Gay Activist Michelle C. Bonilla Speaks OUT

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Alma Award-winning actor Michelle C. Bonilla, one the first openly gay Latina actors in Hollywood. Bonilla appeared for 12 Seasons on NBC’s ER as the sexy Latina paramedic "Harms" in one of the first ongoing lesbian roles on network television. Michelle C. Bonilla and Matt Crabtree have created a new sitcom web series “Failing Upwards” that follows a group of four unlikely friends who find themselves going through unemployment together. Each of the characters, inept in their own special way, ends up surprising themselves, each other and the audience with the hilarity of finding a job, even if you have to lie to get one. We talked to Michelle about her new series, how the Latino vote helped re-elect Obama and her spin on our LGBT Issues.

When asked what her personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights and coming out in Hollywood, Bonilla stated, “I am very much a proponent for the Human Rights Campaign. I love what they stand for and I’m just really getting the word out about equality in our community. First of all I believe that whoever you are as an individual you have to be true to yourself. My truth at that time I came out was that I’m a lesbian Latina working in Hollywood and I had nothing to hide and feel no shame about it. A lot of questions that came up for me was like ‘are you sure you want to do this?’ Agents asked me worried about what casting directors would think or producers would think. I have been acting for quite a long time and I felt that producers already knew me for my talent and what I have done as an actor and when I go into a room for an audition I don’t think that being gay is the thing they’re thinking about. They’re thinking can you do this job. So I’ve been very lucky in the sense that I’ve been judged based on my talent and not my sexuality.”

 Besides “Failing Upwards” Michelle C. Bonilla’s recent credits include “Luck”, “Model Minority”, “Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior” and “The Closer”. She also co-stars with Lauren Birriel in the award winning short “Slip Away” about lovers caught in a web of desire, deception and untruth that’s available on Amazon.
For More Info: failingupwardstheseries.com 

 Watch Video

CHECK OUT OUR NEW STREAMING SITE

VISIT OUR OUTTAKE™ EQUALITY STORE

OUTTAKE VOICES on iTunes

Gay Israeli Chef Gil Hovav Speaks OUT

 In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Gil Hovav, Israel's leading culinary journalist and television personality. Gil was recently in Boston in celebration of “Out In Israel Month” a program to educate about the status of civil rights for LGBT Israeli citizens and exchange ideas about our LGBT community in both Israel and Massachusetts. We talked to Hovav about this, LGBT issues, his newest cookbook “Confessions of a Kitchen Rebbetzin” and his spin on the current Gaza conflict.

When asked what his personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights, Hovav stated, “To tell you the truth I’m not a very political person. So I usually do not lead pride. Sometimes because I’m known in Israel they ask me to join this fight or another and I always do it gladly but I’m not a picket sign holder. I think that the most important thing when you reach a certain level of celebrity is to be out because otherwise it’s a bad example for youngsters. Of course I am against outing but I think that it’s my moral duty to be as out as I can, to speak to people, to talk to people about my loving family, of my relationship with my boyfriend and our relationship with our daughter. The fact is our life is no different then the lives of straight couples that live around us, with us, and the fact that life can be really good and full and happy when you are gay.”

Gil began his career as a restaurant critic, became an editor in Israel's leading newspaper, and was involved in the creation of some of Israel's most popular television cooking and food shows. These shows include the classic "Pepper, Garlic and Olive Oil", "Captain Cook" and "Going to the Market". The series were later turned into best-selling cookbooks. Currently Hovav is busy with his publishing and production company Toad Communications and lecturing worldwide. Gil lives with his partner of 24 years whom he met during their army service and together they raise their nine-year-old daughter Naomi.
For More Info: outinisrael.org 

CHECK OUT OUR NEW STREAMING SITE

VISIT OUR OUTTAKE™ EQUALITY STORE

OUTTAKE VOICES on iTunes

Gay Activist Rev. Irene Monroe Speaks OUT

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with syndicated religion columnist Reverend Irene Monroe whose columns appear in 43 cities across the country and in the U.K. Monroe states that her columns are an interdisciplinary approach drawing on critical race theory, African American, gay and religious studies. As a religion columnist she tries to inform the public of the role religion plays in discrimination against LGBT people. Since homophobia is consistently acted upon “in the name of religion,” she aims to highlight how religious intolerance and fundamentalism not only shatters the goal of American democracy but also aids in perpetuating other forms of oppression such as racism, sexism, classism and anti-Semitism. We talked to her about this and how Obama’s second term will effect the future of our LGBT civil rights.

When asked what her personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights, Monroe stated, “My commitment to the LGBT community begins with me. It’s sort of like how do I with my multiple identities, you know Afro American, lesbian, religious on a good day, how do I live those intersections with integrity? One of the things I found out getting involved with various organizations at the beginning, and they have changed enormously I must say from where they started and where I’ve started with them, they look at these issues in a much more integrated way which is one of the reasons GLAD gave me the Spirit of Justice Award and to shed light on the many intersections of oppression and how do we do that with not only integrity but bring a lot more people in our struggle, which we would be much better off doing. So I felt with GLAD for instance bringing how do you reach out to the Afro American community in a way that not only speaks about particular needs, but also speaks to their particular cultural ways of expressing or wanting to be expressed around issues that not only impact them but also impacts the LGBT community. Too often as you know the black community has felt like they’ve been 'pimped', that’s the terminology that they’ve used, by the LGBT community. So it’s been ways of how to make those connections.”

Rev. Monroe is the 2012 recipient of the GLAD (Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders) Spirit of Justice Award. She’s a graduate from Wellesley College and Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University and served as a pastor at an African-American church before coming to Harvard Divinity School for her doctorate as a Ford Fellow. Monroe, a Huffington blogger, was chosen by MSNBC as "10 Black women you should know." Monroe has also been profiled in O, Oprah Magazine and CNNs Paula Zahn Now and "CNN Headline News." She lives with her partner in Cambridge Massachusetts.
For More Info: irenemonroe.com

CHECK OUT OUR NEW STREAMING SITE

VISIT OUR OUTTAKE™ EQUALITY STORE

OUTTAKE VOICES on iTunes