• ELIXHER
• On December 12, 2011

Photo: Frances Micklow/The Star-Ledger

Last month at the first “Queer Newark” conference at Rutgers-Newark, about 300 people gathered to hear the stories of three generations of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Newarkers. The Star-Ledger, New Jersey’s largest online newspaper, featured the reflections of African American gay and lesbian Newark residents on that historic day. Read what Margaret Woods, commissioner of Newark’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Concerns Advisory Commission, had to say.

Margaret Woods
Commissioner, city of Newark Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Concerns Advisory Commission

The conference was incredibly moving. It was brilliant of organizers to organize it in a way that allowed for people of different generations to hear each other’s experiences and perceptions, and begin to understand a bit more the differences.

It was good for Baby Boomers to hear from young people that they are looking for mentors. The young are more open than my generation, but they still struggle with issues of identity and acceptance, and are struggling not to internalize the homophobia. It’s difficult to do if you’re doing it alone.

You can’t be in this society and not struggle with that to some degree. We’ve all struggled with the self-hatred, but many of us have come to embrace ourselves and to realize there is nothing to be ashamed of. But we have to live in this community and society, and what you get back is negative images. So that struggle continues.

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