Despite negative phone calls received at the Malcolm X Public and Performing Arts Center from anonymous sources, Branch Manager Marc Cherry said Ebony Pride of San Diego’s third annual film festival would continue as planned Saturday, March 12, from 5:00 to 10:00 p.m.

Cherry said the library had initially received a call from an anonymous man who asked him how he was going to protect children from “those people” and also equated the GLBT community with pornography, stating the Ebony Pride Film Festival would show inappropriate films. The caller claimed he was a journalist for an online publication, which is viewed by 50,000 people each day in San Diego.

Cherry said he received additional similiar phone calls, as if they were part of an organized campaign against the film festival. “We got a few phone calls from people who claimed to be library patrons, and it seemed like they had talking points,” said Cherry. “They questioned me about how I was going to protect their children from ‘those people.’”

Cherry said that unless a group violates public library standards or a law, he has no right to prevent them from holding an event on the property.

“Under no condition would we bar any group from using the premises of the San Diego Public Library,” said Cherry.

Ken Riley, co-chair of Ebony Pride San Diego, defended the film festival and clarified the content in the films that will be shown.

“By no means is it porn. It’s no more than what you would see at any other film festival,” said Riley. “We are showing a wide range of films. These films deal directly with health and social issues that affect the lives of African-American LGBT people. That’s an integral part of our mission that we educate and empower ourselves around these types of issues.”

Pat Washington, a local activist and scholar, said Cherry alerted Riley of the negative phone calls he received and has been extremely supportive of the film festival occurring at the Malcolm X Library from the beginning.

“When that happened he [Cherry] called me to see how we could make sure, he and I together, to make sure there was a film festival that day because the idea was to keep the film festival in place and not succumb to this kind of negativity,” said Washington.

“Marc Cherry, the library, they are 100 percent behind it. Now we need to make sure the LGBT community comes out in full force and show their interest in LGBT issues from a black perspective…,” said Washington.

The festival will include a variety short films and longer features. The short documentary, Just Call Me Kade, addresses the challenges a female-to-male transgender teenager faces going through gender identity struggles during puberty. Kevin’s Room 1 focuses on the story of five black men struggling with issues related to community, identity and HIV, while the sequel Kevin’s Room 2 continues the story. Four short films dealing with lesbian issues will also be showing, including Maya, featuring a young lesbian named Maya struggling to cope in an unsupportive family.

Riley said Keith Butler, the lead character in Kevin’s Room, will be attending the festival and there will be a question and answer period following its showing.

Cherry noted that since the negative calls he initially received a few weeks ago, only positive feedback has been received in support of the festival. “When most people heard about what was going on, people started to call in with words of wisdom and support,” said Cherry.

Tickets for the film festival are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. For more information about the festival or to purchase tickets visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to their website.