• ELIXHER
• On April 26, 2013

Iconic Black Lesbian Comic Moms Mabley Finally Gets Her Due

Whoopi Goldberg is behind one of the most groundbreaking documentaries of the year, and it’s all about a woman you may or may not have heard of. Moms Mabley was a stand-up comic and Vaudeville performer. She was also black and an out lesbian, which means she was the unlikeliest of stage stars between her heyday of the 1920s through 1960s. Whoopi directed I Got Somethin’ to Tell You, a film about Moms’ career, and premiered it at the Tribeca Film Festival this week, where she also spoke about it on a post-screening panel. She said she was inspired to make the movie after realizing no one knew who Moms was.

Continue reading at AfterEllen.

Openly Gay Hoops Star Brittney Griner Signs with Nike

Just two days before being drafted into the WNBA as the top draft pick for the Phoenix Mercury (and a couple of days before confirming that she is openly gay), hoops star Brittney Griner signed a deal with athletics giant Nike. According to USA Today, the star described to the newspaper as being “big-time.”

Read more at SheWired.

D.C. Shelter Drops Ban on Trans Women

A D.C. Superior Court judge on Friday, April 19 issued a temporary restraining order requiring a city funded shelter for homeless women located near the U.S. Capitol to stop denying transgender women access to the facility. The Blade had previously reported about a lawsuit brought upon the shelter by a trans women alleging discrimination. Judge Geoffrey Alprin issued the order after the executive director of New Hope Ministries, which operates the John L. Young Shelter for Women, chose not to contest a request for the restraining order filed by an attorney on behalf of Lakiesha Washington, a transgender woman who was denied admission to the shelter.

Details over at the Washington Blade.

Philadelphia LGBT community Asks What - or Who - Killed Transgender Woman Nizah Morris 10 Years Ago

Nizah Morris, a transgender woman, sustained a fatal head wound while in the custody of three Philadelphia police officers in December of 2002. Circumstances surrounding her death were never fully understood by the community and now 10 years later the community and Morris’s family are demanding further investigation.

More details at GLAAD.

Wade in the Water

Youth Pride Day, the region’s largest event for LGBT youth staged each year by the Youth Pride Alliance, is Saturday and about 500 teens and 40 organizations are expected for an afternoon of music, videos, dance, drag and more.

Wade Davis, a former NFL player who came out last year as gay, will speak at the event. He entertained a bevy of questions during a phone interview this week from his Manhattan office where he works as assistant director of job readiness and academic enrichment at Hetrick-Martin Institute. Some comments have been edited for length and clarity.

Continue reading on the Washington Blade.