LGBT Events (Tonight!) at the Schomburg

From Carolyn M. of CC:

State of Politics and Activism in the Black LGBT/SGL Community
Tuesday, June 13, 6-8PM (TONIGHT!)
The New York Public Library Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, Harlem
The first of two programs co-sponsored by the Schomburg Center's Black Gay and Lesbian Archive will focus on political activity within the black same gender loving community over the past 30 years. Currently, politically active LGBT/SGL activists of African descent are a mix of seasoned and new thinkers, engaging a range of issues including marriage equality, homophobia in the black church, and hate crimes, among other issues. Panelists include Samiya Bashir (The Right to Marry Campaign), Larry D. Lyons, II (Rashawn Brazell Memorial Fund), Kevin McGruder (Gay Men of African Descent), and others.

Black LGBT/SGL Publishers Speak Out
Tuesday, June 27, 6-8PM
The New York Public Library Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
515 Malcolm X Boulevard
The second of two programs co-sponsored by the Schomburg Center's Black Gay and Lesbian Archive will focus on cultural publications produced by non-heterosexual people of African descent in the United States. It is a little known fact that the majority of black LGBT/SGL books and periodicals have been produced by small presses or self-published. This panel will discuss the complicated history of the black LGBT/SGL press, and the challenges independent and self-publishing pose historically and currently. Panelists include Lisa C. Moore (Redbone Press), Charlene Cothran (Venus Magazine), Colin Robinson (Other Countries), and others. Steven G. Fullwood, project director for the Black Gay and Lesbian Archive, will moderate the panel.

On his site, Larry Lyons poses questions around the idea that "activism" might equal "élitism." He also offers updates on the Rashawn Brazell Memorial Fund.