GLAAD On the Ground In D.C. As Couples Prepare to Marry
March 3, 2010 by Anna Wipfler, GLAAD's Transgender Advocacy Fellow
Two of GLAAD’s media field strategists are in Washington, D.C. helping elevate the voices of numerous couples who are set to marry. By 9 am this morning, 60 same-sex couples had lined up outside the D.C. Superior Court to file their applications for marriage licenses, according to The Washington Post. Today marks the first day that the District of Columbia will accept same-sex applications, and the first couples will receive their licenses as soon as Tuesday, March 9th.
The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009 passed the D.C. Council and was signed by D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty in December but then had to survive the mandatory congressional review period as well because Washington is a federal district. With the review period’s expiration on Tuesday and Supreme Court Justice Robert’s denial of a last-minute request by opponents to stay the new law, however, the marriage equality bill went into effect this morning, making D.C. the sixth location in the country to issue licenses to same-sex couples (joining Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont).
In preparation for the day, commemorative pens and celebratory cupcakes were on hand at the court. The Associated Press reported that the D.C. marriage bureau also changed the language of its applications and civil marriage ceremonies to be gender-neutral.
GLAAD media field strategists, Adam Bass and Daryl Hannah are on the ground in D.C. providing extensive media assistance to couples as they apply for their newly-legalized marriage licenses. GLAAD is proud to support loving couples who are making lifelong commitment to take care of and be responsible for one another. We’ll continue to keep you updated on all of the latest developments.
Related Posts:A look Back at Black History Month: Famous Black LGBT Writers
In honor of Black History Month which wrapped up yesterday, GLAAD’s COAD Program recognized black LGBT writers who illuminated the black experience during pivotal eras in American history. While we know that there are countless talented pioneers, here are a few of those who have made significant contributions to the black arts movement, and who are emulated today through the work of other prolific writers, artists and activists.
Lorraine Hansberry (playwright) 
Lorraine Hansberry is best known for her play, A Raisin In The Sun, which tells the story of a working-class black family struggling with classism and racism during the 1950s in Chicago. The play was inspired by her father’s legal battle against racially segregated housing laws in the Washington Park subdivision of the South Side of Chicago. The Hansberry home was recently nominated as a Chicago landmark, and is pending review by city council.
Hansberry contributed to the black feminist and lesbian movement through her writing, which included articles published in The Ladder for the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), the first lesbian rights organization. Hansberry joined DOB in 1957 and supported issues contingent to feminism and homophobia. Hansberry’s past works also include To Be Young, Gifted and Black and The Drinking Gourd.
“When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right…Make sure you done take into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got wherever he is.” – A Raisin In The Sun
E. Lynn Harris (author)
The black LGBT community lost author E. Lynn Harris too soon in 2009, who took a bold leap in the fiction genre by writing the first book series on black romance/drama featuring open and closeted gay male athletes. His first novel, Invisible Life, catapulted Harris’ career in 1994 and thereafter, he continued to write 10 New York Times bestsellers.
Born in Flint, Mich., and raised in Little Rock, Ark., Harris’ motivation to break new ground began at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville where he was the school’s first black yearbook editor, the first black male Razorbacks cheerleader, and the president of his fraternity. His work includes the memoir What Becomes of the Brokenhearted and the novels, A Love of My Own, Just as I Am, Any Way the Wind Blows, I Say a Little Prayer, If This World Were Mine, Just Too Good to Be True, and Basketball Jones. He died shortly before the release of his last novel, Mama Dearest, at the age of 54.
“I couldn’t believe it, but it felt so natural. It was the first time I had ever kissed a man. I had never felt a spasm of sexual attraction toward a man. Honest to God. But his kiss. I had never kissed anyone like this, not even Sela.” – Invisible Life
Sapphire (author and poet)
With the release of Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, author and performance poet Sapphire emerged on the scene quietly, yet unrelenting. The film is a complex and gritty tale told in the words of Clareece ‘Precious’ Jones, a 16-year old who has suffered sexual and emotional abuse from her mother and father, but finds salvation from her teacher through writing and learning to read at the same time. Sapphire’s career as an educator and social worker during 1980s Harlem and the Bronx inspired her to construct a story that is an interwoven piece depicting the real-life socioeconomic struggles her students confronted. The film continues to be a staggering success: actresses Mo’Nique and Gabourey Sidibe were both nominated for Golden Globes and Academy Awards for their roles in the film; and the 21st annual GLAAD Media Awards also recognized the cast in its “Outstanding Film” category.
Sapphire is also an acclaimed poet and has been a part of the black lesbian arts movement since the 1970s. She is a former member of United Lesbians of Color for Change, Inc., and self-published a collection of poems, titled “Meditations on the Rainbow” in 1987.
“Ms Rain tell me I don’t like homosexuals she guess I don’t like her ’cause she one…Ms Rain say homos not who rape me, not homos who let me sit up not learn for sixteen years, not homos who sell crack … It’s true. Ms Rain the one who put the chalk in my hand, make me queen of the ABCs.” – PUSH
Langston Hughes (poet, playwright and author)
One of the Harlem Renaissance’s greatest writers, Langston Hughes delivered the African-American experience with colorful diction through jazz and folk poetry. His engagement with jazz music produced some of his greatest works, including “Montage on a Dream Deferred.” Depicting the black aesthetic was the highlight of Hughes’ career along with his entourage, which included Zora Neale Hurston, Wallace Thurman, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, Richard Bruce Nugent, and Aaron Douglas, all of whom collectively created the quarterly magazine, “Fire!! Devoted to Younger Negro Artists.”
Hughes gained popularity with the younger black generation because of his bold efforts to speak against racial inequalities during a time period when blacks suffered at the hands of white supremacy with no remorse. Here is a quote from his article, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” published in The Nation in 1926 that exemplifies his contempt of hatred from whites and his intolerance for blacks who presumed that Hughes’ was an elitist:
“The younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, it doesn’t matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly, too. The tom-tom cries, and the tom-tom laughs. If colored people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn’t matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain free within ourselves.”
Staceyann Chin (poet and author)
Fifteen years ago, spoken word poet and author Staceyann Chin moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., to free herself of a constricted life in Jamaica and has since evolved into a brazen political activist for the LGBT community. In her new memoir, The Other Side of Paradise, Chin delivers poignant details about her identity crisis as a child after her Chinese father blatantly disowned her, and the threats on her life from the men in her hometown in Jamaica because she refused to be a closeted lesbian.
Chin was featured on HBO’s Russell Simmons Presents: Def Poetry Jam, and included as a cast member for the Tony-award winning Broadway production of the show. Her essays and feature stories have been published in the New York Times, Essence, and the Washington Post. She has also coordinated media campaigns with national organizations, including GLAAD, to speak out against anti-gay lyrics from Jamaican reggae artists.
