Robin Lowey Talks Game Changers, ClexaCon & More (AUDIO)

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Robin Lowey about her book "Game Changers, Lesbians You Should Know About” that morphed into her panel at ClexaCon, Las Vegas on April 6th. Lowey is a graphic artist who was inspired to create this book after the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful Education Act was signed into law in California in 2011. The legislation requires state curriculum to include contributions of LGBTQ people into textbooks. “Game Changers, Lesbians You Should Know About” is laid out in a whimsical fashion with colorful graphics and even a card with factoids about each woman featured. Lowey raised more than $20,000 through crowd funding to publish her book and she’s in the process of giving the book to all the public high schools and community colleges in Marin, San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland. She hopes her book will help young people learn more about our LGBTQ history. ClexaCon is the annual media and entertainment convention for LGBTQ women and allies that brings together over 3500 participants from over 40 countries and all 50 U.S. states to celebrate the best of LGBTQ+ TV and film and discuss how to improve representation across all media platforms from April 5th to 9th in Las Vegas at the Tropicana Hotel. Robin’s panel at ClexaCon is entitled “Game Changers – How These Outliers Impacted Queer Culture” and will address our community before Ellen, The L Word and Orange Is The New Black when lesbians were often at great risk in pursuit of community and culture. Many women lost their jobs, were thrown in jail and kicked out of families when their identities were revealed. Nevertheless they persisted. This is an opportunity to hear the stories of lesbians and lesbian culture that paved the way for where we are today. Lowey will be joined by journalist Kathy Belge and Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson who will share their experiences throughout the decades. We talked to Robin about her inspiration for writing this fabulous book, what she hopes to accomplish at ClexaCon and her spin on our LGBTQ issues.

When asked what her personal commitment is to LGBTQ equality Lowey stated, “Well my biggest commitment is to be out in all things that I do and that has not always been the case. I’m the type of person that looks pretty straight and people assume I’m straight and all my life I’ve had to like say ‘no I’m gay’. So I think it’s important to be out and you know just make stuff happen like this book. You find something. For me, it was how can I bring something to the world to make a difference. So that’s my commitment. Work hard to make something happen with the talents I’ve been given.”

Robin Lowey was born into a family of artists and designers and has worked in advertising and marketing for over 30 years. Lowey is editor and creative director of Epochalips: Smart Lesbian Commentary that she founded in 2010. A Northern California native she’s a member of the LGBTQ Speakers Bureau and enjoys surfing, snowboarding, hiking and badminton. Robin is the proud mother of two beautiful young men now 21 and 27 who are both strong feminists having grown up in a two-mom household.
For More Info: lesbiangamechangerscom
LISTEN: Danielle Jablonski Talks ClexaCon Convention Las Vegas 

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Pulse Survivor Talks No NRA Money Pledge & More (AUDIO)

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Brandon Wolf, Vice President of The Dru Project and a survivor of the Pulse Nightclub Massacre about the recent nationwide launch of the No NRA Money Pledge campaign that has already reached over 60 million people online and has drawn more than 200 candidates and lawmakers who are publicly refusing funding and support from the National Rifle Association. Minority Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined the pledge and urged her colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join her. Other early signers include Carlos Guillermo Smith a Florida state representative whose Orlando district includes the Pulse Nightclub where 49 people were killed in an attack that targeted a mostly young, gay and Latino crowd. There are also 16 signers from Colorado where the mass shooting at Columbine High School focused national attention on this issue in 1999. In the past weeks several key organizers of the #NeverAgain movement have amplified the #NoNRAMoney campaign focusing more attention on the NRA’s strong arm tactics for blocking progress on gun safety. Brandon talks about what he would like to accomplish with both The Dru Project and the No NRA Money Pledge and his spin on our LGBTQ issues.

When asked what his personal commitment is to LGBTQ equality Wolf stated, “I think we’ve made a ton of progress on equality. I think that we have a lot to be proud of as a community for how far we’ve come in such a short amount of time. There are a lot of movements in this country. There are a lot of disenfranchised groups that have been fighting for their rights as long as they can remember and they haven’t come nearly as close as we have. But my personal commitment is that we continue to move forward; that we continue to move towards a place where we don’t have to feel like we’re fighting for our rights every single day. A place where you can’t be fired just for being LGBTQ; a place where harassment and discrimination are not legalized; a place where I don’t have to go to a nightclub looking for the exits because I don’t fear someone is going to harm me for who I am. My personal commitment is to again empower young people, a new generation of leaders that are going to challenge the status quo and say we’ve done a hell of a lot of great work but we’re not done doing great work until everyone in this country, everyone no matter black, white, brown, blue, LGBTQ feel safe in their own skin and I’m personally committed to amplifying that message until we get it done.”

Brandon Wolf is Vice President of The Dru Project an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization whose mission is to spread love across the nation and promote gay straight alliances. The organization is named after Christopher Andrew Leinonen and his partner Juan Ramon Guerrero who were among the 49 killed at Pulse Nightclub on June 12th 2016. The Dru Project also offers scholarships to students who truly exemplify Drew's spirit for inclusion and unity.
For No NRA Money Info: nonramoney.org

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Danielle Jablonski Talks ClexaCon Convention Las Vegas (AUDIO)

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Danielle Jablonski one of the executive directors of the second annual ClexaCon Convention that takes place in Las Vegas April 5th through April 9th at the Tropicana Hotel. ClexaCon is a media and entertainment convention for LGBTQ women and allies that brings together actresses, directors, producers, writers, comic book illustrators, visual artists, academics and fans from over 40 countries and all 50 U.S. states to celebrate the best of LGBTQ+ TV and film and discuss how to improve representation across all media platforms. It also hosts a series of panels on a multitude of topics, workshops, charity events, parties as well as a three-day film festival and a loud message of gender equality, female empowerment, diversity and inclusion. Nothing is more crucial and urgently important today than diversity and inclusion and not just in Hollywood but in all business models and fields. This is where ClexaCon comes in as a leader in an industry-wide conversation to effectively rally together the decision makers and influencers of our community to formulate and put forth real change to counter the lack of representation for LGBTQ+ women in front and behind the camera. With that in mind ClexaCon aims to foster dialogue around various aspects of diversity including gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and age among others. We talked to Danielle about what she hopes to accomplish at ClexaCon Las Vegas and her spin on our LGBTQ issues.

When asked what her personal commitment is to LGBTQ equality Jablonski stated, “I believe that we all need to stand up and take action in whatever way that we’re able to in our own personal lives. For me LGBTQ equality is something that I’ve always been passionate about. I actually started a nonprofit LGBTQ sports organization years ago which I ran for five years and it’s still going strong. So when the opportunity came up to get involved in something that combines issues around LGBTQ equality and media which is something I’m passionate about it was just a no brainer for me to jump in and do everything I can to talk about this issue, educate around it and on what we can do to make it better.”

ClexaCon was created and is run by Holly Winebarger, Ashley Arnold and Danielle Jablonski with the goal to provide a safe space and a world-wide community of LGBTQ+ women and allies who love TV, film, comics and books and to encourage more LGBTQ+ women to get involved in content creation and to embolden allies to improve representation for LGBTQ+ characters in their creative work. ClexaCon started as a simple meet-up to unite fans of LGBTQ+ pop culture and evolved into a full-blown convention with over 2,000 attendees last year and is expected to welcome over 3,000 attendees in Las Vegas April 5th through April 9th as well as ClexaCon in London, UK from November 2nd to November 4th 2018.
For More Info & Tix: clexacon.com

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