The Hollywood LGBTQ Council

02/12/2026

🌈✊🏾 Honoring Black History Month
We’re lifting up the powerful stories, voices, and contributions of Black leaders—especially Black LGBTQ+ trailblazers whose impact is too often erased.

Black history is q***r history. Our stories matter, and we remain committed to visibility, equity, and community here in Hollywood and beyond.
My Hollywood Pride

Langston Hughes

Writer Langston Hughes did not talk much in his life about his own s*xuality, but rumors about him started when he was a young writer – Alain Locke and Countee Cullen wrote letters to each other about Hughes’s “seducibility” – and followed him the rest of his life.

Part of it came from his participation in the gay life of the Harlem Renaissance. He attended drag balls – yes, there were drag balls in 1920’s Harlem – and called them “spectacles of color” and the “strangest and gaudiest of all Harlem’s spectacles.” People could wear what they wanted and dance with partners of the same s*x, and Hughes was particularly fond of the Harlem balls: “This dance has been going on a long time, and… is very famous among the male masqueraders of the eastern seaboard, who come from Boston and Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Atlantic City to attend.”

He included gay themes in his work, like “Blessed Assurance,” a story about a father’s anger toward his feminine and gay son. “Seven People Dancing” is about Marcel, a “fairy” who hosted rent parties in Harlem (rent parties were private events that people hosted in their apartments and charged an entrance fee, to pay the rent).

And “Cafe 3 a.m.” is a poem about anti-gay police harassment

Hughes was a central figure in the interwar period in Harlem, and in 1926 he wrote something of a manifesto for the movement in The Nation: “The younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, it doesn’t matter.”

Well after the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes wrote “A Dream Deferred,” which has become one of the best-known poems in American literature.

02/10/2026

🌈✊🏾 Honoring Black History Month
We’re lifting up the powerful stories, voices, and contributions of Black leaders—especially Black LGBTQ+ trailblazers whose impact is too often erased.

Black history is q***r history. Our stories matter, and we remain committed to visibility, equity, and community here in Hollywood and beyond.
My Hollywood Pride
Richard Bruce Nugent

Nugent’s most famous work, Smoke, Lilies, and Jade, published in 1926, is one of the earliest known literary works by an African American to feature same-s*x desire openly and unapologetically. The story, a semi-autobiographical narrative written in a stream-of-consciousness style, tells the story of Alex, a young Black man exploring his attraction to both men and women. In depicting same-s*x love, Smoke, Lilies, and Jade broke significant ground by challenging the boundaries of s*xual identity and freedom in a time when such themes were rarely, if ever, publicly acknowledged within Black or mainstream literature. Nugent’s willingness to address q***r themes so directly helped set the stage for future generations of Black LGBTQ+ writers and artists.

His open expression of his s*xuality made him something of an anomaly in Harlem’s creative circles, where many q***r Black artists often concealed their s*xuality due to the social climate of the time. Despite this, Nugent maintained a presence in the movement and, together with his peers, expanded the narrative of what it meant to be Black in America.

Nugent’s art and activism also extended beyond his writing. He was a painter and illustrator whose work explored themes of sensuality, spirituality, and race. He contributed to the movement’s legendary publication Fire!!, an influential but short-lived literary magazine created by Black artists to challenge the social norms and conservative values within both Black and white communities. Though Fire!! only published one issue, it became a defining moment in Black literary and cultural history, emblematic of the Harlem Renaissance’s daring, provocative approach to art and social issues. Later in life, Nugent continued to speak openly about his experiences as a q***r man, even as he remained largely unrecognized by mainstream society. He worked as a government employee and remained connected to Harlem’s evolving arts scene.

02/09/2026

🌈✊🏾 Honoring Black History Month
We’re lifting up the powerful stories, voices, and contributions of Black leaders—especially Black LGBTQ+ trailblazers whose impact is too often erased.