“I am only poison when you seal me in a transparent coffin.” – Stain Me a New Heart
Audre Lorde (poet and author)
Audre Lorde’s perception of herself was multi-faceted: “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.” As a black feminist, she recognized the lack of inclusiveness for black women within the larger “white-led” feminist movement and challenged her colleagues to address the fact that racism and classism prevailed. As a lesbian, she surrendered a large portion of her essays, poetry and activism to liberate the LGBT movement, and became the voice of reason by tackling the issue of sexual fluidity.
In 1994, two years after her death, the Audre Lorde Project was founded in 1994 in Brooklyn, N.Y. The organization’s centralized work includes community organizing and radical non-violent activism for LGBT people of color, and is a testament to Lorde’s activism in the gay community in Greenwich Village.
“…But I, who am bound by my mirror as well as my bed, see causes in color as well as sex, and sit here wondering which me will survive all these liberations.” – Who Said It Was Simple
Octavia E. Butler (author)
Octavia E. Butler is well-known for her science fiction writing, which included ambiguous themes around race and sexuality. She was raised by her mother and father, who worked as a maid and shoeshiner, respectively. At the age of 12, Butler’s writing began to blossom after taking an interest in sci-fi films. To date, she is the only science fiction writer to receive one of the genius grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Butler continued to explore other fictional genres, while still encompassing themes around identity. Her last novel, Fledgling, was published in 2005 and received critical acclaims from the Washington Post and The Seattle Times.
“I think people really need to think what it’s like to have all of society arrayed against you.” – Butler’s response to the vision behind her novel, Kindred
James Baldwin (author and playwright)
James Baldwin’s legacy has inspired many American novelists and he is well-cited for his accomplishments in the black arts, civil rights and LGBT movements. Baldwin attended The New School in New York and resided in Greenwich Village. Disheartened by the prejudices against blacks and LGBT people, he decided to move to Paris, France. During this time as an expatriate, Baldwin’s work was published in literary anthologies and he worked alongside mentor Richard Wright to ultimately publish a collection of essays on Wright’s Native Son. His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, was published in 1953, but it was Baldwin’s second novel, Giovanni’s Room, that pushed the envelope with critics because of its homoerotic content.
Baldwin continued to write other novels that echoed his tormented life as a black gay man in Another Country and Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone. His life and work continues to be celebrated through organizations such as the National James Baldwin Literary Society, and outreach services including Hampshire College’s James Baldwin Scholars program.
“I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” – Baldwin
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A Conversation With…E. Patrick Johnson, author of “Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South – An Oral History”
February 17, 2010 by Stephanie Barnes, GLAAD's Communities of African Descent (COAD) Media Intern
In black Southern culture, a strong family unit is the premise for nurturing, growth and success. However, like any family, there are secrets and sometimes an unspoken pact that these secrets are never to be discussed. But author and Northwestern professor, E. Patrick Johnson recognized another subset of the black family unit, some of whom are pillars of respect in their communities. A deacon, a hairdresser and a transgender woman are just a few of the subjects Johnson interviewed for his book, Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South – An Oral History.
Johnson edited a series of narratives between 2004-2006 from black gay men born and raised in the South, and who have continued to live there, either closeted or openly. He is currently on tour for “Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Tales,” a one-man performance based on the narratives of Sweet Tea.
Johnson spoke to GLAAD’s Stephanie Barnes about his personal experiences growing up in rural North Carolina and the paradigm the narratives provide—validating self, exploring self-love and hate, family and the beloved South.
GLAAD: What are some of the stories in “Sweet Tea” that still resonate with you and have become an intricate part of your life?
EPJ: I relate to stories about how people ca
me out to their families, the reactions that their families had, to the euphemisms people in the South use for gayness, and their relationships to the geography of the South. One of the things that make growing up in the South different from the North is that you play outside in the yard, field or garden. And that really shaped how people explored their sexuality. For instance, a number of men talk about being in an open field and finding places to experiment. It was in the country, so you weren’t under the watchful eye of an adult, and it provided opportunities to explore your sexuality that northern urban places don’t allow you to do. So, I definitely can relate to that and of course religion.
How big of an impact did religion have on their sexuality and were some of them forthcoming about it in their churches?
EPJ: I think black churches are complicated because some are homophobic, explicitly and implicitly. On the other hand, the church is a place where black gay people can find community and explore their sexuality. One of the people I interviewed said, “It’s not the Army where you can ‘be all you can be’ – it’s the church” [laughs]. Church folk will give you your props. Especially to children. You can be the worst singer ever, but if you’re standing up in front of the church, they’re going to encourage you to, “Sing baby!” For a little gay boy who’s doing that and being supported, that’s a way for him to express his sexuality. There’s flexibility in performing to express your sexuality. That was certainly my experience when I was soprano – singing with all the little girls and I would wear my robe, twirling down the aisle and leading the song.
A lot of men have also said that even though their churches may be homophobic, they go to have a communion with God. So, they’re not concerned about what the church members think about them. Or even the pastor. They want to have a personal relationship with God and they separate God from the church.
Why do you think the men you interviewed have this unyielding loyalty to the South and religion? And, why did they choose to remain in the South, especially for those who’ve dealt with extreme cases of homophobia?
EPJ: For some of them, it was about not being able to leave the South for economic reasons. Some of these men are working class. Their families depend on them and vice versa. Leaving was not necessarily an option. For others, it was privileging one’s race and family over one’s sexuality. Or, it was about not wanting to disappoint their family so they tried to conform to what their families felt they should be, which was straight. And some said “to hell” with their families and they chose not to have a relationship with them.
As far as the church goes, I try to explain it to people this way: Imagine going to church from conception until you’re an adult [laughs]. I talk about going to church while in my mother’s womb and experiencing “gospel comas.” When you’re born into the church and grow up in the church, that’s the center of your community and your family. Later, when you start to come into your sexuality, you can’t just turn off or turn away from it. It takes some negotiating.
I think we sometimes seek out homogenous ideologies and we forget that we all have different cultural backgrounds and experiences as black gay people. What do you think are some of the issues that are unique to the black LGBT community?
EPJ: I’ve been thinking a lot about the acronym “LGBT” because that “T” is often silent. And the “B” is often silent. We have a lot of work to do in our own community around discrimination of folks in our group. There’s femme phobia, transphobia, biphobia and we need to work on that because we can’t ask people outside of our community to accept us until we accept us.
Our history as black folk, regardless of our gender and sexual identity, makes us different. We have experienced our race alongside those identities. Within the black LGBT community, we have discrimination and we also deal with discrimination with the black community. Religion also plays a huge part in this. But, I never buy into the ideology that black people are more homophobic. Homophobia is simply homophobia.
