WATCH: Openly Gay Contingent in Los Angeles MLK Day Parade

Black LGBT Contingent in 26th Annual Kingdom Day Parade

MadProfessah and Wonder Man were part of a contingent of nearly 100 Black LGBT Angelenos participating in the 26th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Kingdom Day Parade in South Los Angeles for the 3rd consecutive year, primarily organized and sponsored by the Barbara Jordan/Bayard Rustin Coalition, in collaboration with Here To Stay Coalition, Los Angeles Black Pride and Black Lesbians United.

The contingent has grown every year, and this time we received media attention from the local public radio station, KPCC 89.3 FM.

Thousands of people lined Martin Luther King Boulevard in South Los Angeles to pay tribute to the fallen civil rights leader.

It's the 26th annual Kingdom Day Parade – and the first parade for Long Beach resident Chante Craig. Craig walked as part of a group declaring themselves "black, gay and here to stay."

She says Dr. King's words are inspiring to gay blacks seeking tolerance and love.

"Unfortunately, though we live in California, it's a very liberal state but we still have some very conservative views – especially in the black community with churches being such a stronghold in the community. It tends to allow homophobia to spread across the community – and so this is one of our ways to come out and bring some positive exposure to the community and show them what other things we're doing as well."

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, county and state leaders and marching bands from South L.A. high schools took part in the event. A party continues at the parade route's end in Leimert Park.

JRC Celebrates DC and Mexico City Marriages

PRESS RELEASE
March 4, 2010
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Rodney Nickens Jr.
Rodney@jordanrustin.org
Mobile: 562-242-8601

JRC Celebrates Enactment of Washington, D.C.’s Marriage Equality Law

The Barbara Jordan/Bayard Rustin Coalition (JRC) celebrates the enactment of historic Marriage Equality legislation in our nation’s capital. ”As the premiere Black LGBT political organization in Southern California, we congratulate the District of Columbia in providing access to civil marriage to all its residents, the first jurisdiction in the United States with a predominantly Black population to do so” said JRC Board President Ron Buckmire.

Washington, D.C.’s marriage equality legislation became law in spite of desperate efforts by opponents to block its implementation through both legal action and legislative maneuvering in the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Supreme Court. At 8:30a.m. March 3, 2010 more than a hundred same-sex couples began lining
up to apply for licenses at the Moultrie Courthouse where the D.C. marriage bureau is located. Under the bill which passed the D.C, City Council 11-2 and was signed into law by Mayor Adrian Fenty on December 18th 2009, the city will recognize the marriages of same-sex couples performed in other states and countries, and same-sex couples that wish to marry can now apply for marriage licenses as well.

Last week the Attorney General of the neighboring state of Maryland, Douglas F. Gansler, issued an official opinion which says that the state and its agencies should legally recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions where they are legally permitted. Maryland is estimated to have an overall population which is approximately 30% African American, and there are thousands of Black same-sex couples in counties which border the District who are likely to take advantage of the new law.

Currently Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Iowa all permit and recognize the marriages of same-sex couples. Internationally, South Africa, Canada, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, and the Netherlands all have legalized marriage for same-sex couples and Portugal’s law is expected to go into effect next month.

It is now possible for same-sex couples to be legally married in the capital cities of all three North American nations. On Thursday March 4th, Mexico City, the Federal District of Mexico, became the first jurisdiction in Latin America to permit and recognize the marriages of same-sex couples. JRC joins our coalition partners Honor Fund and Latin Equality Alliance in celebrating this milestone event in the Latino community.

“JRC will continue to work to fight for marriage equality to be restored in our own home state of California, as well as identify and support the many legally married same-sex couples who are members of the Black community,” said JRC Community Organizer Rodney Nickens, Jr.

JRC (www.jordanrustin.org) exists to empower same-gender loving, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals and families in the Greater Los Angeles area, to promote equal marriage rights and to advocate for fair treatment of everyone without regard to race, sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

# # #

LA TIMES Joins Chorus Uring 2012 Prop 8 Repeal

The big dog of California newspapers has finally weighed in on the question of when people who support marriage equality and opposed Proposition 8 should attempt to pass a constitutional amendment to that effect.

