LGBTQ+ organizations
Gary Paul Wright
Gary Paul Wright is the Founder and Executive Director of the African American Office of Gay Concerns. He is very active within the LGBTQ community in Newark, New Jersey, where he served two 3-year terms as a Charter Member of the City of Newark’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) Mayoral Advisory Commission (through July, 2014). He was appointed to the Essex County Executive’s LGBTQ Advisory Board in 2011, and is currently serving a second three-year term as well. Gary Paul also served as a Charter Board Member of the newly established Newark LGBTQ Community...Perris Straughter
Perris Straughter is the Director of Planning for Queens and Staten Island for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. He is charged with leading the planning activities related to affordable housing development and preservation for these boroughs, the City’s two largest by land area. Previously he was Supervising Planner in the City of Newark, where he coordinated the development approvals process for the City. During his tenure in Newark Perris also managed a $20 million commercial revitalization program and served as the coordinator of Newark's mural program,...Rodney Gilbert
Rodney Gilbert (July 27, 1967 - November 8, 2017) was the founder and CEO of Yendor Productions, a Newark-based firm that consults, develops, and produces arts education programming and events. Yendor Productions was founded in 2003 to meet the challenges for the under served artists and communities. Mr. Gilbert has worked in professional theatre for over thirty years. He was a graduate of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he earned a BFA. He served the arts community through acting instruction for various institutions and organization as one of the leading teaching artists...Peter Savastano
Peter Savastano was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey where he lived and worked for most of his adult life. He holds a Ph.D. in Religion and Society from Drew University. An anthropologist of religion, consciousness, sexuality and gender, Dr. Savastano is academically and personally interested in the role that religion and/or spirituality plays both for better and for worse in the formation of queer identity, subjectivity and practice. He is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Seton Hall University.
Both photos taken at Rutgers-Newark...
James Credle
James Warren Credle (1945-2023) is a retired American academic administrator, counselor, and Veterans and LGBT rights activist. Born in Mesic, North Carolina, he was one of 14 children born during the time of Jim Crow. His mother was a dayworker and his father worked part-time as a carpenter. Credle and his siblings worked through high school to supplement the family income. He worked in fields picking cotton, potatoes, corn, and cabbage. He later worked in a crab factory. His family were members of Mount Olive Baptist Church where he sang in the choir. James graduated from the all-black...