LGBT Immigrant Fair and Cultural Show in NYC

By Antoine Craigwell

A week after the second annual Immigrant Fair and Cultural Show, held at NYC’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Community Center on Tuesday, Apr 20, a group of about 30 young men and women gathered in a room to evaluate the event, acknowledge the accolades of a job well done, and to critique and plan for next year.

Room 301 in the LGBT Center decorated for the Immigration Fair

The group’s members, who hailed from continents and countries in Africa, Europe, Central Europe, Russia, Asia, the Mediterranean region, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Central America, along with the pride from having worked together for the fair and show, shared a common thread – having fled their respective homelands, leaving family and friends, because of their sexual orientation to seek refuge in the U.S. According to the group’s Face Book page, it is a space for LGBT immigrant community leaders to meet and discuss ways to collaborate and effect social change for the LGBT immigrant community of New York. It is open to all LGBT immigrants regardless of immigration status. The group is free of charge and meets on Tuesdays from 7:30pm to 9:00pm.

Section of crowd at Immigration Fair

Extending congratulations to the group, George Fesser, MSW, director of the support group, said, “I’m proud of how everyone worked together.”

The immigrant fair, which occupied the Center’s largest room, Room 301, teemed with people; more than 240 people registered as they entered the doors, compare to last year. Many had heard of the immigrant fair and were not only curious, but wanted to learn of opportunities to obtain assistance. Among the 45 organizations that signed up and were present with tables, brochures and giveaways, several were private, including attorneys who specialize in immigration affairs; non-profits focused on health care and social service; and NY State government-based organizations and agencies. At various intervals, there were raffle drawings for prizes, one of which included dinner for two at a popular restaurant.

L-r, George Fesser presents raffle prize, a dinner for two, to winner

One visitor to the fair, Craig Pierre, a student at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said that he was invited by one of his colleagues to attend the fair.

“This fair is a way of educating the general public about issues that are not often talked about, such as same-sex marriage, and it creates a venue so that people from the LGBT community could come together to discuss the issues affecting them,” Pierre said.

Jose Sanchez, director, Primer Movimiento Peruano GLBT

Jose Sanchez, director, Primer Movimiento Peruano GLBT, said that while his organization targets mostly people from Andean-based countries, he was proud to be included in the fair.

“We’re proud to be in a position to inform and communicate to the Latino community about immigration issues, and for those Latinos who are new arrivals to the city, who need to access services such as health,” said Sanchez.

Adding their voices, Pilar Bellard and Frank Naso, representing Diaspora Community Services, said that they came to the fair to reach out to the community.

“We want people to know about our services,” said Bellard. “At Diaspora Community Services, we offer case management, information about medical benefits and food stamp programs, and services for teens.”

Section of crowd at Immigration Fair

The organization Bellard said began working with members of the Haitian community, but now works with anyone, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender, color or race. The organization, said, Naso, was formerly the Haitian Women’s Council, and was dedicated to servicing the needs of women, but as they recognized the need to expand their outreach, they started providing services to men and families.

“We work mostly with Caribbean people, we have a medical clinic in Haiti, and we have a legal clinic to assist people with the temporary protected status, otherwise known as TPS,” said Naso.

Visitor viewing display at Immigration Fair

Rafael, a volunteer with SAGE, the organization to assist elderly members of the LGBT community, said that the organization is trying to reach out to the Spanish-speaking community and is working with the LGBT Center. SAGE, he said, recently opened a location in Harlem. The organization provides services to people who are 60-plus or those who are 50-plus and HIV-positive.

But, during the support group’s evaluation, one member praised the cooperation that was evident among everyone and said that there were no disagreements or drama. Another member of the group said that the event, the fair and show, which followed the fair; were empowering and as the type of activity that gives one the vision to see how all members of the group, from different countries, different racial and ethnic backgrounds, were able to work together, because each was bound by a common thread, all were LGBT and immigrants.

Jancel Vazquez, who works with Fesser, said, “It was great and magical; everything fell into place.”

Representatives of TransEmpowerment

Another member of the group who was moved to tears shared that he felt so inspired by the obvious success of the event that he felt strengthened and emboldened to declare his sexual orientation, “come out of the closet.” And, another member shared that for him, coming from a country steeped in homophobia, participating in this event was an opportunity for him to be himself, be free and be creative.

