Monthly Archives: February 2019



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MISC

Outfest Fusion LGBTQ People of Color Film Festival kicks off Friday

Outfest Fusion LGBTQ People of Color Film Festival kicks off Friday

Outfest Fusion 2019

Outfest

Spotlighting the diversity of the LGBTQ community, the 2019 Outfest Fusion LGBTQ People of Color Film Festival will take place from March 1st-5th, 2019 in Los Angeles. Fusion highlights films and offers classes and seminars on filmmaking to ensure all voices are represented in the LGBTQ community.

Highlights of this year’s festival will include a look back at the short films of Marlon Riggs on Saturday, March 2nd; an afternoon that will honor the 25th anniversary of his passing and will be introduced by Out magazine’s Tre’vell Anderson. Also, on Sunday, March 3rd, a screening of the new STARZ series Now Apocalypse from Gregg Araki. Film highlights will include screenings of Retablo, Sidney & Friends, and Fish Bones, all on March 2nd.

Outfest Fusion is a celebration of the rich heritage of the LGBTQ individuals that populate greater Los Angeles. The films and TV shows that screen at Fusion showcase the stories of queer communities of color, including African, African American, Asian diaspora and Latinx perspectives as well as many other cultural identities. The festival enables Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans and Genderqueer people of color to see themselves on the big screen, often for the very first time – a powerful and validating experience that underscores the universality of our lived experiences.

The festival brings the city’s diverse populations together, providing a safe space and a valuable platform to amplify the voices of LGBTQ artists of color, both professionally and personally. The Outfest Fusion lineup includes free educational workshops for emerging filmmakers, as well as more advanced masterclasses for established filmmakers, empowering Queer people of color to use these tools to create their own content and tell their own stories.

Fusion’s One-Minute Movie Contest is the most democratic way to discover new voices and bring them into the Outfest family. When the theme is announced, aspiring and established filmmakers alike use their cell phones or cameras to shoot a one-minute short film on the topic. All the submissions are screened at the Fusion Finale Party, followed by audience voting and an announcement of the winners. Winners receive a cash prize as well as an Outfest membership and their films go on to play at the Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival in July.

Audience members 21 and younger are able to attend Outfest Fusion for free when they sign up for a complimentary Outfest membership. Filmmakers who premiere a film at Outfest Fusion are often invited to play at Outfest Los Angeles and Newfest, New York’s LGBT Film Festival – exposure that can lead to representation, distribution, other festival invitations, as well as new friends and contacts.

The Fusion Achievement Award recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to LGBTQ arts and media visibility for rarely represented communities of color. Past recipients include:

  • 2007 Cheryl Dunye (presented by Guinevere Turner)
  • 2010 Wilson Cruz (presented by Darryl Stephens)
  • 2011 Rikki Beadle-Blair (presented by Guillermo Diaz)
  • 2012 Patrik-Ian Polk (presented by Lee Daniels)
  • 2013 Angela Robinson (presented by Rutina Wesley & Kristin Bauer van Straten)
  • 2014 Alec Mapa (presented by Sandra Oh)
  • 2015 Rose Troche (presented by Leisha Hailey & Kate Moennig
  • 2016 Nisha Ganatra (presented by Parvesh Cheena & Sakina Jaffrey)
  • 2017 Tina Mabry (presented by DB Woodside & Michael Hyatt)

For more information, head to Outfest.org.

February 28, 2019

www.glaad.org/blog/outfest-fusion-lgbtq-people-color-film-festival-kicks-friday

MISC

Texas’ SB 15 Would Harm Texans and Could Gut Non-Discrimination Ordinances

Texas’ SB 15 Would Harm Texans and Could Gut Non-Discrimination Ordinances

Today, HRC reacted to the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee’s passage of SB 15. This legislation would preempt local control of paid leave policies for employees while also threatening enforcement of existing non-discrimination ordinances in cities across Texas, including Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth.

As passed by the Senate State Affairs Committee today, SB 15 does not explicitly protect non-discrimination ordinances from the scope of the regulations it is preempting. As it is written, SB 15 could now be used to gut enforcement of non-discrimination ordinances that protect LGBTQ Texans. These cities’ ordinances protect LGBTQ people from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and places of public accommodation.

“Texans don’t have an appetite for discrimination. SB 15 is a wholly unacceptable bill on its face, but the Senate State Affairs Committee has made it into an even more harmful proposition by removing specific language that would ensure that existing non-discrimination ordinances in some of Texas’ most populated cities are not undercut or eliminated,” said Rebecca Marques, HRC Texas state director. “In the last legislative session, the eyes of the nation turned upon Texas while it considered harmful, discriminatory anti-LGBTQ legislation. Our lawmakers should not repeat that mistake in 2019.”

HRC continues to work alongside Equality Texas, ACLU of Texas, Texas Freedom Network, the Transgender Education Network of Texas and others on the ground to battle against dangerous or harmful bills that attack the dignity of LGBTQ Texans. As a coalition, we will stand together; we will support and comfort one another; and we will continue to work together until we defeat every bill this session that discriminates against LGBTQ Texans.

www.hrc.org/blog/texas-sb-15-could-harm-texans-and-could-gut-non-discrimination-ordinances?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

NEWS

Trevor Noah: Michael Cohen told Congress that Trump Is a Racist, a Con Man and a Cheat but Lynne Patton Says He’s Not, So…: WATCH

Trevor Noah: Michael Cohen told Congress that Trump Is a Racist, a Con Man and a Cheat but Lynne Patton Says He’s Not, So…: WATCH

Trevor Noah in a segment covering the Michael Cohen hearing on The Daily Show last night, noted that among Cohen’s claims was that, “Trump is a racist, a con man and a cheat.”

