HRC African-American Outreach Begets BlaQ

By Charles Béraud  

Someone once described the LGBT community to me as children bound by sibling similarities and shared parents, but by no means identical to one another. Each has particularities, a set of skills and talents that are unique to them, passions and interests that set them apart. And while some actions can address many needs of all, others must be targeted specifically for each of them separately.  

As such, The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has grown to be America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality and work towards building a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all. HRC is also keenly aware that there are various issues that beyond these fundamental rights, affect various community members in different ways. That’s the reason why there are local steering committees of HRC and various programs designed specifically to address such issues as parenting, hate crimes, aging, coming out, religion & faith, transgender and people of color.  

In Las Vegas, the People of Color outreach program is now also articulated through a new group called BlaQ (a word-play on being black and queer), whose mission is to reach out and build a better LGBT African-American community through education, representation and action. “We represent ALL shades of black whether you're of African decent, Dominican/Afro-Latin@, Jamaican, Caribbean, etc.” says Desirée Duncan, BlaQ sub-committee member and community activist.  

“When we set out to develop something for the African-American community here in Las Vegas, as part of the HRC People of Color Outreach, we were clear on the things that we wanted to address” says André Wade, Diversity Co-Chair of the Las Vegas Steering Committee.  “We really wanted to focus on educating others on HRC’s efforts and mission, empowering the community and bringing everyone together through events and programs by way of HRC, It was important for us that the outreach we are calling BlaQ truly be a resource through which African-American gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual individuals  find tools to live without fear or oppression at home, in our communities, in the workplace and in our places of worship with the assistance of HRC --- especially in the socio-political environment” 

A successful first event

On Saturday December 13th, 2008, HRC’s BlaQ outreach held its first public event at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center, which was an interactive workshop with the Woman on the Grow extraordinaire, Angela Harvey, titled Guess Who’s Coming for Dinner. She described the workshop as “an honest and open conversation through which we examine our strengths, weaknesses, personality and attributes… in other words, what we bring to the table, while exploring the difference between what we truly are looking for in a mate versus what we settle for.”  

And Angela Harvey, one of the founding members of the Las Vegas HRC steering committee , knows what she speaks of. Hers was one of the strong voices that rallied the troops at the Vegas rally organized shortly after the passing of Proposition 8 in California. Described as captivating, charismatic and dynamic, the multitalented and multifaceted Harvey is a Motivational Speaker and Personal Growth Advisor. And while this might call to mind for many images of self-fulfilling mantras, sitting in circles holding hands and signing Kumbaya, Angela Harvey is one of these people who just keeps it simple… and very real. Her no-nonsense approach to self-actualization and ownership of self made it possible for all in attendance to share in an experience that was at once intimate, extremely candid and dug beneath the surface.  

Looking to the future

“Our first event was a resounding success, an encouraging sign for the HRC BlaQ outreach sub- committee” says Desirée Duncan. “People came out for this, and come out of this feeling stronger, empowered. This is very encouraging for the community! This was our first event and we’re very happy with how it went. We’re going to take this positive energy and shift our focus now to what comes next”.    

“We definitely want to repeat the experience with Angela Harvey,” says André Wade and so we’re looking at holding more workshops. We plan to have social events such as bowling, mentoring functions and reaching out to youth and starting a positive dialogue within the faith and religion community. HRC has a great community based event here in Las Vegas called the Family Picnic, and we’re looking forward to bringing more African-American people out to the event. It’s our hope that 2009 will be the year during which we lay down solid foundations for the Human Rights Campaign’s BlaQ outreach on which we’ll be able to build for years to come.”