TUTV’s first LGBTQIA+ series, “Queer Temple” was recognized with a Bronze Prize at the 45th annual Telly Awards – “the premier award honoring video and television across all screens” for their production of episode, “Young, Black, and Queer.” Hosts Laila Page and Alison Beck tell us about their experience with being a part of “Queer Temple” and their reactions towards this accomplishment. The importance of “Queer Temple” is to help the viewers, especially queer viewers gain insight on sources and outlets in Philadelphia.
“When you’re queer or when you’re in the LGBTQ community, you don’t always have that safe space… but I feel like we’re breaking those barriers, and we’re showing you can do this, no matter what you look like, this is something that’s possible for you too,” said Page.
The two hosts are currently senior journalism majors and have been a part of TUTV for a couple of years now.
“It’s gay TV at Temple, and people usually pick it up from there,” said Beck. “We do a lot of queer advocacy and education. We’re really big on making a space for people to learn and grow with them, being their full queer selves, and to be a part of a community that’s really open, welcoming, and fun.”
The episode, “Young, Black, and Queer” discusses the intersectionality of what it means to have pride for being both Black and queer. They were joined by three Temple University guests, Jumira Justice, Thalia Lash and Alana Palmer to share their unique experiences. Later they were joined by queer black artists in the music industry to share their joys.
“It was really beautiful to see how vibrant that conversation was while the guests were in the studio,” said Beck. “There’s so many experiences of this identity sort of molding people, and seeing how far we’ve come, because even from a historical perspective, black trans women are kind of the reason that the gay rights movement started in the first place. And so there’s also a layer of honoring historical intersectionality of queerness.”
Page recognizes the teamwork of everyone who comes together to produce each episode. Through all of the stress and trials and tribulations that may be going on in personal lives, Page sees the hard work, dedication, and support of everyone who contributes to making each episode to the best of their ability. Page and Beck both felt very excited and accomplished when finding out they won a Telly award.
“I honestly felt like we were deserving of that, and what we talked about too, what we represent, who we are as people,” said Page. “We really put our all into this show, and I feel like we all deserve awards individually. Our show getting recognized was just a great, great accomplishment.”
Beck further emphasizes their gratitude and recognizes the “pride and joy,” this brought, which is a focus of “Queer Temple,” just in different contexts.
“We beat out professionals who are getting paid to do this, and we’re students who are not getting paid to do this, so, just a lot of gratitude and pride in my team, because it’s such a recognition of how far we’ve come and the talent we’ve been able to cultivate,” said Beck.