On October 24 there will be a town hall meeting in Washington DC presented by Beautiful U -Yes U Institute, The One Mic Stand with Simply Nay and Damien Ministries entitled 'Young Black and LGBTQ- Who Is Protecting Me?'
The town hallmeeting will take place at the MCCDC Church located at 474 Ridge St NWWashington, DC 20011 and will run from 6-8:00 PM EDT.
The town hall will explore experiences, services available and the lack of them that havecontributed to the emergence of self-identified gay gangs and the surge of attackson the transgender population of Washington DC..
A town hall panel comprised of youth, youth services providers,community leaders and elected officials will examine these contributors and theoffered resources thought to remedy these harsh realities.
“Over half of homeless youth identify as LGBTQand less than half of LGBTQ nonprofit initiatives are helping them, that is oneof the problems,” says Aiyi’nah "SimplyNay" Ford, host of The One Mic Stand with SimplyNay andpanel participant.
Other participants in this Monday night town hall event and invited speakers include:
Jeffrey Richardson, The Mayor'sOffice of LGBT Affairs
Sharon Lettman-Hicks, The NationalBlack Justice Coalition
Amena Johnson, Sexual Minority YouthAssistance League
Samantha Masters, RainbowSoul{Morgan University's Gay Straight Alliance}
Brian Watson, Transgender HealthEmpowerment
This event is the first of Beautiful "U" Yes U's "Justicefor All" Town Hall Series.
For further information please contactbeautifuluyesu@gmail.com or tune in to The One Mic Stand with SimplyNay atwww.blogtalkradio.com/onemicstand You can also contact Tre'ona Kelty at 202-352-2679 My name is Tre’ona Kelty and I am a black lesbian female. Afterreading the article, {insert article name and date published} I wasdisheartened to learn that “The Check Its” exists. I understand wherethese youth are coming from as being Black and LGBTQ {lesbian} is one of thehardest situations to deal with in life.
The article made reference to youth frequenting the streets ofChinatown. Quite rankly, there are no safe places for the LGBTQ community ofColor. We are not welcome within the traditional church. Our families ostracizeand disown us. Too often, we must change our identity in order tofunction in “Corporate America”. Our police ignore our complaints and allow ourTransgender family to be shot in the streets. In synopsis, we live incommunities who believe we should be damned.
Subsequently, this gang provides a psuedo “safe place” forthese youth. They feel that there is no where else to turn and no one who caresenough to reach back to help and support them. So many times we as AfricanAmericans-especially LGBTQ indentified- forget how hard it was to grow updifferent. We forget about the abuse and the bullying. We get our “goodgovernment jobs” and leave our youth to fend for themselves! What do we expectthem to do as opposed to forming their own familial structure? Refer toBennett’s quote for the real problem, “I want to go back to school to get myGED, but I do not know where to begin.” These kids yearn for assistance, buthave no where to turn. They are fighting for their lives, literally. How darewe judge if, we as a community have not tried to rally and reach back to helpthem and others like them.
I could not read this article and not feel compelled to move andgive back. My organization “Beautiful U Yes U” in collaboration with “The OneShow with Simply Nay” will host a town hall meeting entitled, “Young, Gay andBlack: Who Is Protecting Us?” This townhall meeting intends toquestion experiences, services and lack thereof that have contributed tothe emergence of self-identified gay gangs and surge of attacks on thetransgender population within this marginalized community. A panelof youth, youth services provider, community leaders and elected officials willexamine these contributors and the offered resources thought to remedy theseharsh realities. We can no longer sit back and do nothing,waiting for someone else to take care of the problem. It is our duty andobligation to reach back and help. Will you join us?
For more information contact:
Tre’ona ( Ms. Tree) Kelty
Founder, Executive Director
Beautiful U Yes U
- Show quoted text -
Take a look and give your thoughts/suggestion before I send to Courtland.
thanks!
-- Gay Black youths for from attacked toattackers.
Op-ed
My name is Tre’ona Kelty and I am a black lesbian female. Afterreading the article, {insert article name and date published} I wasdisheartened to learn that “The Check Its” exists. I understand wherethese youth are coming from as being Black and LGBTQ {lesbian} is one of thehardest situations to deal with in life.
The article made reference to youth frequenting the streets ofChinatown. Quite rankly, there are no safe places for the LGBTQ community ofColor. We are not welcome within the traditional church. Our families ostracizeand disown us. Too often, we must change our identity in order tofunction in “Corporate America”. Our police ignore our complaints and allow ourTransgender family to be shot in the streets. In synopsis, we live incommunities who believe we should be damned.
Subsequently, this gang provides a psuedo “safe place” forthese youth. They feel that there is no where else to turn and no one who caresenough to reach back to help and support them. So many times we as AfricanAmericans-especially LGBTQ indentified- forget how hard it was to grow updifferent. We forget about the abuse and the bullying. We get our “goodgovernment jobs” and leave our youth to fend for themselves! What do we expectthem to do as opposed to forming their own familial structure? Refer toBennett’s quote for the real problem, “I want to go back to school to get myGED, but I do not know where to begin.” These kids yearn for assistance, buthave no where to turn. They are fighting for their lives, literally. How darewe judge if, we as a community have not tried to rally and reach back to helpthem and others like them.
I could not read this article and not feel compelled to move andgive back. My organization “Beautiful U Yes U” in collaboration with “The OneShow with Simply Nay” will host a town hall meeting entitled, “Young, Gay andBlack: Who Is Protecting Us?” This townhall meeting intends toquestion experiences, services and lack thereof that have contributed tothe emergence of self-identified gay gangs and surge of attacks on thetransgender population within this marginalized community. A panelof youth, youth services provider, community leaders and elected officials willexamine these contributors and the offered resources thought to remedy theseharsh realities. We can no longer sit back and donothing, waiting for someone else to take care of the problem. It is our dutyand obligation to reach back and help. Will you join us?
For more information contact:
Tre’ona ( Ms. Tree) Kelty
Founder, Executive Director
Beautiful U Yes U
- Show quoted text -
Take a look and give your thoughts/suggestion before I send to Courtland.
thanks!
--
