Toby's List: Upcoming Town Halls

Town halls are traditionally used by congresspeople to hear from those that elected them. Wouldn't it be nice to see them packed to the brim with more kids like Toby Smith?

 “Donald Trump makes Mexicans not important to people who are in Arkansas who like Mexicans, like me and my grandma, and all my people” - Toby Smith

Good job, kid! Wanna be like Toby? Check the #TobysList of upcoming town halls below! 


February 24th
Marc Veasey (D-TX)
Date/Time: Friday, Feb. 24, 2017 / 7:30 AM – 9 AM CT
Location: Tia Dora’s Bakery and Cafe, 2478 W. Illinois Ave. , Dallas, TX

Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Date/Time: Friday, Feb. 24, 2017 / 8 AM – 9 AM CT
Location: Parkersburg Civic Center, 502 3rd St., Parkersburg, IA

Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
Date/Time: Friday, Feb. 24, 2017 / 9:30 AM CT
Location: Breaux Bridge City Hall, 120 Berard St., Breaux Bridge, LA
Please RSVP to Shawn Hanscom at Shawn_Hanscom@cassidy.senate.gov

Betty McCollum (D-MN)
Date/Time: Friday, Feb. 24, 2017 / 10 AM – 1 PM CT
Location: Hallie Q. Brown Community Center, 270 Kent St., Saint Paul, MN

Frank Lucas (R-OK)
Date/Time: Friday, Feb. 24, 2017 / 10 AM – 11 AM CT
Location: Events at 10 West Main, 10 W. Main St., Yukon, OK

Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Date/Time: Friday, Feb. 24, 2017 / 11:30 AM PT
Location: Astoria High School Auditorium, 1001 W. Marine Drive, Astoria, OR

Beto O’Rourke (D-TX)
Date/Time: Friday, Feb. 24, 2017 / 12 PM – 1 PM MT
Location: El Paso Public Library Main Branch, 501 N. Oregon St., El Paso, TX

Brian J. Mast (R-FL)
Date/Time: Friday, Feb. 24, 2017 / 1 PM – 2 PM ET
Location: Havert L. Fenn Center, 2000 Virginia Ave., Fort Pierce, FL
Let us know you’re coming: http://mast.house.gov/townhall

Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL)
Date/Time: Friday, Feb. 24, 2017 / 5:30 PM – 7 PM CT
Location: Roosevelt University, 1400 N. Roosevelt Blvd., Schaumberg, IL

February 25th
Gary Palmer (R-AL)
Date/Time: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017 / 9 AM CT
Location: Hoover Tactical Firearms, 1561 Montgomery Highway, Birmingham, AL

Mike Thompson (D-CA)
Date/Time: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017 / 9 AM – 11 AM PT
Location: Piner High School, 1700 Fulton Road, Santa Rosa, CA

Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
Date/Time: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017 / 10 AM ET
Location: Corporate College East Auditorium, 4400 Richmond Road, Warrensville Heights, OH

Ben Ray Luján (D-NM)
Date/Time: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017 / 10 AM – 12 PM MT
Location: Boys and Girls Club of Santa Fe, 6600 Valentine Way, Santa Fe, NM

Bill Huizenga (R-MI)
Date/Time: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017 / 12 PM ET
Location: Baldwin Senior High School, 525 4th St., Baldwin, MI

Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Date/Time: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017 / 12 PM PT
Location: David Douglas High School, 1001 SE 135th Ave., Portland, OR

G.K. Butterfield (D-NC)
Date/Time: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017 / 1 PM
Location: Hillside High School Auditorium, 3727 Fayetteville St., Durham, NC
This event is free and open to the public. Space is limited. Please register to attend below. https://www.eventbrite.com/o/the-office-of-congressman-butterfield-4755409471

Bobby Scott (D-VA)
Date/Time: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017 / 2 PM – 3:30 PM ET
Location: Paul D. Camp Community College, 100 North College Drive, Franklin, VA

February 26th
Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Date/Time: Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017 / 11:30 AM
Location: Gresham High School Auditorium, 1200 N. Main Ave., Gresham, OR

