The Nikki Araguz Loyd Celebration of Life Service

I was on the Left Coast when this happened, so for those of you who missed it like i did and wanted to be there, here's the celebration of Life Service that took place on November 14 for Nikki Araguz Loyd

Nikki Araguz Loyd Celebration Of Life Service Dates

For those of you who haven't heard the news yet, Nikki Araguz Loyd passed away on November 6 at he suburban Houston home.  William Loyd and the family have announced when the services will happen.

On Wednesday November 13, the public viewing for Nikki Araguz Loyd will be held at Rosewood Funeral Home in Atascocita, TX from 5- 8 PM CST. 

The funeral home is located at 17404 W Lake Houston Pkwy in Atascocita.
The Celebration of Life Ceremony will take place on Thursday November 14 at the Humble Civic Center from 1-4 PM CST.   The Humble Civic Center is located at 8233 Will Clayton Pkwy in Humble, TX, 77338
Since Nikki always loved a good party, after the services there will be a fabulous Nikki style BYOB🍾 PARTY🍾 at Nectar.   There will be an open mic available to speak and allow you to share your best Nikki memories.

Nectar is located at 7560 FM 1960, in Humble, TX 77346

If you are thinking about flying into Houston for the viewing and service, IAH is the closest airport to that side of town where the events will take place, and there are plenty of hotels in the Humble-IAH area .

If you can attend,  please do so and say goodbye to a revered and iconic member of our community.

Michelle Washington Celebration Of Life Service Tomorrow

For those of you in the Philadelphia metro area who wish to attend the celebration of life services of Michelle 'Tameka' Washington, here's the info.   

They will take place at Batchelor Brothers Funeral Home., located at 7112 North Broad Street in Philadelphia.   The viewing will start at 12 noon EDT, followed by the service starting at 1 PM EDT.

The Repast/Reception will begin at 2:30 PM EDT and is scheduled to run until 4:30 PM.   It will take place at Hot Pot Cuisine.    The address is 4234 Germantown Ave in Philadelphia.   

Hope you peeps in the Philly area are able to attend and honor our gone too soon sibling.

Goodbye Ray Hill

One of our iconic Houston TBLGQ community and civil rights activists in Ray Hill passed away on November 24 at age 78 of heart failure while in hospice care at Bering Omega House. 

Yesterday we go to say goodbye to Ray at his memorial funeral service on the steps of Houston City Hall 

The service lasted three hours and was emceed by former Houston mayor Annise Parker, herself an iconic leader in our community.   It featured local politicians, people connected with KPFT-FM's The Prison Show, family members of Ray, past presidents of the Houston GLBT Caucus and a host of people gathered on a sunny December day to tell their Ray Hill stories and remember a man who had a huge influence not only our community, but Houston and the nation. 

He helped organize the massive 1978 march against Anita Bryant.   The Town Hall meeting at the AstroArena that led to the organization of the Houston TBLGQ community.  Was a supporter and thorn in the sde at times of the Caucus.

Hill was also the subject of two documentaries, with the most recent one entitled, The Trouble With Ray.



Of course I knew Ray, and bumped into him from time to time at our various community events.  I loved talking to him because it's not every day you get to talk to a historical community icon

The one thing I loved about him and I've also emulated in my own advocacy work is that he didn't just work on gay issues.    He was a prison reform advocate.   He supported the trans community and the First Amendment.

He was a proud, unapologetically gay agent provocateur and troublemaker pushing us in the TBLGQ community, local politicians and our community to be better. 

And we're going to miss him.

Aretha Franklin Homegoing Service

"Aretha's singing challenged the dangling discords of hate and lies and racism and injustice. Her singing was revelation and was revolution." -Rev Dr. William J. Barber II 

There has been a lot of online chatter about how problematic the nine hour homegoing service of the Queen of Soul was.

Soe peeps justifiable are dragging the Rev Jasper Williams for filth for his jacked up single mother bashing eulogy.    He forgot that the woman he was eulogizing was a single mother.

Fox Noise also stuck their vanillacentric privileged noses in this mess by cosigning Williams' sermon as 'a message the Black community needed to hear" while disingenuously whining that the funeral was 'too political' when Dolt 45 got called out. . 

Others are complaining about Bishop Charles Ellis III, the pastor who was inappropriately laying a hand on Ariana Grande's boobie while telling a cringe worthy joke.

Black church folk, it is NOT appropriate for your pastor (or the deacons) to fondle any woman while she is standing in the pulpit or anywhere on church property.

And how she is dressed is no justification for excusing the pastor's reprehensible behavior

Speaking of how people were dressed, you have people who are castigating and defending on the Net the black dress that Ariana Grande wore for her performance during the funeral.

No matter what your opinion, she did look good in it.

Some peeps are arguing that the twentysomething singer should have 'dressed appropriately' for the occasion.  Others are pissed that slut shaming comments are being made about her by folks trying to defend Bishop Ellis. 

Don't you just love Black funerals?

Anyway, for those of you like myself who didn't get to see it in its entirety, here's the video of it.

Service For Cheryl Courtney-Evans October 12

The life and legacy of our pioneering trans sister Cheryl C. Courtney-Evans will be celebrated on Wednesday, October 12 at the Vision Church of Atlanta starting at 12 PM EDT.

The Vision Church of Atlanta is located at 704 Ormewood Ave SE. in Atlanta, GA

Following the service, the repast will take place at the Phillip Rush Center Annex, located at 1553 DeKalb Ave NE, also in the ATL.

The repast will be a potluck, and the request is being made for people who plan to attend to bring a dish to share with other.  

A request is also being made for people to bring their favorite photos of Cheryl to contribute to a photo memory wall that will be set up at the repast.

If there's any additional information, I'll pass it along to you as I receive it..

Michael Brown Funeral Eulogy

Michael Brown, whose cause of death in Ferguson, NO was assassination by po-po, was buried today.

The funeral at Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church was attended by thousands of people including Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA).  It was paid for by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc and featured a fiery eulogy by MSNBC talk show host and longtime activist Rev. Al Sharpton.

Here's the video of it for those of you who missed it.

Thank You For Your Kind Words

As many of you are aware of, my family is going through a difficult time with the passing of  my father last week 

The funeral is set for tomorrow March 30, 2013 and for those of you in the Houston area, it will be held at the Christian Rescue Mission Community Church 3229-A Hadley St, Houston TX 77004  

(713) 659-7750 is the church phone number. 

Visitation will be from 9-11 AM CDT on Saturday with the service starting immediately afterwards from 11-12 noon

Thanks to those of you who have lifted me and my family up in prayer, expressed your condolences and continue to send warm thoughts our way.   I also thank those of you who have e-mailed me, called, sent me Facebook messages public and private, and sent cards.   It meant a lot to me to hear from you during this time, and I deeply appreciate it.  .