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 hall meeting will take place at the MCCDC Church located at 474 Ridge St NW Washington, 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 have contributed to the emergence of self-identified gay gangs and the surge of attacks on 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 the offered resources thought to remedy these harsh realities.
“Over half of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ and less than half of LGBTQ nonprofit initiatives are helping them, that is one of the problems,” says Aiyi’nah "SimplyNay" Ford, host of The One Mic Stand with SimplyNay and panel participant.
Other participants in this Monday night town hall event and invited speakers include:
Jeffrey Richardson, The Mayor's Office of LGBT Affairs
Sharon Lettman-Hicks, The National Black Justice Coalition
Amena Johnson, Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League
Samantha Masters, RainbowSoul {Morgan University's Gay Straight Alliance}
Brian Watson, Transgender Health Empowerment
This event is the first of Beautiful "U" Yes U's "Justice for All" Town Hall Series.
For further information please contact beautifuluyesu@gmail.com or tune in to The One Mic Stand with SimplyNay at www.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. After reading the article, {insert article name and date published} I was disheartened to learn that “The Check Its” exists. I understand where these youth are coming from as being Black and LGBTQ {lesbian} is one of the hardest situations to deal with in life.
The article made reference to youth frequenting the streets of Chinatown. Quite rankly, there are no safe places for the LGBTQ community of Color. We are not welcome within the traditional church. Our families ostracize and disown us. Too often, we must change our identity in order to function in “Corporate America”. Our police ignore our complaints and allow our Transgender family to be shot in the streets. In synopsis, we live in communities who believe we should be damned.
Subsequently, this gang provides a psuedo “safe place” for these youth. They feel that there is no where else to turn and no one who cares enough to reach back to help and support them. So many times we as African Americans-especially LGBTQ indentified- forget how hard it was to grow up different. We forget about the abuse and the bullying. We get our “good government jobs” and leave our youth to fend for themselves! What do we expect them to do as opposed to forming their own familial structure? Refer to Bennett’s quote for the real problem, “I want to go back to school to get my GED, but I do not know where to begin.” These kids yearn for assistance, but have no where to turn. They are fighting for their lives, literally. How dare we judge if, we as a community have not tried to rally and reach back to help them and others like them.
I could not read this article and not feel compelled to move and give back. My organization “Beautiful U Yes U” in collaboration with “The One Show with Simply Nay” will host a town hall meeting entitled, “Young, Gay and Black: Who Is Protecting Us?” This townhall meeting intends to question experiences, services and lack thereof that have contributed to the emergence of self-identified gay gangs and surge of attacks on the transgender population within this marginalized community. A panel of youth, youth services provider, community leaders and elected officials will examine these contributors and the offered resources thought to remedy these harsh realities. We can no longer sit back and do nothing, waiting for someone else to take care of the problem. It is our duty and 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!
-- Gay Black youths for from attacked to attackers.
Op-ed
My name is Tre’ona Kelty and I am a black lesbian female. After reading the article, {insert article name and date published} I was disheartened to learn that “The Check Its” exists. I understand where these youth are coming from as being Black and LGBTQ {lesbian} is one of the hardest situations to deal with in life.
The article made reference to youth frequenting the streets of Chinatown. Quite rankly, there are no safe places for the LGBTQ community of Color. We are not welcome within the traditional church. Our families ostracize and disown us. Too often, we must change our identity in order to function in “Corporate America”. Our police ignore our complaints and allow our Transgender family to be shot in the streets. In synopsis, we live in communities who believe we should be damned.
Subsequently, this gang provides a psuedo “safe place” for these youth. They feel that there is no where else to turn and no one who cares enough to reach back to help and support them. So many times we as African Americans-especially LGBTQ indentified- forget how hard it was to grow up different. We forget about the abuse and the bullying. We get our “good government jobs” and leave our youth to fend for themselves! What do we expect them to do as opposed to forming their own familial structure? Refer to Bennett’s quote for the real problem, “I want to go back to school to get my GED, but I do not know where to begin.” These kids yearn for assistance, but have no where to turn. They are fighting for their lives, literally. How dare we judge if, we as a community have not tried to rally and reach back to help them and others like them.
I could not read this article and not feel compelled to move and give back. My organization “Beautiful U Yes U” in collaboration with “The One Show with Simply Nay” will host a town hall meeting entitled, “Young, Gay and Black: Who Is Protecting Us?” This townhall meeting intends to question experiences, services and lack thereof that have contributed to the emergence of self-identified gay gangs and surge of attacks on the transgender population within this marginalized community. A panel of youth, youth services provider, community leaders and elected officials will examine these contributors and the offered resources thought to remedy these harsh realities. We can no longer sit back and do nothing, waiting for someone else to take care of the problem. It is our duty and 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!
--
