PRIDE GUIDE 1997
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
A-11
Two events will celebrate black gay-lesbian culture
by Doreen Cudnik Cleveland-Two area organizations are planning summer events that will highlight the contributions of the African-American lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered.community, and celebrate black gay culture.
Larry Webb and Derek Barnett have formed Black Out Productions, an entertainment production company designed to bring "quality entertainment to the underserved African American population in the midwestern part of the country."
Webb and Barnett told SBC Magazine in May that BlackOut Productions was born as a result of "the emerging presence of selfaware African-American lesbians and gays.”
"In some ways, this community is beginning to replicate the kind of community building that took place among gays and lesbians in the 1960s and 70s,” Webb said. “African American gays and lesbians are now realizing the power of professional networking and collective consumerism. BlackOut Productions was formed to help propel the pro-
cess.
""
Barnett said the name Black Out was picked "because it addresses the community we want to serve."
"As African Americans, this community is very proud of its blackness, and the term out recognizes the independence and defiance that that word represents in the gay and lesbian community."
BlackOut '97
The event they are planning, BlackOut '97, will take place over the weekend of August 1-3 at various locations throughout Cleveland. Webb and Barnett are contacting nationally known DJs and other entertainers about performing at the event. They have also begun an extensive sponsorship development campaign which includes soliciting over 40 companies.
There will be a welcoming reception on Friday night (details are still being worked out for the location), workshops during the day on Saturday, a main social event on Saturday evening and a wrap-up picnic produced by AJ Productions at Edgewater Park on Sunday afternoon.
Webb and Barnett hope that Black Out '97 will bring to Cleveland the sense of pride and community generated by similar events held in cities like Washington, D.C., Detroit, Atlanta and Chicago.
"It's empowering to participate in these kinds of events," Webb said, recalling the pride he felt as a gay black man when he got together with other black gays and lesbians at the 1993 March on Washington, and that city's Black Pride celebrations. “You can't discount the power of our lives and the feeling we get when we network together."
Benefits fight against AIDS
While the weekend will center around social activities, Barnett and Webb said Blackout '97 will be "more than just a big party." In keeping with the company's commitment to service, proceeds from the event
Larry Webb, left, and Derek Barnett of Black Out Productions
will benefit Men of Color Concerned About AIDS, or MOCCAA. Established in 1994, MOCCAA's mission is to defeat the further spread of HIV in the African American community through education, advocacy, and community outreach programs.
"Because of the disturbingly high rate of HIV in the African American community, and because of the work MOCCAA does in the black gay community, we thought they were the best partner for us," Barnett said.
Barnett added that the workshops held during BlackOut '97 will be designed to cover the whole gamut of the black lesbian and gay experience.
"We often get so bogged down in addressing issues of sexuality that we don't speak to the entire person," he said. "In addition to some fun activities, the workshops at BlackOut '97 will deal with things like networking, legal issues, the African American church. The workshops we'll have promise to be enlightening."
While the event is designed with the African American community in mind, all people are invited to attend the celebration. Webb asked only that those attending Black Out '97 events be respectful and remember that in the same way there are times when women need time to address issues that pertain exclusively to them, the same is true of the black gay and lesbian community.
"Anytime you have an event like this, you main concern is to empower your own-to take care of your own house," Webb said. "But it's also important to educate others."
He added that this event may be an opportunity for people of all races to build bridges with each other.
"Maybe one of the reasons we tend to be so divided is because we don't know each other," Webb said. “Sometimes we're even afraid of each other. Maybe this event will be an opportunity for the larger community to see that 1,000 African Americans can get together and nothing bad will happen."
"We want to lay the groundwork for a
DOREEN CUDNIK
cohesive, economically-empowered, educated community," Barnett said. "The mainstream gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community has been doing this for decades, and they're starting to reap the benefits. The African American community is just starting this process. We want to help bring this discussion to the North Coast."
"We plan to put Cleveland on the map," Webb said, adding that they hope BlackOut will become an annual event.
Barnett added, "When people look at their calendars, and they say, 'I've got to go to Black Pride in D.C., my grandmother's house for Christmas, and Black Out in Cleveland in August,' then we'll have done our jobs well."
For more information about BlackOut Productions, entertainment or sponsorship of Black Out '97, or to be added to BlackOut
Productions' mailing list, contact Larry Webb or Derek Barnett at 216-261-8811. Black Pride set for August
While there is currently no affiliation between the two organizations, Cleveland Black Pride is also in the process of putting together an event that will involve the entire community. Plans are underway for what would be the first-ever Cleveland Black Pride event, and public relations director Ernest Horton said, "It's coming along pretty well."
"We're still in the planning process, trying to get vendors, to finalize our location. We want this to be an annual event, and we're asking for everyone's support." Cleveland Black Pride was formed in August of 1996 and has a mailing list of over 200 names. They've been sponsoring monthly bar nights and the "Umoja Coffee Series," an informal discussion group that deals with important issues involving the black gay community.
They hold meetings at the Cleveland Lesbian-Gay Center on the first and third Sunday of the month at 3:00 pm. Meetings are open to "any individuals that feel they want to participate," Horton said.
"The founders of Cleveland Black Pride are fundamentally aware of the growing consciousness and self esteem of Cleveland's African American lesbian gay bisexual and transsexual community," Horton added. "Therefore, our organization has designated a Sunday in August 1997 as our day of self-recognition, Pride, and communal celebration." (The actual date has not yet been decided.)
Individuals interested in volunteering should contact Cleveland Black Pride, Inc. P.O. Box 602093, Cleveland, Ohio 44102; 216-556-4704.
"We welcome everyone in our community to share, participate, and network and help make this day happen," Horton said.
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