Black History Month: Celebrating Notable LGBT African Americans and their Struggle for Equality

Image via Wikipedia

Although February has been marked by LGBT marriage victories in California and Washington, lets not forget and more Importantly take time to recognize the LGBT African-Americans who have fought and struggled for Equal Rights and Human rights not just because of their sexuality, but because of their ethnic background.  They have in so many ways paved the way and blazed the trail which we follow today.  Take time out to respect those who put their lives on the line so that we have the right to fight our battles in court, protest on the street, and lobby for change.  Harvey Milk exhorted LGBT’s to follow the path of the African-American Civil Rights leaders of the 50′s and 60′s…

Harvey Milk once said “The blacks did not win their rights by sitting quietly in the back of the bus. They got off! Gay people, we will not win our rights by staying quietly in our closets… We are coming out! We are coming out to fight the lies, the myths, the distortions! We are coming out to tell the truth about gays!”

FAMOUS AND NOTABLE LGBT AFRICAN AMERICAN PEOPLE

Alice Walker: author, poet, and advocate

Alvin Ailey: choreographer and advocate

André Leon Talley: editor-at-large for Vogue magazine, current contributing editor

Angela Davis: political advocate, scholar, and author

Audre Lorde: author and advocate

Bayard Rustin: chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, advisor to Martin Luther King Jr.

Bessie Smith: blues singer

Bill T. Jones: artistic director, choreographer and dancer

Countee Cullen: poet

Darryl Stevens: actor

Don Lemon: reporter for CNN and news anchor

Doug Spearman: actor

E. Denise Simmons: mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts, during the 2008-2009 term, first openly lesbian African American mayor in the United States

E. Lyn Harris: author

Emil Wilbekin: former openly gay Editor-in-Chief of Vibe Magazine, current managing editor of Essence.com

Felicia “Snoop” Pearson: actress

Glen Burke: Major League Baseball player

Isis King: America’s Next Top Model contestant

James Baldwin: author

Jasika Nicole: actress

Jean-Michel Basquiat: artist

John Amaechi: former NBA player

Josephine Baker: dancer, singer, and actress

June Jordan: author

Kevin Aviance: female impressionist and entertainer

LZ Granderson: ESPN.com columnist

Langston Hughes: poet and social advocate

Laverne Cox: actress, producer and transgender advocate

Lee Daniels: film producer and director

Linda Villaros: author, journalist and public speaker

Ma Rainey: blues singer

Maurice Jamal: filmmaker and director

Meshell Ndegeocello: singer

Paris Barclay: television director and producer

Patrik-Ian Polk: director, producer, screenwriter, singer and actor

Roy Simmons: former NFL player

RuPaul: actor, drag queen and singer-songwriter

Sheryl Swoopes: WNBA player

Stacy Ann Chin: author and poet

Tracy Chapman: singer

Wanda Sykes: actress and comedian

via Black History Month Resource Kit | GLAAD.

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• Black History Month | NBJC Creating Change & LGBT White House Briefing (oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com)

SaveCalifornia: Harvey Milk Stomped on Everything Good and Natural

Utah’s Closeted Workers…Turning the Gay Rights Clock back 20 Years

Image by julesreyes via Flickr

 

 

 

Although Salt Lake City has developed a more bohemian reputation than the rest of the state, coming out at work still seems completely unapproachable for some residents. Despite the admonition from Harvey Milk, Sarah Jackson (name has been changed), a 35-year-old Salt Lake City resident, said she would lose her job and her livelihood if she were to tell her coworkers that she is a lesbian, and so would her girlfriend of nearly five years.

“We work together at an accounting firm,” Jackson said. “We met at work, developed a friendship and that eventually morphed into a romantic relationship.”

…..

The firm is a small company and is owned by two business partners who are members of the Mormon Church.

“I just know that we would run into problems if we come out,” Jackson said. “They might not say we were being fired for being gay, but they would find other ways to let us go.”

via Closet workers in Utah | QSaltLake – Utah’s Gay and Lesbian News and Entertainment Magazine.

Wow… I feel sorry for these people.  Not only are their lives more difficult because they ‘have’ to be in the closet, but they’ve made the lives of every LGBT Utah citizen and every LGBT child who is bullied that much more difficult!  Thank you for setting the LGBT movement back 20 years!

These people should be ashamed of themselves.  Putting the risk of losing their jobs above their self esteem, above who they are and what they SHOULD stand for is appalling.  As adult LGBT people it’s our responsibility to speak through our actions!

How can you be a model for younger people that it’s OK to be LGBT, to be who you are, and that you should stay in the fight to be first class citizens if you can’t even tell your employer.

