GLAAD has announced the nominees for the 32nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards. The GLAAD Media Awards honor media for fair, accurate & inclusive representations of LGBTQ people & issues. Sarah Kate Ellis GLAAD President & CEO stated, "During an unprecedented year of crises & isolation, the nominees for the 32nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards reached LGBTQ people with powerful stories & inspired countless others around the world with bold looks at LGBTQ people & issues. As GLAAD continues to lead the fight for LGBTQ acceptance, this year’s nominees remind us that even in times of political & cultural division, diverse LGBTQ representation & visibility can enlighten, entertain & create lasting change.” GLAAD announced 198 nominees in 28 categories including two new categories: Outstanding Children’s Programming & Outstanding Breakthrough Music Artist. As LGBTQ representation continues to grow in Kids & Family programming, the new Outstanding Children’s Programming category recognizes television programs created for younger children that showcase LGBTQ people & families. The new Outstanding Breakthrough Music Artist recognizes LGBTQ artists who have achieved a breakthrough in the music industry during the eligibility period & whose songs, music videos, or live performances have made a significant impact on LGBTQ visibility & acceptance. This year, several categories increased from five to ten worthy nominees to recognize expanding levels of diverse LGBTQ representation across several media genres. Also this year’s recipient of the Barbara Gittings Award for Excellence in LGBTQ Media is Windy City Times Chicago’s pioneering LGBTQ news publication established in 1985 by Jeff McCourt, Bob Bearden, Drew Badanish & Tracy Baim. Congrats To All The Nominees!! For Info & Full List...
About Me
Lesbian Literature Online Festival Event
The LGBTQ Resource Center of the Gulfport Library in Gulfport, Florida is presenting ReadOut 2021: A Festival of Lesbian Literature to be held virtually from February 26th to 28th via Zoom. ReadOut 2021 will be a unique hybrid of live-streamed interactive panels, prerecorded readings & entertainment with chat opportunities between sessions. The festival will demonstrate how Lesbian Voices Persist & Prevail in these transformative times. Well-known lesbian authors including Sally Bellerose, Elana Dykewomon, Sheree Greer, Sue Katz, Rose Norman, Jean Redmann & Susan Stinson are slated to present 90-minute live-streamed Pods (aka panels) on themes such as elder lesbian writings, Black women writers, mystery, fiction & the intersection of friendship & careers as lesbian authors. Entertainment will be provided by lesbian musicians, spoken word artists & comics. There’s also still time for submissions of 60-minute prerecorded themed sessions of multiple authors reading their work that is open to authors of all genres who write by for & about lesbians with a deadline of February 8th. Barbara Talkov, ReadOut 2021 Organizing Committee stated, “This was such an amazing gathering of lesbian writers last year & the pandemic has given us the chance to offer this incredible festival to a wider audience by virtually sharing this experience for 2021!” Community is so important in this time of COVID-19 as we all need to see & hear each other far beyond Gulfport, FL where the LGBTQ Resource Center has held ReadOut in their library for the past three years. ReadOut 2021: A Festival of Lesbian Literature is a free festival & is open to a global online audience. For More Info...
