September 16-18 the QFilm Festival will will be showing over twenty films made this year by some of the top independent LGBT filmmakers. Every year is unique and 2011 promises to be another excellent event and even more special with its international block of films.

QFilms has invited Popo Fan, a twenty-six year old Chinese filmmaker to screen “Be A Woman,” a documentary about drag queens who live in Nanning China. Popo follows them from their glittery stage performances in nightclubs to their dressing rooms as they put on and take off their pancake makeup (there is even a catfight!). “Be A Woman” gives an honest and often sad look at queer men in a gender variant subculture and gives voice to their untold and difficult lives. Marginalized by society, disowned by their parents and shunned from family they live for the nights they are able to perform and make the best of their circumstances with resilience, wit and humor.

In 2004 Popo began making films while studying at the Beijing Film Academy. “I went into filmmaking because I was bad at math. They didn’t have the requirements other universities had so I took a class.” He was often around homophobic students and one colleague in particular, a young man, would often make disparaging comments about gays during class. His studies became even more uncomfortable when they later became roommates at the Academy. Popo being true to himself did not hide his sexuality and would openly watch gay films in their room. Eventually his colleague began watching them too and they became best friends. “It was at that time I knew films could change the world!”

Popo initially had no interest in documentaries and instead concentrated on writing for TV. He changed his mind when he went to a gay pride parade in Taipei for a film project. “It was so exciting to be around other gay people. I knew then it (documentaries) was what I wanted to do.”

Later during a sightseeing tour he found himself in Nanning where he met his first drag queens. “I found them beautiful, interesting and very hardworking performers. They had great spirit and opened me up to different ideas about gender and sexuality.”

After leaving school in 2007 he wrote a legal and mainstream published book on LGBT films. It sold over 10,000 copies and instantly gained him respect and notoriety among many in the LGBT community.

Funding is difficult enough for any filmmaker but LGBTQ films made in Mainland China face even greater challengers. In 2008 Popo was awarded a $4,500 grant from the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice and began production of “Be A Woman.” It took him three years to complete.

Be A Woman is special not only for its rare insights but also for the fact that in the era of Chinese censorship, it is practically a miracle that this movie was even made. LGBTQ films are censored by the Chinese government and cannot be screened in mainstream theaters. They find their way to their audiences in living rooms, private venues and LGBTQ centers in cities like Beijing and Hangzhou and in some cases now make their way into universities.

Fortunately Be A Woman has now made it overseas to the QFilm Festival and is being screened Saturday the 17th at 3:00pm. Tickets can be purchased by going to the QFilms website or can be purchased at the door. A special question and answer period will take place after the movie.

For over 30 years, The Center of Long Beach has been a central force and cultural hub for the LGBTIQ community in Southern California. As part of its current renaissance, The Center of Long Beach continues this tradition with “QSpeak” a lecture series that features university scholars, activists, artists, and public figures in the LGBTIQ community once a month throughout 2011. “QSpeak” will host academic talks, interviews and ethnographies on queer studies, art, culture, social justice, and history and become a venue for open discussion to a broad and diverse audience in Southern California. “QSpeak” seeks to inspire, educate, challenge, and entertain its audience and aspires to re-energize the collective consciousness of the LGBTIQ community and their allies so that we may envision a future where there are spaces for everyone to exist and thrive.

Academic Speakers
June 26 – Dr. Marie Cartier
Artist, Lecturer, and Author, Dr. Cartier will present “Baby You are My Religion: Butch Femme/Gay Women’s Bar Culture 1940s to 1980s,” where she will include the tales, testimonies, and photos of pre-Stonewall gay women and men who considered the bar space as an alternative church. Dr. Cartier conducted over 100 interviews for this presentation, many with local women from the Long Beach community.

July 30th – Dr. Judith Halberstam
Dr. Halberstam a professor of English and Gender Studies at USC will present “Pregnant Men, Pregnant Men, Heteroflexible Women, and the End of Gender as We Know It.” She discusses how in the early years of the 21st Century, the press thrilled to the images and testimony of the world’s “first pregnant man.” At the same time, the US acknowledged a huge decrease in marriages and a rise in divorces. This talk is going to offer a map to the new terrain of gender, sexuality and pleasure in a post-marriage, post-heterosexual, post-gay, post-post world. post-heterosexual, post-gay, post-post world.

As California struggles with its economy residents will continue to see diminishing services and more individuals exposed to ensuing hardship. Those in the hardest hit areas are asking where will they turn and how will they helped. The burden will invariably fall on local communities and nonprofit social service organizations. The Center in Long Beach is one those organizations.

