Dallas Black Pride announces guests

Although Dallas Black Pride 2011 is still some four months away, organizers have already announced two of the special guests who will be participating in this year’s event: author  Uriah Bell and adult film star and CEO Rock Rockafella.

Dallas/Fort Worth Pride Movement, a newly created nonprofit, will present the 2011 Dallas Black Pride event — HisStory and HerStory, Sept. 1-Oct. 2, with the Marriott City Center in downtown Dallas as the host hotel. Those who want to book their rooms early can call 1-800-228-9290 and ask for the Dallas Black Pride special rate of only $99 per room per night.

The DFW Pride Movement is a member of the International Federation of Black Prides. According to its website, The DFW Movement’s mission “is to promote social awareness, unity, self-empowerment, mentorship and positive visibility throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth LGBT and affirming community of color through education, health promotion, advocacy and coalition building.” This year’s Pride event will include a schedule of parties and educational panels.

Uriah Bell recently released his second collection of poems, epiphany: poems in the key of love, and will re-release his first book, Mood Swings: Poems and Other Rants, this fall. He currently lives in Boston where he is active in the fight against AIDS and other gay men’s health issues, the fight against domestic violence and the fight for human rights. Bell works with a number of black churches to help strengthen their response to the AIDS epidemic and to improve relations between the churches and the LGBT community, and he is board vice chair for the Hispanic Black Gay Coalition, and on the board of Fire and Ink and Triangle Black Pride/Shades of Pride in Raleigh, N.C. Bell is also a fellow at the Black AIDS Institute’s African-American HIV University CMC and a member of the Black Gay Men’s Network.

During Dallas Black Pride, Bell will facilitate an Oct. 1 on “Lying and Dying in Denial,” focusing on black gay men who die of HIV/AIDS because they do not get tested and therefore never get treatment.

Rock Rockafella, adult film star and CEO of Rockafellaz Entertainment, will be attending most of the events scheduled for Dallas Black Pride, bringing with him some of the other actors and models from Rockafellaz Entertainment. Rockafella said that while he will be promoting his films and companies during the events, his main purpose will be to help “educate. enlighten and empower.”

According to organizers, as a guest panelist and presenter, Rockafella will talk about the ups and downs of being an adult film star as well as the importance of HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness. Rockafella said he believes “it is the responsibility of every adult entertainment producer to do their part in helping to educate and find services for those individuals living with HIV/AIDS.”

For more information about Dallas Black Pride 2011, contact DFW Pride Movement Executive Director Derrick Spillman by email at derrickdfwpride@gmail.com or by phone at 214-440-9300.