Reagan administration ignored growing epidemic
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!"#$%&'%()*+%',-$.&%"*%/)0"1'.*")2%0$&3")*%1$("*"&,%45+%6',,"*"%-)7%-"8-%$9:$;,),"'*&%1'.%,-$% federal government to finally intervene in the growing AIDS crisis after the first congressional committee hearing on the mysterious new disease, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman on April 13, 1982. There was very little press coverage of the hearing — held at the Los Angeles Gay Community Services Center on Highland Ave. in Hollywood. But years later, Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health recalled a quote reported by the Washington Blade: “I want to be especially blunt about the political aspects of Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS),” Waxman said. “This horrible disease afflicts members of one of the nation’s most stigmatized and discriminatedagainst minorities….There is no doubt in my mind that if the same disease had appeared among Americans of Norwegian descent, or among tennis players, rather than among gay males, the responses of the government and the medical community would have been different.”
The gay San Francisco newspaper The Sentinel published a very short brief on April 16 entitled “House Holds Cancer Hearings” about “the gay cancer.” The paper quoted an unnamed subcommittee staffer saying the CDC, “which is coordinating research on the baffling outbreak, ‘should not have to nickel and dime’ for funds.” The brief appeared next to a column written by gay nurse Bobbi Campbell, who wrote about going to The Shanti Project to get emotional support for his KS.
Bottini’s takeaway from the hearing was that no one really knew how AIDS was transmitted. She was upset. Her friend Ken Schnorr had died just before the hearing and Bottini had to explain to Ken’s distraught mother that he had not been abused at the hospital — the purple bruises on his body were KS lesions. After weeks of governmental inaction, Bottini called Dr. Joel Weisman, Schnorr’s gay doctor, to update the community at a town hall in Fiesta Hall in West Hollywood’s Plummer Park. Weisman had sent gay patients to Dr. Michael Gottlieb and was one of the co-authors on the first CDC public report about AIDS on June 5, 1981.
Bottini later recalled how gay men often thanked her for saving their lives at that packed town hall. Bottini subsequently founded AIDS Network LA, to serve as a clearing house for collecting and disseminating information. But not everyone bought the science-based premise that AIDS was transmitted through bodily fluids — including Bottini’s friend Morris Kight, prompting a deep three-year rift. Nonetheless, groups offering gay men advice on how to have safe sex started emerging, as did peer groups forming for emotional, spiritual and healthcare support. The Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights, Houston’s Citizens for Human Equality and the new Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York City published pamphlets and newsletters.
Panic and denial were wafting in tandem through gay Los Angeles, too. In Oct. 1982, friends Nancy Cole Sawaya (an ally), Matt Redman, Ervin Munro, and Max Drew convened an emergency informational meeting at the Los Angeles Gay Community Services Center on Gay Related Immunodeficiency Disease (GRID, soon to be called AIDS) delivered by a representative from San Francisco’s Kaposi’s Sarcoma Foundation
“My friends and I were in New York in 1981, hearing stories among friends coming down with this mysterious disease. We realized that back home in L.A. there was no hotline, no medical care, and no one to turn to for emotional support,” Redman told The Advocate’s Chris Bull on July 17, 2001 for a story on the 20th anniversary of AIDS. “For some reason I wasn’t really scared. It was so early on that no one could predict what would happen.”
That quickly changed when the friends realized there was no level of governmental help forthcoming. They set up a hotline in a closet space at the Center, found 12 volunteers and asked Weisman to train them on how to answer questions, reading off a one-page fact sheet. The idea was to “reduce fear” and eventually give out referrals to doctors and others willing to help.
The four also reached out to friends to raise money, netting $7,000 at a tony Christmas benefit to fund a new organization called AIDS Project Los Angeles. They set up a Board of
Directors with Weisman and longtime checkbook activist attorney Diane Abbitt as co-chairs. They gaveled their first board meeting to order on Jan. 14, 1983 with five clients. The following month, APLA produced and distributed a brochure about AIDS in both English and Spanish. Four months later, in May, APLA and other activists organized the first candlelight march in Los Angeles at the Federal Building in Westwood and in four other cities. The LA event was attended by more than 5,000 people demanding federal action. The KS/AIDS Foundation in San Francisco was led by people with AIDS carrying a banner that read “Fighting For Our Lives.” When the banner was unfurled at the National Lesbian and Gay Health Conference that June by activists presenting The Denver Principles, the crowd cried, with a 10-minute ovation.
