National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce Nationally Recognizes Eastside Women’s Health Center for Diversity in the Workplace

Exciting news! The Eastside Women’s HealthCenter (EWHC) has announced their recent certification as an LGBT Business Enterprise (LGBTBE®) through the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) Supplier Diversity Initiative.

The NGLCC is the only American certifying body for LGBT owned and operated businesses. With this certification, the Eastside Women’s Health Center is officially a diverse supplier. This means that as a small business, EWHC will have access to procurement opportunities that will catapult them to achieve success. Businesses and potential organizational partners who are looking to fulfill altruistic mission statements or give back to the community through hiring diverse suppliers, can now achieve those goals by working with the EWHC.

“It is an honor to have such a valuable certification,” said Jennifer Jimenez, co-owner of EWHC. “It illustrates that LGBT owned businesses are alive and thriving in our economy. Diversity and equality is the backbone of good business practice, and we are proud to be a viable and relevant player.”

At Eastside Women’s Health Center, Jimenez and her co-owner Kristina Chamberlain, envision a world where anyone can create a family, and live to their fullest health potential.

With a growing community of LGBTBE’s (over 800 across the nation), Eastside Women’s Health Center, is in great company!

The post Eastside Women’s Health Center Achieves LGBT Business Enterprise Certification Status first appeared on Lesbian.com.

BY FRANCESCA LEWIS

Lesbian.com

Your character has an interesting perspective on the Dead – was that hard to relate to?

Celia’s relationship with the dead is one of caretaker. Marlene had a hard time with the dead! One of the hardest scenes I had to shoot was the one where Nick bring backs Luis.  The make up on this show is amazing and very real looking. Arturo, who plays Luis, was foaming at the mouth and spitting blood out.  His eyes had these contacts which made his eyes look dead! And there I am having a love affair with him! I had a hard time NOT gagging! But in all seriousness, Celia’s relationship with the dead goes back to the Mexican culture.  Day of the Dead!  Death is just the next step.  And the living very much continue to communicate with the dead.  Very much like Ofelia speaks to her mother at the altar.  Now, we don’t keep them in the basement! But there is a big element of that.  Now, like Celia says, we can’t see the dead, but they have always walked among us!

Celia is certainly an antagonist, but is she a villain

Well, Marlene doesn’t think she is a villain! I try not to judge my characters.  Even the most horrible serial killer doesn’t think they are doing anything wrong. Celia is just assisting with the inevitable: death! We are all heading in that direction!

What did it mean to you to play the mother of the first gay character on the series?

I was thrilled! I love that fact that nothing was really made out of it! It was just introduced and was not discussed! I think it is becoming more visible on TV. I work on The Fosters too, and I love that show for the same reasons! It is just a family show that centers around love.  It doesn’t matter who you love! And “family” doesn’t necessary look like the Brady Bunch anymore! I really hope that this isn’t an issue in the future. Everybody go out and VOTE!

Diversity has always been a real problem in Hollywood and, though it has improved, it hasn’t improved anywhere near enough. Do you think being a latinx actor is any easier now than it was when you started out, in terms of roles and representation?

Yes I do think it’s easier.  But we are not yet properly represented on TV like the African American community. I always say it, we don’t have our own Tyler Perry or Oprah! When I started, I was still married to my daughter’s dad. He is Rodriguez. That was not a choice back then. My reps at the time wanted to change it to Rodrick. I was born Ana Marlene Forte Machado, I said. “Pick one!” Even Machado was too ethnic 21 years ago. Now no one blinks at Rodriguez or Lopez. But we still have a long way to go.

Your real life backstory is a fascinating one – can you tell me a bit about your life before you started acting?

am the oldest of three girls, the only one born in Cuba. I was very sheltered and married my high school sweetheart.  Within a year I was pregnant and he wanted two more! LOL – I was done. I always knew I wanted to act and I just knew, even back then, that I could not have more kids and be an actor.  So we played house for four years; until we graduate college.  He went off to be a doctor and I went off to be an actress.  I really didn’t get started till the late 1980’s.  I ran my own video store back at the start of the whole thing for about 5 years.  And then Blockbuster hit the scene and I exited stage left! I had just gotten into The LAB (Latino’s Actor’s Base) at Intar and I saw the writing on the wall.  I was not getting any younger so I moved to Manhattan. And that’s when it all began.

You’ve appeared in a lot of TV shows over the years, you’ve pretty much been in everything – any highlights? Any current shows you’d love to appear in?

I would love to do The Walking Dead but that’s not going to happen unless the east coast meets the west coast! I really loved working on Dallas.  I enjoyed the city of Dallas and the cast was just the best.  And I must say that Fear The Walking Dead has been the ultimate roller coaster so far! The fans are the amazing and I really enjoyed bringing Celia Flores to life!