“Which would have been a surprise,” Noah said, “if it wasn’t already the slogan for Trump’s 2020 campaign.”

Noah broke down a few of the parts of the testimony that have becom media soundbites. “Black people wouldn’t vote for you, Trump, because they’re ‘too stupid?’” Noah said, quoting Cohen.

“No, Donald. The reason black people wouldn’t vote for you is because of your trash-ass weave.” Adding, not to mention the “the 50 years of well-documented racism, but mostly the weave, my friend!”

The weave referred to whatever it is that nests on Trumps head.

Noah found one of the funniest things that came out of the hearing is Trump trotting out former Trump Organization Executive Lynne Patton, “who is apparently Trump’s only Black friend.”

“Now, in response to Cohen’s racism accusations, the Republicans on the committee put forward an airtight response to prove that Trump is the least racist person you will ever meet,” Noah said, referring to the way Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) trotted out Lynne Patton, a Black woman who works for the Trump Organization, as a literal prop said The Daily Beast.

Patton did clapback about the accusations that she was a prop, saying in part that she came there not to “represent an entire race of people. I was there to represent one man,” Patton told Fox & Friends on Thursday, touting Trump’s economic record and what those gains have meant for black Americans.

View this post on Instagram

Today a race card was played. But not by Congressman Mark Meadows. But rather by those on the House Oversight Committee who sadly placed more credence on the word of a self-confessed convicted perjurer, than that of a highly-educated black woman who rose up the ranks of one of the most recognized global real-estate companies in the world, spoke before 25 million people at the Republican National Convention and now successfully oversees the largest HUD program office in the country. That is not the resume of a prop. It is, however, the resume of someone who remains completely unfazed by the criticism of others and laser focused. Today was simply about one longtime employee disputing the testimony of another longtime employee who both know the President extremely well. Period. Since the release of my viral video in May 2015, those who know me can confirm that my steadfast narrative about the Trump family has not changed. The only one of us whose narrative has changed is the one facing significant jail time. Period. My presence today was to remind Michael Cohen that honesty and integrity still matter. I do not have an NDA. I do not have a book deal. What I DO have is the truth on my side. And when you have that, nothing else matters.

A post shared by lynnepatton (@lynnepatton) on

Watch it below.

The post Trevor Noah: Michael Cohen told Congress that Trump Is a Racist, a Con Man and a Cheat but Lynne Patton Says He’s Not, So…: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.


Trevor Noah: Michael Cohen told Congress that Trump Is a Racist, a Con Man and a Cheat but Lynne Patton Says He’s Not, So…: WATCH

MISC

HRC Sits Down with Parents for Trans Equality Council’s Keisha & Sean Michaels

HRC Sits Down with Parents for Trans Equality Council’s Keisha & Sean Michaels

Post submitted by Sula Malina, HRC Children, Youth and Families Program Coordinator

HRC recently sat down with Keisha and Sean Michaels, members of HRC Foundation’s Parents for Transgender Equality Council, to learn more about their family’s story. The council is a coalition of some of the the nation’s leading parent-advocates working for equality and fairness for transgender people, with the intention of connecting, mobilizing and amplifying many of the most powerful voices of love, inclusion and support for transgender equality.  

Keisha and Sean Michaels grew up in Massachusetts, but have lived in Maryland since meeting as undergrads at Hampton University, an Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Keisha practices medicine full-time and co-moderates a Facebook group for physicians who support parents of children who identify as LGBTQI. Sean is an entrepreneur and stock market trader.

The Michaelses are the parents of a transgender child and have committed to helping other families love and accept their children and family members who are gender-expansive.

What inspired you to join HRC’s Parents for Transgender Equality Council?

We joined the council because we saw it as an opportunity to help someone see that there are Black parents who support their transgender children.  

What part of HRC’s work do you connect with the most?  

HRC’s legislative efforts to achieve equality are what inspires us most. We realize that there are many people who would choose not to treat our child and children like her well, but legislation can guarantee that transgender kids and adults will be protected by law — despite how people may feel about them.

This February, we celebrate Black History Month. What does this month mean to you as parents?  

Black History Month is the celebration of the road journeyed by our people in this country. It means shining a light on both our seemingly endless fight for justice and equality and the joy of the vast and myriad accomplishments of our ancestors despite it all — subjugation, terrorism, brutal violence, etc. We want our children to stand proudly on their shoulders, knowing and appreciating that they are indeed their ancestors’ wildest dreams come true.

What’s one message you have for other families with transgender children who are navigating life at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities?  

If you have a transgender child, accept the child, even if you are having a hard time understanding, embracing or respecting what it means. Do not underestimate how important this is for your child. We know that you love your child, and we’re asking that you choose that love over what you’ve been taught was “right.” Many of us in brown, Black and sometimes poor communities have a long tradition of not accepting transgender people. It might be hard, but doing so may be the difference between life and death for your child.

To learn more about HRC Foundation’s work with transgender youth and their families, visit our Children, Youth and Families Program. Check out HRC Foundation’s latest report on Black and African-American LGBTQ Youth to learn more about the unique experiences of young people living at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities.

www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-with-parents-for-trans-equality-councils-keisha-sean-michaels?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

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