Brendan Boyle (D-PA)
Date/Time: Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017 / 1 PM – 2:30 PM ET
Location: First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, 1710 Bethlehem Pike, Flourtown, PA

Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Date/Time: Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017 / 2 PM PT
Location: Camp Withycombe, 15300 SE Minuteman Way, Clackamas, OR

February 27th
Mike Kelly (R-PA)
Date/Time: Monday, Feb. 27, 2017 / 7:15 AM – 8:15 AM ET
PARTICIPATION DETAILS: To participate, dial 877-228-2184 and enter event ID 19013 at the time of the event.

March 1st
Don Beyer (D-VA)
Date/Time: Wednesday, March 1, 2017 / 5:45 PM – 6:45 PM ET
PARTICIPATION DETAILS: 877-229-8493 Access code: 114941

Joe Wilson (R-SC)
Date/Time: Wednesday, March 1, 2017 / 6 PM ET
PARTICIPATION DETAILS Sign up here: https://vekeo.com/repjoewilson/

John Culberson (R-TX)
Date/Time: Wednesday, March 1, 2017 / 6 PM CT
PARTICIPATION DETAILS Sign up here to participate: http://culberson.house.gov/telephone-town-hall/

Mike Bishop (R-MI)
Date/Time: Wednesday, March 1, 2017 / 7 PM – 8 PM ET
PARTICIPATION DETAILS If you haven’t already been added to our list and are a constituent, call our team to join:
– Washington, DC office: 202-225-4872
– Brighton, MI office: 810-227-8600

Chris Stewart (R-UT)
Date/Time: Wednesday, March 1, 2017 / 7 PM MT
PARTICIPATION DETAILS Sign up here: https://vekeo.com/repchrisstewart/

March 3rd
Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Date/Time: Friday, March 3, 2017 / 8:30 AM CT
Location: Butler Village Hall, 12621 W. Hampton Ave., Butler, WI

Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Date/Time: Friday, March 3, 2017 / 9:30 AM CT
Location: Lannon Village Hall, 20399 W. Main St., Lannon, WI

Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Date/Time: Friday, March 3, 2017 / 10:15 AM CT
Location: N64 W23760 Main St. Sussex , WI

Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Date/Time: Friday, March 3, 2017 / 11:15 AM CT
Location: Merton Village Hall, N67W28343 Sussex Road, Merton, WI

Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Date/Time: Friday, March 3, 2017 / 1:15 PM CT
Location: Nashotah Village Hall, N44W32950 Watertown Plank Road, Nashotah , WI

Mark Sanford (R-SC)
Date/Time: Friday, March 3, 2017 / 2 PM
Location: Technical College of the Lowcountry, 921 Ribaut Road, Beaufort, SC

Randy Hultgren (R-IL)
Date/Time: Friday, March 3, 2017 / 2:30 PM – 4 PM CT
Location: American Legion Fox River, 22 S. 2nd St., Geneva, IL

Derek Kilmer (D-WA)
Date/Time: Friday, March 3, 2017 / 5:30 PM – 7 PM PT
Location: 7th Street Theater, 313 7th St., Hoquiam, WA

March 4th
Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Date/Time: Saturday, March 4, 2017 / 9 AM CT
Location: Delafield City Hall, 500 Genesee St., Delafield , WI

Anna Eshoo (D-CA)
Date/Time: Saturday, March 4, 2017 / 10 AM – 11:30 AM PT
Location: Campbell Heritage Theater, 1 W. Campbell Ave., Campbell , CA

Adam Smith (D-WA)
Date/Time: Saturday, March 4, 2017 / 10 AM – 11:30 AM PT
Location: The Rainier Arts Center, 3515 S. Alaska St., Seattle, WA
Space is limited so please RSVP by calling (425)793-5180 or Toll Free at (888) SMITH09. You can also email rsvpsmith@mail.house.gov

Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Date/Time: Saturday, March 4, 2017 / 1 PM CT
Location: Lake Mills Public Library, 120 E. Madison St., Lake Mills, WI

