State of Emergency for Transgender Women of Color

Self-defense is murder when you’re a transgender woman of color.

At least that’s what Illinois’ Cook County seems to be saying. Eisha Love, a 26-year-old transgender woman of color, is currently in Chicago’s Cook County Department of Corrections awaiting trial. According to an Aug. 22 Facebook post by trans-rights activist Channyn Lynne Parker of Chicago House, Eisha defended her life in the midst of an alleged hate crime in late August and now faces a 10-year sentence for attempted murder.

More at the Huffington Post.

Gavin Newsom and the Moodie-Mills Discuss LGBT Rights, AIDS, and More

In 2004, as San Francisco’s Mayor, Newsom defied state laws by directing the city-county clerk to issue marriages licenses to same-sex couples. He continued his fierce support of same-sex marriage by being a vocal opponent of Proposition 8.

The Moodie-Mills are a media power couple who use Politini to “shift culture by exploring the personal side of politics.” You’ll often see them on msnbc speaking to LGBT, women in politics, and race issues.

The LGBT advocates responded to a range of msnbc.com community questions from AIDS to marijuana. Take a look at the conversation below:

[Aisha and Danielle Moodie-MIlls responded to the questions collectively.]

Luke Leifeste: How did you deal with the onslaught of naysayers along the way in your fight for LGBT rights? Did you tune out the “haters” or prefer to take them head on?

The Moodie-Mills: There will always be haters that work tirelessly to block progress and never enough time in your day to take them all on. We focus on moving the ball forward and that takes energy and focus that can’t be wasted on naysayers. Although, we are human, so when we shared our wedding photos on Essence and commenters came after our family, we did step in and try to shut the negativity down.

The good news is that naysayers have been far and few in between in our experience. What we’ve learned is that few can disavow or deny basic love, and so we try to lead from that place of love. We strive each day to live authentically and love openly and to connect with people around our common humanity. This has helped us to demystify stereotypes about LGBT people and connect with people who haven’t been considered natural allies of the LGBT community.

Read the rest of their responses on MSNBC.

Black LGBT Church Founder Celebrates In Detroit

She no longer lives here, but Rev. Dr. Renee McCoy came home this month to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the church she founded. She spoke at a Friday night revival service Sept. 5th - part of a three-day anniversary celebration the church hosted - and later spoke with Between The Lines about the church’s early days and how far it has come…

[T]o many, a black, gay church was a hard sell.

“The hardest part for me was convincing other blacks that we were not going to hell because we had the church,” said McCoy. “Homophobia had been internalized for so long and operationalized so deeply that it was hard for many to believe they were worthy to be loved by God. Many were afraid something terrible would happen.”

Read more over at Pride Source.

Jersey Playwright Hopes to Bring Lesbian Play to Philly

Award-winning author and playwright Cheril N. Clarke is gearing up to premiere her one-of-a-kind piece in Philadelphia.

Clarke, who hails from Toronto, Canada, is hoping to call Philadelphia home to her play “Asylum,” which she says was nurtured in the city of brotherly love and sisterly affection.

“Asylum” tells the story of a young lesbian from Uganda who fled the country to escape an honor killing by her father. Clarke said the play was based on the true story of Prossy Kakooza who was an asylum seeker in the United Kingdom, fighting for her freedom and the freedom of her partner who was in a Ugandan prison.

Clarke said she was inspired to write the play after reading a petition that told Prossy’s story. She was amazed that British officials didn’t believe Prossy was a lesbian because she dressed more feminine.

Continue reading at Phillesbian.com.