Gay Activist Dalila Ali Rajah Speaks OUT

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson talks with Dalila Ali Rajah, Co-Creator, Executive Producer and one of the hosts of “Cherry Bomb” now on Shewired.com. Each week Dalila Ali Rajah, Tatum De Roeck, Gloria Bigelow and Nikki Caster chat with various “celesbian” guests, who take the hot seat between the four beautiful yet hard-hitting hosts. No questions are off-limits and no subject is taboo. Additionally, the individual hosts branch out and present unique segments featuring viewer videos, hot trends, pop culture news, and hilarious commentary. The SheWired.com audience will return again and again for "Cherry Bomb’s" outrageous and entertaining view on current events.

When asked what her personal commitment was to LGBT civil rights Dalila stated, “Clearly I want equality. I try and do my best to use my talents and skills to the best of my ability to help make change and shift things. Civil rights and equality are important to me. So I’ve always been one of those people that takes the time to actually use challenging moments as teachable moments. Whereas I’ve found a lot of people, just are like “Oh that’s ignorant. I’m not going to address that.” I actually take the time to explain what’s going on and the reason why something is ignorant or the reason why something doesn’t work or something is prejudice. In particular with LGBT issues. I’ve had this issue around civil rights for Afro-Americans as well…I think the additional thing with LGBT rights is also coupled with religious beliefs and there’s a need for people who are willing to have the conversation. Not from a place where your religious beliefs are wrong because that invalidates their belief system, which for someone who really believes in their own spiritual base, that’s really important to them. It’s fundamentally who they are. So just having a discussion with them from the place where you’re invalid isn’t going to get anybody anywhere. There’s a need for people willing to have the discussion not from disrespecting someone’s religion, whether or not I agree with it, but from a place that even with your religion and your views, my civil rights are important and this is why it’s actually important to you that I have them. Because actually it will serve you that I have them, not just me.”
For More Info: CherryBombTV.com

To help promote “Cherry Bomb’s” new home on SheWired.com, the women will travel to this year’s The Dinah Weekend, presented by Club Skirts and being held March 31–April 4 in Palm Springs, Calif. "Cherry Bomb" will tape shows in front of a live audience in The Dinah’s SheWired Lounge and host meet-and-greets with thousands of adoring fans.
For More Info: shewired.com

CHECK OUT OUR NEW STREAMING SITE

VISIT OUR OUTTAKE™ EQUALITY STORE

OUTTAKE VOICES on iTunes

We Must Bully Proof Our Schools

UPDATE: The Massachusetts Senate voted and successfully passed Anti-Bullying Bill (S 2283). The bill requires schools to develop procedures to prevent or stop bullying and increasingly pervasive cyber-bullying by students. LGBT kids and the children of LGBT parents are frequently the targets of some of the most vicious and cruel forms of bullying and cyber bullying. News stories of young bullying victims driven to suicide or violence necessitates quick action by our legislature. While there is no silver bullet to heal the lifetime of scars bullying can inflict, this bill forces schools to begin the process of prevention and training to protect at risk populations, like LGBT kids.

Arline Isaacson Co-Chair of The Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus stated, “The LGBT community is unfortunately all too familiar with the phenomenon of bullying. Many LGBT kids have experienced some of the cruelest and most vicious forms of bullying when they were in school. In recent years, the problem of bullying has been exacerbated by the increase in cyber bullying. Kids's homes used to provide some degree of refuge from bullies. But with the introduction of cyber-bullying, their homes are no longer any safer than being in school.

And while many people were raised to think of bullying as a normal 'right of passage', experts now recognize the serious and long term negative consequences of severe bullying. From recent teenage suicides to violent gun-laden outbursts in schools across the country, victims of bullying carry the scars of bullying for their entire lives. Educators and experts on bullying recognize that schools' responses to bullying is a critical part of the solution. When schools teach kids about what is and isn't acceptable behavior, when they train staff to intervene and more importantly how to intervene, when they keep parents informed of the situation, they can begin to change the culture of the school - and ultimately teach bullies, victims and bystanders lifetime lessons.

