Time to Give So Those with Less Can Live

• From Metro Weekly:

At the end of the month, Transgender Health Empowerment (T.H.E.) will be closing the doors of the Tyra Hunter Drop-In Center, where for the past two years homeless GLBT people found food, showers and a place to sleep thanks to funding from the local government.

Brian Watson
(Photo by Ward Morrison)

”I am angry,” says Brian Watson, director of programs at T.H.E. ”I work with these clients every day. My office is in the drop-in center, so I see the people that we won’t be able to serve anymore.”

The closing is a result of the city’s budget cuts for 2010, which for T.H.E. means going from a $150,000 allocation in the 2009 budget to zero in 2010.

Watson says it was because there were so many GLBT homeless youths at the Tyra Hunter Drop-In Center that he decided to launch the transitional home known as the Wanda Alston House. And while that project hasn’t been directly impacted by the city’s budget cuts, there’s always room for improvement.

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Wanda Alston House welcoming tenants, T.H.E. is hosting a fundraiser on Wednesday, Sept. 9, from 6:30-8:30 p.m., at the True Reformer Building, 1200 U St. NW. The suggested donation is $50.

Watson says he’s hoping T.H.E. will raise about $20,000 to help buy a van to transport the youth who live at the house.

Also taking a hit in the city’s budget cuts is The Center, the local GLBT community center, which in years past had received $150,000 for its Crystal Meth Working Group. Earlier this year, The Center was expecting $500,000 from the city to find a new home. Both city sums have evaporated.

”I’m particularly shocked, because if you look at comparable cities in the U.S., in terms of LGBT population, we’re right up there with New York, L.A., Chicago and San Francisco,” says David Mariner, executive director of The Center. ”Every single one of those cities has a thriving community center with a budget ranging from $2 million to over $40 million….

”If you look at our AIDS data and our hate-crimes data, I feel very comfortable saying it’s among the least safe [cities] in the country. So for the local government to not offer any support for us, when other cities are really stepping up, it’s a disappointment.”

To help keep things afloat, Mariner adds The Center is hosting its Fall Reception and fundraiser on Sept. 10, at the Artists Inn Residence, 1824 R St. NW, with a suggested donation of $50.

”We do a lot of events that are specific to programs of The Center,” Mariner says, ”but this is the one event that we do that benefits the general operating funds.”

Like The Center and T.H.E., the Mautner Project is also taking a hit.

”We were anticipating having $200,000 — 20 percent of our budget,” says Leslie Calman, executive director of the lesbian health organization, of the hit they’re suffering in the D.C. budget.

”The money as allocated was actually to do work on cancer,” she says. ”The most immediate repercussion was that a staff member I was planning to hire I’ve now had to put on hold.”

The Mautner Project has partnered with Lace, at 2214 Rhode Island Ave. NE, a club and restaurant that will be donating a portion of its bar proceeds from every Saturday in September to the Mautner Project.

In addition to an online raffle seeking donations, Calman says Mautner Project board members are also working with the Town to organize a fundraiser for sometime this fall.

For more information about Transgender Health Empowerment, visit www.theincdc.org; for The Center, visit www.thedccenter.org; for Mautner Project, visit www.mautnerproject.org.

A House Becomes a Home

With no place to call home and no support system to help him deal with his HIV status, a friend at the Unity Fellowship Church, DC, suggested Sabbat apply for a spot in the newly built Wanda Alston House.

The home was built last year, and named after the first permanent mayoral liaison to the GLBT community, who was killed in 2005. One of just a small handful around the country, it’s the District’s only transitional home specifically for homeless GLBT youth, ages 16 to 24. The house, a program of Transgender Health Empowerment (THE), opened a year ago and welcomed its first residents last September.

You can read more of this post at Metro Weekly, and you can also find gayagenda.com’s interview with Brian Watson by clicking here.

Brian Watson and Johnny Sabbat (right) (Photo by Todd Franson)

GA Exclusive: An Interview with Brian Watson

I recently had the honor and pleasure of interviewing Mr. Brian Watson of Washington D.C., exclusively for gayagenda.com.

Mr. Watson is the Director of Programs at Transgendered Health Empowerment (T.H.E.) as well as the President of the D.C. Coalition of Black, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Men and Women, which was started over 30 years ago. He is also a proactive member of other GBLT, HIV/AIDS, and health-related organizations, and he serves on the Advisory Committee to the Mayor’s Office of LGBT Affairs. He has been recognized as a Capitol Pride Hero and was this year’s recipient of the Gay and Lesbian Activist Alliance (GLAA) “Distinguished Service Award”.

Brian’s most recent accomplishment however was the opening of the Wanda Alston House, a transitional home for GLBT youth ages 16-24. The house, named after the late Wanda Alston, was opened in June of this year. Wanda Alston served as the liaison to the GLBT community for former D.C. Mayor, Anthony Williams. Tragically she was murdered in her Northeast apartment in March 2005 by a neighbor seeking drug money. Part of her great legacy was her sense of community. She also greatly influenced the community and Brian, who attributes his interest in community activism to Ms. Alston.