Jim Himes (D-CT)
Date/Time: Saturday, March 4, 2017 / 2:30 PM ET
Location: University of Connecticut Stamford GenRe Auditorium, 1 University Place, Stamford, CT

Seth Moulton (D-MA)
Date/Time: Saturday, March 4, 2017 / 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM ET
Location: Reading Public Library Community Room, 64 Middlesex Ave., Reading, MA

March 5th
Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Date/Time: Sunday, March 5, 2017 / 1 PM CT
Location: Juneau Community Center, 500 Lincoln Drive, Juneau , WI

March 6th
Derek Kilmer (D-WA)
Date/Time: Monday, March 6, 2017 / 5:30 PM – 7 PM PT
Location: Sequim High School Auditorium, 503 N. Sequim Ave., Sequim, WA

Donald Norcross (D-NJ)
Date/Time: Monday, March 6, 2017 / 6:30 PM ET
Location: Bellmawr Ballroom, 29 Lewis Ave., Bellmawr, NJ
Register here: https://sparkcreative.wufoo.com/forms/rjhfs8w1mz0lr0/

March 11th
Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Date/Time: Saturday, March 11, 2017 / 9 AM CT
Location: Germantown Village Hall, N112W17001 Mequon Road, Germantown, WI

Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Date/Time: Saturday, March 11, 2017 / 1 PM CT
Location: Brookfield Public Safety Building, 2100 N. Calhoun Road, Brookfield , WI

March 12th
Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Date/Time: Sunday, March 12, 2017 / 1 PM CT
Location: Hartford City Hall, 109 N. Main St., Hartford, WI

March 13th
Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Date/Time: Monday, March 13, 2017 / 7 PM CT
Location: Wauwatosa Public Library, 7635 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa , WI

Don Beyer (D-VA)
Date/Time: Monday, March 13, 2017 / 7 PM – 9 PM ET
Location: Gum Springs Community Center, 8100 Fordson Road, Alexandria, VA

March 18th
Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Date/Time: Saturday, March 18, 2017 / 9 AM CT
Location: West Bend City Hall, 1115 S. Main St., West Bend, WI

Pete Sessions (R-TX)
Date/Time: Saturday, March 18, 2017 / 12:30 PM ET
Location: Richardson High School, 1250 Belt Line Road, Richardson, TX
RSVP here: https://sessions.house.gov/services/town-hall-meetings

Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Date/Time: Saturday, March 18, 2017 / 1 PM CT
Location: West Allis Public Library, 7421 W. National Ave., West Allis, WI

March 19th
Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Date/Time: Sunday, March 19, 2017 / 1 PM CT
Location: Richfield Village Hall, 4125 Hubertus Road, Richfield, WI

NLGJA: Keep Black History Month Black PT. 1

Wherein, I, Faith Cheltenham, ask NLGJA to "Keep Black History Month Black" PT. 1

(the email that went out to National Association of Gay and Lesbian Journalists subscribers today featuring some amazing Black LGBTQ writers and white Buzzfeed LGBTQ writer Dominic Holden...)

EMAIL TITLE: 

NLGJA Continues to Honor Black History Month 

To honor Black History Month, NLGJA is highlighting the work of our members who have contributed to broader understanding of LGBTQ issues in the black community. Each year NLGJA honors journalists who write on a wide array of issues related to the LGBTQ community reaching different audiences across many platforms. This week we recognize Tre’vell Anderson, Dominic Holden and The Advocate magazine, all of whom have received recognition in our Excellence in Journalism Award program for their positive impact on the representation of the black LGBTQ community and diversity in the media. 

