Jenkins to Celebrate National Coming Out Day at the Paramount

Published 3:00 pm Wednesday, September 28, 2022

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To celebrate National Coming Out Day, Austin Area Arts will present (Black) Love in a Time of Social Justice, featuring Andrea Jenkins, at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15 at the Historic Paramount Theatre.

The event is sponsored by the City of Austin Human Rights Commission. 

Andrea Jenkins. Photo provided

Andrea Jenkins made history in 2017 as the first African-American openly trans woman to be elected to political office in the United States. She won election to the Minneapolis City Council where she now serves as council president. 

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After winning an election, Jenkins described the adversity she overcame. 

“As an African-American trans-identified woman, I know firsthand the feeling of being marginalized, left out, thrown under the bus,” she said. “Those days are over.” 

Before becoming involved in local government, Jenkins served as curator of the Transgender Oral History Project at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of “Tributaries: Poems Exploring Black History,” “The T is Not Silent: new and selected poems” and an essay in “A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota,” a compilation of essays by Minnesota authors published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press.

Tickets are available now at www.austinareaarts.org and are $12 for adults and $5 for students with ID. At the request of the artist, mask wear is required for all patrons, staff and volunteers on site for this show.