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In its nearly eight decades, the Los Angeles Community College District has served as &3/4+"-(#"-#8-(&#"0+'#"0(&$))$-'#%"/3&'"% #$%#&'()%*+,+-./+
!"#$%#&'"$(&)*#%+,&#"-#+(./&#"0+"#'-10&(&# $'#"0&#&'2$(-'%#-,#0$.0&(#&3/4+"$-'#1$))# a person find a greater reflection of "0&#(+4$+)#+'3#&"0'$4#3$2&(%$"*5#6-7)&%%# %"/3&'"%5#8$)$"+(*94-''&4"&3#%"/3&'"%5# homeless and couch-surfing students, 3&)+*&39&'"(*#%"/3&'"%5#+'3#-)3&(# %"/3&'"%#"0+'#+#4-88/'$"*#4-))&.&:#;)%-# +(./+7)*#+#<&(%-'#%&&=$'.#"0+"#3$2&(%$"*# will also find a significant LGBT student 7-3*#<-</)+"$-': ;%#%"&+3$)*#$'4(&+%$'.#'/87&(%#%"/3&'"%# of color and first-generation students enroll in colleges, for many LGBT %"/3&'"%#+#4-88/'$"*#4-))&.&#(&<(&%&'"%# the first rung on the ladder of personal %/44&%%#7*#1+*#-,#+'#+""+$'+7)&#.-+)#-,#+# degree or certificate. A consideration of which is affordability which encompasses +#10-)&#<&(%-'#+<<(-+405#&%<&4$+))*#,-(#+'# LGBT identified student.
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The First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden is a powerful &3/4+"$-'#+32-4+"&#+'3#-'
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Earlier this Spring Dr. Biden, during a visit to Sauk alley Community College in Dixon, Illinois renewed her call for affordable community college for all Americans who wish to attend, and +)%-#(&2$%$"$'.#0&(#%/<<-("#,-(#,(&-88/'$"*#4-))&.&%:
Speaking to students, faculty members, and staff, Biden noted that “Community colleges meet students where they are,” saying, “We can’t afford to exclude so many from continuing "0&$(#&3/4+"$-'#6/%"#7&4+/%&#"0&*#4-8&#,(-8#4&("+$'#+(&+%#-(#$'4-8(+4=&"%:?
“I am — first, foremost and forever — their writing professor, Dr. B,” Biden said. “In my class, my students don’t take anything for granted. Some are there for a head start on a fouryear degree, others for a much-needed fresh start.” Biden said her students appreciate the affordability and flexibility of community college, and she understands the importance of &3/4+"$-'#,-(#-2&(+))#&4-'-8$4#.(-1"0: ;44-(3$'.#"-#(&%&+(40#4-'3/4"&3#7*#"0&#;8&($4+'#;%%-4$+"$-'#-,#@-88/'$"*#@-))&.&%5#"0&# +2&(+.&#+''/+)#+8-/'"#,-(#"/$"$-'#+'3#,&&%#,-(#4-88/'$"*#4-))&.&#+(&#AB5CCD5#2&(%/%#AED5FGD# <&(#*&+(#,-(#</7)$45#,-/(9*&+(#4-))&.&:
In its nearly eight decades, the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) has served as educator to more than three million students. Spread out over nine college campuses, LACCD educates almost three times as many Latino students and nearly four times as many African;8&($4+'#%"/3&'"%#+%#+))#-,#"0&#H'$2&(%$"*#-,#@+)$,-('$+#4+8</%&%#4-87$'&3:
The Los Angeles Community College District’s nine community colleges are located throughout an area of more than 882 square miles within the County of Los Angeles Los Angeles City College, East Los Angeles College, Los Angeles Harbor College, Los Angeles Mission College, Los Angeles Pierce College, Los Angeles Southwest College, Los Angeles Trade-Tech College, Los Angeles alley College and West Los Angeles College.
Eighty percent of LACCD students are from underserved populations and more than half of all LACCD students are older than 25 years of age, with more than a quarter who are 35 or older. The very factors that Dr. Biden pointed out in her speech at Sauk alley Community College are core tenets for the trustees, faculty, and staff of the LACCD. Importantly as the LACCD notes
in its handbook, “Community colleges %&(2&#+3/)"%#-,#+))#+.&%5#8&&"$'.#"0&#'&&3%# of a society where “lifelong learning” is the (/)&#+'3#8/)"$<)+(&&(%#+'3#4-'"$'/+)# (&"(+$'$'.#+(&#"0&#'-(8:?