Tre’vell Anderson’s L.A. Times article on the decline of black gay clubs in Los Angeles was runner-up for NLGJA’s Excellence in Feature Writing (Non-daily) Award. Anderson shows the importance of black-owned gay clubs at a time when racial discrimination was a major issue all over the country. “There was no space where black gays could enjoy themselves in one another's company,” writes Anderson, “escaping what they saw as the racial discrimination of West Hollywood and the homophobia of the African American community.” As a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Internet dating and other changes in the LGBTQ community, black gay bars have been going through financial hardship, resulting in the closure of the historic Catch disco in L.A. Now many in the black LGBTQ opt to spend their nights in West Hollywood, which shunned them only 40 years ago.
The Advocate magazine received the Excellence in Profile Writing Award for its “40 Under 40: Intersectional Voices” spotlight. The Advocate featured many prominent, diverse members of the LGBTQ community including Alicia Garcia and Patrisse Cullors, two co-founders of Black Lives Matter, and Michelle Garcia, an NLGJA member and Race & Identities Senior Editor at Vox. The article underscores the important contributions of diverse, young individuals who have made significant contributions to the black LGBTQ community, as well as other minority communities.

SOUNDS GOOD RIGHT, WHO DOESN'T LOVE VOX'S MICHELLE GARCIA WHO ALSO HAS AN AMAZING MOM WHO WRITES THE MOST EMPOWERING BOOKS? BUT WAIT....

Writing about the high rates of violence against black trans women in Detroit for BuzzFeed, Dominic Holden was runner-up for NLGJA’s Excellence in News Writing (Non-daily) Award. In the story Holden pushes back against the stereotype that violence against black trans women results from their involvement as sex workers. “The circumstances of each killing are different, and by no means is sex work a common thread among all transgender women or among those who were killed,” writes Holden. “Still, in several cases in recent years, cops have treated transgender women as sex workers regardless - sometimes making arrests and then releasing the women - even though there was no evidence of sex work.” Holden’s article challenges stereotypes based on assumptions about race and gender identity, and promotes better understanding of an often marginalized community.
The deadline to nominate someone for one of NLGJA’s Excellence in Journalism Awards is approaching fast, so remember to submit your nominations soon! More information can be found on NLGJA’s website.

OH MAN! NO WAY YOU DID NOT JUST ACKNOWLEDGE A WHITE GUY FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH! 

These Women Together: Or, Why I Sat My Black Femme Ass Out Of The "Women's March"

Photo Caption: Tombstone that reads #WhiteFeminism May 29th 1851 - Nov 9th 2016 and underneath it says in purple scrawl “my feminism will be intersectional, or, it will not be.”

Photo Credit: Faith Cheltenham

While I understand the intentionality surrounding the #womensmarch, I haven't willingly walked alongside #whitefeminism since that one time I kept writing for UCLA's Outwrite after my student editor went to press (against my objections) with a cover of a white woman in plantation garb next to a smiling Black woman both gazing with joy on a "mirror of history" touting the success of "lesbian rights". Ouch.

Nearly two decades later, a wiser and more woke Faith has questions. For instance: if millions of women marched today, were they engaged in explicitly anti-racist, anti-white supremacy conversations while they passed out handouts from Showing Up for Racial Justice?

Photo Caption: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting march poster, proving once again Quakers might just be the only white folks Black folks can trust, going back (checks watch) about 360 years. Photo Credit: PYM

Solidarity looks like people who may lose benefit, status or privilege, still making a conscious choice to protest their own access to that same privilege (peace tip: follow Dr. Larycia Hawkins on Twitter to learn about "embodied solidarity".)

Photo Caption/Credit: Timeline of anti-slavery movement within the Society of Friends, Bryn Mawr

To me solidarity looks like Quaker icon George Fox calling for abolishment of both Black and Native slavery in 1657, and it looks like Black Panther co-founder Huey Newton support for gay and women's liberation in 1970. Both had something to lose by standing up, and did so anyways. Are women’s marches today in that same vein of solidarity?

Many articles abound stating the women's marches have dealt well with questions surrounding inclusion, but you know me! I write about queer white tears, so I'll brew tea and ask questions now.

When black lives don't matter over your venti pumpkin spice latte

When Black lives don't matter over your venti pumpkin spice latte

Are #womenmarches "just another white thing?” Like safety pins, or pumpkin spice lattes? Will these marchers still be marching when Trump's new administration begins longtime detainment of anti-police or anti-Trump activists, promotes gay normality at the cost of bisexual lives, or cozies up closer to oil with quiet support from progressive leaders who fall for "making the best of it" logic? Will these marchers allow for "gay marriage" to be traded for Black and Brown lives?