How can you sit back and let others do the work of advancing our rights while hiding in the closet.  If you want to one day be able to marry your partner in Utah, to have equal employment and housing opportunities and equal civil rights it’s up to EVERY individual LGBT citizen to pick up that torch and carry it, regardless of the personal burden you endure.  We will NEVER gain equality if we hide in the closet and hope that someone ELSE works in our best interests.

It’s time these people take responsibility and stand up, stand proud and stand out!  Stop hiding among your straight peers, within your families and among your coworkers.

Being a part of a silent majority of LGBT is no longer acceptable.  Use your voice, your words, your economic power and take ACTION!

• Don’t shop at businesses who further the anti-gay discriminatory agenda
• Vote against politicians who continue to stifle equality legislation- LGBT Rights are Human Rights!
• Attend rallies & protests to further the LGBT community causes-Speak Out!
• Come OUT to your family, your friends, your coworkers and your employers.  Visibility is political power!
• Volunteer and donate locally!

Take personal action for those who fought and died for who they were, do it for those children who took their own lives because of bullying or being ashamed of who they are.  Take action for future generations so that they will not endure what we’ve endured. Take action for yourself… be a better person, server a higher human cause!

“Our invisibility is the essence of our oppression. And until we eliminate that invisibility, people are going to be able to perpetuate the lies and myths about gay people.” – Jean O’Leary

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• Closet-Cultures Mean Costly Flight Risk for Employers (talent2050.net)
• Survey Says: LGBT Employees Should Announce Their Orientation (lawprofessors.typepad.com)
• The closet is not only for gays & lesbians. (raynbowmonitor.wordpress.com)
• Loving Our LGBT Kids (bilerico.com)
• More on LGBT in the workplace (cenblog.org)
• Do say gay: LGBT sexuality isn’t the problem – bigotry is | Emily Band (guardian.co.uk)
• How can you hide your sexual orientation from others (wiki.answers.com)
• In Gay Equality Battle, Target Is Own Worst Enemy (theawl.com)
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• Joseph Amodeo: Gay in the Pew: LGBT Catholics and Church Teaching (huffingtonpost.com)

Out in the Silence (via Castro Street)

I had the honor and pleasure earlier this week to attend a special on-campus screening of “Out in the Silence,” a beautiful documentary about one town’s struggle with its gay community and a teenager dealing with discrimination and harassment at high school. Partners Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson, the documentary’s filmmakers and co-stars, joined us for the evening to answer questions and lead a thought-provoking dialogue. I’ve talked about CJ before … Read More

via Castro Street

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HRC and Trevor Project Will Share Milk’s Old Storefront

Harvey Milk infront of his Store

 

HRC has finally been pressured by public opinion to do the right thing and give back to the community in ways it hadn’t originally intended.  They’re sharing their newest property acquistion (Harvey Milk’s Camera Store) with the Trevor Project.  In addition to donating space, they’ll pay for the build out of the call center and donate cash to the organization.

The Human Rights Campaign will share the late Supervisor Harvey Milk’s old camera store with the Trevor Project, a national organization that runs a hotline for LGBT and questioning youth, HRC officials told the Bay Area Reporter.

The HRC store and action center will open its doors Wednesday, January 19 to the public, but will not have its official opening celebration until closer to Harvey Milk Day, which is May 22 in California and coincides with Milk’s birthday.

HRC is offering use of the space rent-free to the Trevor Project and will also donate $10,000 annually to the nonprofit during the duration of its lease at the site. The LGBT rights group is also paying for the build out of the offices in the space where Trevor Project volunteers will be able to man phone lines.

via The Bay Area Reporter Online | Breaking: Trevor Project to share Milk’s old storefront.

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• Will HRC Cave To Cleve Jones + Dustin Lance Black And Give Harvey Milk’s Camera Shop To The Trevor Project? (queerty.com)
• HRC Plans Information Center in Harvey Milk’s Old Store…Get Over It and FOCUS! (releasedorothy.wordpress.com)

Utah LGBT Activists- GET OFF YOUR ASS!

Pride in Utah founder Eric Ethington recently called on Utah LGBT citizens and supporters to a “This is OUR Voice” rally at the Utah State Capital on January 24th  against legislators intent on recinding and blocking the rights of all Utah citizens. Additionally, Eric blogged:

What happened to the Utah activists? Immediately following the passage of Prop 8, Utah came alive with activists in every corner of our large state standing up to finally say, “Enough!” But here we are 2 years later and it seems we’ve all just fallen back in step.

What is it? What happened? In late 2008 and early 2009 we were enjoying the highest rate of visibility the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community had ever seen before, but now we only see the occasional protest and even those are typically organized by the same people each time.

via PRIDE in Utah » What Happened To The Utah Activists?.