Beyond those factors are the 4-8<)$4+"$-'%#"0+"#+(-%&#,(-8#"0&# devastating affects of the global coronavirus pandemic, especially financial $%%/&%:##I&"#"0+"#"&(8#+44-(3$'.#"-#!'%$3&# Higher Education has dual meaning.
“Financial issues” can be a euphemism ,-(#3&&<&(#8&'"+)#+'3#&8-"$-'+)# <(-7)&8%:#@-))&.&%#'&&3#"-#7&#%/(&#,+4/)"*# and staff members are informed about all "0&#<-"&'"$+)#%$.'%#-,#8&'"+)#3$%"(&%%5#+%# 1&))#+%#+7-/"#(&%-/(4&%#,-(#%"/3&'"%#10-# '&&3#%/<<-("#+'3#+%%$%"+'4&:#@-88/"&(# and other students would benefit from 4+8</%#4-/'%&)$'.#%&(2$4&%#-')$'&#$'# +33$"$-'#"-#%+,&)*#3$%"+'4&3#$'9<&(%-'# sessions. To meet overwhelming demand, 4-))&.&%#%0-/)3#4-'%$3&(#+33$'.#%&(2$4&%# by online providers that work directly with counseling centers, Inside Higher Education noted in a July 23, 2020 article.
David ela, the first openly LGBT Trustee in the LACC district, chairs the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on LGBT Affairs. On Monday ela spoke with the Blade about the unique circumstances that confront LGBT students across all campuses.
“The main focus for me as well as all of our trustees, the faculty, and staff is to ensure that the primary mission of the LACCD is met with each and every one of our students,” ela said. “The priority is ‘completion,’ whether it is a certificate, a two-year Associate degree or successfully transferring the student to either the C system or Cal-State systems to finish out a 4 year 3&.(&&:?
ela stressed that all of the LACCD students are assisted in three major ways Academic, Housing and Food security and financial aid. ” Our colleges are the number one alternative to the C system and as such we are a critical element of ensuring a student’s personal success,” 0&#%+$3:
The LGBT students in fact, like most of the minority groups on the LACCD campuses, are faced with unique circumstances. But in addition, their status with their gender identity or sexual orientation often will complicate matters.
One of the primary considerations is housing, especially for students of color. A study by the Williams Institute at the niversity of California Los Angeles School of Law surveying a majority of <(-2$3&(%#-,#0-8&)&%%#*-/"0#%&(2$4&%#%+$3#"0+"#*-/"0#-,#4-)-(#(&<-("&3#"-#7$%<(-<-("$-'+"&)*# overrepresented among LGBT clients accessing homelessness services.
Respondents reported a median 31 of their LGBT clients identifying as African American/ Black, 14 Latino(a)/Hispanic, 1 Native American, and 1 Asian/Pacific Islander.
Access to safe spaces is a priority for LACCD says ela. Beyond Housing security comes +44-8<+'*$'.#$%%/&%#-,#7(-+37+'3#+44&%%#+'3#+33(&%%$'.#,--3#$'%&4/($"*#0&#+33&3: Focusing on safe housing by partnering with the City of Los Angeles, the County, and the State of California is an ongoing mission ela told the Blade.
One of the primary ways to address these issues he said is by a total embracing of a student’s experience within the LACCD system. Of special importance is to promote equity and equality for the LGBT communities across all nine campuses.
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This was made di cult, he acknowledged, by the coronavirus pandemic. Yet during a oom conference on Oct. 7, 2020 the Board of Trustees approved his resolution.
The student-led newspaper The alley Star, from the Los Angeles alley College reported the resolution called for the district and colleges to review anti-discrimination <:45951-$,20$<=:910/=1-$,20$01.1=>521$97,2H1-$.7,.$9:/40$61..1=$-/<<:=.$!'DEFG$ students and staff.
