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Police Violence Against LGBTQ People

Lambda Legal has submitted written testimony to the newly formed Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement & the Administration of Justice highlighting the disproportionate levels of violence & abuse that our LGBTQ community especially LGBTQ people of color experience in the U.S. criminal legal system. Puneet Cheema Lambda Legal Staff Attorney stated, “LGBTQ people, particularly those who are Black or Brown, are disproportionately over-policed & incarcerated as a result of systemic discrimination & bias, including at the hands of police. We need to rethink our system of public safety & not rely on law enforcement as first responders where an arrest doesn’t resolve the underlying issue. We need to invest in city & community services for all residents.” Sharon McGowan, Legal Director & Chief Strategy Officer at Lambda Legal & formerly Principal Deputy Chief of the DOJ Civil Rights Division concluded, “The modern movement for LGBTQ equality was catalyzed by an uprising against police brutality & for decades, Lambda Legal has understood that resisting state-sanctioned violence & discrimination, including by law enforcement, is essential to our mission to secure full equality for all LGBTQ people. Unfortunately, we have no reason to believe that Attorney General Barr or the Commission he has created will take seriously their duty to protect the civil rights of all people. Nevertheless, we will continue to speak up and demand better, as the lives of the LGBTQ community & the other communities of which we are a part are what’s at stake.” As a victim of police brutality I understand the importance of this overdue reform to our legal system.
For More Info: lambdalegal.org
LISTEN: Black LGBTQ Leaders Address Racial Violence
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"Shoulders of Giants" LGBTQ Art Work

Artist Rachel Wilkins has unveiled a new series of portraits entitled “Shoulders of Giants” a 30 piece multi-media body of work honoring the advocates, change-makers & unsung heroes of our LGBTQ movement with 50% of the sales to benefit the National LGBTQ Task Force. The series of work features Bayard Rustin, Edie Windsor, Marsha P. Johnson, Harvey Milk & also chronicles the lesser-known voices such as Michael Dillon the first trans man to medically transition & Barbara Gittings the lesbian activist who in 1958 organized the first Daughters of Bilitis in NYC. The 30 piece collection acknowledging one work for each day of LGBTQ Pride month is paired with a personal letter of thanks from a member of the LGBTQ community that expresses their gratitude & documents how they were personally affected by their hero’s contribution. Rachel Wilkins stated, “I had this yearning for a deeper understanding of what came before. What, or who enabled me to live my life so freely today as an out gay woman. As my research unfolded I came to understand that there was a great deal of diversity & intersectionality represented among those that fought to push us forward. Voices & faces that were new to me. I felt both a moral & creative responsibility to get to know them & to honor them.” Wilkins is originally from the UK & currently resides in New Jersey with her wife. It was the global pandemic that brought her back to the studio & led her to create this particular body of work. I talked to Walter Naegle about his relationship with Bayard Rustin, the master strategist best remembered as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington in this exclusive audio interview. LISTEN
For More Info: rachel-wilkins.com
LISTEN: Black LGBTQ Leaders Address Racial Violence
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LGBTQ Leading To Greater Acceptance

While America is finally beginning to take on racial disparities our LGBTQ community is patiently waiting to hear from the US Supreme Court to rule on workplace equality. Though more than 500 LGBTQ organizations from across the country signed onto a letter condemning racial violence & committing to the fight against it very few mainstream media outlets or organizations are addressing the fact that since 2013 over 170 transgender women & men have been murdered in this country with over 70% being of color. June is LGBTQ Pride Month as we wait to hear the US Supreme Court ruling on a trio of the cases including Altitude Express Inc. v Zarda & Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia that center on men who were fired from their jobs for being gay & R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC & Aimee Stephens who passed away last month which focuses on a transgender woman who was fired after informing her boss that she was transitioning. Watching thousands of protesters march I hope when this decision comes down later this month our community will rise up to whatever injustices we may face & that all our allies will join our fight for equality as well. Over 50 years ago our LGBTQ community rose up against police brutality during the Stonewall Riots of 1969 resulting in the beginning of LGBTQ civil rights in this country. Now in 2020 LGBTQ Pride Month is a time to celebrate our authenticity & demand equality for our LGBTQ community as we also address the ugly reality of racism in this country & remember that our LGBTQ brothers & sisters comes from all walks of life & skin colors & unless we are all equal none of us are equal.
LISTEN: Black LGBTQ Leaders Address Racial Violence
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Watch Boston Pride Virtual Flag Raising

