• Equality
  • Community
    • Health
    • Youth
    • Seniors
  • Voices
    • From the CEO
    • Take Five
    • Why I Give
  • About the Center
  • Galleries
  • Calendar
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • 2nd Annual Sabor de Mi Centro Block Party Boogies in Boyle Heights
  • Senior Prom Celebrates 25th Anniversary
  • “Solidarity Forever”: Montana State Rep. Zooey Zephyr at Trans Town Hall
  • “We Are Immense, and We Are Abundant”: Trans Pride LA Organizer Gina Bigham Looks Back on a Decade-Plus of Highlights and the Biggest Trans Pride Yet
  • Trans Actors, Athletes, and Activists Celebrate Community and Solidarity at First-Ever Trans Town Hall
  • “My Crown Is Paid For”: 12 Center Portraits of Juneteenth
  • House of Avalon, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Join Center Staff and Supporters for LA Pride: “F*ck the Margins. We’re the Center.”
  • This Year’s AIDS/LifeCycle Participants on Why They Ride
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»Appearing in the Center’s “Love in Action” Telethon May Be Actress Quei Tann’s Most Personal Role Yet

Appearing in the Center’s “Love in Action” Telethon May Be Actress Quei Tann’s Most Personal Role Yet

0
By on August 11, 2021 Community, Youth

By Greg Hernandez

When actress Quei Tann was asked to participate in this weekend’s Love in Action telethon benefitting the Los Angeles LGBT Center, her answer was an immediate “yes.”

Tann happens to know first-hand how important the Center’s programs and services are to the community and what a difference they can make in someone’s life.

“Unlike some people who feel aggrieved and annoyed by seeing homeless people in the streets, my heart really breaks because that was me,” she shares.

Tann, a rising star with recurring roles on Netflix’s Dear White People and the BET+ Original Series Tyler Perry’s Bruh, credits the Center for coming to her rescue when she was a teenager experiencing homelessness. She had been living with her mother in Las Vegas then headed to LA on her own and stayed at what turned out to be a marijuana grow house. When it was busted by police, Tann had nowhere else to stay.

“I was a person who was homeless, homeless, homeless,” recalls Tann, who is transgender. “It was really, really dark. When you include being queer into that circumstance, it makes  even more likely to experience homelessness because of all the discrimination and all the systemic inequalities.”

Tann was sleeping in her car and had spent some time at an emergency shelter when she was accepted into the Center’s Transitional Living Program (TLP) . The program not only provides housing but also teaches life skills to a young people as they maintain a job, enroll in school, and move towards independence.

Tann stayed with TLP for 16 months.

“One of the things that I’ve learned from my time with the Center is that people really like to mischaracterize people who are experiencing homelessness,” she says. “They say things like ‘They don’t work.’ Everyone I know, including myself, was such a hard worker, and we always had a job. We would put away 70 percent of our income—and that’s an essential life skill I take with me today.”

A Queer Eye Connection

During her time at TLP, Tann met future Queer Eye star Karamo Brown who worked for several years at the Center’s LifeWorks youth mentoring program.

“He was my mentor,” she said of Brown. “He would take me to Paramount Studios. We spent one of my birthdays together. He helped me get some scholarships I would use to pay for my acting classes. That really helped propel me into the career I have today.”

Tann also met fellow TLP alum Alexandra Grey, a trans actress who has landed recurring roles on NBC’s Chicago Med, Amazon’s Transparent, Fox’s Empire, and CBS’s MacGyver, among other credits.

“Alexandra is my absolute best friend who I talk to every single day,” Tann shares. “We got through the situation together. It was so great because I really got community—I was able to find a community of Black trans women. We are a subset of a subset of a subset of a community.”

“It’s really difficult, if you’re in a room, to find a person of color—let alone a queer or trans person of color,” she adds. “So, it was great to have these meetings, these hangouts, these excursions with other trans women of color—I really, really appreciated that.”

Tann will appear in the upcoming season of Dear White People and in the new Tik Tok series Hidden Canyons which, she says, deals with queer issues.

The Love in Action telethon airs live on Saturday, August 14, from 7–9 p.m. PT, on KTLA 5. Support the Center now and be featured during our live television event! Visit love.lalgbtcenter.org

 

Share this:

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

Related Posts

2nd Annual Sabor de Mi Centro Block Party Boogies in Boyle Heights

“Solidarity Forever”: Montana State Rep. Zooey Zephyr at Trans Town Hall

“We Are Immense, and We Are Abundant”: Trans Pride LA Organizer Gina Bigham Looks Back on a Decade-Plus of Highlights and the Biggest Trans Pride Yet

Comments are closed.

