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New York State's Only Black Trans-led LGBTQ+ Center Hosts Bronx Pride Week in Partnership with TD Bank, SoBro and Montefiore Health Systems
LGBTQ+ center Destination Tomorrow hosted its annual Bronx Pride Week in New York from June 14 to 18. Deemed "The People's Pride," the grassroots organization will celebrate the LGBTQ+ community through a week of free events, performances and other festivities. Destination Tomorrow has teamed up with various organizations, both LGBTQ+ focused and community-driven, for a series of events, including a movie screening and a celebration of local LGBTQ+ leaders at the Bronx Borough President Annual Pride Event with Vanessa Gibson. Bronx Pride Week will conclude with the famous Bronx Pride Festival, hosted by pop culture LGBTQ+ icons Kandy Muse, the top finalist from RuPaul's Drag Race, and Karen Mercedez, TheSilent Celeb from the Netflix Series "The Circle."
"We are so excited to host our annual Bronx Pride Week to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community in our borough," said Sean Ebony Coleman, Destination Tomorrow's founder and executive director. "With the current political climate targeting LGBTQ+ rights and freedom across the country, we are proud to offer a safe space for individuals to express who they are free of judgment. Our Bronx Pride Week is open to everybody, not just those identifying as LGBTQ+ because, among all this noise in our country, it is important to take time for joy and to embrace individuality and identity across communities."
A screening of LGBTQ+ short films in partnership with the Bronx Film Collective and Stonewall CDC will kick off Bronx Pride on Tuesday, featuring a Q&A with the filmmakers and free food. The Bronx Borough President Annual Pride Event with Vanessa Gibson, the Bronx LGBTQ Expo and a pre-Juneteenth intergenerational cookout with the organization SAGE-Bronx, complete with games, prizes and nature tours of Crotona Park, will follow later in the week. All events are free of charge and only the movie screening requires tickets (available at tbxf.org). The annual celebration will culminate on Saturday with the biggest event, the Bronx Pride Festival. Open to the public, the festival will have games, food, prizes and an entertainment showcase. Alongside the two hosts, Muse and Mercedez, nationally-recognized LGBTQ+ performers are also set to be at the festival, including Seduction, the House of Miyake-Mugler, Sinia Alaia, Antaeus and more. The following is a full list of events.
A comprehensive list of events for the week is as follows:
June 14, Our Gaze LGBTQ+ Short Films Screening from 6:30 p.m. - 9 p.m. at 448 East 149th Street Bronx, New York
June 15, the Bronx Borough President Annual Pride from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m., at Rosa's At Park Restaurant
June 16, the Bronx LGBT Expo from 12 p.m. - 7 p.m. with a tribute to Jose Ramon, founder and creator of The Bronx LGBTQ Expo and The White Shirt Project from 12 p.m. - 4 p.m. at the Bronx Museum of the Arts
June 17, a pre-Juneteenth, inter-generational cookout at 2:00 p.m. in Crotona Park (located at N and Prospect Ave)
June 18, the Bronx Pride Week Festival from 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. at Westchester Ave. between Brook Ave. and Bergen Ave.
Since opening in 2009, Destination Tomorrow has provided many resources to the New York community, including healthcare, career readiness and financial literacy. Having served over 50,000 members in the Bronx, Coleman aims to provide a space and a strong foundation for LGBTQ+ individuals, specifically Trans and Gender-Nonconforming folks.
This year's Pride comes at a time when the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals, specifically those of Transgender experience, are being attacked. With more than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills proposed in the United States just in 2022, Destination Tomorrow's overall aim is to create a community where every individual can be celebrated and recognized for their identity. The center welcomes everybody to Bronx Pride to come together as the LGBTQ+ community of the Bronx and celebrate.
For media inquiries regarding Destination Tomorrow, please contact Lisa Burkert at 917-929-0123 or lisa@thetascgroup.com.
About Sean Ebony Coleman and Destination Tomorrow
Sean Ebony Coleman is the founder and executive director of Destination Tomorrow, a national LGBTQ organization with centers located in the South Bronx and Atlanta, serving the community through educational, financial, housing, health and personal support programs. The grassroots organization puts an emphasis on providing support to vulnerable members of the LGBTQ community that takes them off the path of requiring emergency care, focusing on economic, social and mental empowerment on a holistic level. As a nationally recognized leader in the Transgender community and the first African American of Transgender experience to operate a LGBTQ center in the state of New York, Sean plays a key role in advocating for policies that directly impact the lives of millions of LGBTQ individuals. Through Gilead Science's TRANScend Community Impact Fund, Sean is the only Black Trans grantmaker in the country, providing crucial funding to Transgender and Gender Nonconforming-led grassroots organizations nationally. Sean is also the founder and managing partner of Sean Ebony Coleman Consulting, where he has worked with companies including Unilever, Lululemon and Equinox on campaigns and DEI strategies to support the
LGBTQ community.
SOURCE Destination Tomorrow
