does not maintain the good name of Long Yang Club and as well as supporting the principles and purposes of Long Yang Club International. 4.3. Members of LYCI shall be called "Clubs". They can also be referred to as "Chapters" or "Local Clubs". 4.4. Membership in LYCI may be granted upon written application to the International Coordinator and a written undertaking to accept the following constitution and support the purposes of LYCI. The application, written in both the local language and English, shall contain: · The proposed name of the Club. · A copy of the Constitution of the proposed Club. · The names of the Officers of the proposed Club. · A written undertaking that the Club will comply with the principles of LYCI. 4.5. All members are required to pay a membership fee for the calendar year. If a member fails to pay the membership fee for a year, it shall lose the right to vote at the Annual General Meeting of that year. 4.6. Any member of LYCI can be referred to as Long Yang Club *, where * stands for the name of the city or the country where the club is active (e.g. Long Yang Club London). 4.7. Any Club seeking membership, but which cannot comply with all requirements of this Constitution, may apply for membership and be granted probationary status until it can fulfill all the requirements. The decision to accept a candidature from a club seeking membership without complying with all the requirements stated above shall rest with the Executive Committee. No candidature shall be refused unless the Executive Committee is of the opinion that there are inadequacies in the application. In such cases the applicant club may present its candidature to the next Annual General Meeting for a decision. 4.8. A club shall be given probationary status for one year during which it may participate in LYCI activities including attending but not voting at the Annual General Meeting. At the end of the year, the probationary member shall give a report of its activities to the Annual General Meeting after which the probationary member may be elevated to full membership. 4.8.1 In exceptional circumstances, a club may apply to the Executive Committee for a further one-year extension to allow them to comply with requirements of LYCI membership. 4.9. The Annual General Meeting shall vote on granting Full membership. 4.10. Any member shall provide annually provide LYCI with the following information: · An audited total of membership numbers as may be obtained under the laws of the country in which proposed the Club is located. · The list of its officers. · A profit and loss statement that complies with the rules of LYCI. 4.11. With respect to its own affairs, each club shall be responsible to no other authority than its own. But when its plans concern other LYCI members or affect international relations, LYCI Executive Committee must be consulted. No member, officer or individual member should ever take any action that might greatly affect LYCI as a whole without conferring with the Executive Committee. LYCI will not take action that might greatly affect a member club without first conferring with the member club.

5. Individual members 5.1. Members of Clubs/Chapters shall be called Individual Members. 5.2. Any Club shall provide a welcome and complete access to its privileges to any individual member who is a member in good standing of another local Club. 5.3. An individual member of any club shall be admitted to the events of another club, in the same conditions as if he or she were an individual member of this club, upon presentation of a LYCI recognized proof of such membership (e.g. valid individual membership card)

6. Executive Committee 6.1. The LYCI shall have an executive committee consisting of at least the following elected officers: · President. · Vice President. · Treasurer. · Secretary. 6.2. The Officers shall be elected by a majority vote of the chapter delegates present at the Annual Meeting of LYCI and shall hold office for a period of 1 year. If, for any reason, the period between Annual Meetings exceeds the period of a term of office, the incumbent shall remain in office until the next Annual Meeting. 6.3. Elected Officers should remain forever non-professional. Professionalism is defined as the occupation for fees or hire. LYCI may though employ individual members to perform specific services. 6.4. The role of the committee is to manage all aspects of LYCI. 6.5. Meetings of the Executive Committee may be called and may be conducted using electronic means. 6.6. The Agenda at an Executive Committee Meetings shall be as follows: · Record of Calling of Meeting. · Approval of Minutes of last Executive Meeting. · Business arising out of minutes. · Reports. · New Business. 6.7. Approval at the Executive Committee shall be by consensus. 6.8. Minutes of Executive Committee meetings shall be distributed to both Executive Committee and LYCI members. Distribution of Executive Committee meetings may be by electronic means.

7. Duties of Executive Committee Members 7.1. The President shall: · Be responsible for the constitutional running of LYCI. · Ensure that LYCI does not contravene the Constitution, regulations or policy. · Preside at all meetings of the LYCI and the LYCI Executive Committee. · Represent LYCI to other organizations. · Supervise the preparation of a Strategic Plan. · Undertake such duties as may be assigned to the President by the Executive Committee. 7.2. The Vice President shall: · Preside at all meetings of the LYCI and the LYCI Executive Committee when the Chairman is unable to do so. · Undertake such other duties as shall be assigned to the Co-Chairperson by the Executive Committee. 7.3. The Secretary shall: · Keep a full list of membership and ensure that they are all members of LYCI. · Maintain a registry of correspondence. · Keep minutes of all meetings held (incl. LYCI Executive and Annual General Meetings), which shall be available to all members. · Keep an up-to-date inventory of equipment owned by LYCI. · Keep a file of all correspondence between LYCI Executive Committee and Members. · Distribute any information of interest to all members. 7.4. The Treasurer shall: · Manage the finance of LYCI including budgeting and reporting on expenses. · Keep a record of and oversee all financial transactions of LYCI. · Receive and disburse monies or other goods as may be appropriate. · Arrange payments of all bills as well as payments of all approved expenditures. · Prepare an annual budget for approval by the Executive Committee and the Annual General Meeting.