In "Outsmarting Proposition 8," the Los Angeles Times editorial board says:

The most important objective should be a decisive victory, sending a clear message that this state no longer will tolerate separate but not-quite-equal status for families based on sexual orientation. Given the opinion polls, the lack of a coherent campaign strategy and the current makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court, this most likely means an unfortunate wait. A loss at the ballot box or in the nation's high court could set back same-sex marriage for years.

Equality California, the organization that led the campaign against Proposition 8, wisely decided to hold off until 2012 before attempting a ballot initiative to repeal the marriage ban. A successful campaign will require $50 million in funding, an extensive outreach program to black and Latino voters, who largely favored the ban, and, most important, an infusion of young voters, the group most sympathetic toward same-sex marriage. Waiting until 2012 gives Equality California a demographic advantage.

But another gay-rights organization, the Courage Campaign, is eager to use the momentum of recent gay-marriage advances in other states and has announced that it will go forward with a 2010 ballot initiative. Both Equality California and some major donors who tried to defeat Proposition 8 have indicated that a 2010 campaign cannot expect their active support.

Though this page will back same-sex marriage no matter what the year, we hope the Courage Campaign will rethink its timing. Gay-rights activists must recognize that their lackluster campaign did little to sway the public, especially considering the misleading ads by gay-marriage opponents. So far, the Courage Campaign has not articulated a sophisticated strategy for changing this. Without other gay-rights groups by its side, its low chances are further weakened.[emphasis added]

It's not as though waiting three years means idly letting injustice prevail. There is plenty to do between now and 2012 -- forging alliances with minority groups, lining up financial support and vetting the best campaign managers. Advocates of same-sex marriage already have a just cause; coupled with campaign smarts and money, they also will have voter support.

This is one of the smarter editorials I have seen since Jordan/Rustin Coalition and other groups released the Prepare to Prevail statement on July 13th calling for the LGBT community to join together to do the hard work necessary to produce a state in which a popular majority supports equal marriage rights for everyone.

MA Gov Deval Patrick Speaks On Marriage Sun Aug 2

The Struggle for Marriage Equality:
What I’ve Learned on the Front Lines

Massachusetts Governor Deval L. Patrick

Sunday, August 2
2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Home of Danny Gibson and Bill Weinberger
829 Keniston Avenue
Los Angeles

Sponsored by the Jordan/Rustin Coalition, Equality California Institute,
and the Liberty Hill Foundation

Optional contributions to the Jordan/Rustin Coalition encouraged

Dear Friend,

Please join us for a very special gathering Sunday August 2nd.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick will join us for reflections and discussion on the struggle for marriage equality for same-sex couples. From his first day in office, Governor Patrick put his personal reputation and political capital on the line to protect marriage equality. His leadership allowed Massachusetts to avert a referendum fight similar to the Proposition 8 battle.

As only the second African-American governor elected since Reconstruction, and as the Clinton Administration’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, Governor Patrick will offer his unique perspective on the subject.

Please RSVP to Milton Davis: Milton@eqca.org

Governor Deval Patrick—Biography

Hoping for the best and working for it, as his grandmother used to counsel him, Deval Patrick’s life has traced a trajectory from the South Side of Chicago to the U.S. Justice Department, Fortune 500 boardrooms, and now the Massachusetts State House, where he was elected Governor in 2006, one of only two African-Americans elected governor since Reconstruction.

Having grown up in poverty on the South Side of Chicago, Patrick was selected to attend boarding school at Milton Academy in Massachusetts, and then went on to Harvard, the first in his family to attend college. After spending a post-graduate year working on a United Nations youth training project in the Darfur region of Sudan, Patrick returned to Harvard where he earned his J.D. in the fall of 1979.

