My Attic Youth Center Leadership Award Acceptance Remarks

OK, so this in my last post on this event (smile). There was a very brief piece on WHYY FM Radio where my HIV prevention work was quoted. That clip can be found here.


As usual in my long winded nature I went over the time that was allotted to me for my remarks, but I felt it necessary to say these things while I had this platform.

Saturday November 15, 2008- Philadelphia PA
Attic Youth Center 15th Anniversary Crystal Gala

First, I want to thank The Attic for acknowledging my work with their leadership award this evening. The Attic is an important institution in our community and they have helped in many ways with the work I have done here in Philadelphia.

Being a leader and standing up for the things you believe in is an important asset to have in a society that often challenges who we are and in some cases our civil rights as LGBT people in America. I am immensely grateful for the opportunities that have been provided for me to be part of the leadership structure here in Philadelphia and the warm reception that I have received as a “transplant” to Philadelphia in the words of one of my community elders and mentors, Tyrone Smith.

For those of you who know me and know how long winded I can be, I won’t disappoint you tonight, but will do my best not to be so long that I’ll have to be ushered off the stage before the conclusion of my remarks. There are a few things I want to share this evening, while I have this soapbox:

1. It would be wonderful to think that we are living in a post-racial society because America has had the courage to elect Barack Obama as its first African American President. However, the reality is that we have more work to do in LGBT communities around issues of race and class among others. Unfortunately, the current gay marriage debate has once again bought some of these challenges in our communities to light. I am an optimist and believe that we have the capacity in our communities to have real conversations about how we are supporting all issues that impact members of LGBT communities whether it be issues related to HIV, gender identity protections, poverty, affirmative action, gay marriage, etc. In my short time in Philadelphia I feel we have made progress in this area and I am looking forward to us working collectively together to making Philadelphia a model community for inclusive activism.

2. Second, I want to send a call for action to all of you here tonight. Let us understand the goldmine we have in organizations that focus on developing LGBT youth in this community such as The Attic, COLOURS, GALAEI and others. If you were coming out 16 years ago, these organizations would not have been here for you and if we don’t continue to do our part to support these organizations with our presence, talents and money, they may not be here to serve our communities in the future. This isn’t to say that any organization is financially unstable, but to say that we know that given the current conditions in our economy, that the government has tightened its purse strings and programs serving sexual minorities will likely not be at the top of their list of programs to save.

3. Lastly, I want to say to the young people in the audience and “young” can be defined any way you’d like. I know sometimes it can be challenging to be who you are at home, in school, at work on the street and in any other environment at times. But know that your life is valuable and that you are a precious work of art designed by a higher power. I hope you will take the time to talk to some of your elders to learn from them what life was like and has been like as a sexual minority and likewise allow them to learn from you as a young person what life is like. Indeed if there were no elders to blaze the civil rights trails for us there would be no Attic, there would be no gayborhood , no LGBT community center and some of the other rites of passage we have obtained over the years. On the flipside, if we don’t invest in our young people, who are current and future leaders, we have the potential to lose the ground we have gained.

I’d like to thank The Attic for this award. I would also like to thank Georgeo Bosco, who is here in the audience, for his unwavering support and commitment to helping me whenever I asked him over the past several years. I’d also like to thank the countless numbers of you in the audience who I have worked with over the years. I realize that my efforts are only a small part of a larger mosaic of efforts put forth by you all to make Philadelphia a better place for its LGBT citizens.

In closing, I’d like to share my vision for 2009: Let’s build an unprecedented, inter-generational, multi-racial, multi-gendered, multi-issued LGBT rights movement. This task starts with us and ends with us. Earlier this year, Grammy award winning music artist Alicia Keys said in her acceptance speech that we need to remove the word “can’t” from our vocabulary. I agree with her and I also believe in the words of president-elect Barack Obama, that “yes we can” form an unprecedented LGBT civil rights movement, so let’s make it happen!

I Am Being Honored Part II

So I am only 3 short days away from The Attic's 15th Anniversary Gala where I will be receiving their Leadership Award. Late last week I got word that my full time employer was planning to do a press release on this. I am still a little in awe that all this is happening to me. I really am humbled by it all and I like the way the press release came out. Here is the press release:

_______________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

November 10, 2008

Contact: Jamie Arehart (267-350-7699 or jarehart@phmc.org)

Lee Carson to be Awarded Leadership Achievement Award
The Attic Youth Center to Recognize LGBT Activist

PHILADELPHIA - On November 15, 2008, activist, researcher, educator and social worker Lee Carson will receive the Leadership Achievement Award at The Attic Youth Center’s annual gala at the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia. The Attic Youth Center is Philadelphia's only agency exclusively serving LGBT youth and is one of only thirteen LGBT youth centers nationally. “Lee Carson is a man on a mission,” says The Attic’s executive director, Carrie Jacobs. “He is an individual who already has and will continue to make a huge difference in the LGBT community, particularly in the LGBT community of color.”

