About Me
White House & Trans Day of Visibility
BeBe Zahara Benet San Francisco Events
There will be two days of special events with the fabulous BeBe Zahara Benet on March 31st & April 1st in San Francisco, CA. First on Thursday March 31st there will be two in person screening of the documentary “Being BeBe” at the Roxie Cinema at 7P & 9:30P with BeBe Zahara Benet, Director Emily Branham & Producer Marc Smolowitz in attendance for a Q&A with a pre-reception at 518 Valencia Street Gallery in San Francisco presented by Frameline, BraveMaker & Rainbow Railroad. Then on Friday April 1st at 8P BeBe Zahara Benet will move over to the Soma District to perform live in concert at San Francisco’s legendary nightclub Oasis which will feature BeBe performing with a 6-person band. Marc Smolowitz, CEO of 13th Gen & producer of the documentary stated, “I am so excited to be partnering with Oasis to bring both ‘Being BeBe’ & BeBe Zahara Benet to San Francisco. BeBe is the sort of legendary global artist that San Francisco has always celebrated & this two-night offering is poised to surprise & delight both lovers of independent documentary & lovers of live music.” The film “Being BeBe” intimately charts 15 years in the life of renowned drag performer BeBe Zahara Benet (aka Marshall Ngwa) an immigrant to the United States from homophobic Cameroon who became the first winner of the wildly successful reality television franchise RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2009 & is now a leading musical artist & performer celebrating Queer & Black Excellence. The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival last June of has won two major prizes at the Provincetown International Film Festival & the Sound Unseen Film Festival in Minneapolis. For Roxie Tix… For Oasis Tix...
OUTSHINE LGBTQ Film Festival In Miami
Kim Petras Headlines NYC Pride Island
NYC Pride announced that pop superstar Kim Petras is this year’s Pride Island headliner. The first fully in-person Pride Island in 3 years will also move to a new location with the announcement of Play Lawn at Governors Island as this year’s Pride Island venue. Other marquee talent at this year’s Pride Island taking place Friday June 24th through Sunday June 26th includes Papi Juice. Lauren Cheeseborough, Pride Island Event Manager stated, “With our first ever trans headliner & our move to Governors Island, this will truly be a historic weekend in the history of Pride. The expansion of Pride Island to a 3-day event creates new experiences for the community to love & live their truth by dancing freely without fear of consequence.” Additionally, Eddie Martinez, Dani Toro & Alex Chapman will DJ live on the last day of Pride Island. Additional performers will be announced at a later date. Mario Schmitt, Pride Island Director concluded, "Pride Island is rooted in a history dating back more than 30 years. After being silenced for the past 2 years due to the pandemic, we are coming back with one of the biggest events in Pride history. We are proud to be breaking barriers by introducing our first Pride Island headliner of the transgender experience." Heritage of Pride, Inc. is the volunteer-directed organization behind the official NYC Pride roster of events. Heritage of Pride’s mission is to work toward a future without discrimination where all people have equal rights under the law. They do this by producing LGBTQIA+ Pride events that inspire, educate, commemorate, & celebrate our diverse community. For More Info…
Dave Bennett Swing To Rock At Birdland
LGBTQ Community Moving Forward
With more than 300 anti-LGBTQ bills advancing in legislatures across the country it feels like an unprecedented legislative assault on our LGBTQ community in 2022 surpassing 2021 which was the worst year on record for introducing & enacting anti-LGBTQ legislation in statehouses across the country. Yet 45 years ago on March 26th, 1977 a group of gay & lesbian activists met with members of the Carter administration in a historic first. President Carter's Assistant Margaret "Midge" Costanza coordinated the meeting with representatives from the then National Gay Task Force (NGTF) to hear their grievances about discriminatory federal policies. George Raya a longtime LGBTQ activist who traveled to DC for the historic meeting stated, "In the past 45 years, we have had many successes - via the courts, legislation & Presidential decree. However, in many parts of the country, we can be married on Friday & fired on Monday. We need the Equality Act to be passed by Congress to provide us with strong federal protections against discrimination, making it explicitly illegal to fire someone because they are LGBT." There are only 3 surviving attendees of that meeting, Raya, Rev. Elder Troy Perry & Elaine Noble. Kierra Johnson, Executive Director of National LGBGTQ Task Force concluded, “For those of us in the Task Force family today, we know we stand on the shoulders of our founders & all of the extraordinary people who brought the organization to life in 1973. We will continue the struggle for liberation & equity in their honor & in the service of the LGBTQ community.” For More Info…