Following law school, Patrick served as a law clerk to a federal appellate judge before joining the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and later the Boston law firm of Hill & Barlow. In 1994, President Clinton appointed Patrick Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, the nation's top civil rights post, where he worked on a wide range of issues, including prosecution of hate crimes and abortion clinic violence, and enforcement of employment discrimination, fair lending and disabilities rights laws. During his tenure, Patrick led the largest federal criminal investigation before September 11th, coordinating state, local and federal agencies to investigate church burnings throughout the South in the mid-1990s.

In 2001, Patrick joined The Coca-Cola Company as Executive Vice President and General Counsel. He was elected to the additional role of Corporate Secretary in 2002, and served as part of the company's senior leadership team as a member of the Executive Committee.

As governor, Deval Patrick has done more to advance equality for LGBT people than any other chief executive in the country. Immediately after his election, Governor Patrick expended tremendous political capital to persuade legislators to vote down a ballot initiative to undo marriage equality. Without his unwavering leadership, Massachusetts would have faced a referendum fight similar to the Proposition 8 battle.

In addition to marriage equality, Governor Patrick has been a pioneer on health care reform, ensuring Massachusetts’ lowest-in-the-nation rate of uninsured people. He also has championed clean energy laws; passed and implemented an historic Life Science Initiative; and extended the buffer zone to protect the safety of women seeking reproductive health services. Among the cadre of governors, Governor Patrick is one of President Barack Obama’s most trusted advisors and closest confidantes.

Diane and Deval Patrick have been married for over twenty-five years and have two adult daughters, Sarah and Katherine. In June of 2008, with her father by her side, Katherine—then 18—came out of the closet publicly. The next weekend, Deval, Diane and Katherine marched together in Boston Pride.

NY TIMES Covers 2010 vs 2012 Prop 8 Repeal Question

MadProfessah addressing the LGBT Leadership summit in San Bernadino on

Saturday July 25th on behalf of the Prepare to Prevail contingent on

why 2010 is too soon to return to the ballot to repeal Prop 8

Well, well! The New York Times has finally gotten around to covering the internal debate in the LGBT community over when a measure to repeal Proposition 8 should be on the ballot: November 2010 or November 2012?

In an article in today's paper by Jesse McKinley called "Backers of Gay Marriage Rethink California Push" several of MadProfessah's colleagues and fellow LGBT activists are quoted (Matt Foreman, Hans Johnson, Marc Solomon and John Cleary):

Marc Solomon, marriage director for Equality California, said he spent June and early July asking the opinions of nearly two dozen California political consultants and pollsters and had been surprised by the almost unanimous opinion that a 2010 race was a bad idea.

“I expected having watched the protests and the real pain that the L.G.B.T. community had experienced that there would be some real measurable remorse in the electorate,” Mr. Solomon said, referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. “But if you look at the poll numbers since November, they really haven’t moved at all.”

A major factor in any California balloting, of course, is money; campaigns here are remarkably expensive, with a number of costly media markets. The Proposition 8 campaign, for example, cost more than $80 million, with opponents spending some $43 million.

Sarah Callahan, chief operating officer of the Courage Campaign, a 700,000-member advocacy group in Los Angeles, told the gathering on Saturday that the two critical elements to persuade donors were organization and a winning plan. “No one is going to invest in chaos,” Ms. Callahan said, adding, “The money will come if you can show you can win.”

[...]

John M. Cleary, president of a Los Angeles group called the Stonewall Democratic Club, said many younger activists were particularly eager to fight Proposition 8. “I find the language of some of the organizations really self-defeating,” Mr. Cleary said. “And I think we have a moral obligation to overturn this.”

[..]

But some national leaders are dismissive of such arguments.

“A slapdash effort based on wishful thinking, rosy scenarios, and passion, is not enough to win on,” said Hans Johnson, a board member of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Under California law, language for a 2010 proposition would need to be submitted to the secretary of state by late September, and then some 700,000 signatures gathered to qualify for the ballot.

Opponents of the 2010 campaign say that window is simply too small to change the opinions of enough voters to win, including groups in which Proposition 8 was popular, like African-Americans, religious conservatives and the elderly.

