LGBTQ

Kareem Willis

 Kareem Willis is a scholar, activist and proud member of the LGBTQ Community. As a Ph.D student currently enrolled in the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University- Newark, Kareem is learning how to harness his passion for social advocacy,change and empowerment for the betterment of the lives of other persons. As a nonprofit enthusiast, hisfocus is on researching methods that nonprofit organizations and others charged with fulfilling the public good can deploy to better maximize their impact. This research initiative is important as nonprofits will need to craft more...

Amina Baraka

 Born Sylvia Robinson, born 1942, in Charlotte, North Carolina – multi-talented artist (dancer, actress, singer/poet, and political activist).
 
Parents Ruth (garment worker) and James C Robinson were divorced when she was five. She was sent to her grandparents, Leona (domestic worker) and Patrick Bacote (construction worker). Sylvia grew up in Newark, New Jersey. She attended Arts High School where she majored in Art.
 
Sylvia early in life developed a love and respect for the working class and the labor union movement.
 
In 1960, Sylvia married Walter...

Noelle Lorraine Williams

Noelle Lorraine Williams is an artist whose life's work exemplifies her continued interest in engaging individuals in conversations about community and spirituality using art, history and contemporary culture.

 

She was born in Jersey City in 1975 and moved to 16th Avenue and 21st street on the borderline between Newark/Irvington in 1987.  She lives, works and studies in Newark currently.

 

Over the past thirty years, Noelle Lorraine Williams life’s work...

Aleix Martinez

Aleix Martinez is a longtime Newark resident, music industry communications specialist, and artist across multiple platforms. His work as a publicist in the music industry has focussed on representing and championing LGBT artists including Morrissey, Sia, Anohni, Scissor Sisters, Chavela Vargas, The Gossip, Nomi Ruiz, and Mika as well as singular artists like Santigold, Grace Jones, Tori Amos, Nancy SInatra, and The Cramps.

His art explores the intersections of ambition, luxury, hypercapitalism, and gentrification. His video work Insatiable, largely filmed in Newark,  debuted at...

* Lovari

 Born and raised in Queens, and now a resident of Newark, singer/actor Lovari has released his new album "The Rhythm Of Life" (currently on Amazon's Bestseller Soul Chart). A collection of twelve original songs and two remakes, including the title track and Mariah Carey's "Around You", the project is inspired by the sounds of the early 90s r&b/pop genre. The single "Crush On You" reached #2 on SpinReports' R&B chart and the music video "Paparazzi" was featured in the Top Ten of I'm So Newark Short Film Series Contest. 

Lovari's 2017 film projects include a "Peace Of The...

Aminah Washington

 Aminah Washington is an African American Trans woman, b.1986, born and raised in Newark, NJ.  She attended Malcolm X Shabazz High School and Peshine Ave Prep. She has been through more than most and is blessed to have the chance to learn and grow from her life experiences. She knows that regardless of her trials and tribulations she has come out on the other side strong and is still striving to make the best of her life.
 

Steven Malick

 Steven Malick serves as the secretary of the Board of Directors for the Newark LGBTQ Community Center. He previously volunteered with the Newark LGBTQ Concerns Advisory Commission and helped to organize the first ever town hall debate on issues relevant to the LGBTQ community. Steve is a resident of the City of Newark and has worked or lived in and around Newark for nearly a decade. Steve’s professional background includes eight years in education as a former middle school math teacher and as a coach of new teachers. Steven currently works as research analyst for a public policy research firm...

Peggie Miller

 My name is Peggie Miller. Living the majority of my life as a butch woman, I noticed how we tend to live in the shadows, usually among our own exclusively. Gay Men have been at the forefront of the Gay Liberation movement, honored in all types of media  & have been more or less accepted into the  mainstream of society for decades. Except for a few power lesbians, we the African American & other lesbians of color, particularly butch identified women tend to take a back seat. Until now! We are mothers, deacons, professionals, designers, artists, reverends, doctors, attorneys & more...

Patreese Johnson

 Patreese Johnson is a femme-identified poet. She is the youngest of four brothers and one sister, and she grew up as the youngest on the block in her tight-knit community in Newark, New Jersey. She is fiercely empathetic with a big heart. While incarcerated after fighting off a street harasser in New York City (a story told in the documentary Out in the Night), she received her GED and ran a support group for women who were survivors of domestic violence. Since her release, she has enrolled at Essex County Community College, studying for Associates degree in Liberal Arts. She has been touring...

Alicia Heath-Toby

 C. Alicia Heath-Toby resides in Newark, NJ with her wife, Saundra ‘Honei’. She is the current board president of the Newark LGBTQ Community Center Board of Directors. In 1984 she received her Bachelor of Arts from the College of the Holy Cross. After leaving college, she was given the opportunity to work with a team of black doctors and community activists on addressing the HIV and AIDS crisis for Black Americans; this organization became known as the Black Leadership Commission on AIDS. In 1997, she joined Liberation In Truth Unity Fellowship Church (LITUFC) in Newark, NJ; a local church of...

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