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Visible Voices Tour

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The Memphis U People screening and panel is FREE but YOU MUST RSVP by clicking HERE

U People is an award-winning documentary produced and directed by Olive Demetrius and Hanifah Walidah. (currently in high-rotation on the LOGO network) U People is a film about what happened in a brownstone in Brooklyn one spring weekend where 30 gay, straight women and trans folks of color came together to shoot a not so typical music video. From this premise a thriving community was born that reflects a more diverse image of queer people of color and finds new ways to promote our connectedness as oppose to differences within the larger society. So to promote the film we began producing the very – popular and high-syndicated U People podcast and found there is a community out there that not only supports the film but its message.

WHAT IS A U PEOPLE STORY?

Inspired by the film, in the Fall of 2007, www.iloveupeople.com U People Stories are stories from regular everyday people, gay, straight, black, white and with varied beliefs who have had been made to feel like the “other”. These stories are humorous, moving and timeless. Individually, the stories are a testament of how discrimination and the emotions that result can connect, effect and change us all.

With the launch of www.iloveupeople.com this burgeoning community was provided with a necessary outlet to be kept in informed re: upcoming projects as well as communicate with each other through their popular online community THE BIG TOE. U People has evolved to become more than just a movie; but has been embraced as a movement with this site as the hub.

THE U PEOPLE VISIBLE VOICES TOUR – FALL 2009

In October 2009; in response to the current right to marriage movement; the creators of U People alongside a small team of performers and activists will embark on a month long tour of the southern states of America in celebration of National Coming Out Month. This pilgrimage will target a sampling of the larger unheard queer voice in this country in hopes to shine a light on the continuing struggle around a myriad of issues that challenge queer equality today. there will be a series of screenings and companion talk-back sessions associated with the film to take place in both public and private institutions in addition to a lecture series on multiple college campuses.

TOUR OVERVIEW

Why the southern states of America?

In 2008 supporters of marriage rights had been met with a challenge. With the
victory of Barack Obama on one side and the unfortunate defeat of California’s Prop 8
on the other, a clear disparity and emotional riff has developed between gay and black
America. And if you are both black and gay America you are caught in the middle.
This is where U People steps in with an idea.

There are stories to be told….and new history to be made.

California is the new battleground of modern day civil rights regarding marriage equality.
The South is the motherland of civil rights struggles and is also home to the largest
Black Gay population in America. The south is the bible belt while California symbolizes
a more progressive America. But is either assumption true? And where can these two
worlds find common ground and history?

The answer is not in bridging politics but the personal stories of people.

IT BEGINS WHERE IT BEGAN

The tour will begin in Memphis, TN with the first screening ever of a gay focused film at the Civil Rights Museum located at the Lorraine Hotel and the place where Martin Luther King Jr. lost his life. The screening will be followed by a town hall meeting between the directors, people featured in the film, religious and political leaders. The town hall meeting will be broadcast live over the internet with the global community witness to a changing America.

AND ENDS WITH CANDLELIGHT AND LINCOLN

After traveling from Memphis to Birmingham, Atlanta, and Nashville archiving the stories and existence of gay people of color in the south. The U People Visible Voices Tour will end in DC with a candlelight vigil at the Lincoln Memorial. This will be a coming out vigil for those voices made visible and those who remain silent.

© 2009 I Love U People.