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Providing the sense of security for students is a priority for Felipe Agredano-Lozano, the LGBT IA Faculty Liaison for the Los Angeles Community College District. Agredano-Lozano .1,971-$I759,2,W:$#./051-$!'DEF$9:/=-1-$,20$X:45.59,4$#951291$,.$(,-.$!:-$%2H141-$9:441H1L %H=10,2:U!:Y,2:$.:40$.71$D4,01$52$,2$52.1=?51M$E/1-0,8$.7,.$:21$:+$.71$>,28$-.1<-$.7,.$ M1=1$5><41>12.10$.:$,--5-.$!'DEFG$-./012.-$,.$75-$7:>1$9,></-$,.$(,-.$!:-$%2H141-$ I:441H1$M,-$,$-5><41$-8>6:4$.:$41.$.71$-./012.-$@2:M$.7,.$.71=1$M1=1$-,+1$-<,91-$,20$-,+1$ faculty members to talk to — a Monarch butterfly with Rainbow wings.
The Monarch butterfly Rainbow symbol represents important symbolism for trans <1:<41C$=1<=1-12.52H$>1.,>:=<7:-5-L$N:=$H,8$>12$5.$5-$<1=7,<-$,$45..41$>:=1$<:1.59C$1?:@52H$ the glamorous beauty of the butterfly’s wings being hidden in a drab pupae, according to Meghan Hibicke, a Postdoctoral Researcher at Louisiana State niversity Health Sciences I12.1=$&1M$"=41,2-L %H=10,2:U!:Y,2:$2:.10$.7,.$ZM=,<U,=:/203$-1=?591-$5-$,2$,6-:4/.1$>/-.L$[(,97$-./012.$ we have is different,” he said. “We need to account for LGBT students who are DACA -./012.-C$:=$+:=>1=48$529,=91=,.10$<1=-:2-C$:=$>545.,=8$?1.1=,2-C$:=$\/-.$7:>141--$8:/.7$ who wish to succeed.”
“We also need to adapt as a college community to the changing needs of our students. N:=$1;,><41C$:2$-:>1$9,></-1-$,$Z',8U#.=,5H7.$%445,2913$94/6$5-$2:M$,$Z'1201=U#1;/,45.8$ Awareness’ club,” he said.
%H=10,2:U!:Y,2:C$M7:$-.,=.10$M5.7$.71$!%IIA$52$OPPVC$>,=?1410$,.$.71$1?1=$1?:4?52H$ 4,20-9,<1$+:=$!'DEFG$1R/,45.8$,20$=5H7.-$,4:2H$M5.7$,$M501=$,991<.,291$-:951.,448$+:=$ !'DEFG$<1:<41L$N:=$1;,><41$71$<:52.10$.:$.71$120$:+$ZA:23.$,-@UA:23.$.144$M7597$,44:M10$ +:=$:<12$>545.,=8$-1=?591$+:=$41-65,2$,20$H,8$-1=?591>1>61=-L$E712$.71$OPV]$#/<=1>1$ Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges which made same-sex marriage a legal right, finally 7,?52H$X=1-5012.$^:1$D5012$:=01=$.71$120$.:$,$6,2$:2$.=,2-H1201=$>545.,=8$-1=?591$,-$M144$ ,-$=11-.,645-752H$:.71=$.=,2-$=5H7.-$.7,.$7,0$6112$145>52,.10$68$.71$<=1?5:/-$<=1-501298$
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D/.$71$9,/.5:2-C$.71=1$5-$-.544$,$4:2H$<,.7$+:=M,=0$-/97$,-$:21$0,8$7,?52H$,2$(R/,45.8$ %9.$<,--10$.:$<=:.19.$!'DEFG$%>1=59,2-L$S1$,4-:$,9@2:M410H10$.71$97,4412H1-$.7,.$71$ and other LACCD faculty and staff face in broadening the scope of their focus to be more inclusive of gender non-binary and gender fluid students.