Bright Joins Human Rights Campaign
Political Pawn Brittney Griner (AUDIO)
This week I talked with LGBTQ ally Aron Solomon, chief legal analyst at Esquire Digital to give us his spin about WNBA star Brittney Griner’s detainment in Russia. A short summary of this unfortunate situation is that Brittney Griner was arrested on February 17th 2022 in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport upon arrival during her seventh season playing professional basketball in Russia during the WNBA’s off-season. Griner was arrested for allegedly possessing cartridges containing 'liquid with hashish oil' according to the customs service. She currently faces charges that could carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Since her arrest Griner's legal team has had access to her & been able to see her several times a week. Last Thursday it was announced that she would be held without trial until at least May 19th & then finally after over a month of detainment an official from the US embassy in Moscow was granted consular access to check on her condition. What they reported is that she is being held with two other first time detainees & in good condition. Of course we all fear that Griner is being used as a political pawn especially with Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine & that this case did not get the attention it deserved because Brittney is a Black LGBTQ athlete. If this happened to a high profile male professional basketball player like Kyrie Irving or Stephen Curry it would be an entirely different situation. It is also extremely concerning with Russia’s notorious treatment of our LGBTQ community when Brittney will be safely returned to the United States & her wife Cherelle. I talked to Aron about how this case has been handled up to now & where it may go from here. LISTEN:
Disney Workers 'Don’t Say Gay' Walkout
Trans Bodies Trans Choices Town Hall
Out Leadership LGBTQ Virtual Summit
Emerging Artists Theatre 29th Season
National LGBTQ Women's Survey Events
The National LGBTQ+ Women's Community Survey team will be hosting 3 free virtual events on April 28th, May 4th & May 12th via Zoom to discuss preliminary findings of the survey & strategizing ways of moving forward. Join Urvashi Vaid, Professor Alyasah Ali Sewell, Jaime Grant & other members of the survey team for an update on their progress. They’ll have some interesting results to spark a discussion about the data you would most like to prioritize. This long overdue groundbreaking survey is an effort to learn & collect data from the experiences of women who partner with other women. Garnering thousands of respondents to date this unique effort is led by veteran queer, lesbian, bi, trans, non-binary, researchers & activists. The survey was designed to discover all we know & what we need to know about the life experience of LGBTQ women. Their goal is to reach 20,000 participants for the study by the end of March 2022 so there’s still time to fill out the survey if you haven’t yet. The survey collects our community's stories across twenty different categories including identity, home & community, family formations, sexual & intimate life, education & employment, health & well-being, religion & spirituality, experiences of violence & discrimination, civic engagement, policing & incarceration. This is an extremely important survey that will provide information our nation needs to understand so we can evolve & bring forward real life experience to inform policy change, service delivery & action to support LGBTQ+ women. I talked to Urvashi Vaid in December about her inspiration for creating the National LGBTQ+ Women’s Community Survey & her spin on our LGBTQ issues. LISTEN
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South Carolina Attack On Trans Kids
Queer Icon Leslie Cohen Passes (AUDIO)
We have lost a true lesbian pioneer in the passing of Leslie Cohen. Whether opening the first upscale lesbian club Sahara in NYC in 1976 or becoming the models with her partner/wife of 45 years Beth Suskin for the iconic National Monument sculpture “Gay Liberation” in Greenwich Village commemorating Stonewall, Leslie was a mentor & icon for our LGBTQ community. After leaving NYC in the early 90’s she pursued a stellar career as an attorney in Florida & then thankfully she finished & published her memoir “The Audacity of a Kiss: Love, Art & Liberation” available on Rutgers University Press that has been nominated for a 2022 Lambda Literary Award. I first met Leslie in 1978 at Sahara that she created with three of her friends Michelle Florea, Linda Goldfarb & Barbara Russo. From May of 1976 to December of 1979 on Manhattan’s fashionable Upper East Side Sahara was the first club fronted by lesbian women instead of being controlled by Mafia Bosses. Thursday & Saturday nights the line extended around the block waiting for Paula the door manager to welcome you. Inside there were two floors of lesbians dressed to the hilt & disco blasting. For lesbians Sahara was our Studio 54 & like Studio it ended with the doors chained & locked because its success was ahead of its time. After Sahara Leslie, Beth & Michelle continued to have pop-up lesbian parties throughout Manhattan that I actually even once worked & in the Hamptons until they moved to Florida in the early 90’s. You will be missed my friend. In this intimate chat last September I talked to Leslie about her must-read memoir & her spin on our LGBTQ issues. LISTEN:
Creating Change Remixed Virtual Event
The National LGBTQ Task Force’s Creating Change conference will be held virtually this weekend on Saturday & Sunday March 19th to 20th via pheedloop. “Creating Change Remixed” will feature several plenary & keynote speakers, award presentations, daylong institutes & the annual House Ball. The program will also include the Annual State of the Movement Address with Task Force Executive Director Kierra Johnson & Deputy Executive Director Mayra Hidalgo Salazar. Cathy Renna, National LGBTQ Task Force Communications Director stated, “It is clear that 2022 is a critical year for all of us, as we face an onslaught of attacks on our rights & our very democracy & plan for the midterm elections, Creating Change has always been a place LGBTQ advocates, activists, leaders & allies come together to learn, connect with each other & organize for the year ahead. While I wish we were in person, I cannot wait - we have powerful plenaries, the State of the Movement & institutes & panels that represent the depth & breadth of the diversity of our community & it would not be Creating Change without some amazing social gatherings like our Agents of Change house ball & Gayme night. I hope more people will join the already 1000+ registrants this weekend!” Feature keynotes will be presented by Two Spirit activist Beverly Little Thunder & author & performance artist ALOK. In addition there will be the annual presentation of awards. This year’s honorees are Urvashi Vaid will be presented with the Susan J. Hyde Award for Longevity in the Movement, Carmen Vázquez will receive the Leadership Award in Aging presented by SAGE: José Albino, Ola Osifo Osaze will be honored with the Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund Award for Outstanding LGBTQ Leadership for Immigration Rights & Billy Lane will receive the Leather Leadership Award. Creating Change welcomes back Sandra Vallsas as the conference emcee. For Full Lineup…
Silence To Solidarity Global Concert
Violence Against Women Act Reboot
New Film “Queer Genius” (AUDIO)
This week I talked with award winning poet Eileen Myles (they/them) about their work & appearance in the new documentary “Queer Genius” distributed by Frameline. Eileen Myles came to NYC from Boston in 1974 to be a poet. Their books include “I Must Be Living Twice: New & Selected Poems” & “Chelsea Girls”. Myles is the recipient of 4 Lambda Literary Awards & was honored with Lambda’s Pioneer Award in 2016. Eileen also received a Guggenheim Fellowship & in 2021 was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts & Letters. “Queer Genius” is directed by award winning filmmaker Chet Pancake who chronicles five visionary queer artists including the late iconic lesbian filmmaker & producer Barbara Hammer, performance artist & actor Jibz Cameron, Black Quantum Futurism (Rasheedah Phillips & Camae Ayewa A.K.A. Moor Mother, literary & artistic creatives) & Myles who unapologetically break down barriers in their creative fields outside of mainstream culture. These intimate portraits resonate across generations as critically acclaimed & notoriously radical queer artists who have overcome personal & political obstacles to find new ways to live & share their visionary creative practices. In the lens of queer women & our LGBTQ culture the film confronts fame, failure, censorship, family, gender & sexuality. The documentary explores each artist’s “Genius” sharing their thought process, creativity & experiences as expressed through their art & embraces communal possibilities of “Genius” from a queer & generational perspective. “Queer Genius” won the Boundary Breaker Award at Buffalo International Film Festival (2020) & the Audience Award-Best Picture at Q-Fest Houston (2020) & is currently available virtually at San Francisco’s Roxie Theatre nationwide. I talked to Eileen about their involvement with “Queer Genius” & spin on our LGBTQ issues. LISTEN:
Black LGBTQ Leaders Speak OUT
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