LGBTQ Equity & Inclusion In Our Schools
LGBTQ Rejoice To Trans Military Return
Creating Change Virtual Event (AUDIO)
The National LGBTQ Task Force Creating Change Conference kicks off this week virtually from January 28th through January 31st 2021. Creating Change 2021 will feature a wide array of plenaries, day long institutes, workshops, caucus sessions & keynotes, as well as game nights, an open mic, the Opening Cruise & the Agents of Change Ball. The conference is a place for our collective LGBTQ community’s spirit to recharge, renew & advance as we face an unprecedented time in our community & our country’s history. Kierra Johnson, incoming Executive Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force stated, “This week, scores of LGBTQ people will gather at the end of a month that has seen an insurrection, an impeachment & an inauguration. It is more important than ever for queer people to come together & Creating Change could not be happening at a better time to gather, strategize & plan. We must harness the energy from our pain, our loss, our outrage from these past few years & pour it into our communities. There is a lot of work ahead of us — to right the wrongs that have been done & disrupt the cycles that keep perpetuating them. Racial equity, economic justice, immigrant rights, disability rights — these are all queer issues. Access to healthcare, community programming, accurate & inclusive education — these are queer issues. As Shirley Chisolm said, ‘you don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering & complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.’ This is our time. We will raise our voices, stand in our power & create a world where equity, liberation & justice are not just ideas but our inevitable future.” LISTEN: Andy Garcia, Director of Creating Change talks conference & More:
Blythe Frank Provincetown Film Society
LGBTQ Leaders Inaugural Statements
Finally Democracy Returns To America
Dr. Levine Historic Nomination (AUDIO)
Celebrating Martin Luther King In 2021
GLAAD Reports Where We Are On TV
International Peace Honors Goes Virtual
A select group of international personalities will join the inaugural International Peace Honors presented by PeaceTech Lab on Sunday January 17th at 8PM EST to celebrate the most prominent world leaders & change-agents of our time whose common goal is to build a more just & equitable future. Those honored will include Ricky Martin, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Opal Tometi, Vint Cert, Amazonian Chief Raoni & Ricardo Montaner will be recognized during this international event with live performances to honor 2020’s most outstanding leaders of change. The event will live stream on PeaceTech Lab’s YouTube channel. Sheldon Himelfarb, PeaceTech Lab President & CEO stated, “We live on a planet where cell phones outnumber people & 1 million new Internet users come online every day. We must recognize our collective responsibility as peace-builders to do more to enlist these modern tools in solving the world’s biggest challenges.” Award presenters include basketball icon Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, actress & activist Eva Longoria, musician & environmentalist Sting, celebrity chef & humanitarian Jose Andres & more. Performing will be an international list of superstars will deliver special performances including Spanish artist Alejandro Sanz, Colombian singer Camilo & wife Evaluna Montaner, activist Sting & Italian singer-songwriter Laura Pausini. Natalia Jimenez GRAMMY® & Latin GRAMMY® winner will host the International Peace Honors. Established by the United States Institute of Peace, PeaceTech Lab is committed to using technology, media & data to prevent violence & build prosperous & peaceful communities around the world. The event is free but you must register. For More Info...
Removing The Mirror Of Evil In America
The Film Maudit 2.0 Virtual Festival
L.A. Performance Space & Gallery Highways will virtually present its Second Annual Film Maudit 2.0 festival January 12th to January 24th. The festival features over 125 works of cinema from 25 countries including films rarely if ever seen in festivals including works addressing socio-political issues & taboo subject matter that challenges conventional artistic assumptions & sexual mores. The festival will present online screenings of 18 feature films, 21 shorts programs, specially commissioned programs & new film scored performed by artists who reflect the diversity of Los Angeles. Patrick Kennelly Festival Artistic Director stated, “There is a connecting spirit to all of the works in Film Maudit 2.0, each selected to engage a different facet of the cinematic imagination. These radical “cinema-sations” are guaranteed to not just entertain, but to challenge the mind & shock the senses. The idea of the festival is changing & we see this as a positive development for independent filmmakers. We decided to really take advantage of this year’s challenges & embrace the potential reach of the exciting new virtual frontier by creating an online experience that is very much an inclusive, interactive & engaged real-time festival experience through the interactive website." Film Maudit 2.0 festival is inspired by French avant-garde filmmaker & writer Jean Cocteau who created the original Festival du Film Maudit (literally “cursed films”) in 1949 aiming to celebrate overlooked, shocking & experimental films. Special programs include a fundraising screening of erotic art pioneers Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens’ “Water Makes Us Wet” featuring a live stream Q&A & more. All films at the festival are free & available online January 12th through January 24th. For More Info…
