LGBTQ+ discrimination
Sharon Denise Davis
Sharon D. Davis is butch identified. The middle daughter of 5 girls and 3 boys. Mother Marion was a Homemaker and my Father George was a Machine Operator.I moved to Newark in around 2007. Prior to this my exposure to Newark had been limited. Most of my life was spent in and around the LGBTQ Community and Club scene in New York. When I was about 15 years old. It was former N.Y.C. gang members, Community Leaders and friends who were very influential in my young LGBTQ life. One of the most meaningful and loving relationships I ever had was with a lesbian Mother of 4 boys. She was...
Beatrice Simpkins
Beatrice Dolores Simpkins is an alum of Rutgers University-Newark.In 2016, Ms. Simpkins became a Rutgers University 250 Fellow – receiving a medal at the “A Day of Revolutionary Thinking”, the culminating event of Rutgers’ 250Th birthday celebration.
She serves as the pro-bono Executive Director of the Newark LGBTQ Community Center and is the Chief Program Officer for The Partnership for the Homeless, located in New York City. In 2021, Ms. Simpkins received the Equality Leadership Award from Garden State Equality and the LGBTQ-Police Community Partnership Award...
William Courson
Bill Courson was born and raised at the Jersey shore (his hometown is Avon by the Sea) and relocated to and has lived in Montclair, NJ since from 1978.A student at Brookdale and Monmouth Colleges in the the early 1970’s, he feels fortunate to have lived through and participated in a period of political activism and social and cultural ferment that witnessed the birth of the contemporary movement for LGBT equality. Along with a handful of other lesbians and gay male students, he co-founded the Gay Student Union, the first LGBTQ group at both colleges.
In 1986 he...
Albert Mrozik
Albert J. Mrozik Jr. (“Bert”) is a proud member of the LGBTQ community, who has been instrumental in the fight for LGBTQ rights in New York and New Jersey. A graduate of Columbia College, he received his law degree from the University of Denver. While there, he was mentored by Dean Robert Yegge, who was openly gay. During Bert’s education, he promised Dean Yegge that he would never compromise his identity as a proud gay man in his legal practice. He has kept his promise over the three decades he practiced as a lawyer in New Jersey’s Asbury Park and Newark. Throughout his life, Bert actively...Jasmine Mans
Jasmine Mans is an artist who calls Newark her home and celebrates the childhood she there spent through her poetry. As an author, performer, poet, and teacher, Jasmine uses a variety of mediums and means, such as books, videos, live performances, and social media to serve as a platform to speak on behalf of others and her community. She recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 2014 with a Bachelor’s in African-American Studies, and is now traveling the world as a poet. Her work has received a multitude of awards from the Star Ledger-NJPAC, Arts Millennia, and the New York...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...