“What we’ve learned is that yes, you can change hearts and minds, but it takes time, focused energy, and money,” said Matt Foreman, the program director of the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, a frequent donor to gay rights causes. “And once a measure is on the ballot and the campaign begins, its almost impossible to change anyone’s mind, because people are being bombarded with lies.”

The article even quotes from the original Prepare to Prevail statement, which you read here first at MadProfessah.com over two weeks ago:

The argument against 2010 was expressed by a new coalition of groups known as Prepare to Prevail, which announced in a statement on July 13 that going back to the ballot next year “would be rushed and risky.”

“We should proceed with a costly, demanding and high-stakes electoral campaign of this sort only when we are confident we can win,” the statement read.

The issue of timing has increasingly divided gay rights advocates, with larger, more established groups seemingly favoring a more cautious approach and grass-roots groups — some of them formed since the November election — more vocal in support of a quick return to the polls.

As I told y'all on Saturday MadProfessah spent most of the day in lovely San Bernardino, where I addressed the crowd as part of a presentation of alternatives to going to to ballot in 2010 representing the Prepare to Prevail coalition. The picture at the top of this post captures me in mid-thought and is by intrepid lesbian reporter Karen Ocamb.

Amusingly, the group that wants to go forward in 2010 (regardless of what POC LGBT groups, The Task Force, the ACLU or anyone else says), and is seemingly unconcerned with what the consequences to LGBT service organizations of LGBT families and youth to waging and losing a multimillion-dollar scorched earth ballot campaign for marriage equality in the worst economic climate in nearly 75 years has been dubbed "The Coalition of the Willing."

Sound familiar?

I kid you not.

LA TIMES Covers POC LGBT Groups 2010 Reluctance

Today's Los Angeles Times covers yesterday's release of the Prepare To Prevail: Why We Must Wait In Order To Win statement in an article entitled "Gay-rights coalition urges measured pace on same-sex marriage amendment."

MadProfessah is quoted at the end, explaining the main reason why several people of color LGBT groups do not feel we will be ready in 2010 to repeal Proposition 8. "Do the math!"

In the days after Proposition 8 banned same-sex marriage in California last fall, many grass-roots activists almost immediately began planning to get the question back on the ballot. In the spring, as states such as Iowa and Vermont legalized gay marriage, gay and lesbian activists said momentum was on their side.

But now many activists say they are trying to make the political calculations necessary to ensure victory -- which means enough money to wage a campaign and enough voter outreach to persuade some who voted against gay and lesbian unions to change their minds.

"We initially said we believe 2010 was the right time to go back to the ballot," said Marc Solomon, marriage director for Equality California, one of the state's biggest gay rights groups. But he added: "We've also made it very clear we will only move forward if we have a clear road map to victory. . . . The last thing we want to do is go back to the ballot and lose."

He said his group has sought advice from political consultants and polling experts and would present it publicly later this month.

Ron Buckmire, president of the Barbara Jordan/Bayard Rustin Coalition, one of the groups that signed the statement issued Monday, said the need for more time was made clear to him this weekend when his group went door to door to talk to voters about same-sex marriage in South Los Angeles.

"It was a huge success. We had 70 volunteers, working for five hours, knocked on 1,200 doors," he said. But after all that, they identified only 50 voters who moved in their direction.

"We have to move 300,000 voters," he said. "Do the math."

Let me be more specific. If it takes JRC working in coalition with Equality California and Vote for Equality 350 volunteer-hours (not including staff time, or travel time for the volunteers) to change 50 votes (from against marriage equality to undecided, or from undecided to in favor of marriage equality) and we have 6,000 times that many votes to move in 2010, then we will need 2.1 million volunteer-hours of effort to achieve that.

People who say that we can do that by November 2, 2010 (which is exactly 477 days away from today) need to demonstrate a plan for how they intend to pay for, lead and plan this work in that time frame, in the worst economy California and the United States have seen since the Great Depression.

Do the Math.

Busy Day For JRC Today

Today is a busy day for the Jordan Rustin Coalition, the leading Black LGBT advocacy organization in Southern California that MadProfessah heads.