Or, could these women who marched today continue to march further in the new year? Will they bring their protest signs home and stay ready to go when the next Black life is lost, when Brown people are detained or deported, the next time we lose a bisexual kid a week to their own hand, or when Native people next die for their land? Will we ever see these women marching again? For nations, or for people and lives that aren't them?

As a Black woman, resistance is a minute by minute meditation that delivers me my continued existence. I've been marching so long that my feet have a hard time remembering any other way to walk. I've been standing on street corners fighting for my rights, your rights, and everyone who needs rights, for as long as I can remember. Tired now, your turn!

Image Caption: Photo of Missile System setup on 1/18/17 and pointed at Standing Rock. ICYMI. Photo Credit: Gary Cook, Indian Country Media Network

To all my Black women who braved it today, you have my utmost respect and continued awe. I hope your signs were as on point as Get Equal co-director Angela Peoples’ was today (captured below by equality photographer bychubbz.)

I think this photo is going viral.. can y'all credit me and @MsPeoples if you get a chance!? #bychubbz #WomensMarch #WomensMarchOnWashington pic.twitter.com/tTa901RCnd

— W.E.B. Da Boss (@afroCHuBBZ) January 21, 2017

And to all my Black women at home today, I see us and love us for OUR STRENGTH, OUR SPIRIT AND OUR WILLINGNESS TO KEEP LOVING. Most of us will happily celebrate any women, for any reason, at any time, forever and ever amen; even though we rarely find Black women or our work celebrated in a similar way. Or did my Wikipedia page spring into existence yet?

I know I've done enough, and I certainly know thousands of Black women still unrecognized for their hard work, thought leadership, and bravery who don't have a Wikipedia page, monuments, Vanguard awards, or even close to the same salary as their white female counterparts working the same jobs.

We grind away ever awash in seas of rising misogynoir, the term queer Black feminist Dr. Moya Bailey coined for the discrimination, prejudice and unchecked fear of black women. Black girls be feared, then suffer the indignity of experiencing those that fear them also trying to bounce to Beyoncè with them too, as if we didn't notice. As if, bitches, as if!

Image Caption: Beyoncè in Lemonade singing "you know I give you life!" in an animated gif. Image Credit: Imagr.

#whitefeminism, or the myopic fight for "white women only" gender equality, didn't start in 1851 but I love to point out Sojourner Truth spoke her famous speech on equality to a room full of white women recently interrupted by #mansplaining white men.

Like every Black woman who's ever lived, Sojourner Truth pulled double duty that day. In less than 400 words, she pushed back on both the white male Christian pastors who had just interrupted a women's convention, and the white women in the audience hoping she'd decline to mention slavery in her rousing defense of women's equality (she didn't).

Photo Caption: Image of Sojourner Truth from Google Art Project on Wikipedia, with her "these women together" quote. Did you know? Sojourner Truth freed herself after being born 2 years after NY "Gradual Emancipation" deadline that would have legally freed her.

Image Credit: Faith Cheltenham/thefayth.net

The Soujourner Truth memorial website says cheers began to rise at that conference in Akron, Ohio, as Sojourner Truth spoke a message that would embolden centuries of women and femmes. As part of my undying thanks to Sojourner Truth, I reprint her speech in full and advise you to hear her Dutch accented voice speaking to you today, as clearly as she did then.

“Ain’t I a Woman?” as recounted by Frances Gage

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that ‘twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what’s all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man–when I could get it–and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what’s this they call it? [member of audience whispers, “intellect”] That’s it, honey. What’s that got to do with women’s rights or negroes’ rights? If my cup won’t hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain’t got nothing more to say. 

- SOJOURNER TRUTH 

In the coming months and years, I hope to see many Sojourner Truth's atop many a stump fiery speech in progress. And we should not just be listened to. More than anything, I urge white women to look for their leadership from Black women too.

