Agency, Autonomy, & Affirmation: Empowering Cultural Self Determination in Trans and Queer BIPOC Communities

According to the 2021 Tracking Report published by Funders for LGBTQ Issues, "$78.4 million, 31 percent of overall LGBTQ funding, was allocated to LGBTQ communities of color broadly." However, LGBT Data & Demographics at the Williams Institute stated that 42% of the LGBT community identify as people of color. Despite reporting more racial diversity than the general adult U.S. population, TQBIPOC (Trans and Queer Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) are challenged with disproportionate inequities such as higher rates of unemployment and housing insecurity. Through this conversation, presenters will share how cultural self-determination is a path for racial, gender, and economic justice.

Join J. HD Goodridge (Black Trans Fund), J Mase III (The Black Trans Prayer Book), Omni Romero (Pride Foundation), and Morgan (Mo) Willis (Third Wave Fund) on Tuesday, June 18th at 11am PDT / 2pm EDT to explore the intricate intersections of queer liberation and racial equity, and unveil actionable strategies for funders to uplift TQBIPOC artists and creatives.

This 60-minute webinar will include an audience Q&A with the speakers.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Live captioning will be available in English throughout the webinar. For additional accommodation requests, please contact GIA Program Manager Jaime Sharp, jaime@giarts.org, at least three (3) business days before the event.

Presenters

J. HD Goodridge, Program Manager, Black Trans Fund

J. HunterDae "HD" Goodridge (they/them/Kin/friend) is a Brooklyn-born, Black, FAT, Queer, trans, NeuroDivine, Parent, Educator, Funder of Black trans joy, and currently based in the DMV. They manage the programming and grantmaking needs of the Black Trans Fund and actively interweave their politics, practice of care, protection, and love for Trans and Gender expansive BIPOC communities. Kin is currently managing the expansion of BTF’s Arts and Culture Pathways program that invests in Black trans artists and organizations, BTF’s Gender Justice partnerships, and Reproductive Justice learning programs. They are a 2023-2024 Harmony Initiative alumni and a 2022 Trust-Based Philanthropy with a Racial Equity Lens Cohort alumni (Philanthropy NY). HD believes strongly that our liberation will come when we decolonize gender & parenting, centralize compassion, pause for pleasure & play, align with accountability, and reposition ourselves with proximity to Blackness void of white supremacy to collectively build a New World.

J Mase II, Co-Director, The Black Trans Prayer Book

J Mase III is an award winning Black Trans poet, author, educator & filmmaker. As an educator, Mase has worked with community members globally on the needs of LGBTQIA+ folks, racial justice and reparations in spaces such as K-12 schools, universities, faith communities and restricted care facilities. He is founder of awQward, the first trans and queer people of color talent agency. J Mase is author of And Then I Got Fired: One Transqueer’s Reflections on Grief, Unemployment & Inappropriate Jokes About Death as well as White Folks Be Trippin’: An Ethnography Through Poetry & Prose and Josephine: a trans story of biblical proportions. He is head writer for the theatrical production Black Bois. His work has been featured on MSNBC, Essence Live, People, TED, Blavity, Them, and more. Winner of a Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Non-Fiction and a Creative Capital Award, he is co-director of the forthcoming documentary, the Black Trans Prayer Book and is finishing his latest solo work, Is Your God a Violent God? Finding a Theology for Survivors while running a virtual community center, Garden, for BIPOC folks engaging in COVID mitigations. Find him on Instagram & TikTok (@jmaseiii), www.jmaseiii.com and www.MeetAtGarden.com!

Omni Romero, Director of CARE, Pride Foundation

Omni Romero (they/them) is a trans nonbinary strategist and storyteller living with HIV who is committed to transformative justice and wellness for all BIPOC and LGBTQI2S+ people and their communities. Omni was born to Mexican and Salvadoran farmworkers in rural Washington State and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with honors in Cultural Anthropology. Since 2012, they have led grassroots organizing, resource mobilization, and strategic planning work across the US and Mexico. Since 2016 they have provided gender-affirming Spanish interpretation/translation for clients around the globe. Omni is the inaugural Director of Community Advocacy, Research, and Education (CARE) at the Pride Foundation, working across Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Prior to the Pride Foundation, Omni worked in a variety of abolitionist and public health settings across the Southern US during their time as a campaign manager for Durham Beyond Policing, as the regional arts and culture organizer with Southerners on New Ground, and while working as Director of Encuentro & CBA Specialist at the Latino Commission on AIDS. Omni’s work on HIV and Language Justice in the Southern USA has been featured in CNN’s Blind Angels Series. Their experience in the arts include organizing open mics and salons, leading poetry workshops for youth, and driving funding into the hands of artists and organizations working in the arts across the USA. Omni loves to explore rivers and starscapes, experiment with metal and poetry, they love all things purple, and their proudest moments are making people laugh.

Morgan (Mo) Willis, Co-Executive Director, Third Wave Fund

Morgan Willis (she/they) is a Black, nonbinary, queer, writer, traveler, and community collaborator who dreams big. For close to 15 years, Morgan has worked with community projects and organizations to gather and strengthen their networks, build and share resources that sustain us, and to create programs and structures that move us toward collective liberation. Between 2012 and 2018, Mo produced the Allied Media Conference in Detroit. Since leaving AMP, she has worked with dozens of organizations to build teams, lead dynamic gatherings, design programs and giving funds, train and support emerging leaders, build resilient infrastructures and expand people’s capacity for social transformation. Morgan’s work has been featured in: Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Shaping Worlds, The SAGE Handbook of Social Constructionist Theory and other publications. She is the editor of Outside the XY: Queer Black and Brown Masculinity, a Lambda Literary Award nominated anthology created by bklyn boihood. They’ve been featured on NPR, NBC, Michigan Radio and more.