Letter
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April 6, 2010
From: Philadelphia LGBT Community Leaders
To: William Way Executive Director Search Committee
Dear Search Committee:
On behalf of the undersigned community leaders, we would like to congratulate Laurien D. Ward for being chosen to serve as interim executive director of the William Way LGBT Community Center.
While this role may be a temporary one, we celebrate your search committee’s diligence and commitment by providing continued leadership at the center for the LGBT and allied communities during this transition.
As you may know, there has been a general sentiment over the years of Philadelphia’s LGBT communities of color feeling that William Way as a whole has not been as inclusive of issues affecting LGBT communities of color and other diverse constituencies in LGBT communities. In the time ’Dolph [Ward Goldenburg] was the director, some progress was being made in this area and we applaud the efforts he put forth and those that the board of directors supported. Now that the center is looking for a new director, we see this as a great time for the board of directors to show their continued support for greater inclusion of LGBT people-of-color issues as you decide on a new leader for the organization.
Issues such as organizational and leadership diversity are key elements to the success of LGBT movements and to the center directly. The failure to fully embrace actions and strategies which will grow the center’s reach in these areas remains obvious and critically important not only to the center but to our region, which relies on the center’s ability to be both a unifier and a motivator in our diverse communities.
To this end, we suggest the following:
1. We would like to see the board of directors/search committee share their plan with the community as to how they are ensuring the new director has experience with engaging LGBT communities of color.
2. The center consider having an open discussion period (community town hall) to solicit feedback about the direction of the center for the board/search committee to take into consideration as a new director is being selected.
3. As a longer-term strategy around inclusion, develop an advisory board comprised of a mix of persons representing LGBT leaders, advocates and lay community people. We recommend this committee be comprised of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons of all racial groups. Ideally this advisory board would meet with the executive director every other month or quarterly.
4. One person from the advisory board should be provided a seat on the board of directors for the center.
The undersigned are committed to continuing the growth and evolution of the William Way LGBT Community Center, and we feel the suggestions provided above are reasonable and could lead to healing the divide that has existed for many years around the center and it being a place that all segments of the LGBT community feel comfortable in.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Soda Nobuhle, founder/CEO, The Womyn’s Village
Lee F. Carson, Black Gay Men’s Leadership Council
Jaci Adams, founder, Trans People With Hope
Curtis Allen, community member
Christopher Alston, president, Philadelphia Black Gay Pride
Melanie Bolden,
founder, Simply Melanie
Ricardo Bostic, board member of NAACP Philadelphia chapter
Zane Booker, artistic director,
Smoke, Lilies and Jade Arts Initiative
Robert K. Burns, House of Blahnik
Sherrie Cohen,
community member
Debra D’Alessandro,
community member
Tony Daniels, community member
Theodore Faigle,
founding member, William Way Community Center
Rick Feely, executive director, Trans-health Information Project
Lawrence Frazier, community advisory coordinator,
COLOURS Inc.
Alison Gerig, executive director, Women’s Therapy Center
Allegra Gordon, co-chair of Community Advisory Board on LGBT Research, PHMC
Jacinto J. Grant, MSW, Black Gay Men’s Leadership Council
Lonnie Grant, founder, Trans-Masculine Advocacy Network
Brian Green, executive director, Safeguards Project
Andrea Harrington, founder, Lamour Cares Foundation
Christopher Hayes, community member
Gary Q. Hines, former member, William Way LGBT Community Center board of directors
Michael Hinson, founder/executive director, COLOURS Inc.
Damon L. Humes, founder, House of Blahnik
Duane Ingram,
community member
Carrie Jacobs, executive director, The Attic Youth Center
Miles Johnson,
community member
The Rev. Jeffery Jordan, pastor, Metropolitan Community Church Philadelphia
Aaron Lisbon, community member
Micah Mahjoubian,
political consultant
Eric Reid, community member
Jesse Salazar, special assistant to Sen. Bob Casey
Sarah Saunders, LSW,
community member
Mark M. Seaman,
community member
Ben Singer, Philadelphia activist
Tyrone Smith, Black Gay Men’s Leadership Council
A. Dionne Stallworth,
transgender activist
BJ Tillman, student clergy, Unity Fellowship of Christ Church Philadelphia
Leo Watts, Trans-Masculine Advocacy Network
And what is this "healing the divide?" In the past few months I have seen artwork, the WWCC Archives Ballroom exhibit, the Black Gay Youth party and other events that sure as hell didn't look like anyone was being excluded!
I applaud organizations like COLOURS and GALAEI and ASIAC for their work in selective communities because they have a specific purpose. They are trying to reach and teach a target group within the community. But my gut reaction to the many 'inclusive' issues that are cried out month after month is this: Quit segregating YOURSELVES first!
If someone tried to organize a White Gay Pride, you'd be all over their shit, yet groups feel it is necessary to have a Black Gay Pride, a Latino Gay Pride and a Dyke March. Do we really need to continue to subdivide ourselves? Do these groups reach out to the non-black, non-Latino/s, non-lesbians for inclusion, participation and cooperative understanding?
There is a Mr. Gay Philadelphia. And now there is a Mr. Black Gay Philadelphia. Were caucasians allowed to participate in the Black Gay Philadelphia competition? No. Where people of color allowed to participate in the Mr. Gay Philadelphia competition? Yes. (I do not know if someone in Dockers can enter Mr. gay Leather.)
On the flip side, the Attic Youth Center does a tremendous job assisting ALL Philadelphia youth. No one wants to open a White Attic Youth Center just because the greater percentage of youth who use the facility are of color. The Attic is already comprehensively inclusive. They GET IT.
This melting pot of a nation goes through fits and starts of blending people in, for sure. As individuals and groups, we also have a desire to remember our personal heritage whether through holiday events, dance and music, parades or food.
But angry, demanding letters like this one do not blend us, the further divide us. And when these divisions occur, guess who is going to take the heat again? I assure you, the finger-pointing will continue to be from the people who are creating these divisions themselves.
I hope that the community center's search for a new director, Philly Pride and all other all-inclusive organizations and events will continue to have these dialogs to bring us together. Let us for and with each other rather than publicly airing our bitternesses? Surely, we are not one opinion with a single voice; we are thousands of voices that need to learn to sing together and the music of us as a community could be remarkable.