8. International Coordinator 8.1. The Executive Committee may also appoint an International Coordinator. 8.2. The International Coordinator is a member of the Executive Committee. 8.3. The International Coordinator shall: · Coordinate and assist clubs around the world. · Help to establish new chapters. · Be responsible for the administration and co-ordination of all LYCI activities and to ensure that LYCI meets its requirements. · Maintain the LYCI domain web site, which explains the principal aims and activities of LYCI, provide updated information about clubs and give links to their web sites. · Reply to website enquiries, and deal with personal ads. · Provide where required a service as temporary webmaster, publicity officer or other roles, which can be performed "remotely", for clubs which do not have these positions filled.

9. Regional Coordinators 9.1. The International Coordinator may appoint Regional Coordinator to assist him with his tasks and liaise with the Executive Committee on their appointment. 9.2. Regional Coordinators shall report to the International Coordinator. 9.3. The duties of Regional Coordinators shall be to: · Coordinate and assist clubs within their region, in conjunction with the International Coordinator. · Help establish new clubs in their region and generally to keep the International Coordinator abreast of significant developments and other matters relating to LYCI activities in their allocated region.

10. Annual General Meeting 10.1. LYCI shall meet annually unless a previous Annual General Meeting votes otherwise. Where possible, such Annual Meetings shall be held in conjunction with ICON meetings. 10.2. Annual General Meetings may be called using electronic means. Notice of Annual General Meetings shall be sent out not less than two months before such meeting. The Notice shall include: · Date, time and place of the Annual General Meeting. · Proposed Agenda and agenda items. · Any proposed changes to the Constitution. · Any major program initiatives. · A proposed budget. 10.3. LYCI members shall be represented by any individual member of a club, fully accredited by the President of the Club. Such accreditation may be transmitted to the Secretary by electronic means and shall arrive no later than one week before the Annual General Meeting, or by letter carried to the Annual General Meeting by the representative. The appointed representative of any member club/chapter of LYCI may attend and vote at Annual General Meetings. 10.4. The Agenda at an Annual General Meetings shall be as follows: · Calling to Order of Meeting. · Verification of credentials at meeting. · Approval of Agenda. · Approval of Minutes of Meeting of Last Annual General Meeting. · Business arising from minutes. · Reports from Officers and others. · Approval of Executive Committee actions as reported in Executive Committee Meeting minutes. · Setting Annual membership Fees. · New Business. · Setting a date and place for the Next Annual General Meeting. · Any Other business. · Election of Officers 10.5. Approval shall be by vote at which the Officers and each represented club have a vote. To pass, a motion shall receive at least the majority of the votes cast. A member club, which is unable to attend an Annual General Meeting, may send in a vote by electronic means provided the Secretary before the Annual General Meeting receives such vote (as indicated by the date time group of the electronic message).

11. ICON 11.1. LYCI shall hold annual conferences which shall be called ICON * (where * stands for the year). 11.2. Any club may offer to host an ICON conference. Offers to host an ICON conference shall be presented to the Annual General Meeting for approval. The Offer shall include: · Date and Place of the ICON conference. · Duration and Program of the ICON conference. · Estimated budget for the ICON conference. · Registration fees and policy for individual members.

12. Finance 12.1. The funds of Long Yang Clubs International shall come from: · Annual membership fees which shall be set at each Annual General Meeting. · ICON events. · Sponsorships. · Government project or program support. 12.2. Budgets shall include estimated revenues and costs which attend: · Proposed or ongoing LYCI Programs · Proposed or ongoing LYCI Projects · Proposed or ongoing LYCI Administrative activities such as communications, supplies, postage, website maintenance, publications, travel expenses.

13. Relations with other clubs and/or organizations LYCI may at the discretion of the Executive Committee establish formal links with organizations, which have similar or compatible objectives or principles. Such organizations may include: · Asians and Friends clubs. · Other East-West Clubs. · Other gay Organizations.

14. Discipline 14.1. Failure of the LYCI or its members to comply with its constitution may result in disciplinary action against the Executive Committee. 14.2. Failure of the President to attend 2 Annual General Meetings will require the President to step down from his/her position. 14.3. Failure of a LYCI officer to fulfill his/her job commitment may with the agreement of the International Coordinator result in one of the following actions being taken by the Executive Committee: · Written Caution. · Expulsion from the Committee, or resignation from his/her duties.

15. Declaration 15.1. The Executive Committee and all it's members and officers shall abide by the present Constitution, and any rules laid down at all times.

16. Amendments 16.1. Amendments to the present constitution shall be made at the Annual General Meeting. 16.1.1 (Transitional until ICON 2003) Amendments to the Constitution can be proposed and added, subject to email voting for a transitional period from ICON 2002 to ICON 2003 at which point this clause will be deleted. 16.2. A copy of the amended constitution must be sent to all members. 16.3. Amendments to the constitution must pass by a two-third-majority vote of the members present.

17. Transitional 17.1. Any club, which is currently using the name, Long Yang Club shall be granted full membership status for year 2002/2003. 17.2. Such clubs shall comply with the requirements stated above within one year. 17.3 Moved to Section 4.8.1

18. Policy and Procedures 18.1. The Executive Committee shall be empowered to create various policies, procedures or guidelines that the EC will use to fulfill its duties and functions and as such will be compliant with the Constitution. These polices, procedures shall be the guideline by which all members shall follow. 18.2. The policies, procedures, or guidelines shall be voted and accepted by the Executive Committee and shall be revisited yearly to ensure the validity of these policies. 18.3 All policies, procedures, or guidelines shall be sent to all members after being approved by the Executive Committee to ensure their integrity.