A red-carpet affair was held in downtown Birmingham on Friday night to celebrate those who further progress for the LGBTQ community during the 50th anniversary of a riot that ushered in the modern LGBTQ rights movement.
About 50 people dressed in glittery gowns and tuxedos gathered at the Dannon Project on Fifth Avenue North for the second annual TAKE Resource Center LGBTQ+ Community Awards and Gala. TAKE, which stands for Transgender Advocates Knowledgeable Empowering, is an organization that has housed, fed and provided multiple other resources for transwomen of color. TAKE's founder, Daroneshia Duncan-Boyd, opened Alabama's first resource center specifically for black and brown transwomen about two years ago.
The awards ceremony was held during a time when the LGBTQ community was celebrating the Stonewall Riots. On June 28, 1969, transwomen of color stood at the front lines of the uprising at a gay bar called Stonewall Inn. The six-day riot was a response to the police raids that were targeting the LGBTQ community at the time.
TAKE selected award winners based on votes from the LGBTQ community. Each winner received a plaque decorated with a red heel. Stonewall veteran and black transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson was known for her elaborate attire and red plastic high heels.
Many of the award winners acknowledge the organization's work in the community throughout the years. Martez Files, a local activists and community organizer, won the Game Changer Award. Since both Files and Duncan-Boyd are activists, they have become good friends as they have shown up for each other's events.
The average life expectancy for Americans is 78.6 years, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Due to violence, that number dwindles to 35 for transwomen of color. Although Files is straight, he applauds TAKE's mission to improve the well being of black and brown transwomen.
“Supporting transwomen of color means supporting people who are community care workers and our communal mothers who are deserving of life love humanity and community,” Files told Al.com. “There’s no way to believe that black lives matter without believing that black trans lives matter. So supporting transwomen of color is not a question for me. It’s a mandate.”
Several acts of entertainment energized the room throughout the event. Celebrity icon illusionists embodied the roles of multiple legendary artists, such as Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Cher and Janet Jackson. Gala attendants cheered them on as they glided, strutted and twirled across the dance floor.
Dr. Morrisa Ladinsky, a pediatrician at Children’s of Alabama who received the Hope for Tomorrow Award, said the visibility of the LGBTQ community is important.
“Youth who are LGBTQ are a huge part of the rainbow of all of the kids we care for,” Ladinsky said. “By being visible, by being a voice at the intersection of two marginalized communities - African American and transwomen -- the women of TAKE show all communities that pride and strength come from within.”
Tears rolled down the cheeks of a transgender advocate who many regarded as a pioneer of the movement when she was surprised with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
During the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Sharyn Grayson played multiple administrative and program management roles with several nonprofit AIDS service organizations and community-based organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. But Grayson's activism didn't stop in the 1980s.
In 2006, she saw the need for more services to support the transgender residents in the Bay Area. She created the Nonprofit and Consumer Services Network, which offers a full range of professional business services and resources that support the economic growth and sustainability of grassroots organizations, nonprofit corporations and small businesses that positively impact the transgender community.
Grayson, transitioned 52 years ago, said she is pleased with all that TAKE has done in the community.
“It is amazing things that the rest of the country can learn from,” Grayson said. “Keep doing what you’re doing. Keep building the community. Keep relying on one another. We need each other more than ever at this time.”