 In the wake of Gabrielle Gifford’s shooting and the abhorant extremism in the Republican Party this rally takes on even more significant meaning.  As LGBT citizens of Utah it is our responsiblity to protest and bring to light injustice and bigotry especially when it’s perpetrated by our own elected officials.  We cannot sit on the sidelines and hope someone else supports us.  We cannot change the picture of our Facebook profile and accomplish real change.

When I started this blog I named it Release Dorothy! for very specific reasons:

Release Dorothy!

First, because it’s a cry out to those who through ignorance, hate, bigotry, bullying, religious fervor or silence to STOP treating LGBT people as second class citizens, discriminating against us and judging us for who we are… 

Second, because I see it as a call to arms… to every LGBT youth, adult and friend… RELEASE Dorothy!  Let her stand up, stand proud and stand out!  Stop hiding yourselves among your straight peers, within your families, from your spouse and among your coworkers.  As LGBT we unlike many other minorities can hide among the masses…. we chose who, how and when to share who we are with others.  It’s time to show our strength and numbers!  

As a LGBT citizen of the State of Utah, if you want equal rights under the law, freedom to marry the love of your life, adopt a child and not run the risk of being denied housing or being fired for your orientation YOU need to fight for those rights. YOU need to support organizations who support you, YOU need to show our legislators that YOU are not invisible and that YOU will not be discriminated against. 

RALLY for those who fought and sometimes died for who they were, RALLY for those children who took their own lives because of bullying or being ashamed of who they were, RALLY for our future generations so that they will not endure the hate, discrimination and bigotry we’ve endured and RALLY for yourself… be a better person, serve a higher cause, give every LGBT person hope for a fair and equal future in Utah and Release YOUR inner Dorothy!

See you on the 24th.  Remember: “Hope will never be silent”–Harvey Milk

Related Articles

• ACTION ALERT: Rally against Bigotry At The Utah State Capitol ::PRIDE in Utah (releasedorothy.wordpress.com)
• Change.org Names Equality Utah a “Gay Rights Hero of 2010″ :: Release Dorothy! (releasedorothy.wordpress.com)
• Pro-LGBT Congresswoman Giffords SHOT during Constituent Meeting (releasedorothy.wordpress.com)

HRC Plans Information Center in Harvey Milk’s Old Store…Get Over It and FOCUS!

Image via Wikipedia

The Human Rights Campaign is the newest tenant in Harvey Milk’s old storefront.  Local gay activists are less than thrilled.  HRC is often viewed as the mainstraeam suburban paletable lobby organization for LGBT rights.  That muted representation and limited success has local activists in arms as it’s counter to Harvey Milk’s legendary act out approach.  

As polar opposite as Harvey Milk and the HRC’s approach to LGBT rights have been, both have had their place and effective means.  In the end, the LGBT community should focus less on who has a better approach and more on banding together and supporting pro-LGBT organizations.  Division and dissent with so many enemies of LGBT rights will not further our struggle for equal rights.  The LGBT community, advocates and activists must speak with as ONE group united for ONE cause to obtain ONE goal… full equality for all LGBT citizens.

Locally, if the storefront held such significants to warrant such an outcry, why didn’t supporters lease the building instead.  Afterall, it could have been the Family Research Council moving in….

 SAN FRANCISCO—On the surface, the new tenant at the storefront where Harvey Milk waged his historic political campaign would seem like the last organization to anger people in the gay community.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights lobbying group, wants to open up an information center and a gift shop in the building that would pay tribute to the slain gay rights leader.

But Milk’s friends and admirers are so incensed at the group taking over the slain San Francisco supervisor’s stomping grounds that they would rather see a Starbucks there, underscoring the tensions that exist within the various factions of the gay rights movement.

The organization is a frequent target of criticism from gay rights activists who consider its mainstream, “inside the Beltway” style ineffective. They believe the organization’s philosophy of incremental progress in the gay rights movement runs completely counter to the uncompromising message of gay pride championed by Milk.

“It’s spitting in the face of Harvey’s memory,” said AIDS Memorial Quilt founder Cleve Jones, who received his political education at Milk’s side in the 1970s.

via New tenant of Harvey Milk’s old store draws ire – Boston.com.

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• The Castro Gets a Drag Store; Also, ‘True’ Gay Rights Activists Up In Arms About HRC Taking Harvey Milk’s Former Store (sfist.com)
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• Castro Protest: No MILK for HRC – Harvey’s Legacy ‘Not for Rent’ – (pinkbananaworld.com)
• Solution to HRC taking over Harvey Milk’s store? (bilerico.com)