• Equality
  • Community
    • Health
    • Youth
    • Seniors
  • Voices
    • From the CEO
    • Take Five
    • Why I Give
  • About the Center
  • Galleries
  • Calendar
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Big Freedia Offers Words of Inspiration to LGBTQ+ Youth at The Future Is Black: Renaissance
  • Center South Celebrates Three Years of Service in South Los Angeles
  • Slice, Slice Baby!
  • LGBTQ+ Youth, Seniors, and ‘Drag Race’ Queens Celebrate Chosen Family at Inaugural Intergenerational Thanksgiving Dinner
  • Dispensing Culturally Competent Care: The Center’s Patient-Centric Pharmacy Does Much More Than Fill Prescriptions
  • Get to Know the Center’s New Leadership Team
  • The Center Looks Back on 25 Years of Senior Services
  • Center CEO Joe Hollendoner: “Our Work Is Never Done”
Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube
LGBT News Now
Learn about career opportunities at the Center
  • Equality
  • Community
    • Health
    • Youth
    • Seniors
  • Voices
    • From the CEO
    • Take Five
    • Why I Give
  • About the Center
  • Galleries
  • Calendar
LGBT News Now
You are at:Home»Community»‘A Run for More’ Envisions a New Future for LGBT Politicians
A Run for More

‘A Run for More’ Envisions a New Future for LGBT Politicians

0
By on September 19, 2022 Community

By Reid Nakamura

In one of the first few moments of the documentary A Run for More, Frankie Gonzales-Wolfe announces her candidacy for San Antonio City Council before a room full of family and supporters:

“For the last 23 years, I saw politician after politician who just didn’t look like me, didn’t speak like me, wasn’t like me. But I supported them because I always felt like they were the right candidates to represent me and be my voice at the table,” she says. “Well, now it’s ending, because I’m going to be my own voice at the table.”

Directed by filmmaker and journalist Ray Whitehouse, A Run for More follows Gonzales-Wolfe as she campaigns to become the first transgender person to win elected office in Texas.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center is set to produce a screening of the documentary in partnership with the Center’s Leadership LAB on Oct. 1, to be followed by a post-show conversation with Gonzales-Wolfe.

Whitehouse first began following Gonzales-Wolfe in 2016 for a short film about campaign volunteers. The project, which centered on three volunteers from the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign and three from the Bernie Sanders campaign, was conceived as a response to what Whitehouse described as a “dearth of coverage relative to their importance.”

“The project was really about exploring the personal motivations for people who volunteer and give their time without a promise of any return—not even their candidate winning,” Whitehouse said. “To me, that’s a really impressive thing.”

When Gonzales-Wolfe later made the transition to candidate, Whitehouse kept the cameras rolling. The pair had bonded over a “shared love of politics” and a passion for dissecting campaign history. He would eventually go on stay with Gonzales-Wolfe and her husband while filming what would become A Run for More.

“I was with her and her husband Jeff on election night in 2016. They got married four days later, and I filmed that, too,” Whitehouse said. “At the time, I thought that that was going to be the end of it, but in early 2018, Frankie called me and said, ‘Hey, I’m going to run for office.’”

A Run for MoreThe final film, which spans four years of Gonzales-Wolfe’s life and career, mostly sidesteps the horse race-style coverage that typically dominates social media and cable news during election season. The audience doesn’t get updates about polls or media coverage, and the incumbent candidate makes just one brief appearance on screen in the film’s 80-minute run time. Instead, A Run for More offers glimpses into Gonzales-Wolfe’s day-to-day life.

One scene midway through the film finds Gonazles-Wolfe on her couch watching the 2019 Miss USA pageant, fully absorbed. She grows emotional at the sight of a Latina contestant and cheers for a top five dominated by women of color. The film then transitions into footage from Gonzales-Wolfe’s own background as a drag artist and self-described showgirl.

“I had a lot of conversations with Frankie about the role of a performer and how it manifests itself in all of these different ways,” Whitehouse said. “Seeing her unguarded reaction to the performance she was seeing in the pageant illustrated a lot of her ideas about both her past and her future. … When we put that together with her own performance footage, the whole suddenly became greater than the sum of its parts.”

Throughout the film, Gonzales-Wolfe ably translates her performance experience to political candidacy, walking the fine line between revealing her honest self to prospective voters and maintaining her composure as a politician under the intense scrutiny of a campaign. But the reception wasn’t always kind.

“On the one hand, when she tried to tout her leadership skills and talk about her actual capacity to do the job, she wasn’t taken seriously,” Whitehouse said. “But when she tried to focus more on her identity and the importance of representation, she got attacked.”