The Center has provided an array of health, social, advocacy and legal programs for the last 30 years. It began informally in 1977 when groups of gays and lesbians met in their living rooms to discuss relevant issues of the community. It was officially incorporated as One In Long Beach, Inc. in 1980.

Its first high profile service began 1984 when The Center created Project Ahead in response to the AIDS epidemic. It was the first case management service in south Los Angeles County that provided HIV information, testing and counseling as well as other support services. In 1985 The Center purchased 7,500 square-foot building that had originally been a bank. Located at 4th and Cherry the building was renovated and opened a year later.

Recently it served as the headquarters for the No On 8 Campaign for all of Long Beach and Orange County and started Long Beach’s first queer film festival this year.

The Center has been hit hard with 40% of its funding cut and uncertainty about how future revenue will be replaced. To deal with the financial challenges The Center has cut hours, had layoffs and furloughed employees. However, throughout these difficulties, it has continued services such as its Youth Empowerment and educational outreach programs and also expanded others.

Last month The Center reopened its HIV/AIDS testing program and moved forward with the hiring of 10 new counselors for its mental health program. Though its focus is primarily the LGBTQ community its services are open to anyone in need.

Much of this perseverance is a testament to its dedicated staff and their passionate belief in the value of their work. Even on their furloughed days they have kept The Center open to various support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Gay Men Over 40 who meet on a weekly basis.

“The tangible benefit of the services The Center provides are obvious but it also has great symbolic value,” says Andrea Reynolds a straight ally and gay activist.  ”That Long Beach has its own LGBTQ community center is a testament to the presence and strength of the LGBTQ community” (There is only one LGBTQ center that serves all of Orange County and another for the larger Los Angeles area).

Phyllis Schmidt, The Center’s interim Executive Director, expands on its growing importance, “The need for The Center as a resource and life-line to the community will only increase. We are managing and actively cultivating new sources of revenue but it will take time and additional support of the community. Working together I have no doubt we’ll come out of this difficult time stronger than ever.”

 The Center is actively fund raising and will be hosting its annual State of the Center breakfast on November 14^th which is open to the public. Future events also include bingo night at Hamburger Mary’s on November 11^th and The Center bike ride as well as Date Nite at the Art Theatre early next year.

The Center is open from 9AM-9PM Monday through Friday. If you need services or want to get involved with call 562-434-4455. Services are open to all members of the community regardless of sexual orientation. You can also make a donation and learn more about The Center by visiting its website at www.CenterLB.org

After Fresno, polling was done to determine if a 2010 ballot initiative would be successful. Though it showed increased support when ballot language made clear a repeal of Prop 8 would not force religious institutions to marry same-sex couples, it otherwise concluded a campaign would be a statistical dead heat. The “buyer’s remorse” of Prop 8 supporters that some grassroots activists expected did not materialize.
 
After 3 months of public outreach through the Get Engaged Tour and other summits that discussed the polling, no strong majority for either side manifested. What it did reveal was the continuing anger, frustration and mistrust many in the community still felt. One vitriolic summit in San Bernardino where speakers were booed and not allowed to talk left many activists disappointed and turned-off to the process.
 
In July, over several organizations, many minority, faith based and grassroots, signed a public statement declaring they would not support a run for 2010.  In early August, EQCA also released its own statement opposing a run as well. What was once thought a fait acompli by many was now seriously in doubt.

The enthusiasm to return to the ballot in 2010 has dwindled but not extinguished. Grassroots organizations such as Equality Network and Love Honor Cherish have continued their push towards 2010 by expanding their volunteer base, canvassing and fundraising. However, the money needed for a signature campaign will most likely come from a larger organization such as Courage Campaign or EQCA. Such monies would be in the range from several hundred thousand dollars and upwards to more than a million depending on how soon it began.
 
The grassroots coalition OUT West has recently organized its “Campaign Boot Camp” to train activists in the principles of running a successful ballot initiative campaign. It is inspired by Christine Pelosi’s (House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s daughter) own political boot camp. Additionally, canvassing is still taking place around the state and is supported by ECQA and Camp Courage.

If you are interested in overturning Prop 8 please volunteer with either EQCA, Camp Courage or contact OUT West and find a local grassroots organization you can become part of.

In San Francisco on the Day of Decision we saw 175 protesters arrested for sitting down and blocking an intersection near the court building. My feelings were mixed about their display of civil disobedience. On one hand I felt emboldened and proud of the courage my community demonstrated and on the other I wondered if such displays were useful, if not harmful.