Fesser, expressed his disappointment that more attorneys specializing in immigration issues did not participate and said that for all the business that the LGBT immigrants give to immigration attorneys and the high prices they charge, it was a poor showing that they weren’t willing to pay the $250 registration fee for the fair. He commended one attorney who paid her registration fee but as unable to attend at the last minute.

A group represented at the Immigration Fair

Members who had been involved with the group and worked since November or December 2009 on planning, outreach, decoration and set-up of the room, promotion, and entertainment for the show, were each presented with certificates of achievement, which Fesser assured them could be used when filing for asylum as supporting evidence of their involvement in the LGBT community.

Along with suggestions for improvements to the 2011 Immigration Fair and Cultural Event, the group began planning for a shortened summer cycle, which includes the Center’s participation in GMHC’s AIDS Walk and the various Pride events, beginning with Queens Pride and the main Pride celebrations down Fifth Avenue.

After five years in the making, handbook now more relevant than ever.

By Antoine Craigwell

Just as the heat erupted in Arizona over the controversial new immigrant law, the social action group of the New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Community Center on Tuesday, Apr 20, launched the first ever handbook for LGBT immigrants arriving in the U.S. For many LGBT immigrants who fled persecution from their home countries to come to the U.S. for refuge, many are again reduced to living in fear, anxiety, and uncertainty, and the launching of the handbook, at the second annual immigrant fair and show, was right on time.

Handbook for LGBT immigrants

As a resource specifically for LGBT immigrants, director of the LGBT immigrant support group, George Fesser, MSW, in an email response said, “I have been wanting to produce this kind of manual for over five years. In my previous job, the focus of the agency was HIV prevention, so it was a hard sell. At the Center however, I was encouraged to find community partners that would collaborate and help us make this book a reality. Over my years of work with the LGBT immigrant community, individuals have always commented that they wish they could have had access to information that would have avoided them making so many mistakes and trusting the wrong people when it came to their personal immigration issues. With the feedback of over 400 LGBT immigrants, this book was formatted to answer several basic questions about what to do. “

The organizers of the handbook project waited for the specific legislation surrounding the HIV travel ban to become official before going to print.

The green and white covered handbook, “Welcome Guide for LGBT Immigrants” boasts on its cover samples of welcome in at least 16 different languages and lists those who assisted in sponsoring and producing it, including, AIDforAIDS, AIDS Center of Queens County, The Center, GMHC, Latino Commission on AIDS, Immigration Equality, and Housing Works. The 12-page handbook is divided at the center page by a listing of agencies as resources across the New York tri-state region, and with one six-page half in English and the other in Spanish.

Guia del Immigrante LGBT

Along with an introduction and a welcome, the handbook concisely lists and addresses nine areas of concern for LGBT immigrants, such as understanding rental laws, landlord, and tenant rights, and laws against discrimination, “how do I find a place to live?” It makes references to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, and low wages, for those who are concerned about being able to work, “what are my rights as a worker?” With an excerpt from Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Executive Order 41, which protects all New York City residents, the handbook outlines for LGBT people how to access city-based services and the agencies to obtain help. It also addresses the needs of HIV positive LGBT immigrants, with reference to the U.S. government’s end on the travel ban for HIV positive people entering the country, which took effect on Jan 4, 2010, benefits available to HIV positive LGBT people, and dealt with issues affecting the transgender community, “I am a transgender immigrant. What about me?” Additionally, the handbook suggests to LGBT immigrants how to find a good immigration attorney, knowing about filing for asylum, and how to access free or low cost legal services.

“If you read the book, you will see the logic. On the cover of the book, are all the agencies that collaborated information according to their particular expertise on the subject. It is our hope that with the possibility of new immigration reform, this book will soon become obsolete, and that we will have to create a second edition,” said Fesser.

Fesser said that a plan is in the works to post a copy of the handbook on the Center’s Website, but because of the nature of the material, where translations into other languages have to be officially certified, and with an approximate cost of $1,500 for each translation, there is some uncertainty about being able to achieve this goal.

“It took too long to make it happen, but we finally did,” Fesser said of the handbook.

As a small number of handbooks were printed, Fesser said, and out of those copies remaining, photocopies would be made, so that anyone wishing a copy could get it from the Center.