A Run for MoreChallenging an incumbent is nearly always an uphill battle, and Gonzales-Wolfe—a trans woman running for office in a political environment increasingly hostile to trans people—faced a steeper climb than most.

But, as any performer can attest, winning the pageant is not the only reason to get on stage.

“Frankie’s story speaks to both the present and the future of what politics in the LGBT community can look like,” Whitehouse said. “As much as the film takes place in the past, I hope that people come away from it really marinating on what kind of political future they want to be a part of.”

A Run for More will screen at the Renberg Theatre on Saturday, Oct. 1 at 8 p.m. For tickets and more information about the Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center, visit culturalarts.lalgbtcenter.org.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)

Related Posts

Big Freedia Offers Words of Inspiration to LGBTQ+ Youth at The Future Is Black: Renaissance

Center South Celebrates Three Years of Service in South Los Angeles

Slice, Slice Baby!

Comments are closed.

Upcoming Events

Mar 16
March 16 - April 16

Menstruation: A Period Piece

Apr 22
April 22 - April 23

Arena: A House MUSIC-al

Apr 29
April 29 - June 24

A New Brain

May 13
May 13 - June 12

The Bottoming Process

View Calendar
About Us

LGBT News Now

LGBT News Now is a publication of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2019, the Center is the largest LGBT organization in the world, dedicated to building a world where LGBT thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society. Learn more at lalgbtcenter.org.

Follow Us on Instagram

lalgbtcenter

The Los Angeles LGBT Center is building a world where LGBT people thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society.

Los Angeles LGBT Center
Are you ready for a little #Lesbian 101? In honor Are you ready for a little #Lesbian 101? In honor of #WomensHistoryMonth, we pulled together some facts about the L in the LGBTQ+ movement. Swipe through to learn more.
“The Los Angeles LGBT Center keeps me together” – @gottmik 

We feel love all the way from #SXSW 💜

Thank you @kwprime @trevorproject @jaidaehall & @the_symone for having this amazing conversation on the importance of protecting drag in our community.

#drag #lalgbtcenter #dragrace #queen #SXSW #sxswfilm
As a part of Ms. Versace’s iconic visit to the C As a part of Ms. Versace’s iconic visit to the Center, she invited the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) to bring Los Angeles design talent to meet with the young people we serve in our Youth Academy. Two of those designers, Sergio Hudson and Pia Davis (No Sesso), offered their time and talents in a very special talk with our students who expressed an interest in pursuing careers in the fashion industry. Both South Carolina natives, Mr. Hudson is a decorated American designer who recently dressed Mrs. Michelle Obama, and Ms. Davis is the first Black trans designer to be awarded membership to the CFDA. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the entire CFDA family for their support of the Center’s Youth Services department. Mr. Hudson said that the experience was a reflection of his purpose as a designer. “I want to inspire people and open doors for people who look like me. We’re there, but people hold us up like unicorns on a pedestal! We’re trying to put in the work to normalize it for others.”
Happy #InternationalWomensDay! We’d like for you Happy #InternationalWomensDay! We’d like for you to meet Bonnilee, one of the many treasured members of our Senior Services program. 

At 68, Bonnilee is newly retired after having spent her career as an educational diagnostician and special education teacher who worked to ensure that students with learning disabilities received the attention and care they needed. In her spare time, she also worked as a cosmetologist and makeup artist, using the craft as an outlet to express herself after spending long days of having to hide her true self at work.

“The Center was my first stop when I moved to L.A. 15 years ago,” she says. “I came out a million times in my life, as I'm sure everybody has to. But my parents were very unhappy about it, and that made for a lot of intensities. … But I’m feeling really content now. I’m older, I’m retired, and I have nothing to hide anymore. I feel like I'm really being my most authentic self, in a way.”

Today, Bonnilee spends her days traversing Los Angeles on her bike, stopping by the Senior Center for lunch or to visit the farmer’s market. She’s also found new outlets for her creativity in programs like the Still We Rise poetry writing class for LGBTQ+ women and a new 3D hanging art class offered at the Senior Center.

“I don’t think anyone at the Center ever knew how much hiding I was doing at work and in my day-to-day life because I’m so out and proud and clear and shining,” she says. “I figured out a way to play it safe and compartmentalize. But for the people coming up behind me, don’t compartmentalize, don’t be ashamed. Be free.”