The Anti-Bullying bill we're lobbying will not end bullying, but it will make a huge difference to kids who are the victims of it. And it will certainly begin the very important process of changing school cultures and understandings about bullying in ways that will benefit all kids.... and hopefully save the lives of some of the most vulnerable ones. If defending LGBT kids & the kids of LGBT families makes MGLPC a 'slick special interest' AS RIGHT WING CRITICS HAVE CALLED US, then we're proud to say we are."
Call or email your state senator before Thursday (3/11/) & ask them to support Anti-Bullying Bill S2283.
Support MGLPC & Contribute Online

More Info: thetrevorproject.org

CHECK OUT OUR NEW STREAMING SITE

VISIT OUR OUTTAKE™ EQUALITY STORE

OUTTAKE VOICES on iTunes

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin Speaks OUT

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson talks with Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, the first out gay woman elected to the US House of Representatives from Wisconsin’s Second Congressional District. Baldwin is a leading advocate for universal health care and Co-Chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus. When asked what she would want to see happen for our LGBT civil rights in 2010, Congresswoman Baldwin stated, “I hope that progress follows through to bills being signed and things becoming law. So I would like us to be successful in repealing the odious “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, it’s un-American in my mind. I want to see full domestic partner benefits for federal employees and by that I ‘m referring to health benefits, family and medical leave act benefits and essentially make sure that federal LGBT employees are getting equal compensation for equal contribution to this country. I’d like to see the Employment Nondiscrimination Act passed into law. I was speaking with Congressman Frank about the progress of that measure that he authors and he believes that in the next few weeks we’ll see the committee take action on that. So those at the federal level would be very important steps forward. We started our conversation around issues of LGBT health care. If we are unable to get some of these important provisions related to research and disparities in the legislation then I think we have to continue to push for those changes in freestanding legislation. Specifically, about that, what I’m talking about is right now the federal government does not even ask questions about people's sexual orientation when they’re researching the health of the nation, when they’re taking the snapshot and observing that certain segments of the American population disproportionately carry the burden of certain disease or conditions. Well if you don’t ask the questions, you don’t produce the data and if you don’t have the data and evidence, you can’t direct relief programs funding to assure the health of the LGBT community which is of as great concern as of any other group in American society. So ultimately we have to persevere on these very important provisions.”

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin is the recipient of this year’s Dr. Susan M. Love Award presented by Fenway Health’s Women’s Dinner Party, which takes place Saturday, March 13 at The Boston Marriott Copley Place in Boston, Massachusetts and will be hosted by Comedian Kate Clinton. Each year, the Dr. Susan M. Love Award is given to honor and celebrate a woman and/or organization that has made a significant contribution to the field of women’s health. The Love Award is given in honor of its founding recipient, Dr. Susan M. Love, a pioneer in the fields of women’s health and breast cancer. Love helped found the Revlon UCLA Breast Center in 1992 and currently heads up the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, which is dedicated to eradicating breast cancer. In addition to advocating extending health care coverage to all Americans and ending health disparities for LGBT Americans and their families, Baldwin has sponsored legislation providing cancer screening to low-income and uninsured women and helped lead efforts in Congress to repeal federal restrictions on stem cell research.
Fenway Health’s Women’s Dinner Info & Tix

CHECK OUT OUR NEW STREAMING SITE

VISIT OUR OUTTAKE™ EQUALITY STORE

OUTTAKE VOICES on iTunes

Gay Filmmakers 2010 Oscar Contenders

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson talks about the upcoming Academy Awards with openly gay Filmmaker Stu Maddux and Vanessa Domico, Founder and President of Outcast Films, a distribution and production company which is dedicated to the fair and equal representation of media made by or about our LGBT community. Lee Daniels has become the first openly gay African American director to receive a nomination for “Precious” and Tom Ford’s “A Single Man” has also been nominated for Best Film which received a combined 7 Oscar nominations for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards to be aired this Sunday at 8PM on ABC. When asked what he thought about mainstream Hollywood’s representation of our LGBT community, Maddux stated, “I think we’re doing better. You know there’s always room for improvement. You look back ten years ago and this is a question you wouldn’t even be asking me. I think “Precious” and “A Single Man” are really important films. The fact that we have two Best Picture nominations by openly gay folks, I get a lot of encouragement as a filmmaker from that.” When asked about casting actors in gay roles, Domico stated, “I remember the day when no straight actor actually wanted to take a gay role because they would be forever cast as a gay man and not able to get anymore roles. It seems it’s just the opposite now.” Academy Awards 2010 Oscar Winners List

Jarrett Barrios President of The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) had this to say about the nominations for Lee Daniels “Precious” & Tom Ford’s “A Single Man”, “These films tell inclusive and diverse stories of our community which grow awareness understanding of the lives of gay & transgender people.” OUTTAKE VOICES™ will be on the Red Carpet covering the New York City GLAAD Media Awards on March 13th.
For Info & Tix: glaad.org

