SVTV’S SHERI JOHNSON

BY CONNIE WARDMAN, M.A., SDLT • SHE | HER

This quarter’s CSDC Spotlight is turned on Sheri Johnson, founder and CEO of SVTV Network. If you’ve been to an CSDC event and had the opportunity to meet her, then it won’t surprise you to learn that SVTV stands for Strong Voices Television, the network this out lesbian created to represent the underrepresented voices of the entire LGBTQ+ community.

Each month SVTV delivers a fresh mix of both original and licensed entertainment as well as sports content that reflects the rich and authentic diversity of all queer lives. At a time when that kind of content has been hard to find nationally, let alone globally, SVTV content is currently available on iOS, Amazon Fire TV, AndroidTV, AppleTV and Roku. Recognizing that representation matters, the company refers to itself as a “purposeful, mission-driven outlet” that’s dedicated to maximizing inclusion by sharing programming not normally seen on mainstream media.

How appropriate, then that Black History Month falls in this quarter. SVTV celebrates this important month by sharing programs like “Amplifying the Strong Voices of Black LGBTQ Pioneers” that offers stories of six Black queer pioneers: James Baldwin, a writer, dramatist, speaker and civil rights activist whose keen observations forged a better understanding of U.S. race relations during the mid-twentieth century; Marsha P. Johnson, the transwoman activist with the sweet smile who co-founded the radical activist group Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.) with close trans female friend, Sylvia Rivera; and Bayard Rustin, who helped form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to support Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s work.

Also included in this program are teacher, civil rights activist and lawmaker Barbara Jordan, the first queer woman elected to Congress; Angela Davis, now a Marxist and professor in ethnic and women’s studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, she was a former member of the Che-Lumumba Club, an all-black branch of the Communist Party USA and so much more; and finally, Mel Boozer, the first Black man chosen in 1979 as president of the Gay Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C. During his term in office sodomy was decriminalized and permission was granted for GAA to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

Television isn’t Sheri Johnson’s only passion, however. This is a woman filled with what appears to be unlimited energy, resilience, tenacity and selfdiscipline. This Columbus, Georgia native is a volleyball and basketball coach and seventh grade social studies teacher in Harris County. She developed her focus and self-discipline while playing basketball in high school and college. And in the late 1990s she played on the Columbus, Georgia Lady Blazers team, part of the WABA semi-professional women’s basketball league.

Serving her community for four years as a firefighter, Johnson quickly rose to the rank of Sergeant. As a member of Out Georgia, she also supports gay business leaders and organizations that align with her mission of amplifying the voices of the LGBTQ+ community, and in 2021 she was the recipient of the Constellation Award from the Heaven Help One Help All Foundation for her work supporting Atlanta-area youth for both school supplies and Christmas gifts •