Black history is q***r history. Our stories matter, and we remain committed to visibility, equity, and community here in Hollywood and beyond.
My Hollywood Pride

Born in Harlem in 1924, Baldwin became one of the first Black authors to write openly about homos*xuality, challenging societal norms and sparking conversations about the intersection of race and q***r identity. His contributions are seen as foundational to understanding q***r experience in America, especially for q***r people of color.

Baldwin’s 1956 novel, Giovanni’s Room, broke new ground by centering a story around same-s*x love. Though the novel’s characters were white—partly due to concerns about public reception—Giovanni’s Room remains one of the earliest and most powerful literary explorations of gay desire and identity, particularly amid the homophobia of the 1950s. Baldwin’s depiction of the protagonist’s struggle with his s*xual orientation resonated deeply with readers and became a classic work in LGBTQ+ literature, marking Baldwin as one of the first Black authors to address same-s*x relationships with unflinching honesty.

In addition to his fiction, Baldwin wrote numerous essays that delved into his personal experiences as a gay Black man in America. In essays like “The Fire Next Time” and “No Name in the Street,” Baldwin discussed his experiences with racism, religious conservatism, and the dangers of societal repression. He argued that homophobia and racism were both forms of oppression aimed at controlling people’s identities and limiting their freedom. Baldwin believed that addressing these intersecting forms of prejudice was essential to building a more just and inclusive society. You can find his interview with Richard Goldstein, “Go the Way Your Blood Beats” published in The Village Voice (1984), contains his best-known statements on s*xual minority rights, nomenclature, and his own life. You can read the interview along with other conversations in James Baldwin: The Last Interview and Other Conversations.

Baldwin’s visibility as a gay Black man was especially impactful in a period when both racial and LGBTQ+ issues were emerging as critical areas of social justice. He became a mentor to civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and was close friends with Medgar Evers and Malcolm X.

02/05/2026

🌈✊🏾 Honoring Black History Month
We’re lifting up the powerful stories, voices, and contributions of Black leaders—especially Black LGBTQ+ trailblazers whose impact is too often erased.

Black history is q***r history. Our stories matter, and we remain committed to visibility, equity, and community here in Hollywood and beyond.
My Hollywood Pride

Bayard Rustin was a gay Black man who was a chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, one of the most iconic events in the Civil Rights Movement, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech. Rustin’s organizational skills, strategic thinking, and commitment to nonviolent protest were instrumental in bringing over 250,000 people to the Lincoln Memorial in a peaceful and powerful demonstration for civil rights. Rustin also introduced King to the principles of nonviolent resistance, drawing from his own experiences working with pacifist leaders and the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.

Many leaders saw his open homos*xuality as a liability that could be used by opponents to discredit the movement. He was often forced into the background, where he worked tirelessly but with little public recognition. Nonetheless, he continued to advocate for civil rights and social justice and never wavered in his commitment to both causes, embodying the idea that justice must be intersectional.

Later in life, Rustin became an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, recognizing the connections between the struggles for racial and s*xual equality. He spoke out against homophobia and worked to bring visibility to LGBTQ+ issues, particularly those affecting LGBTQ+ people of color. His activism foreshadowed today’s understanding of intersectionality, emphasizing that true equality must address the overlapping oppressions faced by individuals at the intersections of race, s*xuality, and other identities.

02/04/2026

🌈✊🏾 Honoring Black History Month
We’re lifting up the powerful stories, voices, and contributions of Black leaders—especially Black LGBTQ+ trailblazers whose impact is too often erased.

Black history is q***r history. Our stories matter, and we remain committed to visibility, equity, and community here in Hollywood and beyond.

Marsha P. Johnson was a Black transgender woman and activist and was a central figure in the Stonewall Riots of 1969, which ignited the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Born in 1945 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Johnson moved to New York City’s Greenwich Village at age 17, where she found community among other LGBTQ+ individuals. Known for her vibrant personality, distinctive flower crowns, and colorful sense of style, Johnson became a beloved figure within the LGBTQ+ community and an enduring symbol of resistance against injustice.