Francesca Lewis is a queer feminist writer from Yorkshire, UK. She has written for Curve Magazine, DIVA Magazine, xoJane and The Human Experience. You can find her opinion pieces on Medium. 

The post Fear The Walking Dead’s Marlene Forte on Diversity, Culture and Dealing with The Dead first appeared on Lesbian.com.

The representation of queer characters on television has made real progress in the last few years. We now have a whole list of shows with interesting and nuanced lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans characters. Things aren’t exactly perfect – it’d be nice if every lesbian on TV didn’t have to die tragically, for example – but there has been real and undeniable progress. The next frontier then, for us queer pop culture nerds, is diversifying the stories queer characters are allowed to tell and the roles they are allowed to occupy in those stories.

Most of the time, when we see a queer character, their queerness is both a defining character trait and the primary purpose for their appearance within the story. The “coming out” narrative, the “discrimination” narrative, these are the boxes that LGBT characters are stuck in. There are very few examples of a lesbian character appearing in a show – especially a genre show – where their sexuality and/or gender identity is not their primary reason for existing.

This is one of the many reasons why Netflix’s gritty new superhero show Jessica Jones is such a breath of fresh air. With a fresh feminist tone, a genuinely badass female protagonist and a surprisingly frank (for a Marvel show) approach to subjects like abortion and rape, this is not your average comic book adaptation. Even within a show this cool, the character of Hogarth stands out. A tough morally grey lawyer that Jessica – a P.I – works with, she is played with steely sexiness by Carrie Ann Moss. The fascinating thing about Hogarth, though, is that she is a lesbian – married to (and divorcing) bleeding-heart doctor Wendy in order to take up with young sassy personal assistant Pam – but the word “lesbian” is never used. Hogarth’s sexuality is never addressed, questioned or highlighted. Her sexuality does not define her character and her arc throughout the explosive first season, though it does focus on her love life, is not about coming out or discrimination or any of the typical queer character storylines. Now isn’t that refreshing?

Hogarth has the potential to be the template for a new approach to diversity in television. By allowing her to exist within the Marvel universe without explanation or comment, the writers normalize Hogarth’s sexuality. Interestingly, in the comics Hogarth was a man. This gender swap could have been done by switching her wife to a husband, her mistress to…whatever the male equivalent of a mistress is. Choosing to make Hogarth an unambiguous lesbian is a bold and important choice for a franchise as high profile as Marvel. I can only hope it will insight a trend in bringing characters who happen to be gay – or trans, or otherwise queer – in a way that does not limit or define them to our screens. Who knows – gay superhero next?

Francesca Lewis is a queer feminist writer from Yorkshire, UK. She writes for Curve Magazine and The Human Experience as well as writing short fiction and working on a novel. Her ardent love of American pop culture is matched only by her passion for analyzing it completely to death.

The post Jessica Jones Gets It Right With Lesbian Character first appeared on Lesbian.com.

BY FRANCESCA LEWIS
Lesbian.com

You may have heard the name Dare2Care around the internets, back when they released their provocative and poignant “Words Kill” PSA in 2014, but you probably have no idea how much good work they are actually doing. The Ohio-based non-profit is all about educating teens and adults alike about LGBTQI issues, empowering people with accurate information about diverse identities and increasing awareness about LGBTQI-focused bullying. Sponsoring training programs for kids and medical professionals and hosting awareness-raising events, including an annual poetry competition with a scholarship prize, they are already doing so much to educate people and make space in the world for LGBTQI voices.

Dare2Care are raising funds on GoFundMe to roll out even more essential and important projects, including expanding their existing leadership programs and establishing a more formal presence in schools. I caught up with VP Liz O’Donnell to give her the chance to tell you in her own words about the strides this much-needed organisation has already made and plans, with your help, to make in the future.

Dare2Care may be most well-known online for their poignant PSA released last year, but your main focus is in education – not just of students but of teachers too. What made you decide to include adults in your training programs?

We decided to include teachers in our training programs because we are beginning our student leadership at the end of the high school freshman year when our participants are only 14/15 years old. It is a lot to ask young people to come back to their school environment with a lot of new information and implement creative and educational peer programming without having teacher-mentor support. By including teachers we ensure that there is a committed faculty presence to not only endorse the students initiatives but to facilitate implementation of cultural change within the administration. Also, both teachers and students are hearing the same material and therefore have a common language to discuss LGBTQI issues.

You’ve developed a Sex, Gender, and Diverse Identity curriculum for med students – can you explain a little about what that is and why it is important?