Images by @mcfaddenphoto
We recently had the pleasure of hosting @donatella We recently had the pleasure of hosting @donatella_versace, the Chief Creative Officer of Versace, at the Center. To accompany her visit, Ms. Versace invited the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) to bring fashion students and designers to hear her speak. After Ms. Versace’s tour of the Center, she sat down for a conversation in our Renberg theatre to a very packed and very lively audience. One of the highlight’s of Ms. Versace’s visit was when we asked her about her legacy. How does she want to be remembered? “I don’t want to be remembered,” she said. “I want to live!”
In celebration of #WomensHistoryMonth, we’re tak In celebration of #WomensHistoryMonth, we’re taking a look at some of the vibrant contributions of the #LGBTQ+ community and highlighting a few of the innumerable women whose contributions and achievements have shaped the culture of Los Angeles and helped push our society forward.
 
Today, we’re highlighting Hattie McDaniel, the trailblazing actress and performer who defied racial barriers and went from traveling across the United States with her brother's vaudeville troupe to becoming the first Black person to win an Academy Award for her role in “Gone With the Wind.”
 
Despite her success, McDaniel’s rise in Hollywood was met with intense discrimination and criticism. She was barred from attending the “Gone With the Wind” premiere—which was held at a whites-only theater in Atlanta—and at the 1939 Oscars ceremony where she had her historic win, McDaniel was forced to sit at a segregated table in the back of the room. 
 
She also withstood condemnation throughout her career from the NAACP, who took issue with the stereotypical roles she inhabited. In response, McDaniel reportedly said, “I can be a maid for $7 a week, or I can play a maid for $700 a week.”
 
Meanwhile, McDaniel used her fame and influence to fight against racial discrimination off screen. When she moved to the Sugar Hill neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1941, white residents filed a lawsuit against her and other Black homeowners, aiming to oust them from their homes on the grounds that property deeds forbade sales to Black homeowners. McDaniel led the fight against the attack, and a judge eventually ruled that the racial restrictions were unconstitutional, paving the way for the end of such restrictions nationwide (and leading to the Fair Housing Act). 

McDaniel’s home has been preserved as a historic monument, and those in Los Angeles can still visit the site to this day at W 22nd St. and S Harvard Blvd. (Stay tuned for more updates like this throughout the month!)
 
Image Credit: Criterion
Today marks the beginning of #WomensHistoryMonth—a celebration that would not be anywhere near as vibrant without the contributions of the #LGBTQ+ community. For years, the Center is proud to host the #OutForSafeSchools curriculum and lesson plans, a partnership with @OneArchives and UCLA to teach LGBTQ+ history to our students. 

One of our lesson plans is about The Daughters of Bilitis (DOB)—named after the lesbian poetry collection “The Songs of Bilitis.” DOB is believed to be the first lesbian rights group in the United States. Founded in San Francisco in 1955 by a diverse group of women (and later carried on by the couple Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon), DOB originated as a social club but quickly changed its focus to education and advocacy. Daring to embrace their sexuality in a time of relentless persecution and opposition, DOB brought women together to fight for acceptance in a culture that deemed homosexuality as deviant and abnormal.

In 1956, the group began publishing The Ladder, the first nationally distributed lesbian magazine in the country. Aiming to provide an outlet for voices that had long been silenced, The Ladder included news, poetry, short stories, and essays relating to the lesbian experience, as well as updates on DOB meetings and activities. 

The Ladder encouraged readers to “come out of hiding,” offering employment advice and distributing a pamphlet titled “Your Legal Rights.” DOB continued to meet and publish new issues of The Ladder into the 1970s, connecting women across the country and giving rise to dozens of other lesbian and feminist organizations nationwide. Thanks to Internet Archive, we curated some of our favorite covers of The Ladder for your viewing—you can see how the tone and messaging evolves as the LGBTQ+ movement more firmly takes hold over the decades.

We’ll be posting more throughout the month, so stay tuned for other updates like this. (And if you don’t want to miss a beat from the Center, you can always turn those post notifications on. We promise we won’t spam ya!)
Do you know the latest about #tranq? As the opioid Do you know the latest about #tranq? As the opioid crisis tightens its grip on America, the newest substance sweeping through our city streets is a medication widely used as a livestock sedative. When #xylazine is mixed with opioids like #fentanyl and injected by humans, it can cause people to black out for hours. Withdrawal symptoms are said to be worse than those from heroin or methadone. The opposite of addiction isn’t always sobriety but it’s always a connection. Swipe to learn what to look out for—and how to access the Center’s life-saving resources by contacting 323-993-7448 or recoveryservices@lalgbtcenter.org
It’s on all of us to show up for Black LGBTQ+ yo It’s on all of us to show up for Black LGBTQ+ youth. Sometimes, living in our truth and our beauty can be hard—not because of ourselves, but because of how others treat and see us. Black queer youth deserve all the love and support that we can provide. Swipe through for some ways we can uplift our youth through community.
Load More... Follow on Instagram
Stay Connected
Subscribe
Copyright © 2022 Los Angeles LGBT Center
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.