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LGBTQ Projects Advancing
Despite Pandemic-Related Challenges Queer Projects Are Focused on Making a Difference in 2022 by Chris Rudisill qnotes Contributor
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andemic-related challenges continue to abound for LGBTQ organizations and cancellations of in-person gatherings once again have become the norm. The National LGBTQ Task Force’s annual Creating Change Conference, which was scheduled for this weekend in New Orleans, has been postponed for a virtual conference to be held later in the year. The annual gathering of LGBTQ activists, advocates and organizations – often seen as a rallying point around key issues facing the community, started in 1988, one year after the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. It is the largest LGBTQ conference in the country. “We know that Creating Change is a unique and empowering experience for our community and everyone who attends brings so much love and passion to the conference but our responsibility first and foremost is caring for each other,” said Kierra Johnson, executive director of the Task Force, in a press statement. Other major events like the Queer History South Conference, which was slated for Feb. 18-20 in Dallas are also being pushed out based on the Omicron variant. “Out of an abundance of caution, and in consideration of health and safety of our attendees, our Queer History South conference has moved to Sept. 30 - Oct. 2, 2022,” according to planning committee co-chair Robert Emery. The event will now aptly kick off National LGBTQ History Month that takes place each October. Early expectations in Spring 2021 were
From parksmcallister.com
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QNotes
Jan 21. - Feb. 3, 2022
that the COVID-19 pandemic would have subsided and we’d be back to normal by now. But new variants, like Delta and Omicron, have proven to be more contagious and the quick spread has brought new uncertainties. The Movement Advancement Project, has released quarterly reports since September 2020 demonstrating the impact of COVID-19 on organizations providing services and support to LGBTQI people. According to the latest data, released in December, organizations continue to delay or cancel key programmatic and operational goals. “Nearly all [44 out of 50] participating organizations reported clear and challenging impacts from the resurgence of COVID-19 and the emergence of the Delta variant,” read the report. Despite inperson cancellations, some major projects for the queer community are launching, or continuing to grow, in 2022. Below are a few that caught our attention.
Growing up Queer in the South Kicking off the list is news from the Greenville Art Museum [the one in Greenville, N.C.] of a new exhibition showcasing artwork that is centered on experiences of growing up LGBTQ in the South. Applications for artists are currently open to “queer individuals who are 18 years or older, and who have spent part of their lives or can identify with ‘growing up’ in the American South.” The juried exhibition is slated for June 3 – Sept. 24, 2022 and is being curated by Parks McAllister. Art has been a source of healing for McAlister who grew up in a small, conservative town in North Carolina. According to his website, he turned to art to explore his identity after feeling unwelcomed and judged. “Knowing that many people face similar experiences, McAlister hopes to spark safe conversation through the artists and their exhibited work.” Submissions are open through Feb. 27 and information can be found at gmoa.org. Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project (BLMP) Whenever Creating Change does happen, Ola Osifo Osaze will be awarded the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund Award for Outstanding LGBTQ Leadership for Immigration Rights. Osaze has been a community organizer for years and is the director of the Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project (BLMP). Led by people that have been directly impacted, the organization is housed at the Transgender Law Center. Osaze migrated from Nigeria and found alienation both at home and in the U.S. “When I looked around me for some type of queer and trans-African or Black immigrant community, I found a community for whom the word invisible does not even begin to describe our reality,” Osaze said in an interview with the Akonadi Foundation. The organization is currently
providing cash assistance to Black LGBTQ migrants and first generation people dealing with the impacts of COVID-19. It participates in national organizing, has local networks across the country, engages and supports those detained for deportation and conducts research on the queer Black migrant experience. The Front Page The Front Page was founded by Jim Baxter in 1979. The Raleigh-based newspaper was devoted to the gay and lesbian community and was published biweekly through 2006, when it merged with QNotes. With help from the UNC Charlotte Special Collections and University Archives and Jim Yarbrough, issues of the publication from 1979 – 1986 are now available through the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center, a statewide digitization and digital publishing program. DigitalNC.org is housed in the North Carolina Collection at UNC’s Wilson Special Collections Library. Near its final issue, Baxter wrote, “Beyond the basics, The Front Page tried to offer (or perhaps even create) some sense of community, some sense of history, some way to stop reinventing the wheel every couple of years, some way to build a movement for change that could mark its progress in real accomplishment.” To view copies of The Front Page, visit digitalnc.org/newspapers/the-front-pageraleigh-n-c/ or the Archives section at qnotescarolinas.com. The LGBTQ+ Learning Project “Imagine living your truth, but not being able to tell anyone,” says VideoOut’s founder and executive director, Jordan Reeves. Growing up in small town Alabama, Reeves didn’t have the terminology we do today to talk about queerness or gender. This year, VideoOut launched The LGBTQ+ Learning Project with support from the Google News Initiative. The first phase of the project introduces the LGBTQ+ Language and Media Literacy Program, available at https://lgbtq-language-project.uc.r.appspot.com/. Working with a team of PhD linguists, the group researched the origin, evolution and current usage of 100 words and phrases used in the LGBTQ community. They will eventually use Google Trends technology to show the popularity of search terms and is aimed at helping journalists and the public navigate the complex world of LGBTQ vernacular. “The LGBTQ+ Language and Media Literacy Program is more than a glossary, though at its simplest, it can function that way,” says Reeves. “It’s a way to understand the LGBTQ+ community, and hopefully, it will transform the way journalists – and all of us – write and talk about LGBTQ+ people.” The project is also meant to inform people who are less familiar. They’ve partnered with Men’s Health Magazine which will host the tool on its website. News is Out: A Queer Media Collaborative Another exciting project in LGBTQ media this year is News Is Out: National Queer Media Collaborative, announced in