You also mentioned in your book that while growing up, you felt the need to overcompensate in other areas of your life because you weren’t comfortable with being gay. Do you still feel that pressure now as an adult?
EPJ: I don’t, but it took a while for me to work through that. I would be lying if I said I don’t feel some sort of claustrophobia when I go home. Everybody knows that I’m gay, but it’s something about being in that home context that takes me back to this different place in my life and I do still work through that. I’m actually going back to do a reading of Sweet Tea in my hometown library in the black neighborhood. There’s a circle of older black women who are reading or have already read Sweet Tea, which I think is so cool.
Being gay has been peripheral to the other accomplishments I’ve made over the course of my life. I think some people wish I wasn’t gay, but they’ve never expressed that to me or to my family, and it hasn’t diminished their pride in one of their own.
Watch a preview of E. Patrick Johnson performing “Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Tales”:
Related Posts:
Communities of African Descent (COAD) News Buzz
February 11, 2010 by Stephanie Barnes, GLAAD's Communities of African Descent (COAD) Media Intern
Here’s a look at some COAD-related stories in the media:
Playwright Lorraine Hansberry’s House Nominated for Chicago Landmark
The Chicago Tribune reported that the home of Black Renaissance writer Lorraine Hansberry has been nominated for landmark status in Woodlawn, Ill. Three years ago, a teacher, parents and students from Amelia Earhart Elementary School on Chicago’s South Side decided to nominate the house through city council after the students studied the Hansberry family’s turbulent case involving racial segregation for their history projects. The house will join the ranks of the George Cleveland Hall Branch Library, Richard Wright House and Gwendolyn Brooks House, which are now historically significant properties that are part of the city’s Black Renaissance Literary Movement of the 1930s through 1950s. They reported:
“The teacher, Stacy Stewart, says the students were struck by the family’s courage and how their challenge of discriminatory housing practices paved the way for integrated neighborhoods. She said they believed the home’s history needs to be remembered and studied by others.
‘The house is a symbol that anything is possible in America,’ said student Ishmael Smith, who is now a junior at Mount Carmel High School on the South Side.
The house’s current owner could not be reached for comment. The owner did not sign a consent form for landmark status and did not attend a hearing on the issue, but owner consent is not required for landmark designation. Before the Hansberry court ruling, African-Americans in the city were restricted to living in what was known as the ‘Black Belt,’ congested, impoverished neighborhoods on the South Side, said Tim Black, a historian and former professor at the City Colleges of Chicago, who knew the Hansberry family.”
LGBT People of Color Need More Than Health Insurance
In light of the health care debate that will ultimately affect all Americans, new research from the Center for American Progress 
shows that LGBT people of color have needs and challenges that are different from the rest of the population. The Root reports that risks involving diabetes and not receiving mammograms are just a few of the issues that must be uniquely addressed, particularly for African-American lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The article suggests possible solutions, including adding questions to health data to include sexual orientation and gender identity which could possibly provide researchers with information to better identify the health care needs of LGBT people of color.
Research also shows that the elderly are also significantly affected. Lack of health insurance, comprehensive health care and the potential threat of harassment and discrimination from health care providers and nursing homes are just a few of the challenges this demographic faces. And, because data collection is sparse, it is difficult to understand why and how cultural competency is vital in serving the health care needs of this underrepesented segment of the population.
Reporter Jeff Krehely writes:
“For example, lesbian and bisexual black women are the least likely to have had a mammogram in the past two years. Only 35 percent of these women have had mammograms recently, compared to nearly 70 percent of heterosexual African-American, Asian or Pacific Islander, or white women. One out of every five lesbian/gay/bisexual African-American adults has diabetes. Straight African-American and straight, lesbian, gay or bisexual Asian or Pacific Islander, Latino, and white adults are much less likely to have diabetes—fewer than 8 percent of these populations have been diagnosed with the disease.
Mental health needs are also a concern. For example, lesbian/gay/bisexual Asian or Pacific Islander adults are more likely than other groups to report experiencing psychological distress. Lesbian/gay/bisexual Latinos are similarly much more likely than all other racial or ethnic groups—gay or straight—to report problems with alcohol abuse and addiction.”
He offers these possible solutions:
“A clear first step to improve health treatment for LGBT racial and ethnic minorities is building the medical community’s knowledge of their unique needs. Unfortunately, no national government health survey regularly asks about a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The federal government already collects health data based on race and ethnicity, and adding questions on sexual orientation and gender identity would provide researchers with this much-needed information to better identify the health care needs of LGBT people of color. In turn, advocates could then fight for programs and funding that better and more competently serve this population. Medical schools and other institutions could also incorporate this information into their curricula and training programs to prepare future practitioners to treat and care for these patients.”
Read the piece in its entirety here.
AOL Black Voices Spotlights Gay Couple in Online Feature
Damien Ramsey and Seanmichael Rodgers are the epitome of a unique black love story that has gone largely untold. AOL Black Voices interviewed the couple in “Damien and Seanmichael: An Untold Love Story.” The couple has been in a committed relationship for three years and and are engaged to be married this spring in New York City. Ramsey, a singer/songwriter, and Rodgers, a producer/vocal coach, said the secret to their love is simple.
Darian Aaron writes:
“‘It’s like falling in love again every week,’ says Damien, ’sometimes for the same reasons and sometimes for new ones. We take these days seriously because it allows us the time to stay fresh and revisit one another and the reasons why we love each other the way that we do,’ he added.
Those reasons were made perfectly clear during Seanmichael’s traditional ‘down-on-one-knee’ proposal along with an ageless silver ring with diamonds inscribed with roman numerals from Tiffanys.
‘I am in love with you for many reasons. For the rhythms that only our two hearts can beat, for the strengths you show in my weaknesses, for the passion that burns every time you kiss me, and for the joy you give me everyday. I want to give you the depth and the shallow of me with all transparency. I want to love you through this eternity into the next.’
It’s been said that black men loving each other is a revolutionary act, given the pervasive homophobia that exists in American culture and the black community . The fear of losing the support of family and friends, a vital element to the success of black unions can become a major hindrance for a black same gender loving couple. But even with support of family and friends, it is still no guarantee of a successful relationship when both partners are of the same sex.”
Watch their video: “Coupled Up”
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GLAAD Helps Promote New Jersey Based HIV Awareness Campaign
February 3, 2010 by Stephanie Barnes, GLAAD's Communities of African Descent (COAD) Media Intern
On Feb. 4, the African American Office of Gay Concerns (AAOGC) and Newark’s LGBTQ Commission will launch “Status Is Everything,” an HIV/STD testing and prevention social marketing campaign that aims to reach African-American gay men in Newark, N.J., and the greater Newark area. This is the first HIV prevention social marketing campaign in New Jersey to use text messaging to provide 24-hour instant access to Newark-based testing centers by texting to 36363 with “NJ” and a zip code (i.e., “NJ07102”).