Early in March when Long Beach Equality, a LGBT grassroots civil rights organization I’m part of, was planning our D-Day march and rally we discussed the use of civil disobedience. We had received emails from people involved in the movement encouraging it and giving examples. They ranged from picketing the City Hall to closing off streets and off-ramps to freeways. Ultimately we decided that our problem was with the legislation and not our city politicians nor law enforcement. Putting them in the position to defend us to a possible angry public wouldn’t serve any purpose.

In April I went to an Equality Network Teach-In and talked with Professor Walter Williams. He teaches history and gender studies at USC and we discussed the different types of strategies and philosophies that were used to advance the gay civil rights movement. I asked him which did he feel were important. “All of them” he replied. They each addressed a specific voice and purpose in the community. Activism of all kinds including civil disobedience has its place but what role does civil disobedience have in today’s struggle?

Back in the 80′s when AIDS was devastating the gay community it is easy to understand the use of civil disobedience. Organizations such as ACT UP closed down the Golden Gate Bridge and temporarily interrupted the broadcast of the CBS Evening News (Dan Rather wasn’t amused). Hunger strikes and various forms of sit-ins were also not uncommon with them.

Today in California we deal with a different situation. The inequality we face, though extremely important, doesn’t have the life and death urgency AIDS did in the 80′s and 90′s. Back then thousands were dying. We also didn’t have the Governor and legislature on our side. Even Obama, who isn’t supportive of gay marriage, came out against Prop 8 and the courts, though deciding to uphold Prop 8, initially struck down California’s same-sex marriage ban paving the way for New Hampshire, Main and Iowa.

In spite of these advancements the supporters and non-supporters of Prop 8 are split evenly down the middle with 5% on the electorate undecided. Eric Nakano, a fellow activist who has worked in Washington DC and on presidential campaigns warned, “with margins of undecided voters somewhere around 5%, angering a small group enough to shift against us decisively is not out of the question.”

If we as a community decide to go back to the ballot in the next four years, especially in 2010, then we are going to need every vote we can get. The use of civil disobedience, though never off the table, will need to be carefully scrutinized if we are to gain the support needed for long-term social change.

Ask any politico and she will agree that the most effective way to change voter’s mind is having a personal conversation with them. Voter canvassing was a tool used very successfully by the Obama campaign in establishing that dialogue.  But to create and implement a canvassing program is highly laborious and time intensive.

I’ve been working with Vote Equality, the LA Gay and Lesbian voter canvassing program, and I’ve seen firsthand what it takes to get voter outreach moving forward. You have to cut turf (target the areas to be canvassed), prep that info, and then scout locations even before you can train and send out a single volunteer. Then there is the data collection and entry afterward to see how effective you were.

Statewide 300,000 voters will need to change their minds in order counteract Prop 8. In LA County alone we need to change 70,000 voters’ minds or around 23%. It will be at least 4-6 months before we have a strong effective state-wide canvassing program.

I’m going to layout a scenario that will give context to the enormous challenge the LGBT community faces. Let’s say in 5 months we have a solid running state-wide canvassing program and have persuaded 10,000 people in the process. We still have 12 months to change 60,000 people. That equates to 5,000 people per month which mean you will need to have 3-4 times as many conversations per month. That’s 15-20,000 interactions.

That’s a lot of doors to knock on especially when you consider that on average a person will be knocking on 30-40 doors in a 2 hour canvassing period and will talk with on average 3 people. Keep in mind that some of those will already be for us and those that aren’t won’t necessarily change their minds.

Now, let’s say you could do all of this in one 2 hour canvassing each month. You’d need 5,833 canvassers in LA County to do make those 3 connections apiece. 5,833 canvassers that need to be trained, fed and directed. And that is not taking into account the turf cutting, canvass prep, etcetera.

Add to these challenges voter resistance. The closer you get to election day the harder it is to change hearts and mind as voters become more resistant to persuasive political solicitations. In fact, these solicitations sometimes have the opposite intended effect.

Do you understand my concern?

Some have chided me for what they see as fatalistic accounting. Many of these passionate individuals have spoken on the principle of our urgent need for civil rights. However, passion and principles by themselves don’t win campaigns. You need a well thought out strategy and the superb implementation of it. And of course, the time with which to do it in.

This doesn’t mean we throw our hands up in defeat. If we shoot for 2012 we need to canvass now. If 2010 is chosen I am not without hope as the LGBT community proved in the latter 2 months of the No on Prop 8 campaign it could mobilize quickly. But if we lose, the irony of losing in 2008 for starting too late and in 2010 for starting too soon will be disastrous.