Ilona Westfall

Lakewood

Writer and Marketer at Freelance

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Articles

Meet the trans Ohioan suing President Trump for his right to serve

2 months ago | thebuckeyeflame.com | Ilona Westfall

On Jan. 28, 2025, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law) and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia bearing Nicolas Talbot’s name. The suit was filed just 24 hours after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order moving towards banning transgender Americans from serving in the U.S. military. According to a Jan. 28 press release, Talbot v.
DIRT Brings HIV/AIDS Advocacy Down to Earth for Black Communities in Ohio

Jan 5, 2025 | thebuckeyeflame.com | Ilona Westfall

EDITOR’S NOTE: It is with deep sadness that we share the passing of Bryan C. Jones, HIV/AIDS activist, advocate and educator. Jones was one of Ohio’s most outspoken and fearless leaders. From his induction to The Bayard Rustin LGBTQ+ Resource Center’s Hall of Fame in October 2024: “Diagnosed with HIV 42 years ago, Jones has spent over two decades fighting for the rights of people living with HIV, becoming a vital voice in the movement to end stigma and discrimination.
See “Posing Beauty in African American Culture” in Cincinnati

Nov 4, 2024 | ohiomagazine.com | Ilona Westfall

A young Black man wearing an old-fashioned coat and scarf casually leans while gazing into the distance. The vibrant photo, “Jean-Baptiste Belley,” is a self-portrait of contemporary photographer Omar Victor Diop, and a replication of a 1797 painting of Belley, a fellow Senegalese man who worked toward the abolition of slavery in France.
How one agency is trying to serve the healthcare needs of rural LGBTQ+ Ohio. Hint: it’s not easy.

Sep 17, 2024 | thebuckeyeflame.com | Ilona Westfall

Danielle A. Berger, LPN, didn’t expect a routine visit at a drug and alcohol recovery center in rural Ohio to spark a LGBTQ+ healthcare initiative. But when a patient confided in Berger that his primary care physician ignored him when he asked about getting a prescription for PrEP, she was shocked. “It just makes me sad that not only did that doctor not hear this gentleman’s concerns out, but he didn’t even offer him a referral to somewhere else,” said Berger.
12 Arts Events to Experience This Fall

Sep 9, 2024 | ohiomagazine.com | Gracie Metz |Morgan Davis Mills |Olivia Montgomery |Ilona Westfall

The arrival of fall means a fresh lineup of art exhibitions and performances happening across the state. From Lin-Manuel Miranda’s revolutionary production that tells the story of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton to BalletMet’s take on Dracula and art exhibits that stretch from the photography of Ansel Adams to to a collection of surrealist works, here are a dozen standout arts events happening this season. Transcendent DreamscapesThru Oct.
See ‘Demons, Ghosts, and Goblins in Chinese Art’ in Cleveland

Sep 8, 2024 | ohiomagazine.com | Ilona Westfall

A regal figure with blue skin is flanked by two warrior demons, one with three eyes and the other wearing a dragon around its neck like a scarf. This strange trio depicted in “Heavenly King Virudhaka,” a painting on a silk hanging scroll that dates back to the Ming Dynasty, was intended to scare off evil spirits from the Buddhist temple in which it would have hung.
Love makes a family – and a must-see interactive exhibition – at the Maltz Museum

Jul 22, 2024 | thebuckeyeflame.com | Ilona Westfall

Two men, a woman and two little girls smile at each other and the camera while they sit on a cozy backyard patio. The photo of the Watson/Hutchins Family (consisting of Sgt. Kenneth Watson, his partner James Hutchins and Watson’s ex-wife Lisa and their two kids) is just one of over 40 photos in the exhibition “Love Makes a Family: Portraits of LGBTQ+ People and Their Families” at the Maltz Museum in the Northeast Ohio suburb of Beachwood.
Explore the Evolution of Photography in Cincinnati

Jul 1, 2024 | ohiomagazine.com | Ilona Westfall

Today, taking a photo is as easy as pulling a cell phone from your pocket. Though, as the photographic images featured in “Moment in Time: A Legacy of Photographs/Works from the Bank of America Collection” show, it took a lot of innovation to get here. The touring exhibition, on display at the Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati through Sept. 15, highlights 115 works spanning from the 1840s to the 1960s, a pivotal period in photography history.
Graffiti HeArt Celebrates 10th Anniversary With Packed Weekend of Events

Jun 12, 2024 | clevelandmagazine.com | Ilona Westfall

From a massive “Greetings from Cleveland” postcard welcoming visitors to Ohio City to a ballerina dancing on a wall on East 4th Street, we’ve all seen the works of Graffiti HeArt splashed across the city. Since its formation in 2013, the nonprofit has commissioned 60 public murals from local and international graffiti artists.
See ‘Beyond Worlds: Paintings by Laine Bachman’ in Canton

Jun 1, 2024 | ohiomagazine.com | Ilona Westfall

An orb made of tropical foliage and brightly colored flowers floats in space with the blue and purple clouds of a nebula behind it. Look closer, and an assortment of insects and animals, including a toucan, frogs and birds, becomes visible. The painting, aptly titled “Nebula,” by Columbus artist Laine Bachman was the first created for her series of surreal planets, which depicts real plants and animals with fantastical flora and fauna of her own creation mixed in.