The full-day event will include: a continental breakfast with AAOGC staff and key campaign spokespeople; a press conference with Mayor Cory A. Booker, President Mildred Crump of Newark’s Municipal Council and representatives from partnering HIV testing centers; mock HIV testing sessions for media opportunities; and a LGBTQ community social mixer.
AAOGC teamed with marketing firm FEMWORKS to design StatusIsEverything.org, which includes PSAs of local African-American gay men discussing their personal stories and speaking out about why getting tested is key. They have also worked to create a social media presence on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Causecast; and large-scale movie theater and outdoor advertising in the greater Newark area.
GLAAD worked with FEMWORKS to pitch the launch of this much-needed campaign to the media in hopes of raising awareness around the growing HIV rates among gay black and bisexual men. Kimberlee Williams, marketing director of FEMWORKS, spoke to GLAAD about why this campaign is crucial to the health and morale of Newark’s African-American gay community:
“This campaign came with a bundle of stories. When AAOGC approached FEMWORKS, they presented statistics and the results from five focus groups conducted by Rutgers University. The focus groups included in-depth conversations with Newark-based African-American gay men from various socioeconomic backgrounds and age groups. We learned that these young men are afraid to get tested alone. They are afraid of finding out that they may have HIV and possibly dying. And most importantly, they are afraid to approach the conversation directly. With the focus group data as our basis, we created a new media-driven campaign that was sensitive to those issues, and would motivate African-American gay men to get tested for HIV.”
She continues:
“Newark is the epicenter of new contractions of HIV and it is hitting the African-American community the hardest. This campaign targets African-American gay men because that is the mission of the AAOGC, but HIV is increasingly affecting African-American women as well. The existence of ‘Status Is Everything’ sounds the alarm that the African-American community must be especially targeted, and that is a void that this campaign is trying to fill. Hopefully, ‘Status’ will serve as a catalyst for other municipal departments of health across the state of New Jersey to focus on the epidemic that is ravaging the African-American community.”
“Status Is Everything’s” launch also precedes National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD), held on Feb. 7. NBHAAD was founded by five national black organizations in 1999 (Concerned Black Men, Inc. of Philadelphia; Health Watch Information and Promotion Services, Inc.; Jackson State University – Mississippi Urban Research Center; National Black Alcoholism and Addictions Council; and the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS), and is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The four objectives of NBHAAD are education, testing, involvement and treatment, all of which are designed to better serve African-Americans and members of the African Diaspora.
In honor of NBHAAD, several testing sites and non-profit organizations in Newark will have a full day of events including candlelight vigils, health fairs, testing services, testimonials and performances/skits. For more information, please visit NBHAAD online.
GLAAD recognizes the distinguished efforts of the African American Office of Gay Concerns, LGBTQ Commission and other HIV/AIDS testing and prevention sites in Newark, N.J. GLAAD also looks forward to future collaborations with these organizations.
For more information about AAOGC or Status Is Everything, please visit www.AAOGC.org or www.StatusIsEverything.org.
View a “Status Is Everything” PSA below:
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Civil Rights Icon Julian Bond Discusses Race and LGBT Equality on “In The Life”
February 2, 2010 by Stephanie Barnes, GLAAD's Communities of African Descent (COAD) Media Intern
NAACP Chairman and civil rights icon Julian Bond will be featured on a 15-minute segment of “In The Life Presents: Best of a Conversation With …”, airing on Tuesday, Feb. 2. Bond sits down with Jonathan Capehart, editorial writer for the Washington Post to discuss his successful career tenure with the NAACP and the push for LGBT rights, including marriage equality.
Bond’s persistence to speak in favor of LGBT equality has been criticized by some black activists because of his comparison of anti-gay sentiments to racist overtures that were endured by blacks during the civil rights movement. In 2009, he testified before New Jersey’s Senate Judiciary Committee on marriage equality, stating:
“Black people, of all people, should not oppose equality. And that is what gay marriage represents. It does not matter the rationale – religious, cultural, pseudo-scientific. No people of good will should oppose marriage equality. And they should not think civil unions are a substitute. At best, civil unions are separate but equal. And we all know separate is never equal.”
He continues:
“It’s not that these movements are taking from us because the black movement took from other movements before us.
We took from the labor movement. And I never heard anyone from the labor movement complaining about this. We ought to be proud of this and say, ‘Look what we did. We created a model that other people are following.’”
Bond has traveled around the country to advocate against anti-marriage equality amendments in multiple states. His most notable work with national LGBT organizations includes guest speaking at the Creating Change conference in Dallas and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) gala in Los Angeles. In 2009, Bond and California NAACP Chairwoman Alice Huffman became co-chairs of the LGBT Equality Task Force, which is the result of a combined partnership with the NAACP and the National Black Justice Coalition.
GLAAD continues to applaud this spectacular news program, which highlights pressing issues facing the LGBT community through captivating interviews with pioneers of the LGBT movement. For airtimes on your local PBS affiliate, visit In the Life’s official website. View the trailer below:
About In The Life:
In The Life Media produces media that produces change for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. In an era of sound bite news, inch-deep celebrity profiles and reality shows, our public television series, IN THE LIFE, documents the full range of the gay experience and the issues that impact our lives and our communities through stories on politics and public policy, personal and community health, religion and spirituality, and more. (Source: In The Life)
Related Posts:Golden Globe Winner Mo’Nique Tells Black Gay Men, “God Loves You”
January 28, 2010 by Kellee Terrell, COAD Media Strategist @ GLAAD
On Jan 25th episode of BET’s variety show, The Mo’Nique Show, host and Mo’Nique along with her guest, soul singer Miki Howard discussed numerous topics including sexuality, acceptance and the black church.
Howard said to Mo’Nique:
“One good thing I want to talk about is the gay aspect to our church. We don’t talk about it in our community. I grew up in James Cleveland’s church in LA and it was gay back then, really gay. And we weren’t didn’t know that people thought was bad, that outsiders thought that was bad. So that’s one thing we talk in the church and explore, and how I came to be me.”
Mo’Nique responded by saying: 
I applaud you for addressing this …because people don’t want to talk about it and for not judging because most times we run from it. And for all of our gay brothas watching, we love you this is the no judgment zone. You are always welcome and you are always loved. If you’re in the church and you’re gay, God is not judging you. Be who you wanna be.”
In the beginning of the show, Mo’Nique, whose film Precious is nominated for a GLAAD Media Award this year, also made a comment about African-American lesbians.
