The Caribbean Equality Project  in partnership with the Queens Museum and the Pulitzer Center cordially invites you to an afternoon of Caribbean LGBTQ Activism, film, Art and Cultural Performances to take place in the Queens Museum’s theater and Werwaiss Gallery.

The Caribbean Equality Project launch readily aims to advocate for Caribbean American LGBTQ Inclusion, Respect and Equality.

The Caribbean Equality Project (CEP) will be hosting “UNVEIL”, the launch of CEP to highlight the organization’s budding spectrum of programs and services, specifically focusing on the needs of the Caribbean-based Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) community in New York City. Using a combination of multimedia videos, storytelling and panel discussions, CEP will introduce the public to the profound personal struggles faced by the Caribbean LGBTQ community in New York City, and by extension the Caribbean territories. To date, the CEP is the only Caribbean educational service agency serving the Caribbean LGBTQ community with a dedicated aim of cultivating a supportive and progressive environment. CEP aims to achieve this goal through empowerment and visibility in educational, social and culturally infused organizing and advocacy.

Year round, the Caribbean Equality Project aims to provide an authentic safe space for shared experiences, fostering new relationships by uniting multi-generational support with a budding spectrum of programs. These programs aim to promote acceptance, reduce stigma and eliminate all forms of discrimination in the LGBTQ Caribbean Diaspora. Including “My TRUTH, My STORY”, the CEP’s multimedia storytelling campaign series, which reflects and shares compellingly authentic unspoken stories of LGBTQ people of Caribbean heritage. These experiences, struggles and achievements are the driving force behind these storytellers’ pride-filled personal growth. "My TRUTH, My STORY” aims to unveil, liberate and unchain victims from a culture of silence and fear.

Program Schedule

3pm: Cultural Solo Dance Performance
International Dancer, Zaman – A New Beginning

3:05pm Welcome by Krishna Ramsarran – CEP’s Program Director

3:10pm Screening of The Abominable Crime introduced by Emily Baumgaertner of the Pulitzer Center (see description below)

4:15pm: Indie Vocalist Songwriter & Musician Nadia Bourne

4:20pm Intro and Screening of My TRUTH, My STORY
Mohamed Q. Amin CEP’s Founder/Executive Director

4:45pm Panel Discussion & Q&A for The Abominable Crime & My TRUTH, My STORY with Micah Fink, Maurice Tomlinson, Tyra Allure Ross, Skyler Manchoon and Renella Pereira. Facilitated by Mohamed Q. Amin

5:05pm: Special Guest
NYC Council Member, Daniel Dromm

5:15pm: Closing Remarks
Andy K. Bishun – CEP’s Community Outreach Coordinator

5:25pm: Cultural Solo Dance Performance
Sundari – The Indian Goddess – Queer Kajal Liberation

5:30pm: Networking reception in the adjacent gallery with Caribbean hors d’oeuvres and refreshments, Werwaiss Gallery

6pm: Cultural Group Dance Performance
Sanasani Cultural Organization Inc.

6:05pm: Indie Vocalist, Songwriter & Musician Nadia Bourne

About the Film

The Abominable Crime (Michal Fink, for the Pulitzer Center, USA/Jamaica/Canada/Netherlands/UK, 2013, 65min)

This is a story about a mother’s love for her child and an activist’s love for his country – and the stakes are life and death. Spanning five countries, THE ABOMINABLE CRIME explores the impacts of homophobia through the eyes of two gay Jamaicans who are forced to choose between their homeland and their lives. Simone, a young lesbian mother, survives being shot outside of her home my anti-gay gunmen. She must choose between living in hiding with her daughter in Jamaica or traveling alone to seek safety and asylum abroad. Maurice, Jamaica’s leaving gay-rights activist, is outed shortly after filing a lawsuit to overturn Jamaica’s anti-sodomy law. He escapes to Canada, but decides to return to continue his activism… Followed by Q&A with Director Micah & Activist Maurice Tomlinson.

About The Caribbean Equality Project, Inc.
The Caribbean Equality Project’s mission is to promote social change, awareness, and acceptance by empowering and strengthening the voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people of Caribbean descent in the New York area. We are dedicated to creating a sustainable and progressive community free of violence and all forms of discrimination and oppression by: promoting visibility and empowerment through advocacy, community organizing, public education, cultural and social programming. Our advocacy efforts are directed towards: cultivating community partnerships, greater family acceptance and creating a society based on respect, inclusion and equality, regardless of an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity within the Caribbean Diaspora.

Contact:
Mohamed Q. Amin
Founder | Executive Director

917.853.7262
Info@CaribbeanEquality.org
www.CaribbeanEquality.org