UCLA’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Campus Resource Center was filled with a host of emotions Thursday night during a presentation on black LGBT history by UCLA alumna Tara Lake, who now works with the organization Sisters of Sakia.
Sisters of Sakia is an organization with the goal of empowering young black women who identify as LGBT by providing them a community with which they can identify.
Lake punctuated her discussion with lighthearted jokes and stories about her time at UCLA, but attendees still expressed sadness at what they called the marginalization of this history in mainstream society.
“I wish this information was more available,” said Dan Dumont, an attendee who works with a nonprofit organization called Lifeworks Mentoring. He added that his organization is interested in working with Sisters of Sakia in reaching out to LGBT students.
“Young people don’t know (the black LGBT community) exists,” Lake said.
Lake’s presentation focused on the black LGBT art community, and she spoke about over 25 prominent writers, filmmakers and performers from U.S. history, ranging from poet Langston Hughes to blues singer Gertrude “Ma” Rainey.
Lake also discussed current black LGBT artists such as filmmaker Cheryl Dunye and singer Me’shell Ndegéocello.
Richard Corral, a UCLA graduate who attended the event, said he believes this part of LGBT history is an important one to study and understand.
“(The individuals presented) represent leadership and initiated the coming-out process,” Corral said, adding that he believes more opportunities should be available to understand LGBT history.
Tom Bourdon, assistant director of the LGBT Campus Resource Center, said he was excited to collaborate with other organizations to spread LGBT education.
“(Black LGBT history) is something we don’t hear about a lot so it’s really powerful,” Bourdon said.
He added that he hoped by hosting such events more students would become aware of UCLA’s LGBT Resource Center.
Over 20 people, mostly UCLA students or staff, attended the presentation.
Lake said she was careful only to include openly LGBT individuals in her presentation.
“We have to let people self-identify,” she said.
During her presentation, Lake showed clips from the film “Tongues Untied,” which discusses issues of identity for black LGBT individuals, and played audio of key speeches by black LGBT Americans.
She also discussed problems with attempting to identify as both black and LGBT in America, and often cited the individuals highlighted in her presentation as examples of how to cope with this issue.
Lake and Sisters of Sakia have sponsored similar presentations at other schools in the area, including USC and Occidental College.
Lake, who is also an associate professor of African American Studies at Los Angeles Valley College, said she plans to give another talk about the black LGBT community in the coming months.