Please take a moment to sign this petition demanding our government enact laws and policies that protect our children who are transgender.

Above: Reading names of TBLG related hate crime and suicide victims at the White House.

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Surreal – that’s what it felt like to arrive at the White House, walking the last three miles of this more than 6,000-mile step-by-step journey with over thirty people from Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, DC. Members of my birth and acquired family were there. People I just met that day were there. All of us gathered together to demand the same thing – full equality for people based on their gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation.

We marched together. We shared our experiences together. We chanted together. At the end of the rally, we walked up to the lawn of the People’s House and screamed the names of so many queer and perceived queer folks we’ve lost due to hate. And at the climax of the whole experience we chanted for the world to hear, “Full Equality Now! Full Equality Now! Full Equality Now!”

If you go to the walk Facebook page you will see lots of photos, videos, and news coverage covering the last three miles.

WHAT’S NEXT?
I am launching two exciting new projects that build upon the momentum from the walk. I invite you to get involved with both of these as we continue raising OUR voices for full equality and beyond!

Full Equality Party – www.fullequalityparty.org
After almost two years of thinking about what our movement is lacking, I’ve decided it is time to build an organization that is fighting for one simple Federal Full Equality Bill that when passed, will enumerate protections for people based on their gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation in all areas governed by civil law. The Full Equality Party (FEP) is that organization. What the FEP can do is help us take concrete steps towards the big dream that pulls together every disparate piece of LGBT related legislation and puts us – we the People – in the driver’s seat. I believe we are at a tipping point in the greater LGBT movement. So many victories have been won. More than half of the country is on our side. It’s time to shift the paradigm and demand full equality – nothing less!

In Our Words Project – www.inourwordsproject.org (website in progress)
I’ve met thousands of people these past couple of years. And so often, because of the energy shared through the spiritual experience of walking, spaces have been opened up for these folks to share with me incredible, dynamic, and deeply moving stories. Building on my existing Interview Theatre artistry, I am launching the In Our Words Project. I’ll be building a team of interviewers to gather stories from people who want to share their truths. The stories will be transcribed and archived on the project website for anyone to use as performance, advocacy, or personal uses – a kind of open source, public domain library of real stories by real people. I’ll also be encouraging folks to upload videos of themselves performing stories from the online story library.

And I will also seek out and work with groups that want to devise performances from their member’s stories – stories that related to their group and individual community needs.

So I ask you now – will you join me? To get these projects off the ground, donations are needed for things like food and basic needs, transportation costs to get to different communities to grow these projects, attorney fees to set up the two organizations, funds for a launch/informational video for the Full Equality Party, and so on.

Please DONATE HERE what you are able. And please ask others to do so as well. Right now, donations will be directed towards the In Our Words Project, since that is an arts-based project that allows me to continue using Fractured Atlas as my fiscal sponsor for this work. When both project websites are fully operational, there will be separate donation mechanisms for each project on their respective site.

Thank you for being part of this journey with me!

Alan L. Bounville

To donate, CLICK HERE.

Back in New York City…the journey towards Full Equality continues by coming full circle.

Jadin Bell

I was just about to upload photos from the past few days of post-walk activities here in DC, when I remembered I needed to return a call I received yesterday. The number was unknown to me. And as you may know, my phone minutes are extremely limited. I opened up gmail and the free call-through-email-service they offer and dialed the number. A few rings later, Joe Bell answered. Joe is Jadin Bell’s father. If you are not aware of Jadin’s story, please click on the link at the bottom of this post.

Joe is planning on doing a walk from his family’s home town, La Grande, OR to Washington, DC. Joe’s route will take him through many states Into the Light Walk passed through. While he walks, Joe will be raising funds for facesforchange.com. He will also be working on strengthening anti-bullying laws in the many states that aren’t applying bullying laws effectively right now.

Joe has about ten people as his support team. I told him to share any to-do items with me that I can in turn post and pass around. Together, we can help get Joe’s message out there far and wide – and together, we can help Joe see the day when bullying laws are applied effectively in all 50 states!