She said:
“Sistahs, if you are laying next to your man right now give him a kiss. Or next to your woman.. no judgments here, as long as you got somebody.”
Watch the episode below (The segment begins at around the 27 minute mark of the show)
Rod McCullom, head blogger for Rod 2.0: Beta, praised this episode and expressed why this type of dialogue is necessary:
It’s about time someone mentioned on national television that the black church and black gospel music are “really gay” and they should not be ashamed. There are so many talented black gay men in the church and black gospel music. Unfortunately many are told otherwise and most believe they should remain (semi) closeted.
Given many of the struggles of acceptance that the black LGBT community faces in certain African-American churches, these types of conversations are much welcomed and needed. While GLAAD encourages people to sound off when the media gets it’s wrong, it is also important to praise those who get it right.
If you were touched by Mo’Nique and Miki Howard’s comments, please let The Mo’ Nique Show know by writing a letter to the following address:
The Mo’Nique Show
P.O Box 7868
Atlanta, GA
30357
Related Posts:COAD News Buzz
January 22, 2010 by Kellee Terrell, COAD Media Strategist @ GLAAD
Here’s a look at some COAD-related stories in the media:
Rev. Irene Monroe Wonders if Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Would Have Defended LGBT Equality
To honor MLK Day, African-American lesbian Reverend Irene Monroe wrote an op-ed for Bay Windows, the largest LGBT newspaper in New England. In her piece, “Would the public King have spoken out on LGBTQ justice?” she revisits an on- going question that many civil rights and LGBT leaders have pondered over the years.
“As I comb through numerous books and essays learning more about King’s philandering, sexist attitude about women at home and in the movement, and his relationship with Bayard Rustin, I am wondering would King be a public advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer rights?”
She strongly believes so, but believes he would have paid a price for doing so. She writes:
In the public address I gave at the Gill Foundation’s National Outgiving Conference in 2007, I said, “If Dr. Martin Luther King were standing up for LGBTQ rights today, the Black community would drop him, too.”
King understood the interconnectedness of struggles. An example of that understanding is when Dr. King said, “The revolution for human rights is opening up unhealthy areas in American life and permitting a new and wholesome healing to take place. Eventually the civil rights movement will have contributed infinitely more to the nation than the eradication of racial justice.”
This statement clearly includes LGBTQ justice, but would King have spoken on that subject at that time and even now? Yes, according to King’s now deceased wife.
In 1998, Coretta Scott King addressed the LGBT group Lambda Legal in Chicago. In her speech, she said queer rights and civil rights were the same. “I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King’s dream to make room at the table of brother and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people,” she said.
Sadly, Bayard Rustin, the gay man who was chief organizer and strategist for the 1963 March on Washington that further catapulted Martin Luther King onto the world stage, was not the beneficiary of King’s dream.
In the Civil Rights movement, Bayard Rustin was always the man behind the scenes, and a large part of that had to due with the fact that he was gay. Because of their own homophobia, many African American ministers involved in the Civil Right movement would have nothing to do with Rustin, and they intentionally rumored throughout the movement that King was gay because of his close friendship with Rustin.
In a spring 1987 interview with Rustin in Open Hands, a resource for ministries affirming the diversity of human sexuality, Rustin recalls that difficult period quite vividly. Rustin said, “Martin Luther King, with whom I worked very closely, became very distressed when a number of the ministers working for him wanted him to dismiss me from his staff because [I was gay]. Martin set up a committee to discover what he should do. They said that, despite the fact that I had contributed tremendously to the organization … they thought I should separate myself from Dr. King.”
Read her piece in its entirety here.
14 Gay Men Killed While HIV Clinic is Destroyed in Haiti
Fourteen men who worked for or accessed services from SEROvie, Haiti’s largest organization serving gay and transgender people with HIV, were killed during last week’s earthquake in Haiti, according to International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
The message of the men’s tragic death came from an e-mail SEROvie’s leader Steve La Guerre managed to send to IGLHRC asking for help.
“We were having our usual support group meeting on a quiet Tuesday afternoon when the worst happened.” La Guerre wrote. “The sound is unforgettable. I can’t even describe the horror as the ceiling and the wall of the conference room started to fall and the chaos started.
“It is now more than ever that SEROvie and ACCV (Civic Action Against HIV) are needed to provide the quality services we provide to our beneficiaries: food, clothes, and any type of help,” La Guerre continued. “Light a candle for these souls and for Haiti. Lord help us.”
IGLHRC executive director Cary Alan Johnson says that his group has sent funds directly to SEROvie to allow their services and supplies to continue to reach their clients. The group is also sending funds to Colectiva Mujer y Salud, a feminist Dominican organization that has crossed the border into Haiti to assist with direct relief to the LGBT community there. IGLHRC has provided a donation page, where Johnson said 100% of the funds collected “will go directly to our friends and colleagues in Haiti.”
Inside Higher Ed publishes article about murdered English professor Don Belton
Don Belton, openly gay novelist and University of Indiana professor was found dead in his apartment on December 29. The Chicago Tribune reported that that Michael J. Griffin confessed to killing Belton, claiming that Belton had “sexually assaulted” him on Christmas Day.
In his piece “Love and Death in Indiana,” for Inside Higher Ed, journalist Scott McLemee discusses the murder, the “gay panic” defense, Belton’s loved ones and his broad scope of work.
He had been friends with James Baldwin and lectured on him at the Sorbonne; the influence of the novelist and essayist on his own work was not small. One of his friends has quoted a passage from Baldwin that seems to epitomize Belton’s work: “Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.” Although I did not know the man himself, this touches the heart of his writing, which suggests a desire to go beyond, or beneath, the prescribed roles and rules governing “identity.”
This is easier said than done, of course. It is also dangerous; love can be dangerous. Belton wrote in his journal (to quote from the detective’s statement again) “that he is very happy that an individual by the name of Michael has come into his life.” It is not necessary to use pseudopsychological terms like “gay panic” to describe the response this created. Keep in mind that the killer brought his own special knife and a change of clothes. Arguably another vocabulary applies, in which it is necessary to speak of evil.
One of the remarkable things about the response to Belton’s death is just how much of it there has been. Hundreds of people turned out for a vigil on New Year’s Day (see video). There is a website called Justice for Don Belton. An open letter from the chair of his department has appeared on the departmental Web site. A memorial service will be held in Bloomington.
And Josh Lukin tells me that he is proposing a session called “Remembering Don Belton” for the next MLA — a panel “engaging his scholarship, art, journalism, and pedagogy.” Possible topics might include “his writing and teaching on black masculinity, Baldwin, Brecht, Mapplethorpe, Morrison, Motown, jazz, cinema, abjection,” to make the list no longer than that.
