Moderator: Dr. Imani Woody,​ President and CEO, Mary's House for Older Adults

Panelists:

• Bishop Allyson Abrams, Empowerment Liberation Cathedral
• Kylar Broadus, Esq., Founder and Director of the Trans People of Color Coalition
• Leandrea Gilliam, DC Mayor's Office of LGBTQ Affairs
• ABilly Jones, Senior Advocate, SAGE Metro DC
•  Ken Pettigrew, LGBTQ Advocate
• Ashley Smith, Human Rights Campaign
• Shawn Short, Founder, Artistic Director, Dissonance Theatre
• Blue Telusma, Blogger, Writer, Advocate
• Courtney Williams, Senior Consultant, Executive Volunteer, Mary's House for Older Adults

Many issues are impacting us as Black LGBTQ/SGL people. Sometimes they are the same challenges that faced our elders during the Civil Rights Movement, sometimes they show up in the Black Lives Matter or the increased murders of trans women or some religious types still hurting us. We know many of us are still last hired/first fired and disparate treatment in health, and wealth are still the norm. So many issues didn't go away for us because of marriage equality. So how do we cope? How do we rise above?

Let's talk about it. Join us in a facilitated discussion on issues that impact us in our Panelists in their 20s, 30s, 40s. 50s. 60s, and 70s and from the arts,political, legal, transgender, women's, faith-based, the housing/homelessness communities, will lead the discussion on how lessons learned in the past can jettison us into a quality future. Interactive audience participation on how we can successfully withstand and rise above the challenges facing us as queer people in our smaller communities, and share as a model to the nation as a whole.