Jadin’s Story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/04/jadin-bell-dead-gay-oregon-teen-hanging_n_2617909.html

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Now the real challenge begins. I started walking with a few hundred dollars in my pocket, and I finish walking the same way. Yesterday Nadia and Henry split the purchase of my new home – my backpack.

As I stood there in the sporting goods store looking at the wall of ‘homes’ they had to offer, it hit me hard – I now truly am homeless. And the challenge of fundraising for the new projects that will be launched in the coming week is upon me. I am definitely again in a place of great transition.

Please, help me – I need to raise $2,000 or more dollars to help get me through the next few months as I bounce from house to house, looking for work and getting these new projects off the ground.

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Thank you for your help – and for spreading the word for others to do the same. -Alan L. Bounville.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Alan L Bounville, 917-903-5870, info@intothelightwalk.com

Press Photos: Below. Photo Credit: Josh Coen Photography

(February 24th, 2013 Washington, DC) Carrying pictures of the faces and names of those whose lives have been cut short by the effects of TBLG inequality, dozens of marchers ascended on Lafayette Park yesterday afternoon not only to issue the mandate for full equality but also to mark the end of a historic journey.

Since May 31, 2011, Alan Bounville has walked from Seattle, Washington, pushing a cart of his belongings. On the cart are two rainbow-colored signs that read, “Full Equality NOW!” He’s walked every step of the way, zigzagging from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, often over harsh terrain and in even harsher weather. Seattle, Washington, pushing a cart of his belongings. On the cart are two rainbow-colored signs that read, “Full Equality NOW!” He’s walked every step of the way, zigzagging from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, often over harsh terrain and in even harsher weather.

“Walking across the country in a straight line essentially twice is one thing. Walking as an out, queer person pushing a cart emblazoned with rainbow signs while sharing the demand for full equality based on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation is quite another,” says Bounville when talking about the walk as a whole. “People stop me all the time to ask what I’m doing and why I’m walking. Many people are supportive. Some are downright discriminatory. I keep walking because I know that the more I share my truth, the more I humanize to others my demand to be treated equally by my government and my neighbors. When people who don’t support my demand look me in the eye, they walk away from me changed. Something always seems to shift in unsupportive people after I tell them why I’m walking and that I’m gay or queer.”

While walking, Bounville has held numerous candlelight vigils remembering people who were murdered or who have taken their own lives due to discrimination based on the victim’s perceived or actual gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation. Bounville also talks at religious services and to community groups about his mission, facilitates social movement and art as activism workshops, and performs a solo interview theater-based play inspiring people to walk into their own light and true potential.

Dozens of Bounville’s family, friends and supporters, from all across the country, joined him in the final three miles of his journey. For many, like Duane Quintana from Chicago, the experience was bittersweet. “On the one hand it’s amazing to see the impact Alan’s walk has had on so many American’s lives,” Says Quintana, who walked one hundred and thirty miles with Bounville in Idaho. “On the other hand, it’s horrific to see the names and faces of those impacted by the darkness of hate and prejudice. Hopefully, this walk will inspire, not only our nation’s leaders, but also the thousands of people across the country who honked, waved or got the chance to hear Alan’s message to open their hearts and minds and to realize that intolerance isn’t so much about politics or religion as it is about realizing that every day people are dying because our country refuses to allow them the same rights, privileges and dignity that every American deserves.

“For nearly two years I’ve been invited as an equal into hundreds of homes across this great land, “Says Bounville. “The walk ends at the People’s House, where transgender, bisexual, queer, lesbian, two spirit, intersex, and gay Americans are still not welcome as equals. The time for full equality is now.”

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Into the Light – On May 31, 2011 a walk began. Embarking on a journey from the Pacific Northwest of the United States, walking 6,000 miles to Washington, DC, the walk embodies one simple goal – an end to gender and sexual orientation discrimination. To accomplish this, walker Alan Bounville is encouraging people he meets along the journey to fight for full federal and social equality – nothing less.

10% of every dollar raised through the Into the Light Walk goes to the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, an organization whose mission is aligned with the purpose of the walk.

Press Photos

Take a look at WTOP’s news coverage of yesterday’s walk to the White House. MANY more photos and videos coming soon! And – future plans! The movement for full equality keeps growing!