Upcoming Events

Oct 14
7:30 am - 6:00 pm

Models of Pride 2023

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
🌈Great news! #California Gov. Gavin Newsom sign 🌈Great news! #California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law 9 bills this weekend that will help ensure the safety and dignity of the #LGBTQ+ community through measures addressing inclusive school climates, gender-affirming business licensing, and public accommodations. This is a moment to take action, click the link in bio to urge Gov. Newsom to sign AB1645 🗣️
Swipe for more info➡️
“Queer people are told to minimize everything. W “Queer people are told to minimize everything. We’re told to be the friend or the supporting character. But drag makes us think, what if I’m the main character?” asked #TrixieMattel in her speech at last year’s #ModelsofPride, the world’s largest free conference for #LGBTQ+ youth. “I want you guys to know that you are all the main character.”

The “RuPaul’s Drag Race” champ accepted the event’s Model of Pride award, celebrating her epic career spanning entertainment, music, cosmetics—and even commercial renovation, with the hotel makeover series “Trixie Motel” for Discovery—at a time when drag was becoming a growing target for the far-right. 

This year, the drag bans have evolved into an anti-LGBTQ assault on California schools, but Models of Pride is back on October 14th with keynote speakers like #DylanMulvaney and #HayleyKiyoko to create the safe, empowering space our students need right now. You can register at the #linkinbio, or head to modelsofpride.org for more info.
Closing out #BiVisibilityWeek with a banger. (Did Closing out #BiVisibilityWeek with a banger. (Did YOU know the B in Cardi B was for #Bisexual?) Remember you are valid, you owe nobody an explanation, and you’re loved. 🩷💜💙
Happy #BiVisibilityDay! Today we’re giving love Happy #BiVisibilityDay! Today we’re giving love to and celebrating the B in LGBTQ. Bi Visibility Day was created to recognize and celebrate the Bi+ community including the need to reduce stigma of the identity. Bisexuality is beautiful and bi folks deserve love, support and acceptance. How are you celebrating Bi Visibility Day? Drop your 🩷💜💙’s in the comments 

🎥 @kimhoyos
🚨#Breaking: The United States is facing a short 🚨#Breaking: The United States is facing a shortage of injectable penicillin, which is the usual medication used for treating #syphilis. Fortunately, #DoxyPEP has been proven to effectively lower the risk of sexually transmitted infections, such as syphilis, by as much as 87%. For more information, swipe to view our FAQs on DoxyPEP or visit the link in our bio.
We are excited to announce recording artist #Hayle We are excited to announce recording artist #HayleyKiyoko (@hayleykiyoko), AKA #LesbianJesus, as this year’s double headliner and honoree at our #ModelsofPride youth summit! She joins keynote speaker and Model of Pride Award recipient #DylanMulvaney and social media star @RubasWorld, who will serve as the event’s host on October 14.

At a time when LGBTQ+ education is under attack, Models of Pride lifts love, acceptance, and queer joy for LGBTQ+ youth and allies. For more info and registration, visit modelsofpride.org. 

#ModelsofPride #LGBTQYouth  #LoveAndAcceptance
Join us for #Queerceañera on Friday, Sept. 29th! Join us for #Queerceañera on Friday, Sept. 29th! 

Hosted by RuPaul's #DragRace Season 15 alum, @EsTitties, Queerce is a vivid cultural summit and community cotillion rooted in unbridled celebration. This year’s honorees RuPaul’s #DragRaceMéxico host @allaboutvalentina and actress/recording artist @MissBenny sitting down together in a candid keynote conversation. 

But wait, there’s more! The post-program reception features tropical cocktails and live performances by #LA’s own Latin dance phenomenon @Queerchata. RSVP now at our #linkinbio #LatinxHeritageMonth
We are thrilled to announce superstar and host of We are thrilled to announce superstar and host of #DragRaceMexico #Valentina as an honoree and keynote speaker at the Center’s first-ever #Queerceañera! Join us in celebrating the vibrancy of LA's LGBTQ+ Latinx community on Friday, Sept. 29 in Hollywood.

There’s more! The post program reception features tropical cocktails and live performances curated by LA’s own Latin dance phenomenon @Queerchata. RSVP now at our #linkinbio #LatinxHeritageMonth
“You don’t necessarily have to be from a ranch “You don’t necessarily have to be from a ranch to be a cowboy.” Every spring in Zacatecas, Mexico, men from across North America don their finest cowboy attire for a private gathering of gay vaqueros. The weekend-long convention is a celebration of Mexican culture where attendees are free to embrace their authentic selves. “[Mexican culture] is ours, too,” one attendee told the Los Angeles Times.

Founded nearly 20 years ago by bar owner Mariano Escobar, the event features live music, dancing, and a contest for “rostro vaquero”—the official face of the convention and a nod to Mexican festivals where women are crowned “princesses” or “queens.” This year, the title went to Eros Herrera, a police officer who recently opened a homeless shelter and soup kitchen serving the #LGBTQ+ community in San Luis Potosi.

“When I’m on the street, I’m very discreet,” Daniel Renteria, an agave farmer who traveled an hour and a half to attend, told the Times. “Having to hide yourself is hard. Events like this one unite us.” Read more at the #linkinbio.

Happy #LatinxHeritageMonth—stay tuned for more coverage on this page over the next few weeks.

📷 Gary Coronado via @latimes
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.