UPDATE: At a news conference held on Thursday, Apr 29, on the lawn of the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix, four groups: the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Arizona, and the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) announced legal challenges to the immigration law signed last Saturday by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. According to a press release posted on the NILC Website, the new law requires law enforcement officers to question people about their immigration status during everyday police encounters and criminalizes immigrants for failing to carry their “papers.” The unconstitutional law, the groups say, encourages racial profiling, endangers public safety, and betrays American values.

Speaking out about a taboo subject

By Antoine Craigwell

Nationwide, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community on Friday, Apr 15, 2010, commemorated a day of silence – vowing not to speak for one 24-hour period as a unified protest action in solidarity with other LGBT and against the treatment members of the community receive from a majority of people. This day of silence was also an occasion to create a crack in the reluctance to speak about depression and its debilitating effects in the Black gay community.

In the Black community, there is significant resistance to addressing depression. Without regard to ethnic origin, whether African American, Afro Caribbean, or African, the cultural belief is that one does not speak his business, especially his personal business about himself, out of the family. Equally, in many Black families, with the emphasis on masculinity and survival in challenging times, including dealing with racial discrimination, speaking out about one’s inner feelings is often regarded as a weakness or a significant flaw, to be strengthen or eradicated, at all costs and by all means. Therefore, many Black gay men are caught in a vicious cycle: it is taboo to talk about what’s bothering him, and if he should try, he would be branded as weak.

A New Jersey-based journalist, Glenn Townes, when he lived in Kansas City, MO, wrote about his own depression, in “Tale of a Wounded Warrior: One Man’s Battle Against Depression” for the Infinity Institute International, Inc., Website, “I still find there’s a strong stigma to African Americans and therapy, particularly for brothers. Tell someone you’re seeing a shrink and they just may haul off and hit you with: “Man, you must be crazy.” But I think it’s just the opposite: Sometimes you’d have to be crazy not to seek therapy.”

Writing for the New York Amsterdam News in May 2008, Townes reported that the Depression Is Real Coalition, a collection of mental health agencies, was formed to promote and advance discussion of this mental illness as something not to be ashamed of, with a series of public service announcements nationwide, “It is Depression.”

In fact, research has shown that the causes of depression are often a combination of biological as well as external or environmental factors.

Townes reported that David Shern, Ph.D, president of Mental Health America, a member of the coalition, said, “What people may not understand is that depression is not just a matter of being in a bad mood or something that’s in a person’s mind. It’s just like any other biologically based disease and is a condition that commonly co-occurs with chronic diseases.”

The issue of depression in the Black gay community has many layers: psychosocial, socioeconomic, cultural, and racial, to name a few. Addressing one complex layer, sexuality and racial identity and their relationship to socioeconomics, Darrell Wheeler, Ph.D., professor of sociology with a specialization in HIV/AIDS issues in Black gay men at Hunter College, part of the City University of New York, said, “I don’t think that we [Black gay men] have enough control over our economic destiny and how we bring together our resources around issues…about our inability to really embrace the “Blackness” and things get too anchored to the “gayness” and, without bringing all of me to the table. We have to respond to micro-aggressions as well as full-frontal discrimination based on sexual identity or on racial identity, so all of these things converge and create an environment in which we are constantly hyper vigilant in whether or not we take care of ourselves enough and sometimes those internalized experiences get manifested as external aggressions towards each other over the “sexualization” of the experience and the use of substances as a way of coping. So I think there are mental issues that have certain consequences.”

In an article, “HIV/AIDS Prevention Research Among Black Men Who Have Sex with Men: Current and Future Directions,” Gregorio Millett, MPH, senior policy advisor in the Office of National AIDS Policy and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC); David Malebranche, M.D, assistant professor, Emory University, Atlanta, GA; and John L. Peterson, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, quoting from a 2004 CDC report, said that Black men who have sex with men (MSM) now account for 30 percent, the largest proportion, of all Black men diagnosed with HIV.

Addressing the psychological issues surrounding Black MSM, in a section of their article, “HIV-positive Status, HIV Risk, and HIV-Protective Behavior Factors Among Black MSM,” Millett and co-authors quoted studies done in 2002 by Crawford, et al, and in 2003 by Myers, et al, which said that, “although no psychological variables were associated with HIV status, several psychological  variables were associated with sexual risk behavior among Black MSM.

“Few Black MSM studies examined associations between any of the dependent variables and HIV knowledge, mental health status, cultural beliefs, or self-esteem,” said Millett and co-authors.