Trump Continues To Hurt Americans
Creating Change Conference (AUDIO)
This week I talked to Andy Garcia, Director of Creating Change at the National LGBTQ Task Force about their 33rd annual conference entitled “The Power Of You” that takes place virtually from January 28th through January 31st 2021. Every year the Creating Change team curates a diverse, timely & provocative set of workshops & this year will be no exception despite the challenges of having the conference online. From activism to faith to fundraising with some timely twists on popular workshops like “Sex in the Times of COVID” the Creating Change Conference will have programs of interest to diverse activists & cover a lot of ground in this unique time for LGBTQ+ communities. There will also be keynote speakers & celebrities. Dominique Jackson best known for her leading role of Elektra Abundance on the FX television series Pose will be this year’s opening keynote speaker & there will be several performances by Big Freedia. Closing Keynote Speaker will be activist author adrienne maree brown & Sandra Valls will host the event. This will be the third Creating Change Conference managed by Garcia & the first held virtually that will include four plenary sessions, 16 day long institutes & 48 workshop & caucus sessions. The four day long event run by the National LGBTQ Task Force is a space for learning, connecting & growing as LGBTQ activists, leaders, allies & changemakers. With all the insanity going on in our country this is a fabulous opportunity to connect with our community & help move our LGBTQ civil rights forward. I talked to Andy about what he hopes to accomplish with this year’s Creating Change Conference & his spin on our LGBTQ issues. LISTEN
Trump Attempts To Kill Our Democracy
The Center New Activists In Residence
Since 1983 New York City’s The Center has been supporting, fostering & celebrating our LGBTQ community. They have announced their first Activist-in-Residence Fellowship Program recipients in connection with The Center’s Rise Out program to contribute to social justice movements by continually investing in the next generation of Black & Indigenous leaders & other leaders of color who are committed to advancing equity & opportunity on behalf of the LGBTQ community in New York State. After a competitive application process with over 40 applications submitted Domic Bradley & Joshua Allen have been selected as the next wave of changemakers for 2021. In addition to receiving a $15,000 stipend towards their projects they will receive hands-on support from Center leaders to propel their work to the next level. Dominic Bradley is a Brooklyn-based nonbinary artist & educator reared in the crunk-era “Dirty South.” Dominic works in multiple disciplines including visual art, writing & performance. Dominic’s project will focus on the support of BIPOC LGBTQ New Yorkers through innovative mental health supports. Joshua Allen is a nonbinary artist & activist from Brooklyn, NY. In 2016 they founded the Black Excellence Collective an organizing hub for & by Black LGBTQI+ young people & served as a co-organizer & co-host of the 2020 Brooklyn Liberation March. Joshua’s work will focus on a youth mentorship program for Black TGNC & queer youth. The Center thanks Jan Siegmund & Susie Scher at Goldman Sachs Gives for sponsoring & making it possible to offer this initiative. For More Info...
Brooklyn Changes Gender Binary Rule
The Brooklyn Democratic Party voted unanimously to approve a long awaited & historic change that repeals the gender binary requirement allowing only men & women to run for party office in Brooklyn, New York. The Party’s rule change will allow transgender, gender non-conforming & non-binary (TGNCNB) individuals to openly serve on County Committee beginning in the 2022 election cycle. Samy Nemir Olivares, District Leader AD53 & a member of the Gender Taskforce stated, “This victorious rule change belongs to the queer community in Brooklyn, advocates, as well the brave TGNC plaintiffs who put their lives on the public eye & took on a lawsuit to open the path for everyone to run & serve regardless of their gender identity or expression. No one should be denied participation in politics for who they are or how they identify & the binary rule denied the existence of TGNC people. This was a powerful vote to open the doors & remove barriers that prevented people from all genders to have a seat & a vote at the table. As a Queer Brooklynite who fought for this change, I’m very proud & thrilled we were able to take this historic step forward towards inclusion to recognize the humanity of those living beyond the gender binary & welcome their equitable participation. It should have not taken a lawsuit, a taskforce & six months to recognize that everyone deserves a seat at the table, but I’m pleased to see public education that changed hearts & minds & made this progress possible. But we can’t stop here, a seat at the table doesn’t guarantee you can speak or vote, so we need to move beyond diversity & inclusion towards empowerment & leadership.”
LGBTQ Civil Rights Moving Forward
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