Along with Sylvia Rivera, a Latina transgender activist, Johnson co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) in 1970, an organization dedicated to providing housing and support for homeless LGBTQ+ youth. STAR became one of the first LGBTQ+ organizations in the U.S. to focus specifically on transgender issues. It pioneered a legacy of advocacy for transgender and gender-nonconforming people who were often overlooked by mainstream gay rights organizations
My Hollywood Pride My Hollywood Pride

02/03/2026

🌈✊🏾 Honoring Black History Month
We’re lifting up the powerful stories, voices, and contributions of Black leaders—especially Black LGBTQ+ trailblazers whose impact is too often erased.

Black history is q***r history. Our stories matter, and we remain committed to visibility, equity, and community here in Hollywood and beyond.

William Dorsey Swann was the first drag queen. Swann was born into slavery in Maryland just before the Civil War. In the 1880s, as a young adult, he moved to Washington, DC to find work to help support his parents and siblings. In Washington, he found the Emancipation Day parade, an enormous annual celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the US capitol. The highlights of the parade were called queens: Beautiful, crowned Black women who personified African-Americans’ newfound freedom. The queens of Emancipation Day so inspired Swann, that he adopted the title “queen” for himself at the secret dance that he and his friends called “a drag.” The word “drag” possibly comes from a contraction of “grand rag,” which is an early term for a masquerade ball.

Stated by the National Museums Liverpool, “Swann consistently resisted the censorship of their drag balls and continued to organise and hold events in Washington D.C. for several years. Swann was sentenced, in 1896, to 10 months in prison for the false charge of ‘keeping a disorderly house,’ also known as a brothe.l” That made Swann the earliest documented American activist to take steps to defend the q***r community. But of course, the authorities couldn’t stop Swann and it especially didn’t stop Balls from continuing to expand to other cities. Today, q***r drag is mainstream. From “Pose” to “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and the houses of 21st century ballroom culture, with queens who preside over beauty and dance contests, have maintained the same basic structure as Swann’s 19th-century community.

***rHistory ***rBlackVoices

02/03/2026

🌈✊🏾 Honoring Black History Month
We’re lifting up the powerful stories, voices, and contributions of Black leaders—especially Black LGBTQ+ trailblazers whose impact is too often erased.

Black history is q***r history. Our stories matter, and we remain committed to visibility, equity, and community here in Hollywood and beyond.

This Black History Month, we honor the power, resilience, and brilliance of Black history — including the q***r Black stories that have too often been erased.

From trailblazers like Marsha P. Johnson and Bayard Rustin to countless artists, organizers, caregivers, and leaders whose names history failed to record, q***r Black voices have shaped movements for justice, liberation, and equality for us all.

At the Hollywood LGBTQ+ Council, we believe visibility is an act of resistance. Telling these stories matters — because representation saves lives, history informs progress, and equality is built when every voice is seen, valued, and remembered.

This month and always, we celebrate Black joy, honor Black leadership, and recommit to the ongoing fight for dignity, safety, and freedom for our entire community.

***rHistory ***rBlackVoices

02/03/2026

This Black History Month, we honor the power, resilience, and brilliance of Black history — including the q***r Black stories that have too often been erased.

From trailblazers like Marsha P. Johnson and Bayard Rustin to countless artists, organizers, caregivers, and leaders whose names history failed to record, q***r Black voices have shaped movements for justice, liberation, and equality for us all.

At the Hollywood LGBTQ+ Council, we believe visibility is an act of resistance. Telling these stories matters — because representation saves lives, history informs progress, and equality is built when every voice is seen, valued, and remembered.

This month and always, we celebrate Black joy, honor Black leadership, and recommit to the ongoing fight for dignity, safety, and freedom for our entire community.