%H=10,2:U!:Y,2:$-11-$<=:H=1--$,-$:=H,259$H=:M.7C$.=,9@52H$+=:>$75-$1,=451-.$0,8-$ 01,452H$M5.7$2:$.:$45>5.10$?5-56545.8$+:=$!'DEFG$-./012.-$,20$75-$.1,9752H$\/-.$.71$:21$ 9:/=-1$:+$F/11=$!5.1=,./=1$.:$129:><,--52H$,$+/44$-4,.1U$I759,2:$#./051-C$F/11=$#./051-C$ !'DEFG$75-.:=8C$,20$M:=@52H$7,=0$.:$1;<,20$-./012.$94/6-$,00=1--52H$>/4.5<41$2110-L
“One of the areas that LACCD has really taken a leading role with is our Health Centers,” 71$-,50L$%991--$.:$>1059,4$9,=1$+:=$!'DEFG$-./012.-$5-$9=5.59,4$71$2:.10L$S1$,4-:$<:52.10$ M5.7$<=501$,.$.71$=14,.5:2-75<$.7,.$.71$!%IIA$7,-$6/54.$M5.7$.71$!:-$%2H141-$!'DE$I12.1=$ M7597$<=:?501-$,005.5:2,4$=1-:/=91-$+:=$.71$!'DEFG$-./012.-L
In a return to the first part of the conversation Agredano-Lozano pointed out that the LACCD is the number one feeder for both the niversity of California and the Cal-State -8-.1>-L$[*$.752@$.7:/H7C$.7,.$M1$2110$.:$61$4::@10$,.$,-$>:=1$.7,2$,$Z4,-.$97,291$/25?1=-5.83$ or as just a basic college level 2 year degree,” he said. “For our students, we teach them to 61$=1-54512.C$.7,.$H:,4-$,=1$,..,52,641$1?12$M5.7$9:2-501=,641$,0?1=-5.8$-11>52H48$64:9@52H$ a path. We teach them, and in our wrap around principles that success is achievable and that uniqueness is a positive trait.”
S1$<:52.10$:/.$.7,.$0/=52H$.71$<,201>59C$1?12$-./012.-$+:=910$.:$61$,.$7:>1$52$2:2U a rming environments still found creative ways to work around problems. “There were more than a few who attended class in the bathroom,” he wryly pointed out.
!,-.$N,44$M712$.71$!%IIA3-$!'DEFG$D544$:+$Q5H7.-$M,-$<,--10C$E=/-.11$T5@1$N:2H$-,50_$ “The district’s LGBT IA Bill of Rights resolution is just the first step. We need to make sure the district and the colleges fulfill the promises made to ensure diversity and inclusivity are not just words on a resolution, but action.”
LOS ANGELES Sofia C. aragoza is a 19 year old queer Latinx student from the LACCD’s LA Pierce College. aragoza, an English major, is transferring from the Pierce campus to niversity of California, Berkeley in the Fall of 2021.
She has also been recently accepted in to the Mellon Mayes ndergraduate Research Fellowship where she will continue her research in English through what she calls “an interdisciplinary feminist lens.” In an interview with the Los Angeles Blade on Wednesday, aragoza told the paper that her passion for social justice, equity and literature led her to hold various positions in her college including as a Student Senator, a Chair on a Student Government committee, where she has maintained inclusion as her top priority.
She believes that her intersectional identity has led her to provide a diverse and enriching perspective for any and all activities which she is a part of. Finally, she hopes to eventually provide this same supporting, enriching environment for future generations of students through her career, she says.
“In many ways I think I was privileged- in high school (Grover Cleveland Charter High School) with the program I was in- also the Gay-Straight Alliance,” she said.
Sofia C. aragoza
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles nified School District told the Blade that it is committed to providing a safe learning environment for all of its students, so that in the case of aragoza, that commitment becomes foundational later on as the students enter college or continue on into a work environment. She told the Blade she did feel that support while attending Cleveland.
While attending LACCD’s Pierce she says she very much felt the support for her identity as a queer Latinx. The only elements she felt represented a personal loss was the interruption of her academics by the coronavirus pandemic.
“The biggest loss was the in-person, oh and social interactions,” she said. She credits the educational opportunities that LACCD provided her as making admission to C Berkley a reality.
Haunted by carrying the weight of navigating an often intolerant society as a gay, woman of color, Nadia Noemi Martinez channels these ghosts both as an academic and as a writer.
Touching upon experience, vulnerability, and romance based upon these identities, her writing attempts to capture these di culties through vulnerable emotives and the embodiment of her own intimate transparency with her readers, Noemi tells the Blade.
“The LACCD system prepared me,” she said. “I found my ground, discovered, upholstered in life by my professorsletting me reach for what I will now experience.”