“The guy’s range of interests was huge,” Josh says, “and he kept surprising me with his knowledge of critical texts, both recent (‘Bowlby, Just Looking? Great chapters on Dreiser.’) and more traditional (‘Why not talk about Morrison using R.W.B. Lewis, American Adam?’).”
Read his piece in its entirety here.
Related Posts:COAD Related GLAAD Media Awards Nominees Announced!
January 13, 2010 by Kellee Terrell, COAD Media Strategist @ GLAAD
On Wednesday, January 13, GLAAD announced its nominees for our 21st annual GLAAD Media Awards. Here is a list of all of the COAD-related noms:
Outstanding Film (Wide Release):
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (Lionsgate Films)
Outstanding Drama Series:
True Blood (HBO)
Outstanding Reality Program:
The Amazing Race (CBS)
Making His Band (MTV)
RuPaul’s Drag Race (LOGO)
Outstanding Talk Show Episode:
“”Hell to Pay – Gay Teen Exorcism” The Tyra Banks Show (The CW)
“Sirdeaner Walker Interview” The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated)
Outstanding TV Journalism – Newsmagazine
“Bullied to Death?” Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN)
“Uganda Be Kidding Me” (series) The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC)
Outstanding Newspaper Columnist
Leonard Pitts, Jr. (The Miami Herald)
Rev. Byron Williams (The Oakland Tribune)
Outstanding Magazine Article: 
“Either/Or: Sports, Sex and the Case of Caster Semenya” by Ariel Levy (The New Yorker)
“Trouble in Paradise” by Jeannine Amber (Essence)
Outstanding Digital Journalism Article
“On the Road to Refuge” by Pete Muller (ColorLines.com)
Outstanding New York Theater: Broadway & Off-Broadway
The Brother/Sister Plays by Tarell Alvin McCraney
Watch GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios talk about the important work that GLAAD does and see all of the nominees.
The Media Awards will take place on March 13 in New York, April 17 in Los Angeles and June 5 in San Francisco.
Related Posts:COAD News Buzz
January 12, 2010 by Kellee Terrell, COAD Media Strategist @ GLAAD
Here’s a look at some COAD-related stories in the media:
Denise King, Mother of Hate Crime Victim, Dies
Denise King, a gay rights advocate in South Florida, died of a heart attack on New Year’s Eve. King’s son, Simmie Williams who was gay, was gunned down in February 2008. Since his unresolved murder, King made educating others about the violence LGBT people face a priority:
Since her son’s death, Mrs. King “brought the conversation of love, acceptance and compassion into a community where black [gays and lesbians] are invisible,” said Michael Emanuel Rajner, a co-founder of Transgender Equality Rights Initiatives, who became a family friend after the murder.
“The night of her son’s viewing, she left early because she had gotten a call from someone that evening that there was a youth, about 16, thrown out of his home because he was openly gay,” Rajner said.
“Denise, not even knowing the child’s name, hit the streets with her car up and down Sistrunk looking for this child. She would take them in. Her home became this safe haven for people to run. In her pain she was moved to make certain no child was turned away.”
Mrs. King’s aunt said she was committed to justice.
“Everything she did, she did it from her heart as a mother,” said Rose Barnes, of Fort Lauderdale.
Julian Bond Chosen For Marriage Equality Advisory Board
The American Foundation for Equal Rights today announced that it has chosen champion civil rights leader, Julian Bond for its advisory board, which includes a diverse and prominent roster of civil rights leaders. The American Foundation for Equal Rights launched its groundbreaking federal court challenge to Prop. 8 in May, and brought together attorneys Theodore Olson and David Boies to argue the case, Perry v. Schwarzenegger.
The Windy City Times reported:
Julian Bond is Chairman of the NAACP Board of Directors. He co-founded and was the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center and was a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) . He served more than 20 years in the Georgia legislature after a 1966 U.S. Supreme Court ruling held that the Georgia House of Representatives unconstitutionally denied him the seat he had won.
“The humanity of all Americans is diminished when any group is denied rights granted to others,” Bond said. “This is not a special interest case, but one that should be of great importance to everyone who believes in the principles of equality on which this nation was founded.”
The Los Angeles Times op-ed on being black, gay and African:
In the Los Angeles Times, Douglas Foster, a journalism professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, addresses the anti-gay belief that being gay is “un-African,” his experiences in South Africa and the anti-gay legislation in Uganda. Here is an excerpt from his op-ed.
South Africa is far from nirvana for lesbians and gay men: There’s certainly no shortage of homophobia within its borders. But it’s the one place on the continent — and one of the few places in the world — with a constitution that explicitly prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.
In 2007, when I spent a year in Johannesburg, I heard the deputy chief justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, Dikgang Moseneke, address the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. In his speech, he paid tribute to liberation heroes like the late Simon Nkoli, a courageous black revolutionary and an out and proud gay man. Nkoli, like the men and women with less well-known names who regularly turn up at Simply Blue, countered the lie that same-sex attraction is a relic of colonialism.
The theme of homophobic African politicians is that gay identity is a perversion imposed on black people by white oppressors. The historical fact is the reverse, of course: Legal prohibitions on homosexuality were originally imposed by white colonial rulers. So it’s no small twist in the plot that the new wave of threats to Ugandan gays should be reinforced by American religious extremists.
The proposed legislation places in stark relief the persistence of deadly prejudice. The roots of hatred can be traced to myriad traditions — indigenous and foreign, white and black. What’s more important than identifying the sources of the poison is to find the antidote. The first step is listening to the voices of African lesbians and gay men, and taking our cues from them about how to offer the most effective support.
I’ve been logging on daily in recent weeks to the Box Turtle Bulletin, the website widely credited with alerting Americans to the Uganda legislation, and also to Gay Uganda, the distinctive, irrepressible blog of a partly closeted young gay blogger who’s broken important news, and provided bracing perspective, ever since the anti-gay panic began to build in Uganda. “I am fighting for our lives and freedom in my country,” the Gay Uganda blogger wrote on New Year’s Day, as government officials and preachers called on Ugandans to join in a nationwide demonstration against homosexuality on Jan. 19.
Read the piece in its entirety here.
Lala Vazquez Poses Topless for Marriage Equality 
The VH1 host follows in the footsteps of her friends Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian and poses for the grassroots campaign against the passing of Prop 8 in 2008.
MTV/VH1 veejay Lala Vazquez bares all and lends her famous form to the NOH8 marriage equality campaign, a photographic protest speaking out against California’s Proposition 8 gay marriage ban.
