Category: Inclusion

In the African American community, we desperately need public role models denouncing anti-homophobic bullying, vitriol, and discrimination. Since too few role models come from the Black Church, many of us lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) brothers and sisters of African descent look to black role models, especially males, in the areas of entertainment…

As the only child of world renowned pop duo Sonny and Cher Bono, many of us remember Chaz as their cherub-faced daughter Chastity, blowing kisses to the audience of her parents top-rated variety television show, “Sonny & Cher.” In 1995, Chaz was outed as a lesbian. But this time Chaz is in control, and on…

Massachusetts is one of the nation’s LGBTQ-friendliest states in the country. And the state’s welcoming of us lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) citizens is evident throughout many of its private and public institutions, like churches, businesses, workplaces, schools, colleges and universities, to name a few. However, according to a new study from Boston’s…

To some in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities (LGBTQ), three-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time MVP of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), Sheryl Swoopes, is a “lie-sexual,” another sister-girl on the “down low” with the incredulous news that she’s now engaged to marry a man. To incurable homophobes, especially of the…

While I will continue to argue that the African American community doesn’t have patent on homophobia, it does, however, have a problem with it. And Tracy Morgan, comedian and actor on NBC’s “30 Rock,” is another glaring example of the malady. During a standup performance this month at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, Morgan’s…

At the tip of Cape Code is the LGBTQ friendly haven, Provincetown, fondly called P-town, and known as the best LGBTQ summer resort on the East Coast. Of late, more lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people of color (POC) have not only begun vacationing in P-town, we have also begun holding POC events.…

Rev. Peter J. Gomes (1942 – 2011), the former Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church at Harvard, died on February 28, but his soul was honored and his spirit partied with us at Boston Pride. By a vote of over 2,000 people, Gomes was nominated as one of Boston…

As we all know, June is Pride Month for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities across the country – and parades abound. Unlike the revolutionary decade of the 1960s, during which the air bred dissent, we LGBTQ people appear to be residing in a sanguine time – rebels without a cause, a context…

The twenty-third annual Lambda Literary Awards, LLA, (also known as the “Lammys”) took place at New York’s School of the Visual Arts Theatre on May 26th. And this red carpet event brought out our finest in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) literature and publishing traditions. Celebrities like Bryan Batt (Mad Men), former New Jersey…

CNN’s Don Lemon has penned a memoir titled, “Transparent” that will come out in September. In writing his book, Lemon said “the decision to come out happened organically.” One of the motivating reasons for Lemon, 45, now revealing his sexual orientation is because of the suicide of 18-year-old Rutgers University freshman, Tyler Clementi. Clementi, if…