In addition to her own personal life experiences, Nadia dedicates much of her growth and self-discovery to the narratives and work enacted by the queer activists before her and certainly to those who will come after. With an acceptance into Hunter College in New York City as an English Literature major this upcoming Fall, she will continue the importance of challenging the literary canon and the structure of higher education itself in relation to marginalized identities.
Her central belief that through the outlet of creating art, such as prose and poetry, is one of the most profound ways to express what is foreign to those outside the confines of a queer body. While she hopes for her voice and her experiences to be heard, she wishes for the narratives of those closest and dear to her, to be heard, too.
“It was the discovery at ELAC in that ueer Lit class that gave me foundations,” Noemi said.
A thirty-six year old single mom, with a bright sense of humor even as she battles a bit of a physical challenge, Jamey Dee, who told the Blade, “I choose to use “queer” to be all-inclusive” is grateful to LACCD and Pierce college for drastically improving her quality of life.
“LACCD helped me with my extreme dyslexia and made it possible for me to graduate Pierce college, which has been a blessing in my life,” she said.
“I would love to continue to work to help LACCD and Pierce college in the future with my Law degree. I am starting Cal Lutheran in the fall and then plan to go to law school,” she added. California Lutheran niversity is a private liberal arts university in Thousand Oaks, California. “I also want to help battered women and the queer community with pro bono law, as a way to help and give back.”
Dee told the Blade that she went to school to help herself grow and expand her business opportunities. From her adolescence in entura County to bouncing around the Pacific Northwest and then back to California, Dee said that her journey was di cult. But when she was finally settled in and enrolled at Pierce, it was the Disabled Student Program and Services (DSPS) o ce and a kind staffer named David Phoenix who finally identified her severe case of dyslexia and then worked alongside her to ensure her academic success.
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Founder/CEO
GT's was born from a desire to be di erent and remain authentic. Founded by GT Dave when he was 15, the company has promoted inclusion and celebrated diversity for over 25 years. This summer, GT launched the new SYNERGY Scholarship – $250,000 to uplift and advance LGBTQ+ youth. Learn more at gtslivingfoods.com/scholarship
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!"#$%&'(#)*+,-'.#%,-#/01#*2#34'#56#7'8398'::;,<#=*>7+?4%#7.%,-(# was one of the first brewers to bring the now-ubiquitous drink to the S market. What started as a small, family owned and operated *.<%,;@%3;*,#;,#6AAB#4%8#<.*C,#;,3*#%#<:*7%:#2*.?'#9#84%.;,<#C;34#34'# world their belief that food can be medicine, and, like Kombucha, anyone can flourish into something new. This year, GT Dave and his company have been working hard to lift up and empower LGBT youth, with the creation of the new SYNERGY Scholarship and a partnership with Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation.
1,#D+,'#6B34(#!"#$%&'#%,,*+,?'-#34'#?.'%3;*,#*2#34'#,'C#EFG0H!F# Scholarship, a $250,000 commitment awarded to young LGBT entrepreneurs. GT Dave described the scholarship as, “more than just your run-of-the-mill scholarship this is a support system to ensure the continued advancement of LGBT people in business and entrepreneurship.” The scholarship is just one pillar of a much larger summer initiative from the new non-profit, the GT Dave Foundation. The foundation, and the scholarship, are committed to uplifting diverse voices, increasing accessibility to nutritious food, and strengthening environmental efforts to preserve the planet. The scholarship is open to LGBT high school students graduating during the 2021-2022 academic year, and will be awarded every year for the next five years.
In his own words, when asked about the SYNERGY Scholarship, GT Dave told The Los Angeles Blade, “The SYNERGY Scholarship is special to me because it is a direct reflection on how I started, where I came from, and how I want to ‘pay it forward’ so the next generation of LGBT young people can thrive.”
This spring, the company launched its Transform Your Health campaign in partnership with Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation. The Foundation works to support better mental health practices for young people and build a better, braver, world. The partnership between the two companies shared the stories of six incredible individuals who embody the butterfly-like metamorphosis Transform Your Health celebrates. In the words of GT Dave, “every person has the power to grow and transform. From the prioritization of health, to the evolution of self, there’s a quiet but mighty force within all of us just waiting to bloom.” GT Dave has collaborated for the past four year with Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation.