Carson has worked in the areas of HIV prevention and substance abuse rehabilitation in the LGBT community for the past ten years. “I am grateful to be receiving an award from The Attic,” says Carson, “and at the same time I am fully aware that my work is only one small part within a larger mosaic of efforts put forth by many toward creating a better quality of life for Philadelphia’s LGBT citizens.”

Currently a research associate at Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC), Carson works on several projects related to HIV prevention among men who have sex with men. "We are very proud of Lee and his recognition by The Attic,” says Lynne Kotranski, vice president of PHMC’s Research and Evaluation component. “Lee brings a unique set of skills to his work and commitment to the community–great clinical training blended with an understanding of conducting research on vulnerable populations.”

In addition to his research work, Carson works part-time as a mental health therapist for the Mazzoni Center, a health center serving Philadelphia’s LGBT population. Carson also serves as an adjunct instructor in the graduate social work department at Temple University.
Carson’s work as an activist in the LGBT community began in 2000, when he became an active member of the New York-based Men of Color Health Awareness Project (MOCHA), an HIV prevention organization. While at MOCHA, Carson served as a board member for the New York State Black Gay Network. After moving to Philadelphia, Carson co-founded and became president of a local nonprofit organization called the Black Gay Men’s Leadership Council, which advocates for black gay men in Philadelphia. He is also a founding member of the LGBT People of Color Coalition, which presently consists of 14 organizations that represent a broad cross section of LGBT communities across race and gender.

Carson’s commitment to the LGBT community has garnered him both local and national recognition. This past fall, he began serving on Mayor Nutter's advisory board on LGBT affairs. His familiarity with the LGBT community also led to his selection by the Centers for Disease Control as an expert on an advisory panel for a new HIV prevention campaign targeted towards black gay men. Carson has a bachelor’s of arts degree from SUNY Brockport, a master’s of social work degree from Nazareth College and is a licensed social worker in the state of Pennsylvania.

###

About PHMC
Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) is a nonprofit public health institute that builds healthier communities through partnerships with government, foundations, business and other community-based organizations. It fulfills its mission to improve the health of the community by providing outreach, health promotion, education, research, planning, technical assistance, and direct services. Formerly the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation, PHMC has served the Greater Philadelphia region since 1972. For more information on PHMC, visit www.phmc.org.

_______________________________________

2008 has been the hell of year and I am most definitely looking to usher in 2009, as a year with more opportunities and definitely looking forward to the changing of the guards in our nations capital!

Town Hall Meeting to Save Black Gay Men's Lives














Recently the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released some daunting statistics related to the amount of new HIV infections that occur in the United States annually. Last week the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote a piece about the HIV epidemic in Philadelphia. You can find that article here.

In response to the growing HIV epidemic in our community, in which a significant number of new infections in Philadelphia annually are among men who have sex with men, the BGMLC, COLOURS and House of Blahnik are sponsoring a community town hall meeting to discuss what this means to our community and to share very specific ways you can do your part to help decrease the amount of new HIV infections in Philly in the coming years. This is a serious issue in our community and it will take all of us, gay, straight, men, women and so on to work together on this.

The event will take place on Thursday November 13th, 6pm at Arch Street Methodist Church (home of Unity Fellowship's Sunday service), 55 N Broad Street. The meeting will be facilitated by Dr. Lisa Bowleg of Drexel University and there will be representatives from the health department present to answer questions you may have about their response to the epidemic and you as a community member will be provided time to talk about what we should be doing to improve our prevention efforts. I hope to see you on November 13th!

The Dems are Back in the Building Baby!



Words can't express how I felt last night when I saw the momentum swing so strong in favor of Obama and that emotion has spilled over into today and will for some time. Broad Street around City Hall here in Philly was on fire last night! There were thousands of people out celebrating and cheering the election outcome that none of us suspected would be the case even 2 years ago. America has elected its first Black President. I get the whole point some make that he ran for the presidency as a man who happens to be Black, but no one can remove his Blackness from the significance of this race. Indeed his race was an issue in this election and Obama overcame amazing odds in states that haven't voted Democratic in years! How the hell does that happen for one and that a Black man wins states where you can damn near count the number of Blacks per capita on your hands and toes!

I barely have a voice this morning because I was pretty much yelling for 2 hours on the streets "The Dems are back in the building baby! Racism isn't over, but it's been dealt a powerful blow!" That's the phrase I'm coining, because I feel it captures, in a small phrase, the essence of what has occurred. I was also yelling out a line from the Jeffersons theme song "We're movin' on up (baby!)" while I was doing the George Jefferson swagger.