Follow Black women, support Black women, pay Black women, listen to Black women, love Black women and let yourself be led by Black women. Signs of health in Black women leaders can look like their ability to make (and keep friends), their ability to cross aisles while keeping themselves whole, their openness to take money to get hungry mouths fed and their avowed desire to make every life on this planet matter...like Black women's lives (whether cis or trans) should matter.

If millions of white women marched today, some of them had to have voted for Trump too. Wear a pussy hat if you like, but if we're to have any hope of gathering "these women together" to make the world right and keep it so, you'll need to keep your eyes wide open for #whitefeminism too.

Photo Caption: Faith Cheltenham with Bisexual Pride Flag and the words Black Bisexual Lives Matter on the image.

Photo Credit: Faith Cheltenham / thefayth.net

Further reading:
WATCH: On Intersectionality in Feminism and Pizza

Ready To Ditch White Feminism - Everyday Feminism

Explaining White Privilege To A Broke White Person - HuffPost

Intersectionality, an intellectual history by Professor Ange-Marie Hancock

Protocol and Principles for White People Working to Support the Black Liberation Movement - Bay Area Solidarity Action Team

LGBTQPOC Articles on #Orlando

I think darkest days are made brighter when you can help, and it was an honor provide social media consultation to Equality Florida last year as they developed their fund-raising efforts to support the victims and survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting. In the end Equality Florida raised over $9 million and you can still donate today to support their efforts to #honorthemwithaction.





Below are some articles I collected reflecting the LGBTQIA people of color (POC) response to #Orlando 

(added to The Pulse Orlando syllabus on 6/20/16)

White queers, this is a betrayal. | Woman of Qolour

https://womanofqolour.com/2016/06/17/white-queers-this-is-a-betrayal/

My Pride is Bulletproof: A Queer Puerto Rican on Life After Orlando | Rolling Stone

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/my-pride-is-bulletproof-a-queer-puerto-rican-on-life-after-orlando-20160616

Whitewashing the Orlando shooting victims only makes LGBTQ people of color more vulnerable to violence - Vox

http://www.vox.com/2016/6/16/11954668/whitewashing-orlando-victims-lgbt-violence

How To Be Tender With Your Grief While Holding Orlando In Your Heart – This Bridge Called Our Health: (Re)imagining Our Minds, Bodies, and Spirits

https://thisbridgecalledourhealth.wordpress.com/2016/06/14/how-to-be-tender-with-your-grief-while-holding-orlando-in-your-heart/

Activist: Latinx LGBTQ Community & Its Stories of Survival Should Be at Center of Orlando Response | Democracy Now!

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/6/14/activist_latinx_lgbtq_community_its_stories

American Ugliness: Queer and Trans People of Color Say "Not in Our Names"

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/36430-american-ugliness-queer-and-trans-people-of-color-say-not-in-our-names

Pulse Nightclub Shooting Robbed the LGBT Latinx Community of a Sanctuary

http://remezcla.com/features/music/pulse-nightclub-sanctuary/

An East Bay Queer Artist-of-Color on Orlando's Horrific Nightclub Shooting | Opinion | East Bay Express

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/an-east-bay-queer-and-trans-artist-of-color-on-orlandos-horrific-nightclub-shooting/Content?oid=4832603

Orlando massacre: It’s not safe to be queer in America | Fusion

http://fusion.net/story/313181/queer-person-of-color-unsafe-america/

(30) Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement

https://www.facebook.com/Familiatqlm/videos/894654677347323/

What Queer Latinos Are Saying About The Orlando Shooting : Code Switch : NPR

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/06/13/481859852/what-queer-latinos-are-saying-about-the-orlando-shooting

Do Not Militarize Our Mourning: Orlando and the Ongoing Tragedy Against LGBTSTGNC POC | Audre Lorde Project

http://alp.org/do-not-militarize-our-mourning-orlando-and-ongoing-tragedy-against-lgbtstgnc-poc