Yes, this has been an important development for us as an Organization. It is one of the benefits of the work we have been doing that perhaps many of our supporters do not yet know about. As a mental health professional and neonatal physical therapist I have worked in many acute care settings over my years of clinical practice and the absence of diversity education, particularly as it pertains to LGBTQ and inter-sex individuals, is poor. I worked in an intensive care nursery for over 10 years and was fortunate enough to experience the professional and personal struggle that families who have a child who is inter-sex face. We want, as an Organization, to change the dialogue at several points of the educational interface and given that we know that access to health-care, particularly mental health care, for LGBTQI clients, demonstrates significant inequity and misinformation, this elective course was one way for us to make a difference in medical education. Only a very small percentage of medical school in the United States have a mandatory curriculum that address the specific health-care needs of sexual minority populations. If we aren’t training our students then we don’t have clinicians who can change care at the point of delivery.

You also offer scholarships – what have been some of the success stories from this?

Our first cohort has been a stunning example of what information in the hands of young people can do. Some of their three year accomplishments include: starting an in school community called Club Identity, the development of LGBTQI inclusive literature, peer to peer educational workshop facilitation (in the community and other schools), participation in Cleveland Pride (with parents), expansion of Ally week, the celebration of the first cisgender male prom queen at the pilot high school, recipient of the transgender community award, and an extremely positive coming out experience for one of our initial student scholars. All of our first cohort of students are going onto college with a commitment to expand their work in the area of LGBTQI equality. One of our students was accepted into a highly competitive academic program that insists each participant commit to a 4 year long service project. We are fortunate enough that she has chosen to make our mission her thesis. There are many more accomplishments both macro and micro that show that we have made a difference not only in their lives but also in our own.

Dare2Care recently launched a GoFundMe – what are the aims of the fundraising project?

Now that we have completed our pilot study we would really like to expand the programming in a more formal way to other schools. This would allow more students to apply to the Dare2Care/GYLI summer leadership program and take back what they learn to their own environment. Cleveland has a significantly diverse population and each school community has their own needs with respect to addressing LGBTQI education – we would like each school to have the information necessary to create a culture that represents both our mission and their philosophical principles. We also plan to offer more local workshops that would allow for an even greater number of students to participate and act as ambassadors for the direction change that we know is coming in LGBTQI equality. We are still a small Organization often funded by our own personal financial contributions – we know that for our mission to be sustainable that has to change. We will be working to make another PSA that will perhaps to an even better job at highlighting the problems we address and what we are doing to help solve them.

In the list of Core Beliefs on your website, you state “LGBT focused bullying is not an LGBT issue, it is a human issue.” Can you expand on that a little?

I think that this is a fairly straight forward, simple, yet profound concept. We are saying that the rate of bullying and suicide in the LGBTQI population is a public health issue. It is not an issue that can only concern the community that it affects. We are talking about all of us, straight or LGBTQI, having a shared right to exist as human beings in safety and privilege, and by privilege I really mean the right to exist as we are without the fear of coming to harm simply because we don’t meet an externally imposed expected ‘norm’. Until we see ourselves as everybody’s child and everybody’s parent then the belief that some people can be treated with inequity will continue. We are not unrealistic in terms of the scope of this problem beyond our particular mission but we are especially focused on making some kind of meaningful change in our own community.

You can donate to Dare2Care here or on their website.

This interview has been edited for length.

Francesca Lewis is a queer feminist writer from Yorkshire, UK. She writes for Curve Magazine and The Human Experience as well as writing short fiction and working on a novel. Her ardent love of American pop culture is matched only by her passion for analyzing it completely to death.

The post Dare2Care: Bringing Diversity Education to Our Schools and Lives first appeared on Lesbian.com.

BY CANDY PARKER

What did you miss this week in the world of LGBT news? Check out our Lesbian.com round-up and you’ll be ready to gather ’round the rainbow-colored water cooler to talk about five of the biggest, best and most interesting stories for July 20 – July 26.

Indiegogo campaign launched to bring lesbian bar back to Philadelphia

Almost exactly one year ago, the oldest lesbian bar in Philadelphia, Sisters, closed its doors leaving lesbians in the City of Brotherly Love without a place to call their own. Now Sisters’ former manager, Denise Cohen, is hoping to change that.

“Every event I run or attend, I am asked over and over, when will we get a new place?” Cohen told PhillyGayCalendar.com. “For nearly a year now I have been trying every option I could think of to make that happen and now there is a plan in place and with the help of our community, friends and family it is time to bring a new LGBT space to Philly.”

Having identified both a potential new venue and investors for the new bar, Cohen has launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise at least $50,000 of the $250,000 necessary to provide lesbians in Philly a full-time gathering place.

Details on the venue are confidential at this point, but Cohen did reveal “it will feature several bar areas, private bottle service vip room, dancing and entertainment along with an amazing kitchen to produce a fantastic menu.” She’s also optimistic about the employment opportunities the new space would open up for those in the community.

To read more about the fundraising campaign and/or make a contribution, visit Indiegogo.

Ft. Worth police department video targets LGBT recruits

The Fort Worth, Texas, police department is hoping to diversify it’s department, launching a YouTube campaign targeting LGBT, female, Hispanic and African-American candidates.

The first video surfaced this week and stars officer Chris Gorrie.

“What does a 30-year-old White guy have to do with diversity? Well, the short answer — I’m gay,” says Gorrie in the intentionally humorous video.

Gorrie goes on to share his motivation for joining the force, as well as his personal experience since doing so. You can check out the full video below.

Supermodel comes out as transgender woman

Bosnian-born Super model Andreja Pejic has come out as transgender.

Pejic, formerly known as Andrej Pejic, shared the news exclusively with Entertainment Tonight, People.com and Style.com. She also worked closely with GLAAD during the week leading up to her announcement.

Pejic, who has been modeling both men’s and women’s wear since 2007, is known for her androgynous look. In an email statement received by The Huffington Post, GLAAD notes that Pejic “will only be modeling women’s clothing going forward.”

The acclaimed model has appeared on covers of Elle and French Vogue and notes that her agency has been supportive of the transition.

“As a transgender woman I hope to show that after transition (a life-saving process) one can be happy and successful in their new chapter,” Pejic said in a Facebook post.

Pejic is set to appear in Sophia Coppola’s upcoming live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid.”

“The Bridge” star Emily Rios comes out

Emily Rios, star of the RX series “The Bridge,” came out as a lesbian during an interview published Monday on AfterEllen.com.

Rios, who portrays a lesbian character on the show, told the Logo-affiliated website, “I’m gay, personally, so being Mexican and a lesbian — this is why I love the character because I deal with the same type of things with my own family,” Emily said.

Rios, 25, told AfterEllen that she’s had more support from her family than has her character on “The Bridge.” “Adrianna’s story on “The Bridge” is a little different because her mom is ashamed and embarrassed, but I dealt with that as well,” she said. “But it just took a year for ‘Hey it’s not a phase, this is really happening.’ And then they get comfortable with it. So it was a little bit more extreme, but the Mexicans are very family-oriented. It’s all about the love so they’re very supportive.”

Rios is perhaps best known for her role as recovering drug addict and mother, Andrea Cantillo, on “Breaking Bad” in which she played Jesse Pinkman’s on-again-off-again love interest.

Michigan water park denies entry to lesbian in men’s swim trunks

A story surfaced this week about a July 9 incident in which an Indiana lesbian was kicked out of a Michigan water park during her bachelorette party celebration for wearing men’s swim trunks.

Jill Sweeney told a Michigan news station that she was kicked out of Muskegon’s WildWater Adventure while attempting to join her sister-in-law on the water slide. Sweeney was wearing swim trunks, a sports bra and tank top.

“I’d already been in the lazy river and the wave pool and then my sister in law went up to go down the slide. And that’s when I was stopped,” said Sweeney. “A supervisor had come up and she said, ‘Ma’am, you have to wear a women’s bathing suit. You’re not allowed to wear men’s.’”

The park’s general manager told the news station that Sweeney was in violation of park rules.

“A sports bra would not be a swim suit. We require our patrons to wear swim suits and street clothes of any kind would not be allowed,” said WildWater Adventure general manager Camille Mark.

The park denies Sweeney’s claim that she was targeted because she’s a lesbian.

When asked about Sweeney saying she felt singled out because she’s gay, Mark said, “I couldn’t possibly comment on that. How would anyone be aware of [Sweeney’s] sexuality?”

Sweeney produced a number of photos showing other park patrons who appear to be in violation of WildWater’s dress code policy and is seeking legal representation, though she said that she’s not in it for the money; she just wants an apology for the way she was treated.

The post LGBT week in review: New lesbian bar for Philly; ‘The Bridge’ star comes out first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Last weekend, on my personal blog, I wrote briefly about Rosa Parks, as Dec. 1 marked the anniversary of her legendary stance for equal rights. She once said that she “would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.”

How times change. No doubt in many a history class, the youth of today find what Rosa Parks and other people were subjected to and went through in order to secure a citizenship of equal value to be quite incredible and perhaps even unimaginable.

Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices

The post A note on diversity first appeared on Lesbian.com.