"African-American people are LGBT people, they are allies of the LGBT community, and family members of LGBT people. The African-American community is not homogeneous. Our community is diverse just like the LGBT community."
When opponents of the LGBT community used President Obama's support of same-sex marriage as an opportunity to drive a wedge between African-American and LGBT communities, Eran Thompson spoke up. Thompson is an activist who serves his hometown of Billings, Montana as the chairperson of Not In Our Town Billings and serves on the board of the Montana Human Rights Network and Not In Our Town/The Working Group. In this piece, Thompson addresses the supporters of the Montana Human Rights Network.
Blog
May 14, 2012 - 4:32pm
In late April, our supporters at the Nathan Cummings Foundation featured Not In Our Town on their website. The Nathan Cummings Foundation's mission is rooted in the Jewish tradition and committed to democratic values and social justice. Not In Our Town receives funding through the foundation's Arts and Culture Program. We were pleased and proud to learn that NIOT will receive continued support from NCF in 2012.
The foundation notes that NIOT.org "is a countervailing force to the subculture of hate, providing a web portal where visitors can share and be inspired by the experiences of those with the courage to stand up against bigotry based on race, religion, gender, sexuality and age."
May 10, 2012 - 1:12pm
Here at Not In Our Town, we have been grateful for the support of our partners at American Federation of Teachers. AFT's efforts to promote the PBS broadcasts of Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness and Class Actions and share campaign resources with its network have allowed us to connect with dynamic educators and public employees across the country.
We were also thrilled to show a segment of Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness at AFT's annual Civil, Human and Women's Rights Conference last year in Detroit, and participate in a powerful Town Hall meeting. We are very pleased to share information about AFT's important campaign to respond to and prevent bullying: "See a Bully, Stop a Bully: Make a Difference."
May 8, 2012 - 2:07pm
New York City immigrant groups and communities joined together to watch Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness during Immigrant Heritage Week in late April.
The film was screened eight times across the city—in Queens, Chinatown, Brooklyn and the Bronx—sparking discussions about how to address the challenge of hate and bias.
At the Bronx Museum, NYC Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs Fatima Shama led the post-screening discussion with filmmaker and executive producer Patrice O'Neill. The event was attended by members of the Bangladeshi, West African, African-American, and Puerto Rican communities. Three groups at the event pledged to hold other screenings in the Bronx in the coming month.
May 7, 2012 - 2:22pm
By Becki Cohn-Vargas
Dr. Becki Cohn-Vargas, Not In
Our School Director
This article originally appeared in Edutopia on April 24, 2012. Dr. Becki Cohn-Vargas is a veteran educator as well as the director of Not In Our School.