One of the most successful gay entrepreneurs, GT Dave’s success has been recognized in Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine and more. Born and raised in LA, GT Dave came out of the closet at the age of 13, he began his journey as an entrepreneur at the age of 15. It’s no surprise then to hear about his commitment to helping young LGBT entrepreneurs with the SYNERGY Scholarship. “Ever since coming out as gay in my youth and started a company as a teenager, I’ve always wondered what it might have been like to have an LGBT mentor back then” GT Dave told us, “I’ve made it my mission to be a guide for people to live happier and healthier. To me, that goes beyond health wellness and includes being at peace in your own skin, self-acceptance, and self-love. That’s why I continue to support various LGBT philanthropies and movements.”
Today, GT still lives in LA, with his husband Allan and their pet bunny Madonna, making good on his promise to make the world a better place.
The Los Angeles Community College District Congratulates its Class of 2021 LGBTQIA+ Graduates And Welcomes Our Next Generation of Pride! The Colleges of Los Angeles welcome everyone to our nine campuses with inclusive and safe learning environments to pursue your higher education goals and dreams!
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!"#$%&"$'(()*+$,'$-+*./$0123#$ celebration kicks off Thursday, July 1 through Monday, July 5, 2021.
The five day Black Pride celebration is curated and produced by BBE Group, Founder and CEO, Brandon Anthony and his team. Last year, Anthony helped organize the ALL BLACK LI ES MATTER MARCH, an event that brough thousands of marchers together and amplified black queer voices in support of BLM.
This year’s 2021 LA Black Pride celebrates Black LGBT Lives with a weekend of conversation, events and initiatives lifting Black queer community in Los Angeles.
The Black Pride movement serves as a way for Black LGBT people to .#+#41*&#$5(#$*(5&"#1$*(3$"26"+26"&$ issues unique to the Black people, educating the community about issues involving healthcare and mental health. Black Pride encourages awareness of self, community, respect, and dignity.
Anthony says he hopes LA Black Pride will help inspire the community to “work on eradicating issues surrounding Homophobia and racism in America.”
This year’s event is entertainment packed and includes a 5 day CO ID-safe series of both daytime and night time activities.
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The O cial Kick Off Celebration, sponsored by In The Meantime Men, Inc. will consist of a special discussion Panel Presented By Black Emotional Mental Health Collective with Yolo Akili Robinson and Dyll n Burnside. Opening words and a toast will be given to kick off the weekend by Brandon Anthony.
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LA’S resident night at The Chapel, gets a reboot after a long break What better way to kick off Friday night CLS will be hosted by Grammy Award Winner rapper and songwriter CHIKA, and notable Djs Monte Christo and Sugar Shay.
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The return of CATCH ONE, presented by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, in all of its legendary glory. Two parties will join forces to celebrate all things Black, beautiful and queer. The night will include a special dedication to the leaders and trailblazers of the Gay community, including a special honor to Catch One founder Jewel Thais-Williams. The night is hosted by trans-actress and activist Amiyah Scott and TikTok sensation, dancer, actor Dexter Mayfield. The night will be flanked by an ode to the Ballroom scene and a headlining performance by rapper, BIA.
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Era will have their grand opening night, as we celebrate the fabric of our community that is rooted in the music. Local LGBT music performances will pop up during the night during this high energy event.
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The commune of all things gay boy joy - good music, food, and friendswe invite everyone out for a day time celebration under the sun. A line up of handpicked DJs fill the air with tunes and celebrate PRIDE like never before, featuring the launch of BLKMKT (2:00pm - 4:00pm) a Black queer owned market, local LGBT music acts, panel conversations, art installations and immersive activations.
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ERNESTO VALLE, YARIEL VALDÉS GONZALEZ, PARKER PURIFOY, CHRISTOPHER KANE, AUSTIN MENDOZA, JOHN PAUL KING, JOEY DIGUGLIELMO, CHRIS JOHNSON, LOU CHIBBARO JR., MARIAH COOPER, REBEKAH SAGER, JON DAVIDSON, SUSAN HORNIK, CHANNING SARGENT, SAMSON AMORE, CHRISTOPHER CAPPIELLO, MICHAEL JORTNER, DAN ALLEN, SEAN SHEALY, SCOTT STIFFLER, RHEA LITRÉ #$%&'()%*+%,(-./0$1+2#'(1. ABCDEDCA6FGC:EHI ",%/#,10/,()
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The Los Angeles Lakers are proud to support LA PRIDE and the LGBT Community.