N0H8 is a photo project and silent protest created by photographer Adam Bouska and his partner Jeff Parshley. Other African-American celebs who have posed are the cast of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, actors Isaiah Washington, Jenson Atwood, Rachel True and Daryll Stephens ; singers Dawn Richardson (Dantity Kane) and the girl group Rich Girls; and Entertainment Tonight Reporter Kevin Frazier to name a few.
Related Posts:A Conversation with…Tina Mabry, director of “Mississippi Damned”
January 11, 2010 by Kellee Terrell, COAD Media Strategist @ GLAAD
When openly gay director Tina Mabry watched her film Mississippi Damned for first time, she knew she had created something special. “I am my own worst critic, she admits. “But this is the first time I was able to sit down and not to nitpick at everything.”
Mississippi Damned, which is based on events from Mabry’s own life growing up in rural Mississippi, focuses on a southern family from the years 1986 through 1998. The film follows the lives of three young African Americans finding their way in the world as they suffer from suffocating cycles of abuse, molestation, addiction and poverty. Leigh, an out lesbian teen, has an unhealthy and long obsession with her ex-girlfriend. Sammy, a basketball star deals with an alcoholic mother and being sexually abused by a family friend. And Kari, the gifted pianist, has aspirations to attend New York University to study music, but finds it is almost impossible to escape her circumstances.
Since the film’s debut at Slamdance last year, Mabry’s tale of family, pain and secrets has awed audiences on the film festival circuit. With impressive wins at the Chicago International Film Festival, Outfest, Urbanworld Film Festival and the Philadelphia Film Festival to name a few, Mississippi Damned could easily find itself a serious Oscar contender in 2011.
Mabry sat down with GLAAD’s Kellee Terrell to talk about her directorial debut, being an out lesbian and the future of black LGBT characters on the small and large 
screens.
GLAAD: This film is based on your childhood and family’s experiences. Were they upset that you were “airing their dirty laundry?”
Tina Mabry: Surprisingly no. I showed it to them over Christmas of 2008. For whatever reason, I thought that would be a good time to do it. [laughing] Even though they knew I was making a movie about them, I was still nervous about their reaction because actually seeing it makes all the difference.
But It went really well, they really liked it. We had a lot of laughs and a lot of tears.
You know, I didn’t make this film to judge and I don’t want anyone to walk away judging this family. I hope they leave the theater knowing that these people really loved each other, despite their flaws. No one is perfect.
Sexual abuse is a main theme in Mississippi Damned. It’s a very taboo and hushed subject, especially among the African-American community. What has the reaction been to your film?
During the question and answer portion of the screenings, people have been standing up, thanking me and sharing their own personal stories. One woman just cried for ten minutes and talked about how she was molested. Another woman told us that after seeing the film, she was finally ready to talk to her mother about some of their issues, some 20 years after the fact. The response has been amazing.
People have been silent for way too long. It’s the shame that keeps people quiet. You don’t want anyone one to judge you and you blame yourself. I suppressed so many of those memories and I finally told myself I couldn’t suppress it anymore.
We need to start putting our family business in the streets. [laughing]. This film for me was a way to be really honest about my life.
I was really moved by the portrayal of Leigh. The way that her isolation and sadness was depicted was powerful. What was it like for you and your sister to be lesbians growing up in the South?
Well, my sister and I had very different experiences. She is 10 years older than me and came out to my parents first, so it was harder for her. She felt isolated and still does now. I had an easier time, perhaps because I was not out in Mississippi―I waited until I moved to Los Angeles and attended film school at USC.
I always knew that I was gay, but I did not feel that Mississippi was the right environment for me to be out. I saw how my sister got treated by my parents and other people. I didn’t want to upset my parents and I didn’t want to go through the same thing as my sister. Back then, no one was out, even people you knew were gay, they weren’t out. So I chose to say nothing.
Do you regret not coming out sooner?
I was cowardly― I should have been more honest, but there was no community. The character Leigh represents what it was like to be gay where I lived.
When I finally told my mother, she cried. She said, “I can’t believe it, you are so pretty. I thought you liked men.” My father knows that I am gay, but I have never told him face-to-face. I let my mother relay that message to him. (laughing) My mother passed away and for so long we talked through her to talk to each other. But he has really come along. He loves Morgan and tells her that. So those are things my sister didn’t get a chance to have when she first came out.
When it comes to the black gay films and characters, what would you like to see change?
We need more visibility and more range when looking at our lives. It really angers me that we don’t have that range and that there is not much more to us on the screen that comedy. I will say that there are black LGBT films or films that have gay content in them, but we have to struggle to find those films, but they are out there. It’s up to us to support those films once we find them.
When will the film be released in the theaters? 
We are working on getting distribution now. I hope that sometime this year it will happen. There was talk of it going to television or DVD, but with all the feedback and good reviews we have gotten, I would really like to get the movie into the theaters.
Watch the Mississippi Damned trailer:
Watch a GLAAD interview with Mabry and her partner Morgan Stiff (producer of the film) at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009.
Related Posts:
Indiana University English Professor Don Belton Stabbed and Killed, Vigil Held in His Honor
January 4, 2010 by Kellee Terrell, COAD Media Strategist @ GLAAD
Don Belton, openly gay novelist and University of Indiana professor was found dead in his apartment on December 29. The Chicago Tribune reported that that Michael J. Griffin confessed to killing Belton, claiming that Belton had “sexually assaulted” him on Christmas Day.
Twenty-five-year-old Michael J. Griffin of Bloomington pleaded not guilty to charges he killed Belton. Court documents show that Griffin told police he fatally stabbed Belton and said Belton sexually assaulted him days before the attack.
Belton’s friends say they don’t believe Griffin’s accusation. Griffin is being held without bond in the Monroe County Jail.
The United Press International revealed more details about the murder:
Belton, who was in his second year on the school’s faculty, was found slain in his home by a friend Monday morning and Michael Griffin was arrested Monday night at his own house near Bloomington, KXIN-TV, Indianapolis, reported.
Police said they discovered Griffin’s name was one of the last names mentioned in Belton’s journal and recovered a knife in Griffin’s home they believe was the murder weapon.
ABC reported that the alleged sexual assualt took place in front of Griffin’s girlfriend at a holiday gathering while the two were intoxicated. Griffin refused to tell police in detail the nature of the “assault.” Police have not released any information to the media as to whether his girlfriend, who called the police and told them that she thought Griffin may have something to do with Belton’s murder, has corroborated those facts.
CBS wrote that “gay panic” may also come into play with this case:
Despite his alleged confession, Griffin has pleaded not guilty to the killing. And though his defense strategy is not yet clear, others with similar cases have pursued a “gay panic” defense, hoping to persuade juries that they were rendered temporarily insane by the perceived romantic or sexual advances of the victim.