CHECK OUT OUR NEW STREAMING SITE

VISIT OUR OUTTAKE™ EQUALITY STORE

OUTTAKE VOICES on iTunes

Gay Activist Vanessa Domico Speaks OUT

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson talks with Vanessa Domico, Founder and President of Outcast Films, a distribution and production company which is dedicated to the fair and equal representation of media made by or about our LGBT community. Outcast Films is also an educational and activist-driven organization and in that pursuit, they provide a vehicle for voices that may not otherwise be heard. When asked what she would like to see accomplished in the Obama administration for our LGBT civil rights, Domico stated, “I have to say I’m losing patience with the Obama administration. I mean he was elected because of his promises of change and hope and we’ve seen very little of either of those things in his first year of office. You know he had so much support going in that I’m miffed as to why he didn’t use that wave of support to push through the many needed changes in this country. I mean, that said, I think “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” should be repealed immediately. There’s simply no rational reason to have it continue. There have been over a hundred Admirals and Generals that have come out in favor of ending it. And the majority of the public thinks it should end. I also think that all rights should be given to all people, whether you’re gay, straight, married or not. If the state is truly separate from the church, then I don’t understand why it’s so closely connected, why there are over a thousand more laws and rights given to those married than those who are not married. That’s a long battle.”

Vanessa Domico has served as a member of the Board of Directors for both the Pittsburgh and New York City LGBT Film Festivals and is an authority on distribution of LGBT films. She has represented both festivals as well as Women Make Movies and Outcast Films at countless festivals, panels, and other events. Outcast Films award-winning titles include "Pills Profits Protest: Chronicle of the Global AIDS Movement", "Rock Bottom: Gay Men and Meth", "Tying the Knot", "She’s A Boy I Knew", winner of 16 jury and audience awards, the complete collection of films by acclaimed, avant garde filmmaker Su Friedrich and Jean Carlomusto’s latest documentary Sex in an Epidemic, their newest release.
For More Info: Outcast-Films.com

CHECK OUT OUR NEW STREAMING SITE

VISIT OUR OUTTAKE™ EQUALITY STORE

OUTTAKE VOICES on iTunes

Gay Filmmaker Stu Maddux Speaks OUT

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson talks with Producer Director Stu Maddux about his upcoming film “Gen Silent.” In this new groundbreaking documentary Maddux puts a face on what experts in the film call an epidemic: gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender seniors so afraid of being subject to discrimination, or worse, in long-term/health care that many go back into the closet. Their surprising decisions are captured through intimate access to their day-to-day lives over the course of a year in Boston, Massachusetts. When asked what he would like to see accomplished in the Obama administration for our LGBT civil rights, Maddux stated, “From my perspective working and interviewing LGBT seniors and their spouses, it’s all about DOMA. It’s all about the Defense of Marriage Act. The Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) are doing that case to repeal section three of DOMA which defines marriage between a man and a woman. Well here’s what’s going on. People are not getting survival benefits and I am seeing couples who I know have been together in different films I have produced who are survivors, who are devastated by not having social security benefits come in. There are a lot of things that are very important on an emotional level, but on a survival level that’s the issue right now for LGBT folks, especially seniors. It's those survival benefits.”

Stu Maddux's award-winning documentaries include “Bob and Jack's 52-Year Adventure” and “Trip to Hell and Back”. His work has been televised internationally on Showtime, BBC and The Learning Channel. “Gen Silent” will have its WORLD PREMIERE at the Boston LGBT Film Festival this May.
For More Info: LGBT Aging Project
For More Info: Gen Silent
Watch Trailer