JRC is serving as community collaborators for a movie called "Rivers Wash Over Me" at OutFest today at 1:30pm at the Directors Guild of America, and at exactly the same time (from 10am to 3pm) JRC will be participating in a voter canvass with Equality California, Vote For Equality, Equal Roots and others. The idea is to talk (and listen) to voters in South Los Angeles (Ladera Heights, Leimert Park and View Park, mostly) to find out what their views are on LGBT people, same-sex marriage and homophobia in general.

Juneteenth Party Today!

Today is the "JRC Celebrates Juneteenth" event in the Hancock Park section of Los Angeles from 2 to 5pm benefiting the Barbara Jordan/ Bayard Rustin Coalition, the only Black LGBT advocacy organization in Southern California.

MadProfessah will be there (with The Other Half), and hope that you will attend also. Admission costs $50 and there are awards going to Doug Spearman and Vallerie Wagner.

JRC and EQCA Release Ad Featuring Black Gay Married Couple

Equality California, Jordan/Rustin Coalition Launch Mobilization Effort on Marriage for Same-Sex Couples in African-American Communities

Campaign Includes TV ad, on-the-ground organizing

Los Angeles – As same-sex couples who were able to legally marry last year celebrate their one-year-anniversaries, Equality California (EQCA) and Jordan/Rustin Coalition (JRC) are together launching an education and mobilization campaign on the freedom to marry in LA’s African-American communities. The effort includes a TV commercial, on-the-ground organizers as well as an office dedicated to the campaign, which will be based in South Los Angeles, a predominantly African-American community.

“Jordan/Rustin Coalition is happy to partner with Equality California as we do the work to open the hearts and minds of all Californians, including those in the Black community, on the question of marriage for same-sex couples,” said Ron Buckmire, JRC board president. “Our partnership includes a multi-media campaign, outreach and public education and even the nuts and bolts of staffing and supplies. I am confident that together we will see the day when full LGBT equality is restored to our state.”

As part of today’s launch, the organizations released a television ad that features a gay African-American couple, Xavier and Michael Boykin-Haggood, along with three of their five children, Dante, Emmanuel and Fatima. The family lives in LA’s Leimert Park neighborhood. Their ad is scheduled to air statewide starting the week of June 22nd.

“As we celebrate this one-year-anniversary of marriages in California, we are proud to be working with the Jordan/Rustin Coalition to have conversations with African-Americans about marriage for same-sex couples,” said EQCA Marriage Director Marc Solomon. “As people really get to know our families, they will see they have the same hopes, dreams and concerns as any other family and simply want the protections and dignity that marriage affords.”

The office is slated to open later this summer. JRC, EQCA, and a coalition of grassroots and community leaders rooted in South Los Angeles will work collaboratively to organize outreach events and lead door-to-door efforts to talk with African-American Californians.

To view the television ad, click here: http://www.eqca.org/michael&xavier

Equality California (EQCA) is the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender-rights advocacy organization in California. In the past decade, EQCA has strategically moved California from a state with extremely limited legal protections for LGBT individuals to a state with some of the most comprehensive civil-rights protections in the nation. EQCA has passed over 50 pieces of legislation and continues to advance equality through legislative advocacy, public education and community empowerment. www.eqca.org

The mission of the Barbara Jordan / Bayard Rustin Coalition (or Jordan/Rustin Coalition) is to empower Black same-gender loving, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and families in Greater Los Angeles, to promote equal marriage rights and to advocate for fair treatment of everyone without regard to race, sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. www.jordanrustin.org

MadProfessah Quoted in Latest Colorlines Magazine

In the March/April 2009 edition of Colorlines magazine, yours truly is quoted in an article by Black gay writer Kai Wright about the racial faultlines exposed by the Proposition 8 battle last year. Here in an excerpt in which my words of wisdom appear (at the very end of the four-page article entitled "A Fragile Union"):

[Andres] Duques recalls the scene at a packed community forum where a uniformly white panel of movement leaders discussed both Prop. 8 and New York’s future. “I looked around the crowd, and I didn’t see any Latinos, actually. The crowd was Chelsea,” he says, referring to the city’s most well-known gay neighborhood, which is dominated by white men.