Whether Obama won because people were fed up with 8 years of Republican mismanagement, or because they were more ageist than racist, or because they wanted to vote for a Black man just because they could is irrelevant at this point, because Obama is in the building baby! I think all of those things (and more) played a part, but the fact that enough American's overcame their racism to elect Obama is an amazing occurance. I just watched an interview with Maya Angelou on CBS and she said "America has grown up" and indeed it has. She (America) has made another step to transgressing the race issues that have plagued our country for years, yet I am keenly aware that racism isn't over, but it's been dealt a powerful blow!

The electing of Obama will send a strong message to our young people, especially those that have been disempowered by racism and other oppressions that maybe, just maybe I can become soemthing greater than I thought. We can't stop at voting for Obama, but we also need to be part of changing the direction of this country in a way that has never been seen before. If Obama could bring millions of new voters into this election, and have the largest voter turnout since 1908 (according to a CBS reporter), I hope that at least half of those will give in ways they may have never done so before to help America be a better place than it has been in the last 8 years (or in its history). I know 100% and unequivocally, I will be part of that movement.

I so badly wish that Malcolm, Martin and the countless others who sacrificed their lives to advance civil rights in this country could see this day they worked so hard to make happen. It was powerful to see the tears in Jesse Jackson's eyes last night. In spite of his disparaging comments about Obama's leadership a few months ago, the reality is that his civil rights work AND his run for the presidency in the 80's has helped Obama be where he is today. We cannot discount the contributions of the past for the mistakes of the present.

I even include 2pac as someone who I wish could see this day. Though his song playlist is full of contradiction (ex: Brenda's Got a Baby vs. Wonda Why They Call You Bitch), I still feel he had a level of profundity to his socially concsious songs that remains unparalleled. I will never forget the hook of one of his songs "Even though it seems heaven sent, we aint ready to see a Black president" ( a hook that Nas has in one of the songs on his current album as well) That day has come 'Pac baby! So maybe he's up there sippin' on a little Alize' or Thug Passion in celebration.

I know this post is a bit incoherernt, and all over the place, but given my current state of elation/emotion, concentration isn't something I possess at the moment. America is FOREVER changed and for the better. This revolution was televised!

I am Being Honored and Other Life Events

I got word a few months ago that I was receiving the Leadership Achievement Award from The Attic Youth Center during their 15 year anniversary gala. This is the first award I have ever received from an organization, acknowledging my work in the community. The gala takes place in 2 weeks on November 15th at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Center City. One of the honorees with me will be Kelli O'Donnell, the wife of the icon Rosie O'Donnell. I have no idea if Rosie will be coming, but it would be fab to meet her! The gala ain't cheap, so I'm glad that I'm being honored so I don't have to pay for a ticket :-) Click here for more information on the gala.

On another note of positive news, I have been appointed to the Mayor's Advisory Board on LGBT Affairs. The board is responsible for providing advisement to the Mayor and his director of LGBT affairs, Gloria Casarez, on things we feel will improve the quality of life for Philadelphia's LGBT citizens. I am really psyched to be given this responsibility and am looking forward to some of the great things we will be able to do for LGBT Philadelphian's. So, if you are an LGBT Philadelphian and have anything you'd like to share with me about issues, concerns or ideas that you'd like to suggest, let me know. I'm not saying that I can make anything in particular happen, but if it is a good suggestion, I can bring it to the board.

Though mostly everything for me has been good, the one negative thing that has taken place in my life the past month is that my partner and I have split, so that makes me a single boy again. He's a wonderful man, but we just couldn't make it work. Not going into details here, but just sharing that aspect of my life.

The Phillies Win and the Fans Go Wild!



I got this photo from a co-worker and I thought it was really cute. It was utter chaos in this city first, when the Phillies won the national championship. I live in South Philly where all the sports stadiums are and on the night the Phillies won the national championship, I was coming home from a debate viewing party for the final debate between Obama and McCain. When I got off the train, there were hundreds of people lining the street where there was a makeshift parade, honking horns and boisterous fans. I just stood there for a while, wishing I had a camera to capture some of the energy as it really was refreshing. It is great to be in a city that has major league sports and even better when they win a championship, something that's been illusive to Philly teams for 25 years.

I was afraid to see what the city was going to be like if they actually won the superbowl.......ha, kidding, I know it's the World Series. Well they won and the fans went wild! They tore this damn city up! I went out that night downtown and the city was wild, people walking in the streets and obstructing traffic, honking horns, hundereds of people on the streets. When I got down to S Philly later that night, you'd have thought there was a riot down here. Apparently fans had been looting, because all the stores that are normally open weren't allowing people in to keep the stores safe. There was trash and glass everywhere. Cars had been damaged, especially some of the ones parked right on Broad Street.

Philly fans are off the hook! Too bad that at such a positive time for the city, the fans had to do so much damage to it. But hey, go Phillies, we are #1!