An educational panel hosted by Real Change and KVRU 105.7 FM
6pm – 7pm | June 22
As Seattle commemorates its 48th annual pride celebration, tens of thousands are expected to fill bars, shows and the streets to celebrate the queer community. Nationally, Seattle is considered an accepting city for queer and trans people, boasting large queer, trans, gay and lesbian communities.
However, under the massive umbrella of “queer” lies a huge diversity of different experiences and unfortunately, dramatic inequities. In our city, trans people are disproportionately likely to be poor. Youthcare estimates that as many as many as 40% of homeless youth are queer. Black, Brown and Indigenous trans and queer people are more likely to face police brutality, criminalization and poverty due to racism. The rent is simply too d*** high across the city and especially in Capitol Hill, the historic LGBTQ+ neighborhood.
We want to know how we got here? Why is queer Seattle so gentrified? And how can we start to reverse it so that all queer and trans people are truly welcome and safe?
Real Change and KVRU 105.7 FM are excited to present an educational panel on Wednesday June 22 from 6:00PM PDT. The panel will be broadcast LIVE on air and streamed online to YouTube and kvru.org.
Please join our amazing panelists Evana Enabulele, LC, Leinani Lucas, Aleksa Manila, and Moni Tep in discussing the effects of gentrification on Seattle’s queer communities. The panel will be co-moderated by Luzviminda Uzuri Carpenter, the station manager at KVRU, and Guy Oron, staff reporter at Real Change.
Listen to the Panel
Watch the Livestream
About the Panelists
Evana Enabulele (they/them) is a core member of Queer The Land (QTL), a QTBIPOC advocate and affordable housing organizer. Evana leads the housing circle in QTL, nurturing the dreams of QTBIPOC of building a home and safe community space. Their passion is not only working on unique housing strategies but also finding ways to combat the mental aspect of displacement and gentrification. Evana has also worked for the City of Seattle in the Parks Department for 8 years, working as a recreation attendant, event scheduler, and assistant coordinator.
Evana is a featured organizer in the book Nourish, a collection of short stories, photos, and recipes from 10 local Seattle organizers. Evana is part of Decimalize Sex Work which is a collective working towards decriminalization and destigmatization of sex work. Evana participated in the entire legal process of purchasing Queer the Land’s new 12-bedroom home in Beacon Hill, Seattle. Evana is a proud Houston native and currently lives in the south end of Seattle. Evana has over 100 plants and is a collector of unique carnivorous and rare plants.
LC (she/her) is a Black Queer Femme living, working, and building community in Seattle, WA. Graduating from Clark Atlanta University’s Whitney M. Young, Jr., School of Social Work in 2015, LC has been dedicated to health equity for marginalized communities since her introduction to the field. LC has had numerous positions where health equity has been the center of her work including working with Planned Parenthood South East, The Georgia Law Center for the Homeless, and The Hepatitis Education Project. LC uses her knowledge of health equity to shape her organizing around housing justice as a core member and Lead Operations and Development Coordinator with the local housing collective, Queer the Land. In addition to the many roles she contributes to within QTL, LC is leading the house design and renovation phase for the 8 bedroom, four story QTL house, located in historic Beacon Hill. No matter what justice issue presents itself, LC is dedicated to dismantling all forms of oppression, so that one day all people can be free.
Leinani Lucas is the granddaughter of sharecroppers who made their way to the Pacific Northwest in the Great Migration, and Kanaka Maoli storytellers. Leinani writes media reviews for Real Change News in Seattle and Pacific Daily News in Guam, and writes sci-fi fantasy for everyone else but mostly herself. She can often be found with her friends at karaoke, driving around Cascadia, and sharing opinions on anything and everything. When she isn’t out in the community Leinani is at home with her very old and grumpy cat named Umi, patron saint of the heating pad. Find Leinani on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @LeinaniLucas. 
Aleksa Manila is Seattle’s sweetheart of fundraising and everything fabulous! She’s been Miss Gay Filipino, Miss Gay Seattle and Empress of Seattle among many of her crowns. In 2012, she founded Pride ASIA, a Queer and Asian collective whose mission is to celebrate, empower and nurture the multi-cultural diversity of the LGBTQ2+ communities through the Asian Pacific Islander lens. With her Master of Social Work from the University of Washington, she centers her professional expertise on harm reduction, equity and social justice.
She’s recognized for her social activism and community leadership by Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, The Greater Seattle Business Association, Seattle Women’s Pride, Public Health – Seattle & King County, The Filipino Community of Seattle and so on. Follow her journey at AleksaManila.com.
Seattle born and raised JusMoni, aka Moni Tep, is a mother, singer/songwriter, and founding member of Sway and Swoon DJ Collective. Moni serves as Education Director for Seattle nonprofit Creative Justice, an innovative arts-based approach to ending racial disproportionality and youth incarceration. Guided by ancestral memory and lifelong spiritual practices, Moni is an artist and cultural worker blessed with game, grace and gravitas beyond her 28 years. Moni’s singular works echo both the Black church and her mothers’ native Cambodia. She shares spiritual kinship and common purpose with her Black Constellation family — in constant communion with the Sacred.
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Real Change is a grassroots newspaper committed to giving opportunity and a voice to low-income and homeless people while taking action for economic, social and racial justice.
Rooted in Southeast Seattle, KVRU 105.7 FM broadcasts the diverse voices of the community – providing a platform to share stories, discuss issues, and empower listeners to create a more equitable and just society.