This year due to the COVID-19 pandemic the annual Boston Pride Flag Raising Ceremony went virtual hosted by Mayor Martin J. Walsh & the City of Boston. Mayor Walsh stated, “As we confront a global pandemic & the painful reality of racial injustice, we need to support one another & work together to create the change we want to see. I’m proud to stand firm with Boston’s Black & Brown LGBTQ+ community, celebrating the entire LGBTQ+ community’s incredible legacy & recommit ourselves to racial justice & progress during this crucial moment in our city’s history.” The virtual Pride Flag raising also featured remarks from Governor Charlie Baker, Representative Elizabeth Malia, Boston Pride board member Malcolm Carey & transgender activist Athena Vaughn with the National Anthem performed by Davron Monroe. In a recorded address Governor Charlie Baker praised the now 50-year-old Pride tradition stating, “This community has been so successful in making their concern & their fight, everybody’s concern & everybody’s fight.” State Representative Elizabeth Malia concluded, “We were the source of the first equal marriage legislation in the country. Have a good Pride, stay healthy & we’ll see you in 2021, in healthier times.” The first Pride event in Boston was held in 1970 one year after the New York City Stonewall Riots which erupted in June 1969 in response to persistent harassment & violence perpetrated by members of the police. Now fifty years later we must continue to fight for social justice & equal rights for our LGBTQ community & especially our Black & Brown trans community. Boston Pride’s 50th anniversary will be celebrated in 2020 & 2021 with the Parade & Festival moved to June 12th 2021.
WATCH VIDEO
For More Info: bostonpride.org
LISTEN: Black LGBTQ Leaders Address Racial Violence
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Black LGBTQ Leaders Speak Out (Audio)

This week I attended a virtual Town Hall hosted by Equality Florida with Black LGBTQ leaders in response to a rash of attacks that have claimed Black lives including the brutal killing of George Floyd by white police officers in Minneapolis. The Black LGBTQ leaders included Alphonso David, Human Rights Campaign President, Michele Rayner, Civil Rights Attorney who represented the McGlockton family following the murder of Markeis, Imani Rupert-Gordon, National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director, Andrea Jenkins, Minneapolis City Council Vice President & moderated by Nadine Smith, Equality Florida Executive Director. The Town Hall came after more than 500 LGBTQ organizations from across the country signed onto a letter condemning racial violence & committing to the fight against it. This important dialogue also comes on the heels of the murders of seven Black transgender women in Florida in less than two years, the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery by white vigilantes in Georgia & the weaponizing of race by a white woman against Christian Cooper a Black gay man bird watching in New York’s Central Park & the disturbing questions raised in the recent police shooting death of Tony McDade a Black transgender man in Tallahassee. All the leaders during the Town Hall also addressed the fact that since 2013 over 170 transgender women & men have been murdered in this country with over 70% being of color. This is another stark reminder of the need for all civil right leaders who are speaking out against systemic racism & hate violence claiming Black & Brown lives must be LGBTQ inclusive. LISTEN:


For More Info: eqfl.org
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AIDS Activist Ron Simmons Dies

Ron Simmons Ph.D. was the President/CEO of Us Helping Us, People Into Living, Inc. a nonprofit community-based AIDS services organization that provided HIV prevention & support services to the African-American community in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. He retired in 2016 & started his own company Ron Simmons Consulting, LLC, in 2017. In 2018, he developed the Bodemé workshop a sexual health intervention for young Black gay men, ages 16 to 29. Dr. Simmons was a member of the Global Network of Black People working in HIV (GNBPH) & served on the International Steering Committee of ICASA, the international AIDS conference for African nations. He was a former member of the DC Regional Commission on Health & HIV. Paul Kawata National Minority AIDS Council Executive Director stated, “This is a great loss. Ron Simmons was a tremendous leader & central voice for Black Gay Men in DC & nationally. During his tenure at Us Helping Us, he built an institution that continues to provide needed health care services to communities of color. His legacy will live on in the people that Us Helping Us continues to serve every day.” NMAC leads with race to urgently fight for health equity & racial justice to end the HIV epidemic in America. Since 1987 they have advanced their mission through a variety of programs & services, including: a public policy education program, national & regional training conferences, a treatment & research program, numerous electronic & print materials. NMAC also serves as an association of AIDS service organizations, providing valuable information to community-based organizations, hospitals, clinics & other groups assisting individuals & families affected by the HIV epidemic.
For More Info: nmac.org
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LGBTQ Pride Month Has Begun

As we begin to celebrate Pride Month virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic we are witnessing a watershed moment in this country. As hundreds of thousands of Americans peacefully gather to protest expressing their outrage over the murder of George Floyd, we want you all to know that unequivocally OUTTAKE MEDIA supports our Black & Brown communities & please stay safe & strong as you exercise your First Amendment Right to protest. For the last fifty years we have commemorated the Stonewall riots when in 1969 our LGBTQ community experienced our own watershed Rosa Parks moment rising up against the police that resulted in our the beginning of LGBTQ civil rights in this country. Remember that Pride month is about celebrating our authenticity & demanding equality for our LGBTQ community & that demand for justice & change must include addressing the ugly reality of racism. Our LGBTQ community comes from all walks of life & skin colors & unless we are all equal none of us are equal. Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD President & CEO stated, “We know that social change is often built on the pain & outrage of moments like the ones we are seeing in America today. It is important to remember that the revolutionary riots at Stonewall in 1969 were spearheaded by many LGBTQ people of color & that none of the progress made for the acceptance & equality of LGBTQ people over the past 51 years would be possible if not for the action & courage of those protestors. This Pride Month, we’ll be centering & lifting up the voices of Black LGBTQ people. There can be no Pride if it is not intersectional. We are Together in Pride.”
LISTEN: Filmmaker Wendy Jo Carlton Talks “Good Kisser”
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