Are we under the microscope? Is the media sensationalizing our failed relationships?  Has our quest for equality led to more public scrutiny? In this edition of the award winning web series, NoMoreDownLow.TV, we examine the media’s coverage of African American same gender loving people and their relationships. Then, we’ll also meet Kai, a Transman who made a bold decision to become the person he wanted to be. Plus, we’ll introduce you to Dr. Boogie, one of Hollywood’s most sought after celebrity hair stylists and discover his passion for breading Italian Mastiff Dogs. Co-host Janora McDuffie & Kendell are on location at One National Gay & Lesbian Archives on the campus of the University of Southern California.

INFORMATION FROM EPISODE 302

About ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives

ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives is the oldest active LGBTQ organization in the United States and the largest repository of LGBTQ materials in the world. Founded in 1952, ONE Archives currently houses over two million archival items including periodicals, books, film, video and audio recordings, photographs, artworks, organizational records and personal papers. The collections at ONE Archives are a part of the University of Southern California Libraries.

 For more information, please visit onearchives.org.

About Doctor Boogie

http://www.boogiesecrets.com/

Articles by Kai Green

http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/04/i-will-never-straighten-out-my-wrist/

http://thefeministwire.com/2013/03/black-men-writing-to-live-brothers-letters/

Viktor Kerner’s Blog

http://southern4life.blogspot.com/

Jewel’s Catch One is the oldest African American LGBT, owned and operated night club in the country.  On Memorial Day Weekend, 2013, owner Jewel Thais-Williams celebrated 40-years with a 4-day, fabulous weekend extravaganza in Los Angeles.  In this NoMoreDownLow.TV, Newsbreak, we capture the fun and excitement of this historic event.

Watch Now: Jennifer Lewis’ performance at the Catch One Awards gala

Outfest, the Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to nurturing, showcasing and protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) films, presents Fusion LGBT People of Color Film Festival on March 22-23.  Some of the highlights include the soon to be released action comedy, “Hot Guys With Gun,” written and directed by Doug Spearman of Noah’s Arc Fame, the DL Chronicles and many other shorts and feature films.  This year’s Fusion Achievement Award went to writer-director Angela Robinson.  She holds the distinction of being the first out lesbian to direct a Disney family comedy.  Her list of credits include the feature films “D.E.B.S.,”, “Herbie Fully Loaded,”  as well as successful television series such as “The L Word,” “Hung,” and “True Blood.”  Presenting Angela the award were her “True Blood,” co-stars Rutina Wesley and Kristin Bauer.

NoMoreDown was the official media partner for Fusion and here is our exclusive coverage.

WATCH NOW: The unedited version of Angela Robinson’s acceptance speech at the 10th Annual Outfest Fusion People of Color Film Festival.

The 2013 lgbt film festival season begins on march 22-23^rd, in los angeles with Fusion– the Outfest LGBT people of color film festival– and this year, we’re proud to announce that NoMoreDownLow is the official media partner.

Since it’s inception in 2004, Fusion has provided a platform for filmmakers to showcase their personal, brave and entertaining stories about lgbt people of color.  And this year, the festival programmers have assembled some of the best and most diverse films that celebrate our community.  Films like “Homeboy,” a documentary that looks a the lives of gay latino men who are former gang members,  “Strange Frame,” the highly anticipated, first ever lesbian afro-futuristic animated feature,  and the award winning feature, “My Brother The Devil,” the moving story about two british arab borhters in london.

Also screening, the highly acclaimed documentary about famed lesbian african american poet Audre Lorde“.  Other highlights include ”Talking With the Taxman About Poetry,”  ”The DL Chronicals Return of the Chadwick Journals,” and a sneak peak atNoah’s Arc star Doug Spearman’s directorial debut of “Hot Guys With Guns.”

The festival will also feature the works of aspiring young filmmakers through the newly created fusion lab, the drop-in, and micro cinema production facility based in the urban Highland Park area of Los Angeles.

This years festival will be held here at the Egyptian Theater and the Redcat Theater in downtown Los Angeles.

For details and hightlights of all the red carpet excitement, go to the Outfest website.

I got all choked up watching the NAACP Image awards a few weeks ago.  For me, seeing Diahann Carroll present the President’s Award to Kerry Washington, took me back to why I fell in love with this business and why I am blessed to be celebrating 36-years as a television producer-director.

First off let me say, I absolutely love what Shondra Rhimes and Kerry Washington have created with the ABC hit drama “Scandal.”  There’s a sense of pride beyond belief over the success of that show.  Seeing Diahann Carroll walk out on the stage for the presentation, reminded me of the pride I felt as a 13-year old boy watching Julia Baker (Carroll) and her young son Corey Baker, (Marc Copage), hit the screen every week.  The show began in 1968 and ran until 1971.  That’s a lifetime by today’s television programming standards. Watching Julia was the first time I saw people who looked like my family.  The storylines inspired me and reflected my life, and made a lasting impression on not only the black community but the white community as well. There was no doubt that it helped to break down barriers of intolerance and bigotry.