Response to Shooting in Orlando (6/12/16)

http://www.muslimalliance.org/masgd-speaks/87-response-to-shooting-in-orlando

From Charleston to Orlando: Reflections on Massacre in a Time of Backlash — Mediumhttps://medium.com/@Lyles/from-charleston-to-orlando-reflections-on-massacre-in-the-time-of-the-right-61e546db6c86#.g2vd1hgx3

Here Is What LGBT Muslims Want You To Know After The Orlando Shooting

https://www.buzzfeed.com/skarlan/here-is-what-lgbt-muslims-want-you-to-know-after-the-orlando?utm_term=.ghLQl7mEO#.sfvb5Bgqm

Queer Latinx: Tired of Being Targets | Advocate.com

http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2016/6/15/queer-latinx-tired-being-targets

To My Fellow QTPoC Mourning the Orlando Pulse Shooting

http://wearyourvoicemag.com/identities/lgbtq-identities/qtpoc-mourning-orlando-pulse-shooting

Only When I’m Dancing Can I Feel This Free - MTV

http://www.mtv.com/news/2891842/only-when-im-dancing-can-i-feel-this-free/

Queer, Muslim, & Unwelcome at the "New Stonewall"

http://muftah.org/queer-muslim-unwelcome-new-stonewall/#.V2jJjLgrJAj

In Honor of Our Dead: Latinx, Queer, Trans, Muslim, Black — We Will Be Free | En Honor a Nuestros Muertos: Latinx, Queer, Trans, Musulmanes, Negros – Seremos Libres | Black Lives Matter

http://blacklivesmatter.com/in-honor-of-our-dead-queer-trans-muslim-black-we-will-be-free/

WeFight2Live — As we mourn the 50 dead and over 50 injured in...

http://wefight2live.tumblr.com/post/145869493810/as-we-mourn-the-50-dead-and-over-50-injured-in

Take Two | 80 percent of LGBT people killed are minorities | 89.3 KPCC

http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2016/06/14/49669/80-percent-of-lgbt-people-killed-are-minorities/

Despite the Orlando Attack, LGBT People of Color Will Find Our Resilience in Our Clubs - HIV/AIDS Resource Center for Gay Men - TheBody.com

http://www.thebody.com/content/77751/despite-the-orlando-attack-lgbt-people-of-color-wi.html

Chelsea Freed!

CHELSEA IS FREE!
Thank you, Mr. President!

Faith Cheltenham stands on stage behind President Obama (and next to Black trans civil rights icon Kylar Broadus) at the White House, July 2014 in this previously unreleased photo from her personal archives. 

I could not have thought of a more fitting gift to a community President Obama so deeply supported!

While Chelsea does not currently identify as bisexual, a rep with the Free Chelsea Network did indicate to me that she considers herself a strong bisexual ally. Through that same rep Chelsea sent her thanks to BiNet USA and the B in LGBT for our supportive efforts late last year that included a personal request or three on the manner to anyone who would listen in the White House, or elsewhere.

Many of us did the same. Worldwide many of us prayed and hoped that a member of the LGBTQIA community would be released with time served, even while some remained concerned about how to support Chelsea while also upholding convictions surrounding legalities.

Me, I'm always glad to agree with a constitutional law expert like President Obama! 

Thanks, Mr. President!

I am so proud that BiNet USA supported the efforts of the ACLU among others to #FreeChelsea via their campaign to educate folks on the difficulties she faced under a new administration. Some day I hope to see that same love and thought for far too many LGBTQIA people of color, as well as all people currently incarcerated or seeking relief from a deeply unjust system.

For today, dancing shoes.

Faith

P.S.

Sorry for running late that one time as well, Mr. President! My bad. It was an honor to stand behind you in life and in policy. Fun meme too!

FaythBeat: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Need To Know (feat. Chance The Rapper)

Appreciate. Purchase at the link.

Once a poet, always: 100% (2006)

100%
(spoken word piece by Faith Cheltenham, circa 2006)

The smallest majority has been missing from the united authority.
Thousands of years
no women in class
no different brain to test
and then re-test
Welcome to my scientific method's  historical perspective.