Ron Buckmire, a leader in the Los Angeles Black gay group Barbara Jordan/Bayard Rustin Coalition, insists, “There’s no way that the LGBT rights movement is going to succeed if they don’t have vibrant LGBT people-of-color organizations. No way.”

The question remains, however, whether the defeat and the acrimony surrounding Prop. 8 have brought that point home to the people and the organizations that power gay rights movements across the nation.

“I’m 78 years old. I been around a long time,” says [Dolores] Huerta. “Sometimes things happen for a reason, and I feel that way about this initiative. The electorate has forced us to take a look at ourselves. Our whole progressive community is going to be strengthened if we do that.”

Of course the Andres Duque quoted here is my friend and fellow blogger at Blabbeando. The entire piece is worth reading!

Statewide Action Wed 3/4 Before Prop 8 Oral Argument

The California Supreme Court will be hearing oral arguments in "the Proposition 8 cases" (
Strauss v. Horton, S168047; Tyler v. State of California, S168066; City and County of San Francisco v. Horton, S168078) on Thursday March 5th. The day before there will be actions all over the state, hoping to inform the court of the importance of the case to thousands of people. The event is called Eve of Justice: Lighting The Way For The Supreme Court and here is the announcement from the Equal Roots Coalition:

Come out for the Eve of Justice!

March 4 (Wednesday) is the day before the California Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the validity of Prop 8. Let's come together and send a unified message to our fellow Californians, including the Supreme Court Justices that individual liberties like the right to marry are guaranteed by the Constitution to everyone and cannot be stripped away at the ballot box by a bare majority.

Eve of Justice: Lighting The Way For The Supreme Court
Wednesday, March 4th - 5:30pm - 7:00pm
Olvera Street, Downtown LA
(South of Cesar Chavez Ave, between N. Main St and N Alameda St)

·Legal Update from Lambda Legal
·Musical Performances
·Recommitment Ceremonies
·Candlelight pledge

2 blocks West of Union Station, providing easy Metro access from Hollywood, San Fernando Valley, Pasadena, East LA and Long Beach

www.eveofjustice.com/la/

To join the facebook event go to:www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=50722443794

The event is organized by Marriage Equality USA, HRC, EqCA, Join the Impact, GLAAD, Courage Campaign, California Faith for Equality, Progressive Jewish Alliance, Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry California, Amnesty International, Love Honor Cherish, Jordan/Rustin Coalition, Whiteknot.org, API Equality-LA, Equality Network, Somos Familia, Roots of Equality, Gays UN, Postcards to the President, Metropolitan Community Church Los Angeles, F.A.I.R, Latino Equality Alliance, Honor PAC, LA Pride and Christopher Street West, Collage and the Equal Roots Coalition.

March 5th - Supreme Court Oral Argument Hearing 9am to noon.

Television viewing: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/supreme/highprofile/prop8viewing.htm
8:00 AM— NOON
Los Angeles City Hall - Council Chambers (Rm. 340)
200 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles, California 90012
8:00 AM: Council Chambers doors open
8:30 AM: Discussion by City officials & attorneys prior to historic oral arguments re: Prop 8
9:00 AM-Noon: Live Broadcast of the California Supreme Court proceedings
No RSVP required. For more info, email: sp-rsvp@lacity.org

Hope to see YOU there!

Black Gay Elder Voices Forum TODAY in L.A.

Jordan/Rustin Coalition will be hosting a free public forum at Jewel's Catch One TODAY from 7-9pm called "Elder Voices: Their Stories Then to Now" featuring Richard Harris (founders and proprietors of the Lucy Florence Coffeehouse and Cultural Center in Leimert park), Andre Vaughn (Activist and Volunteer with Harvey Milk during the Briggs Initiative of 1978) and Ronald Dennis-Watson (AIDS activist and original castmember of Chorus Line). The forum will be moderated by Doug Spearman (actor on Noah's Arc and Equality California board member).

