JD Disalvatore, a widely respected and beloved producer of LGBT films and TV and Festival Manager of Outfest who was an out lesbian herself, has died after a long battle with breast cancer.

Q. Allan Brocka, my friend with whom I am collaborating on Boy Culture: The Series (her last post on her LGBT mixer Facebook page was a share of our Kickstarter), wrote the following lovely words about Disalvatore. If only we all touched the people in our lives in such a way that we warranted a similar remembrance ...

JD Disalvatore (Video still via YouTube @ SoCalAdoptDogs)

Allan writes:

JD Disalvatore was a force of nature, a talented filmmaker, and an outspoken advocate for so many things that need outspoken advocates. She was a phenomenal woman who was driven to make the world a better place, and for more people than she could ever know, that’s exactly what she did.

She had a personality that drew everyone’s attention whenever she walked into a room. And she knew it. But she always made a point of sharing that attention; she created room in that spotlight for those she wanted uplift. “Oh my god! Look who’s here! You all really need to meet this guy! Here, let me take a picture of you!” Every time I saw her, she made me feel like a rock star. Even when I had only made one short film.

JD cultivated an LGBTQ film community in Hollywood with her “Smoking Cocktail” networking events. In a city where all of us hear no after no after no, the welcoming atmosphere of these mixers was a lifesaver. She encouraged us to find each other, work together, and learn from each other’s stories… and to have fun doing it.

JD had an amazing project called “Gay Propaganda” where she recreated classic film scenes with a queer revisionist bent. She involved everyone she knew in these films. I even got to be in one! To see ourselves in these roles was at first funny, but as the scenes played out they underlined a serious lack of LGBTQ representation in cinema. I mean, why couldn’t these films have included us in the first place? This seems totally natural. We are not unnatural. You have to watch her hilariously taking over Joe Pesci’s role in Goodfellas.

Her first feature film producing credit was a script I wrote called Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds. She knew how to stretch an impossibly tiny budget and how to get professionals to take a project with such a crazy title seriously. She went on to produce the LGBT cinema classics Shelter, A Marine Story and Elena Undone.

I think what I loved most about JD is that she was funny as fuck. Sarcastic, dark, and blunt. Just the way I like it. But her humor always came from a place of having lived through it, so it never felt cruel, it felt like strength. She passed away yesterday. I’m going to fucking miss her.

Disalvatore died Friday morning, according to a close friend.

(Image via Facebook)

RIP to a big talent who devoted herself to LGBT cinema, one who also gave a lot of her heart and her time to protecting animals.