In her acceptance speech, Kerry Washington said something that made me proud too.  She said, and I quote:

“Just as we must ensure that ‘We the People’ includes all Americans, regardless of race, class, gender and sexual orientation, we must also work to ensure that the stories we tell, the movies we make, the television we produce, the theater we stage, the novels we publish are inclusive in all those same ways.”

Today, we now have five black cable networks: BET, TV One, Centric, Aspire and Bounce. And I’m now calling on all five black networks to take Kerry’s advice and produce some type of programming that is LGBT inclusive.

Carroll mentioned that Julia was a ground breaking experience, and that NBC and Twentieth Century Fox put their faith and their money in back of Julia and that’s how she was born.“  I’m willing to bet that somewhere in a production meeting back in the late 60’s, the studio and network executives knew that they had an obligation to make television that was inclusive too.  And they did it in a non-stereotypical way.  Julia wasn’t a maid – she was a nurse.  Her son was bright, articulate and honest and they lived in a multi-ethnic society.   And that’s what’s lacking on the black cable networks, a non-stereotypical black gay or lesbian protagonist or hero who isn’t just some flaming over the top gay or lesbian best friend.

I’m calling for a character or series about someone much like the people we profile on NoMoreDownLow.TV – an LGBT person who is not on the down low, someone who is open and honest and living in their truth and has a life that is full yet entertaining who just happens to be gay.

Times are changing.  And thanks to President Obama’s support for LGBT rights, black Americans attitudes towards LGBT people are slowly changing too, but we still have a long way to go to end the bigotry and religious homophobia that still exists.  But just like Julia, the right series, the right showcase, the right characters can make a big difference in moving diversity and inclusion forward.  It’s time for the black cable networks to do their part of and create some LGBT programs.

WATCH NOW:  Where are the African American LGBT Characters in Primetime Television?

She is a social activist, a scholar and an author, but that’s just the beginning of her story.  The rest, is detailed in an upcoming documentary called, “Free Angela Davis And Other Political Prisoners.”  The film, which will be released this April in selected cities, chronicles Angela’s meteoric rise from a young college professor to a social activist who gets implicated in a botched kidnapping attempt that ends with a shootout, four dead, and her name on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list.  In 1997, she revealed that she is a lesbian in Out Magazine.

In this NoMoreDownLow.TV Newsbreak, correspondent Mark Noble catches up with this iconic figure at the 2013 Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles where she talks about the film and her take on the state of the LGBT movement.  She is joined by director Shola Lynch and executive producer Jada Pinkett-Smith.

WATCH NOW:  ”Free Angela Davis And All Political Prisoners” Official Trailer

For information on the city and theater locations and dates of “Free Angela Davis And Other Political Prisoners,” go to:

www.freeangelafilm.com

On the Season 3, premiere episode of NoMoreDownLow.TV, we examine the state of African American LGBT characters on unscripted prime time television. We also profile Charlotte, North Carolina’s openly lesbian City Council woman LaWana Mayfield. With all the hoopla about this year’s summer olympic games, we explore what it’s like to be black and gay in the UK, through the eyes of famed British film producer Rikki Beadle-Blair, and we go behind the scenes of a one of a kind fitness model competition for gay and gay friendly men of color.

Club Nokia was the site of Sheryl Lee Ralph’s 22nd Annual Divas Simply Singing Benefit Concert for HIV & AIDS. This year’s participants include Jenifer Lewis, The Voice’s Jamar Rodgers, R&B Diva’s Monifah, Lalah Hathaway, Omarosa, Tristan Wilds, El DeBarge, Andre Fuller, and many more.  The event was held on Saturday, December 1, 2012, on World AIDS Day.

A group of black pastors are putting up one million dollars to campaign against President Obama because of his support for marriage equality. But in these economically challenging times, where is that money really coming from? In this NoMoreDownLow.TV, Newsbreak, we will hear from The Coalition of African American Pastors, the NAACP, Maryland State Legislator Mary L. Washington, Jonathan Capehart and other members of the LGBT community and their allies at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC.  NoMoreDownLow.TV was the only camera crew at the DNC credentialed to bring you exclusive coverage from the African American LGBT prospective.

BONUS VIDEO:  Check out Mayor Cory Booker’s moving and inspiring speech at the DNC LGBT Caucus.

In this NoMoreDownLow.TV Newsbreak, Producers Craig Zadan & Neil Meron are honored at the 2012 Outfest Legacy Awards.  Glee star Darren Criss, Michael Urie, Paris Barclay, Darryl Stephens and the cast of Logo’s “DTLA,” are interviewed. Members of Hollywood’s African American LGBT community and their allies also react to the controversy surrounding the Youtube video coined as the Gay Kappa Wedding.  A video wedding pictorial that went viral, sparking outrage by some in the black community because one of the grooms was a member of the historical black greek letter fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi.

WATCH NOW: Outfest Legacy Awards Highlights

http://youtu.be/NvodvZbcLqU