CHECK OUT OUR NEW STREAMING SITE

VISIT OUR OUTTAKE™ EQUALITY STORE

OUTTAKE VOICES on iTunes

Black Gay Activists Speak OUT

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson talks with Black Gay Activists Andrea Shorter and Edwin Seth Brown in celebration of Black History Month. Andrea Shorter is the Deputy Marriage and Coalitions Director for Equality California. She is passionate about engaging communities of color in dialogue about gay marriage. When asked what her personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights Shorter stated, “Well given the fact that I’m LGBT, that’s who I am. I’m Afro-American, I’m lesbian and in many respects it’s a labor of not only love on my part but also I’m part of the struggle too.
I want the next generation of young black lesbians and other lesbians of color to not have to live in a world where we are grappling over whether or not we can marry the person we love.”
Edwin Seth Brown is Ambassador to Germany for the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA). He began his career in the arts as a modern dancer where he acquired his love for travel. He shares his experiences of growing up black and gay in urban Los Angeles in the 50’s and 60’s. “In my community being black was very difficult. I’m in my late fifties now. When I grew up as a black person you couldn’t be gay in the community because the church was very non-accepting of same-sex practices. There was such a feeling that you had to be a man just sometimes to get down the street because I grew up in South Central Los Angeles and you had to be a very strong personality not to have somebody trying to push themselves on you or bullying you. I'm lucky, I have a strong personality.” Brown is also very outspoken about the HIV/AIDS epidemic among people of color and an advocate of HIV/AIDS prevention and education.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW STREAMING SITE

VISIT OUR OUTTAKE™ EQUALITY STORE

OUTTAKE VOICES on iTunes

Gay Activist Gary Daffin Speaks OUT

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson talks with Gary Daffin, Executive Director of the Multicultural AIDS Coalition, to get his spin on where we are in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic. MAC is the largest and oldest agency in New England focused exclusively on HIV in communities of color, working in partnership with a wide range of faith and community based organizations. Daffin who is openly gay and black states that the reason his organization is successful working with the Black Christian faith community is based on mutual respect. When asked how we can find a common thread between the LGBT community and communities of color to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Daffin stated, “I think HIV/AIDS is an area where the community of color and the black community and the gay community work very well together. Particularly, if you take the example of people living with HIV, I think that we would all do better to see how well people who come from very different backgrounds, who are dealing with the disease personally, how well they work together in creating programs and advocating, find it easy to put aside differences...In a way the disease forces us to look at what we have in common. In terms of the black community and gay community specifically you know both have strong civil rights histories that have really changed the country. And I think there are a lot of things that we can learn from each other about points in those movements that we may need support in. I think in the marriage fight we saw the other side who are against gay marriage try to utilize and pit the black community against the gay community. I think this is a mistake for us to fall into that trap. Certainly in every movement of people who are most effective, I see them working together very well and learning from each other.”

Gary Daffin also serves as Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus (MGLPC), the state’s oldest legislative advocacy organization. MGLPC played a key role in the effort to secure marriage equality in the Commonwealth and works continuously on issues such as transgender civil rights, bullying, funding for LGBT youth and elder programs. He is a past recipient of Fenway Community Health’s Gerry Studds Visibility Award and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s William A. Hinton Award for promoting the health of minority communities.
For More Info: mac-boston.org

CHECK OUT OUR NEW STREAMING SITE

VISIT OUR OUTTAKE™ EQUALITY STORE

OUTTAKE VOICES on iTunes

Gay Activist Nancy Adair Speaks OUT

 

Full List of 2010 Oscar Nominees...:)
In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson talks with Nancy Adair, one of the film directors of “Word is Out”, the 1977 groundbreaking gay iconic documentary that is being revived in a restored print and playing at Anthology Film Archives in NYC through February 4th. When asked how “Word is Out” is being received in 2010, Adair stated, “We wondered if it would be seen as just an historic document or whether it would still continue to help people and be relevant today. I think that it does both in a way. It’s a little bit dated in that the music is from the 1970’s, you know people’s clothing is a little different and so on but it is still extremely relevant. It makes people feel really good about themselves. As much as it would seem easier to come out of the closet in areas like Boston, the Bay Area and LA and so on, in small towns like the one I live in, it’s still very difficult for young people. We’re still completely inundated by heterosexual images. It’s not easy for gay and lesbians in rural areas to come out and feel good about themselves. No one has made a film like this with its scope, with its diversities, so it’s still a very powerful statement and I think it will always be, because we made it for gays. But I don’t think in the end that it’s only for gay people. Heterosexuals really love the film because it’s about self actualization, self love and empowerment. So it’s relevant for all people.”

Soon after the original opening of “Word is Out”, the book of the same title was released compiled by Nancy and her mother Casey. Nancy lives in Willits in Northern California, where she is a yoga teacher and artist.
For More Info:wordisoutmovie.com

Watch Video Trailer

CHECK OUT OUR NEW STREAMING SITE

VISIT OUR OUTTAKE™ EQUALITY STORE

OUTTAKE VOICES on iTunes