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LGBTQ+ Committee Elects Co-Chairs

April 15, 2023

On April 15, Directors Paris Barclay, John Krokidas and Kimberly Peirce were elected to serve as Co-Chairs of the DGA’s new LGBTQ+ Committee from 2023-2026. Directors Tessa Blake, Daniella Eisman and Rhys Ernst were also elected to serve as alternates from 2023-2025.

Directors Jamie Babbit, Steven Canals, Lee Daniels, Cheryl L. Dunye, Rachel Morrison, Peter Paige, Alan Poul and Anne Renton; 1st AD Mark Hansson, 2nd AD Maggie Callis, Stage Manager Christopher McDonald and Production Associate David B. Cooper also currently serve as members of the Representative Committee and the Co-Chairs will appoint three more Alternates at some point in the term.

Paris Barclay
Barclay has directed more than 150 episodes of television, garnered ten DGA Award nominations and became the first Director in the history of the Guild to receive a comedy and a drama nomination in the same year, two years in a row. He won the 1998 DGA Dramatic Series Award for his NYPD Blue episode “Heart and Souls.” A DGA member since 1992, Barclay was the first African American and openly gay President in the Guild’s history. His service also includes his current office as DGA Secretary-Treasurer, numerous terms on the National Board and Western Directors Council, chairmanship and participation in several committees and he is currently the co-chair of the 2023 Negotiations DGA Outreach Team. Barclay was honored with the Robert B. Aldrich Achievement Award in 2007 and the DGA Honorary Life Member Award in 2021.

 
John Krokidas
Krokidas’s directorial credits includes the feature film Kill Your Darlings and episodes of The Equalizer, Star, Empire, American Crime, Wayward Pines and Black Box. He has been a DGA member since 2013 and previously served as a provisional Co-Chair of the LGBTQ+ Committee.
 
Kimberly Peirce
Peirce’s directorial credits includes the feature films Carrie, Stop-Loss and Boys Don’t Cry; the movie for television Impact; episodes of P-Valley, Kidding, Dear White People, Six, I Love Dick, Halt and Catch Fire, Game of Silence, American Crime, TURN: Washington’s Spies and The L Word. She has been a DGA member since 2004 and has served as a member or alternate of the DGA National Board, the Western Directors Council, three DGA Negotiating Committees and previously served as a provisional Co-Chair of the LGBTQ+ Committee.
About the Committee:

The LGBTQ+ Committee was founded in 2021 as a provisional committee to explore ways to educate, inform, address the concerns of and create opportunities for members who identify in these categories. At the DGA National Board meeting on January 8, 2022, the Board voted make the LGBTQ+ Committee an official standing committee. The Committee is dedicated to empowering and advancing the professional interests of LGBTQ+ and to promoting and working for employment equity throughout the entertainment industry.