***rHistory ***rBlackVoices

01/19/2026

Today we honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.— a leader who reminded us that justice is built through service, courage, and community.

Dr. King believed that everyone can be great because everyone can serve. That spirit of volunteerism lives on in the work of the Hollywood LGBTQ+ Council and My Hollywood Pride, both powered by volunteers who show up to build a more inclusive, welcoming Hollywood for all.

As we reflect on Dr. King’s legacy, let us recommit to serving one another, standing up for dignity and equality, and working together to create the beloved community he envisioned.

Service is love in action. Pride is community in action.

01/09/2026

January never looked better ▶ Swipe for event details and join us as we celebrate pride, culture, community, and connection all month long🌟🌈

Pride 100 Brunch🥞
🎟https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pride-100-brunch-a-celebration-of-community-champions-tickets-1977811102248?aff=odcleoeventsincollection

Q***r Comedy Night🎤
🎟https://www.eventbrite.com/e/q***r-comedy-tickets-1978791425421?aff=odcleoeventsincollection

VIP Kickoff & Guitar Lighting 🎸
🎟https://www.eventbrite.com/e/my-hollywood-pride-vip-kickoff-event-guitar-lighting-tickets-1977848376737?aff=odcleoeventsincollection

My Hollywood Pride Festival🏳️‍🌈
🎟https://www.eventbrite.com/e/my-hollywood-pride-2026-out-proud-5-years-young-tickets-1486915988749?aff=odcleoeventsincollection

01/06/2026

✨🌹 Pride 100 Brunch is coming to Hollywood, Florida! 🌹✨

Join My Hollywood Pride for a meaningful morning of celebration, community, and visibility as we honor two incredible changemakers at our Pride 100 Brunch on Saturday, January 17, 2026 at 11:00 AM at the DoubleTree Resort, Hollywood, FL.

🏳️‍🌈 Trailblazer Award Honoree: Spencer Battiest
A Seminole/Choctaw artist, award-winning singer-songwriter, and actor from Hollywood, Florida, Spencer Battiest has built a groundbreaking career rooted in Indigenous culture, artistic excellence, and LGBTQ+ visibility. From becoming the first American Indian artist signed to Hard Rock Records to earning an MTV VMA, Native American Music Awards, and the Harvey Milk Visibility Medal, Spencer continues to use his platform to uplift voices, honor heritage, and inspire resilience on a global stage.

🌈 Trailblazer Ally Award Honoree: Lisa Tumminello
A dedicated advocate, mentor, and community leader, Lisa Tumminello has been a powerful ally to LGBTQ+ youth and families across Broward County. From leading youth activations with My Hollywood Pride to spearheading the Big Pride mentoring program at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Broward, Lisa’s work centers access, education, and visibility for the next generation of LGBTQ+ leaders in South Florida.

📍 Event Details:
🗓 January 17, 2026
⏰ 11:00 AM
📍 DoubleTree Resort | 4000 S Ocean Dr, Hollywood, FL

🎟 Get your tickets now:
👉 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pride-100-brunch-a-celebration-of-community-champions-tickets-1977811102248

Come celebrate Pride in Hollywood with us—honoring legacy, leadership, and the community champions shaping a more inclusive future for South Florida’s LGBTQ+ community. 💖🌹

11/14/2025

🌟 Transgender Awareness Week |November 13–19🌟
This week, we honor, uplift, and stand in solidarity with our Trans community — celebrating their courage, resilience, and the joy they bring to our LGBTQ+ family.

At The Hollywood LGBTQ+ Council, we are committed to advocating for Trans visibility, safety, and inclusion every single day. From community education and policy advocacy to creating affirming spaces at our events and throughout Hollywood, we remain dedicated to supporting our Trans neighbors with love, respect, and action. 💙💗🤍

Let’s continue building a community where every Trans person feels seen, valued, and supported — not just this week, but always.

🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