Truth. Be. Told. is featured as a crowdfunding campaign "you should consider."

"If you’ve been looking at my posts lately, I’ve clearly been on a kick of interviewing people who are creating work in the world that inspires me. The latest installment comes from multimedia maven Katina Parker about her project Truth. Be. Told. that highlights Queer Black Visionaries and their work in the world.” - Moya Bailey, Crunk Feminist Collective

"We get quite a number of requests from filmmakers and producers about various crowdfunding campaigns for their various projects; but now and then, something comes along that's intriguing and unique, and worthy of a highlight. And this project definitely sounded intriguing and unique to me.” - Sergio, Shadow & Act

Truth. Be. Told. is a documentary series that seeks to reclaim the birthright of Queer Black Visionaries within our families and communities by providing a platform for out, Black LGBTQI-SGL-TS people to tell their personal stories of challenge, radical self-inquiry, transformation, and triumph.

Truth. Be. Told. tells stories of transcendence and triumph by positioning the cultivation of personal identity and transformation as a mark of innovation.

To date over 50 Queer Black Visionaries have committed to being interviewed for Seasons 1 and 2, including: Staceyann Chin (Jamaican-born, Tony Award-winning playwright); Emil Wilbekin (Editor at Large for Essence magazine), Patrik-Ian Polk (Creator of Logo TV's "Noah's Arc" series); Mia McKenzie (Creator of the Black Girl Dangerous blog) Linda Villarosa (a former Editor for the New York Times); Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs (Co-Creator of the Mobile Homecoming Project); Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler (Filmmaker/Transgender Rights Activist); and Justin Robinson (Grammy Award-winning musician, formerly of the Carolina Chocolate Drops).

The Executive Producers are Carol Ann Shine (who produced Noah's Arc for Logo TV, plus all of Patrik-Ian Polk's films), and Jennifer MacArthur,  Public Media Engagement Consultant for Independent Television Service (ITVS) and former Director of Television + Digital Media Engagement at the National Center for Media Engagement. Katina Parker is the Creator/Director for Truth. Be. Told. - see bio details below.

The basic premise of Truth. Be. Told.: in order to become all of whom we were sent to be, as Queer Black people, we have been pushed to question everything about our multiple layers of identity - race, gender, sexuality, class, vocation - and then reconcile who we know ourselves to be with the identities our families and society-at-large have constructed for us. Some of us face rejection from our parents, children, spouses, and other family; some of us experience job loss, religious persecution, personal attacks and violence; some of us are more afraid of who we might become than our loved ones who have been waiting for us to speak our own truth. By virtue of being Queer, we do this work in spite of the risks, in order to live more fully.

Truth. Be. Told. is a success that we build together. If you fund it, I will make it. And what I make will do us proud. Together, we will create the most comprehensive exploration of Queer Black identity, to date.   

My name is Katina Parker. Some of you may know me from my years as a communications strategist for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), and Southerners on New Ground (SONG). My background is filmmaking, photography, design, writing, and activism. As a part of my communications training, I also have an expertise in social media campaigns, messaging, and traditional media strategies. Present-day, I am an instructor at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University; I am the writer/producer/ director for a film called Peace Process, which airs regularly on The Documentary Channel; and I am working on a touring exhibit and book called One Million Strong, which features my photos from the Million Man, Million Women, and Million Youth Marches.

During the three years that I worked at GLAAD, my primary objective was creating visibility for Black LGBT issues in mainstream media. In conjunction with my colleagues, I was responsible for placing with the New York Times and The Associated Press, the stories of Saundra Toby-Heath and Alicia Heath-Toby, a couple from Unity Fellowship Church Newark who were plaintiffs in the 2006 New Jersey marriage lawsuit.

I helped the very brilliant, Tony-Award winning Staceyann Chin publish a preview of hermemoir THE OTHER SIDE OF PARADISE with New York Times magazine and also pitched her for the courageous appearance that she made on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

I successfully advocated for Patti LaBelle to receive a GLAAD Media Award for her outstanding commitment to LGBT people. I photographed and designed visibility ad campaigns, which I placed with The Amsterdam News, the Los Angeles Sentinel, The Chicago Defender, and several other Black newspapers. I brokered a deal with Black Voices/Huffington Post to feature weekly editorials from Black LGBT activists, including the work of Krys Freeman and former Essence magazine Editor-in-Chief Linda Villarosa. Over a period of years, I held editorial board meetings with Johnson Publications, home to Ebony and Jet magazine, which laid the groundwork for them to begin featuring the wedding announcements of same-sex couples.

I did this work to create safety for my community. I also did this work to create safety for myself. There was a time when I felt so isolated that I considered taking my life, when it was easier to be a drug addict than it was to be me. I was clueless about how to be an out, queer Black woman. I saw no one in the world who looked like me, who thought like me, or who had healed enough to serve as a living example of the possibilities that were ahead of me.

I understand the value of community. I understand how media placement fills in the gaps when community is not readily accessible.

When I began at GLAAD, there were only a handful of Black LGBT people who were willing to speak publicly - and intelligently - about our issues. Over the years, I logged thousands of miles spokesperson-training more than 500 Black LGBT issue experts in New York; Washington, DC; Atlanta; etc. In the process, I came to know intimately the network of courageous pioneers who have chosen authenticity over fear, and met many of the bold young people who are poised to take us into the future.

We have only scratched the surface when it comes to visibility for Black LGBT people. While our stories are told more frequently than they used to be, our lives are shared in sound bites, book-ended by the editorializing of journalists. We don't get enough prime time real estate (in media or in formal community spaces) to engage in full dialogues about who we are and what we stand for.

Personally, I can't possibly sit on or sit through another panel, over-crowded by LGBT issue experts of every persuasion, who have been given the task of summarizing all of our collective issues in 90 minutes or less, i.e., coming out, homophobia in black churches, transphobia, Black LGBT images in media, the impact of HIV/AIDS on Black gay men, bullying, gay as the new black, etc. I'm tired of Black communities being blanketly characterized as homophobic. The nuanced and explorative conversations that so many of us have with our loved ones deserve elevated visibility so that others who don't have immediate access to our circles of influence can be included. And we deserve to be strengthened by a show that captures our resilience as well as our commitment to change.

To read more about my work or to check out samples of my filmmaking please go to: www.katinaparker.com/katina-parker.

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