A Post-Pride Thank You from Randy & Angel at LRP

by Randy Ford (she/her/Goddess)
Major Gifts Associate

Dear Community,

We cannot begin to explain the amount of joy we are still feeling from last month's PRIDE event, The Black Trans Comedy Showcase. Thank you so much to everyone who attended, whether it was in-person or virtually! Everything fell into place seamlessly and we look forward to seeing what other impactful events we can host in the future! 

First of all, we have to give the deepest gratitude to our friends at the Northwest Film Forum for hosting our inaugural event! Rana, Chris, and Brenan, THANK YOU for being so accommodating. The space was beyond perfect, and we really loved working with you all! 

To our friends at the Blaq Elephant Party, we are so grateful for y’all for keeping us safe while we gathered. The evening went without a hitch! 

To the folx at Playfish Media (Jillian and Nick), your live stream was spectacular and we could not have done it without you! Everything looked and felt amazing! 

To our phenomenal cast—Mx Dahlia Belle, Chocolate The Entertainer, Mitch Mitchell, and Moltyn Decadence—this show wouldn’t have been possible without you! Y’all brought ALL of yourselves into the space that is still making our staff cackle. You reignited a fire in us all and made PRIDE season all the more worth it!

The ASL interpreters, Rae Rae and Malcolm, and our LIVE captioning service, Karasch, THANK YOU SO MUCH for helping make the showcase accessible for our viewers! We are so grateful for y’all making this event accessible for our disabled QTBIPOC community. 

We also want to acknowledge Gal and Lynn from Molly Moon’s Mooncrew for serving complimentary scoops of your seasonal PRIDE flavors, and Stoup Brewing Company for hosting our Ballard watch party! We are also super grateful to the following organizations who donated items for our raffle! 

  • Theo’s Chocolate

  • Juniper Flowers & Millsweet Flower Co.

  • Queers 4 Queers

  • Bakery Nouveau

  • Seattle Seahawks

  • Microsoft

  • Marconi Chiropractic & Wellness

  • Seattle Pride Foundation

  • Lady Yum

And of course we cannot forget about our amazing sponsors, who provided a significant amount of the funding needed to make this event possible. A HUGE THANK YOU TO:

  • Group Health Foundation

  • Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center 

  • HIV Vaccine Trials Network

  • Seattle Pride Foundation

  • Skellenger Bender

  • UTOPIA WA

  • Fresh Meat Productions

  • Seattle Seahawks

  • Gender Justice League

  • Rainbow Center

Altogether, we made a net gain of $21,261–and it is all thanks to our community, allies, and accomplices! 

This showcase would have been nothing without our Ostara mentors, Katy and Amy! Thank you both so much for guiding us every step of the way! 

Lastly, Randy and Angel want to express their deepest gratitude to our staff and board of directors. Our board has been very instrumental in supporting the development team, and our coworkers have played a big role in making the magic possible. The Black Trans Comedy Showcase was a first for LRP, so we really appreciate EVERYONE who helped make this happen!

For those of you that missed our event, here is a highlight reel provided by Playfish Media.

Lavender Rights Project hopes that this comedy show gave you what you needed in terms of joy restoration. We all know too well that burnout is real and this work gets very exhausting. Jaelynn Scott said it beautifully, “They are not gonna take us down. And they’re not gonna take our laughter!”. Please keep finding moments of laughter and joy in your lives as we get through this year, and Stay connected with us for exciting updates about work for Black Trans Liberation. 

DevelopmentLavender Rights Project