My theory has never been women are best, just a simple idea:
make society whole
an addition of the other 49 percent
to the 50, maybe 49.9 men
just trying to equal a hundred percent.

Feminism isn't just women on top, or an
"unbalancing of natural order".

Instead it questions, what has always been best
lying in the mud
picking off fleas
living fancy free
as sumthin after ape and monkey
in fact many great minds agree
our ancestors once lived in somewhat separate societies
males come ravishing and ravaging
women are forced flat on their backs
pelvic bone evolve from aggression?
just a small crack at someone's "history" of sex.

Then in 2005 came a published study on the female g-spot
within are hypersurrealpulsingfleshyinsides nerves a twitching a tingling
Women themselves sit on a fount of sexual feeling but only 26% us regularly come?
And while we're at it, why is Cosmopolitan the only reputable source
with current information on this horrifying situation?

See the deep flaw in forgotten history lessons and see thaw the balance.
Separate spheres are what historians call it
Women living whole lives without being recognized

I could leave you to ponder what it would be like if women made 100 percent, 

instead I'll tell you more of what I spent years studying
and study still since.

It's not easy carving a path out of the male road
bringing the bone back
to suggest I'm already whole
and it's more than the bible that gets me going 

when creative evolution intelligently designed by men
is now again on my mind.

Some demand answers from me
"How-dare-you-question-this-foundation-of-mine
science-is-without-god-we-see-the-world-as-it-is
don't you consider yourself well-read?"

I shake my head and chuckle thinking about this hundred percent.

For I've been 'round the world and back
in a boat called a book
traveling lanes of time
attempting in vain to have considered
every great moment of "man":

Been to the Nile and seen Cleopatra,
"Too much inbreeding" and "Chick was Ugly dude"?
And how was it that she captivated Caesars, strategically planned, got hitched to an empire and then screwed up for the wrong man?

Seen Boudica rallying tribes in the cold and Sheba and her gold.

Visited Vietnam where Trung Trae and Trung Nhi led 80,000 to rebellious victory, 40AD.

Zenobia and her version of Arabian Nights, minting her own money to call Rome out for a fight
or Candace on elephant holding Ethiopia tight, denying even Alexander the Great; 

A line of women warrior queens lasting 300 years, yet of THEM what have we heard?

Salaym Bint Malham fought with Muhammad, armor of swords and daggers, strapped round her pregnant belly. Yes, this happened, really!

Studying them that were forever victors in name means most times
we only hear of women losing battles
Or we only hear the tales of their death rattle.

Without a proper sense of context,
how can you know the world's missing half it's head?

The most dangerous stupidity.

Women have the highest risk for heart disease 

but I suppose it makes men feel better about our longevity?
Shouldn't it anger us all that it was only real recently figured 

that interactions with testosterone keep female hearts from properly pumping?
Medical selves aside, there's also other wounds women take, day after day,
a way we live our whole lives
in a wake:

The delivery guy we accidentally let in
while searching for change to give him
just the men unknown
let's not forget that in 2004
the FBI said 50 percent!
of ALL women
will be domestically battered sometime in their lives
Laci Petersen and child float up from the mire
and men snatch life after life sometimes with a on-camera smile.

C'mon you'll get it
we've got to get to 100 percent!

What this then mean?
GIRLS on football teams?
G.I. Jill fighting in combat?
President Clinton part deux?

Well, jeez haven't we already had Bush II?
Don't women prove themselves in battle again and again?
After they're trotted out like Lassie
"OH how brave to do something
no one knew you could
how brave of you to live".

Let's do that all the time.

LIVE!

I'll tell you a secret,
though you can Google it easy
over the last 50 years the female birth rate's been rising
also people are beginning to value a girl for a kid
for the first time there are lower numbers of female infants dying

May sheer numbers soon = 100 %

Tis The Simple Things: Cut and Core Cauliflower Quickly

File this under things I always wished I would have known...

How to Cut and Core Cauliflower from Simply Recipes on Vimeo.