Because many of our youth are banished from their homes when their supporters and/or family discover them to be GLBT, they often turn to drug use, suicide or prostitution as a means of survival. They resort to these things simply because they have nowhere to go. The Wanda Alston house, designed after a similar program in Detroit, and patterned after a house T.H.E. had opened 3 years ago for HIV+ people, is a housing program focused on helping the GLBT youth by providing a safe place.

I asked Brian to comment on the roadblocks he encountered prior to the opening of the Wanda Alston house. He quickly told me, “Construction”. The house was actually built 4 years ago, but it was never finished. “Trying to get the necessary permits and inspections was not an easy task.”

Speaking with Brian, I immediately sensed he is an extremely powerful and dynamic person, so I asked him what he considered to be his greatest personal attribute. Although his answer didn’t surprise me, it did confirm what I had already perceived. Brian’s answer to the question was, “The ability to step out there and do things that you want to do and others wont’ do.” He obviously has proven himself on that.

Moving on in a different direction, I asked Mr. Watson what his largest concern for the LGBT community was today. Again, without hesitation, he replied, “Discrimination within the LGBT community. There is a lot of discrimination against effeminate males. We don’t want to walk down the street or sit with them, mostly because we are still not secure with our own sexuality. There are also class issues (the amount of money one has or has not), and the fact the various sectors of the LGBT community do not socialize or work together.” Brian also added “We live in bubbles, we don’t allow ourselves to overcome stigmas within our own community, especially among the transgendered community.” He said, “I have to applaud transgendered people. Can you imagine the struggles they go through having to catch the train or applying for a job?” He reinforced this by telling me about a transgendered girl, who was not allowed to use the main restroom in her school. Her school’s principle made her go to the basement of the school, which was under construction and hazardous, to use the restroom.

Brian also asserted, there is a “stronger disconnect” in the black GLBT community as many are not accepted within their own race. “The church has issues with sexuality in the black community and they discriminate against their own. A lot of black LGBT people have not come to terms with who they are. Once they have, they will be able to move forward and embrace others.” Brian is no stranger to this type of discrimination. He admitted, “As a black gay man, I’ve had my own struggles” with sexuality. Another concern he sees as in the forefront of the GLBT community is “most GLBT people have become complacent with life. They allow a small part of the community advocate for all. We need to support the community as a whole.” He embellished on this point by saying, “Just because I’m not a woman, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be aware of breast cancer.”

Going forward, I spoke with Brian on what he considered to be the best way to combat homophobia and stereotypes. He said, “Take the time to get to know someone in each of the LGBT categories. Find out what they bring to the rainbow spectrum, because it wouldn’t be complete without all of us, it wouldn’t be complete without the “T”. Sexuality and sexual preference are two different things.” Brian added, “Also being open minded and getting to know someone opposite of you would be a big help. If we took the time, we would find no matter how different we are, our struggles are so similar, and if you take the time to educate people about the LGBT community, they will listen and even have those “Aha” moments which bring us all closer together.”

Being that he has such an active voice on GLBT issues and concerns, I wanted to know how Brian defines success. He told me, “Helping others break down walls through education, and knowing something I’ve contributed has helped someone else.”

When I asked Brian what really fires him up, he said, “Homophobic pastors who get HIV funding for their church and yet preach ignorance and intolerance.” He also added it fires him up when, “We as a community are not addressing the needs of youth. Our youth needs safe places to go. They also need to be educated on how people will not always accept them and sometimes they need to tone it down some.”

Brian continued to address what he feels is missing in the GLBT community, other than the lack of youth support and cohesiveness. He feels strongly the GLBT community members need to be socially proactive. According to Brian, it’s very easy for us to “become comfortable in our bubbles, if it’s not our issue, then we don’t want to deal with it.” He very strongly advocates giving back to the community. “So many of us in the GLBT community have great jobs, but don’t look back to the community.” He suggests giving what you can to help support the betterment of our community, your community. “Go to gay pride”, said Brian. Do “any little thing you can to support our community. It doesn’t have to be an enormous gift to make a huge difference.”

Speaking with Brian briefly about his future aspirations, I specifically asked him about a political career. Brian indicated he would rather stay involved in working from the core, adding, “I don’t want a political career directly, politics are not for me.” Although personally, I must admit, with his great accomplishments, demeanor and drive to do right, I would vote for him for just about any political post imaginable. As far as his aspirations go, Brian said, “Personally, if I’m lucky, I may get into a relationship, and for the Wanda Alston house, expansion. I would love to open another house in D.C. There is still no data on the homeless GLBT youth in D.C., but I know from experience, it’s a problem, a very large problem.”

Well, as you can see, Brain Watson is driven, to say the least, not to mention dedicated beyond reproach to helping the GLBT community, especially those within the community that need it most, our GLBT youth. So far, he’s done a great job at it, but even he admits, “there is so much more to do.”

Want to find out how you can help either by volunteering or donating, then visit the website for Transgendered Health Empowerment (T.H.E.) or The Wanda Alston House, or the National Minorities AIDS Council.

You can also read more about Brian Watson and the Wanda Alston House at bestgayblogs.com.