MadProfessah at Equality Summit

Darnell Grisby (Planning Committee co-chair) and
Anne Marks (Equality Summit organizer)

UCLA Law School's Williams Institute Visiting Scholar Catherine Smith
and MadProfessah

MadProfessah and
Equality Summit Planning Committee co-chair Andrea Shorter

MadProfessah and Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa addressed the
Equality Summit during MadProfessah's panel

MadProfessah attended the Equality Summit at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Saturday. I was on the panel entitled "Race and Religion and the LGBT Movement" representing the Jordan/Rustin Coalition. The panel was interrupted by the arrival of a very special surprise guest, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Here are some pictures I took with people wandering around the Equality Summit.

Some news was made at the summit: There was consensus to move forward with plans for a ballot measure to repeal Propoistion 8 on the November 2008 ballot. The group Love Honor Cherish appears to be taking the lead; they have a draft 18-page plan for recruiting 100,000 volunteers to collect the 1.5-1.7 million signatures it will take to place the measure before voters.

One pending question that was unresolved. Should the ballot measure

1. Repeal Prop 8 only
2. Repeal Prop 8; and include language making it clear it does not force the teaching of same-sex marriage in schools and re-affirming the rights of churches to marry (or not marry) whoever the hell they want
3. Do #2 AND include other language which precludes the matter from being voted on again and/or possibly includes explicit language which would incorporate non-discrimination language previously endorsed by the California Supreme Court (i.e. sex, sexual orientation and race are suspect classifications)

What do YOU think?

Black LGBT Groups Marching in L.A.'s King Day Parade

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 16, 2009

Press Contact: Nii-Quartelai Quartey
Mobile: (925) 698-4373
Email: nq.quartey@gmail.com


HISTORIC FIRST: COALITION OF BLACK LGBT GROUPS COME TOGETHER TO PARTICIPATE IN OFFICIAL MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY PARADE IN SOUTH LOS ANGELES

The Barbara Jordan/Bayard Rustin Coalition is leading the organizing effort of multiple Black LGBT community groups to march in the prominent Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Parade on Monday January 19th, 2009, for the first time in the parade’s history.

The Jordan/Rustin Coalition is the lead sponsor in the 24th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Parade that will feature marchers from Black LGBT community organizations like the National Black Justice Coalition and the Here To Stay Coalition coming together as one for the first time to publicly celebrate the life and achievements of the nation's pre-eminent civil rights champion.

"We are pleased to partner with the National Black Justice Coalition and Here To Stay Coalition to form an openly LGBT delegation in our community's annual celebration of the great Martin Luther King, Jr." said Jordan/Rustin Coalition Board President Ron Buckmire. "This year's event is particularly poignant with Barack Obama's presidential inauguration occurring the very next day."

"The Here To Stay Coalition proudly stands on the shoulders of the many Black gay people who have been fighting to be included in King's Dream. We walk for and with them, we will no longer be invisible," said LaTrice Dixon of Here To Stay.

"We are encouraged by this historic first as a symbol of the progress our community is making in the new Obama era," said Jasper Hendricks of the National Black Justice Coalition.

The official Kingdom Day Parade starts at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, January 19th and runs along Crenshaw Boulevard as far as Western Boulevard. The parade theme is "The Dream Lives on For Today and Tomorrow."

-About Barbara Jordan / Bayard Rustin Coalition-
The mission of the Barbara Jordan / Bayard Rustin Coalition (or Jordan/Rustin Coalition) is to empower Black same-gender loving, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and families in Greater Los Angeles, to promote equal marriage rights and to advocate for fair treatment of everyone without regard to race, sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

-About Here To Stay Coalition-
Here To Stay is a coalition of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer, Intersex, friends, family and relatives, Los Angeles based organization committed to working within the Black community to end homophobia, fear, and hatred of same gender loving people. We have always been, and always will be, here to stay as change makers in our communities.

-About National Black Justice Coalition-
National Black Justice Coalition is a civil rights organization dedicated to empowering Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. Our mission is to end racism and homophobia. As America's only nationwide Black gay civil rights organization, we are the authoritative source on LGBT issues as they affect Black communities.
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