In the case of Matthew Shepard, the gay 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured and murdered in 1998, his attackers originally used the gay panic defense, arguing that they were driven to temporary insanity by his alleged sexual advances. Both attackers were given life sentences.
A candlelight vigil in Belton’s honor took place on New Year’ Day. The Indiana Daily Student wrote that hundreds of students, faculty and community members attended to mourn the loss of their friend:
IU professors, students and Bloomington community members made their way to the Bloomington Courthouse square on New Year’s Day to remember IU assistant professor Don Belton, who was stabbed to death Dec. 27.The hundreds of attendees filled the entirety of the block’s sidewalk as they walked around the square to keep warm.
The article also added that Belton’s friends are not happy with the media coverage of his murder. 
Not only is Greiner’s friend and colleague gone, but she has been dealing with inadequate media coverage and negative comments and feedback resulting from such coverage, she said. Many other friends and colleagues also said the Belton they knew had yet to surface.
“We want to change public perception … while they are still paying attention,” Greiner said.
With candles, people shuffled around the sidewalk bordering the square; a bird’s eye view would show the square almost fully illuminated, as about 200 gathered there.
Former IU undergraduate Justin Way was in South Bend, home from graduate school in Columbia, N.Y., when he received the news from a friend.
Way took Belton’s 2008 advanced fiction writing workshop, recalling how in Belton’s class students would not read the typical fiction.
“That’s a thing about him, he opened up your reading taste to be more eclectic,” Way said.
He added that Belton’s class was the antithesis of the competitive atmosphere writing could often have. Way said his attitude toward writing changed because of Belton.
“It really is tragic,” Way said, reflecting on Belton’s near departure to Honolulu the morning of Dec. 28. “I always remember telling how he wanted to go to Hawaii, write a couple of poems and come back.”
Belton was the author of a novel, Almost Midnight, and editor of Speak My Name, an anthology about black masculinity. Over the years, he taught literature, fiction and world cinema at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Macalester College and the University of Pennsylvania. His writings have appeared in Newsweek, The Advocate and numerous academic journals.
GLAAD will continue to monitor this story and provide updates.
Related Posts:GLAAD’s Senior Director of Media Programs Appearing Tonight on the Derek and Romaine Show
December 28, 2009 by Amanda Morgan, GLAAD's Digital Initiatives Fellow
GLAAD’s Senior Director of Media Programs, Rashad Robinson, is scheduled for a phone interview with Derek and Romaine of Sirius XM Satellite Radio tonight, Monday, December 28 at 7:05 pm ET to discuss GLAAD’s Buju Banton campaign.
Rashad Robinson
The interview will last about 10-15 minutes, and will broadcast live on Sirius XM Satellite Radio channel OutQ, Sirius 109 and XM 98. Listeners and fans are welcome to participate by calling 866-305-6887. For those who don’t subscribe to Sirius, a free online trial is available here. And if you haven’t already, please sign GLAAD’s petition protesting the Grammy nomination of Buju Banton here: http://www.glaad.org/bujubantonpetition. GLAAD began this initiative because Buju Banton continues to advocate violence against gay people through his defamatory lyrics.
Related Posts:UPDATE: Man Indicted for Murder in the Killing of Baltimore Teen Jason Mattison
December 18, 2009 by Kellee Terrell, COAD Media Strategist @ GLAAD
Dante Parrish―the ex-convict who previously served time for murder and confessed to viciously murdering Jason Mattison―has been indicted and held without bail. Mattison, a 15-year-old openly gay black Baltimore student, was found dead in his aunt’s home last month.
WBAL, a Maryland-based radio station reported:
Baltimore City State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy has announced that the Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted 35 year old Dante Parrish of the 2400 block of E. Preston Street for first-degree murder, deadly weapon and first-degree sexual offense. The indictment was filed December 3, 2009.
Court documents allege that on November 10, 2008 Dante Parrish was responsible for a stabbing in the 2400 block of Llewelyn Avenue. 15 year old Jason Madison, Jr was discovered by a family member inside a second floor bedroom closet. Madison had suffered multiple stab wounds to the head and throat.
An investigation revealed Parrish and Madison were allegedly in the second floor bedroom when Parrish sexually assaulted Madison and then killed him. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
GLAAD will continue to monitor this story and provide updates.
Related Posts:UPDATE: Mitrice Richardson’s Case Is Now Labeled A Homicide Investigation
December 16, 2009 by Kellee Terrell, COAD Media Strategist @ GLAAD
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has ordered a homicide investigation into the disappearance of Mitrice Richardson. Richardson has been missing since September 17 and there have been very few leads in her case.
The Los Angeles Times reported:
Baca’s decision today allows a three-person sheriff’s homicide team to join the Los Angeles Police Department’s search for the 24-year-old who mysteriously vanished after walking out of the Lost Hills sheriff’s station nearly three months ago.
“He has declared it a homicide investigation. That does not mean the sheriff believes Ms. Richardson is dead. But by opening up a homicide investigation, it does allow the Sheriff’s Department to put some of our top investigators on the case,” said Steve Whitmore, a department spokesman.
Whitmore said a lieutenant and two detectives would join LAPD detectives already investigating Richardson’s Sept. 17 disappearance.
There have been many criticisms of the police in this case. The Orange County Register wrote:
Richardson was arrested and booked on suspicion of failing to pay for her dinner and on suspicion of being in possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana, which was allegedly found in her car. Her white 1990 Honda Civic was impounded.
She was taken to the Malibu/Lost Hills sheriff’s substation, on the north side of the Santa Monica Mountains, near the Ventura County line. She was released hours later, around 1 a.m.
Sheriff’s officials have said their procedure is to get people who appear to be mentally incapacitated into a facility for a mental evaluation. But, they said, deputies did not see anything that would prompt such a call.
The custody assistant who processed Richardson at the substation, Sharon Cummings, has said she seemed scared to be in jail, but was coherent and talking. Cummings said she doesn’t release women at night if they don’t have a ride, but Richardson insisted and said she was going to “hook up with friends.”
Richardson’s family has questioned the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department’s handling of her arrest and release and for not holding her for a psychological evaluation. Her father also said he was frustrated with the investigation since.
Her family has created a blog, Bring Mitrise Richardson Home, which provides up-to-date news, links to other media covering her disappearance and YouTube videos of vigils.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to Richardson’s whereabouts. Anyone with information is asked to call (213) 485-2531.
MITRICE RICHARDSON ~ Date of Birth ~ April 30, 1985
HEIGHT: 5’
WEIGHT: 135lb
EYES: Hazel brown
HAIR: Medium brown (natural/curly)
TATTOOS: Lower abdomen, and behind neck
Last wearing: Brown Bob Marley T-shirt & Blue Jeans.
GLAAD will continue to monitor this story and provide updates.
Related Posts:
