HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAYARD RUSTIN Today, he would have celebrated his 99th Birthday

Bayard Rustin at news briefing on the Civil Rights March on Washington in the Statler Hotel, half-length portrait, seated at table - August 27, 1963

Bayard Rustin (March 17, 1912 – August 24, 1987) was an American civil rights activist, important largely behind the scenes in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and earlier. He is credited as the chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.


He counseled Martin Luther King, Jr. on the techniques of nonviolent resistance. He became an advocate on behalf of gay and lesbian causes in the latter part of his career. Homosexuality was criminalized at the time, which made him a target of suspicion and compromised some of his effectiveness.

David Kato's Harlem Memorial Service: Monday, February 7, 2011

Get Your Language RIGHT!!!

YES I AM BLACK

YES I AM PROUD

YES I AM BEAUTIFUL

White House staffers' It Gets Better video

by: Bil Browning

bilerico.com

Several LGBT White House staffers including Greg Millett, Senior Policy Advisor at the White House Office of National AIDS Policy got together to make an It Gets Better video. President Obama and Vice President have also both done videos to encourage LGBT kids that things do eventually get better.

This is a great entry to the IGB collective of videos. I've met quite a few of the folks featured and for all of the questioning of Obama's commitment to LGBT rights, they are some of the most dedicated advocates we could ask for. They bring LGBT issues to the White House daily.

And they're living proof that it does indeed get better.

Chi-Chiz Will Live On Into The New Year, But Not Long After

by Next Magazine

It seems as if the trials and tribulations of West Village watering hole Chi Chiz, reported by Next Magazine and elsewhere, have finally come to an end. After losing a recent appeal against charges by the State Liquor Authority, the owners announced they would be closing the predominantly African-American gay bar for good on January 3, 2011. In a recent e-mail, Chi Chiz attorney Tom Shanahan wrote about the decision and the actions of David Poster, vice-president of the Greenwich Village Block Association and one of the main forces in the effort to shut it down:

“This [closure] was forced but [still] our decision, as we cannot run a business with sustained harassment by the NYPD, as has been occurring. Deputy Inspector Caroli issued twelve summons since March…and all have been dismissed. The time and [cost] of litigating one thing after another—and all of it being dismissed—are too expensive for a private-sector business the size of ours. It is truly sad—and bad for Christopher Street and the LGBT Community. Moreover, it is clear that David Poster and his minions will be whatever they can to chase African-Americans and the transgendered away from Christopher Street and the community. The continuing harassment by these ‘village idiots’ has continued and poses a problem to running a small business. Now they [will] deal with a vacant block on Christopher Street, which has a 50% commercial vacancy rate.” —Dan Avery

To read the entire article click here: Next Magazine