Press
Post-Election Recuperation and Regeneration at Creating Change!
Date:
November 04, 2004
Join the Task Force in St. Louis Nov. 10-14, 2004
MEDIA CONTACT:
Roberta Sklar, Director of Communications
media@theTaskForce.org
646.358.1465
17th Annual Creating ChangeTM Conference
Feeling like you woke up in a country that has become unfamiliar to you? Want to be among friends? Creating Change will be the first national gathering of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and allied activists following the election. For those of you who have been to Creating Change, you know that it is a place to reflect, recuperate, and most importantly regenerate! During this year's Creating Change, attendees will be taking stock of our work in the elections, sharing what we've learned, and refueling our spirits to re-focus the incredible energy that was built up through the election and ballot fights! Join us in St. Louis!
Creating ChangeTM is the nation's largest and most unique annual skills building and strategy conference of activists and organizers who work in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement? Creating Change, founded, sponsored and organized by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, is in its 17th year.
Following are just a few conference highlights:
Pre-Conference Institutes, Nov. 10 & 11
Come early to participate in these rigorous full-day pre-conference institutes on Wednesday and Thursday, including:
People of Color Institute
Finding the "I" in then Middle of Racism
Building Our House: Dismantling Institutional Racism
Organizing for the Next White House Conference on Aging
Meet and Honor Our Movement Pioneers
Meet our movement pioneers Del Martin & Phyllis Lyon at the Opening Plenary on Thursday evening and don't miss the film about their lives, "No Secret Anymore" on Saturday. Other films about our history include: "Gay Pioneers," with footage from the first organized annual "homosexual" civil rights demonstrations from 1965-1969, and films about the 1987 & 1993 Marches on Washington.
National Speakers
Hear from our movement's national leaders about current issues and challenges we face.
Dr. Mary Frances Berry, founding board member of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation
Keith Boykin, President of the National Black Justice Coalition
Amber Hollibaugh, Director of Education, Advocacy and Community Building at Senior Action in a Gay Environment
Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality
Clarence Patton, Acting Executive Director of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs
Skills Academy for Leadership and Action
Learn skills you need for the work you do in fourteen Skills Academy sessions, including:
Thriving in the Midst of Controversy: Dealing Effectively With Conflict in LGBT Communities
How to Advance a Proactive LGBT Policy Agenda in the Next Presidential Administration
If You Build It - Will They Come? Practical Tools for Building a Multi-racial LGBT Team
These and the eleven other 3-hour Skills Academy sessions will recharge your political power cells. Bring your questions!
What About...?
With over 140 workshops, panel discussions and caucuses - whatever topic you are interested in or agitated about, we've got a session for you! Check out these workshop topics:
Aging & Ageism
AIDS/HIV
Anti-Racism
Anti-Violence
Art & Culture
Bisexuality
Bodies/Gender/Identity
Campus
Economic Justice
Elections/Campaigns
Families
Fight the Right
Fundraising
Health
International
Leadership
Leather
Legal
Legislative
Marriage
Media
Military/Veterans
Movement Building
Organizational Development
Organizing
People of Color
Political Q's
Public Schools
Queer Culture
Rural
Sexual Politics
Spirituality & Faith
Survivin'/Thrivin'
Technology
Transgender Issues
Youth
Who Else Might You Meet?
Join more than 2000 colleagues from across the country in St. Louis for this year's Creating ChangeTM conference and meet and learn from some of the most experienced activist leaders in our communities: Rev. Steven Baines, Dr. Mary Frances Berry, Joan E. Biren, Richard Burns, Mandy Carter, Bran Fenner, Matt Foreman, Amber Hollibaugh, Lorri L. Jean, Frank Kameny, Don Kao, Mara Keisling, Harry Knox, Malcolm Lazin, Yosenio Lewis, Kerry Lobel, Clarence Patton, Suzanne Pharr, Betty Powell, Sylvia Rhue, Eric Rofes, Carmen Vazquez, Karen Williams, Evan Wolfson, Beth Zemsky, and many, many more.
The Creating ChangeTM program book is available online now at www.CreatingChange.org.
Creating ChangeTM creates unlimited opportunities to connect, collaborate and network with like-minded folks.
If you've already registered, we'll see you in St. Louis! If you haven't registered yet, Register Now! And please pass this message on to friends and colleagues. http://www.CreatingChange.org
Creating ChangeTM is a registered trademark of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
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The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the political power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community from the ground up. We do this by training activists, organizing broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and by building the organizational capacity of our movement. Our Policy Institute, the movement’s premier think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality and to counter right-wing lies. As part of a broader social justice movement, we work to create a nation that respects the diversity of human expression and identity and creates opportunity for all. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., we also have offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis and Cambridge.
