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To: The Luther Burbank Center for the Arts

Protect Sonoma County LGBTQIA+ Community - Stop Dave Chapelle From Performing at LBC

The Luther Burbank Center for the Arts must act in collaboration with Live Nation, Dave Chapelle's event organizer, to relocate his performances to a different venue to prove their alleged commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Why is this important?

The Luther Burbank Center for the Arts claims, on paper, to be committed to serving Sonoma County’s diverse community, “taking meaningful actions to welcome and center the voices that often need to be heard, [and] furthering the community dialogue around equity, oppression, active inclusion and privilege in everything we do.” [Source: https://lutherburbankcenter.org/about/general-information/diversity-equity-inclusion/]

If any place, particularly a nonprofit, commends itself for its upstanding diversity, equity and inclusion, it should be held accountable by those standards in all its actions within the community it serves.

By allowing performers like Dave Chapelle to use their space as a platform for blatantly transphobic and harmful content, the LBC contradicts the values asserted in their DEI statement and directly contributes to the violent rhetoric LGBTQIA+ people are forced to deal with every day.

By giving discrimination the stage, the Luther Burbank Center sends a message to all of Sonoma County that prejudice, harmful language, and stereotypes are cause for laughter and celebration.

On Wednesday, July 20th, Minneapolis’ First Avenue theater listened to community outcry and relocated Dave Chapelle’s performance to another venue. By aiming to move Chapelle’s Sonoma County performances, we build upon the message which First Avenue has sent: transphobia will not be tolerated in our community or beyond.

The LBC is supposed to stand for our community, not for profit! By signing this petition, you raise your voice against the normalization of transphobia in our county and stand as an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community.

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Updates

2022-07-26 12:57:31 -0400

500 signatures reached

2022-07-22 14:31:43 -0400

100 signatures reached

2022-07-22 02:32:20 -0400

50 signatures reached

2022-07-22 00:25:45 -0400

25 signatures reached

2022-07-21 23:17:02 -0400

10 signatures reached