u Anti-Gay Violence & Hate Crimes q
Click Any Of Our Clients For Booking Information
Dorothy Hajdys
Her son was Naval sailor Allen Schindler. After he was murdered by his shipmates in Japan just for being gay, Dorothy Hajdys emerged from this mother's worst nightmare as a woman with a cause: gay civil rights! Her story is a chilling portrayal of how homophobia kills. After exposing a Naval cover-up of her son's death and examining her own biases, Dorothy finally saw the sentencing of Allen's killer. She sums up her own presentation best: "I don't want any other mother to go through what I've gone through". Dorothy currently resides in Illinois and continues to speak out against anti-gay and lesbian violence.
Sabrina Sojourner
Congresswoman Sabrina Sojourner is the first open lesbian to be elected to the United States Congress. Having been elected by a whopping 83% of the vote, Sabrina represented the District of Columbia in the U.S. House of Representatives where in her non-voting position she lobbied not only for Statehood for the District of Columbia, but impacted other legislators on a whole spectrum of issues. Sabrina is also a nationally recognized educator on diversity and multiculturalism. As past Director of Diversity Programs and Woman of Color Programs for the National Organization for Woman, she has developed a variety of programs, workshops, and presentations that focus on building bridges of understanding across differences, including race, gender, and sexual orientation. A widely published author, Sabrina's latest work is a collection of poems and narratives entitled Psychic Scars and Other Mad Thoughts.
Keith Boykin
Keith Boykin, author of One More River to Cross: Black and Gay in America, is one of the nation's foremost commentators on issues of race and sexual orientation. A graduate of Harvard Law School, as Special assistant to President Bill Clinton, Keith was the highest ranking openly gay person to be appointed to the White House. Afterwards, Keith served for three years as Executive Director of the Nation Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum where he was the lead advocate on the interests of black lesbians and gay man nationwide. At thirty-five years old, Keith is a role model to young people everywhere as to what one can accomplish, straight or gay, people of color or not. In his presentation, Keith examines the issues of race and their impact upon sexual orientation. He opens eyes wide as to the perceptions of discrimination and prejudice on multi-levels and teaches that the river we all face as Americans is prejudice, against whose current we must defend our ideals of equality.
Ingrid Rivera
Ingrid Rivera is a queer, Black Boricua, lecturer, poet, and spoken-word performance artist. As a lecturer, Ingrid speaks on many topics but has focused her work on race, economic justice, and queer issues. Ingrid is currently performing her work in progress, Lágrimas de Cocodrilo/ Crocodile Tears, which is an experience into spoken-word performance art and Ingrid's tale of survival via poetic monologues. This show is a dramatic journey into one woman's struggle and recovery from child sexual abuse and incest, coming out and accepting her lesbianism, and finally raising her own daughter in the midst of recovery. An audience will find that Ingrid’s poetry exudes the consciousness of political activism. Described as a multi-poetic expression of Ingrid Rivera’s multiple identified life, Ingrid's unique, honest and powerful artistic expression unveils and allows an audience to delve into the otherwise daunting issues of identity, abuse, discrimination, love, war, and much more.
