Registration for the 27th National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change Is Now Open!

Registration for Creating Change 2015 is now open. The event will take place in Denver on February 4-8. For more information about rates visit the registration page. The Early Bird rate of $300 is available until Oct. 31, 2014.

There are also applications for scholarships and subsidized registration rates.

When you register, you can sign up for the Creating Change Day Long Institutes, happening on Wednesday, February 4 and Thursday, February 5. The Institute menu is chock full of exciting learning opportunities, including the Racial Justice Institute on Wednesday, February 4.

Call for Proposals for Creating Change 2015 in Denver

The 27th Annual Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change climbs its way to the mile high city, Denver, CO Feb 4–Feb. 8, 2015. Creating Change is the premier annual organizing and skills-building event for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and our allies.

The Creating Change 2015 website is online now and ready for you to:

Bring all you've got to give, teach and share in a Creating Change workshop session. Take the first step by submitting a workshop proposal. 

Reserve your hotel room at the conference hotel, the lovely Sheraton Denver Downtown. 

Sign up to volunteer or host an attendee during the conference (for Denver area residents). Creating Change 2015 registration will open next month in August. Sign up for the e-mail list so that you'll be the first to know when it opens.

Creating Change 2015 Host Committee: Launch Meeting!

The 27th National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change will be held in Denver, February 4 – 8, 2015 at the Sheraton Denver. Each year, the Task Force works with a dedicated group of volunteers who join the conference Host Committee to accomplish critical on-the-ground organizing and outreach. Come be part of it!
 

Meet the Creating Change 2015 Host Committee Co-Chairs:

		Krista Whipple, a proud trans* woman, is the President of the Gender Identity Center of Colorado. Krista has dedicated herself to advocating on behalf of the trans* community by speaking both locally and nationally for the rights of trans* people. Krista dedicates many hours to improving awareness and substantially increased attendance at the annual Colorado Gold Rush conference in February, 2014. Krista looks forward to expanding her reach into the public and the community by participating as a co-chair for Creating Change 2015.
		Leslie Herod is a strategic planning and community partnerships professional. Prior to starting her own consulting practice, Herod was a program officer with the Gill Foundation where she led philanthropic initiatives focusing on LGBT equality and alliance building with communities of color. She served as senior policy advisor to Governor of Colorado Bill Ritter Jr. and Deputy Political Director for President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. Herod is a gubernatorial appointee to the state’s Judicial Performance Commission and a mayoral appointee to Denver’s Cultural Affairs Commission. In 2006 Herod co-founded New Era Colorado, the state’s leading organization focused on the civic engagement of young people.
		Rachel Chaparro is the Deputy Director of Community Affairs and Agency Communications for Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock. Prior to being appointed to the Hancock Administration, she was the Communications Director for the Biennial of the Americas. Chaparro was also the Communications and Development Director for the Latina Initiative, running a successful Get-Out-the-Vote (GOTV) effort targeting 70,000 Colorado Latinas in the 2008 election. She also worked as the Manager of Education and Outreach at the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado.
		Sydney Andrews (Jeff Kerzman) moved to Denver in 1985 and jumped into the LGBTQ community by joining the Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire (ICRME). Sydney reigned as the 23rd elected Empress of the ICRME, 1996-1997 and served on the Board of Directors of ICRME from 1998-2003 and 2005-2007, leading ICRME as President from 2000-2002. Sydney also served on the International Court Council (ICC) from 2006-2009, representing the ICC as 2nd Vice President. In 2009, Sydney joined the board of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and will have served 5 years beginning in September of 2014. Sydney is thrilled, honored and excited to serve as one of the four co-chairs for Creating Change 2015!

Denver Hosts the 27th National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is bringing the Creating Change Conference back to the Mile High City from next year from February 4 to 8 and planning and community meetings are getting underway. This is definitely something to look forward to.

The U.S. Census Bureau took part in Creating Change

This is news from last month but I missed it the first time around and think it's pretty interesting stuff.

The US Census Bureau sent some representatives to the recent Creating Change conference. The website says:

In support of a complete and accurate count, 2010 Census partnership specialists who work with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities attended the 22nd National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change. As in every decade, the census takes a new portrait of America, reflecting both our growth and our increasingly diverse population. Throughout its 220-year history, the census has evolved to accurately reflect our changing society, and the growing number of same-sex couples and marriages is just the latest societal change.

Glimmers aren't fierce, Obama!

President Barack Obama needs to follow through on his campaign promise to be a "fierce advocate" for the LGBT community, Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said at her group's Creating Change conference in Dallas. 

"There have been glimmers of advocacy, but certainly not fierceness," Carey said.

Creating Change in Denver

Denver's on the national GLBT map again as we welcome Creating Change participants to our fair city. Over 1,000 had already arrived as of Wednesday and more are on their way. It's time to focus on the fabulous once again.

The legendary Dolores Huerta comes to Denver for Creating Change

See Dolores Huerta (The Denver Post calls here "the legendary Latina labor leader") here in Denver on Thursday night at 8 p.m. for the Creating Change conference, brought to the Mile-High City by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force all this week.

Creating Change begins today in Denver

On the heels of the presidential inauguration, more than 2,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights advocates will converge on Denver next week to strategize on how to advance LGBT equality in 2009. A key focus will be on how to achieve gains at the state and local level. The National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change, organized by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, is the nation's largest convening of LGBT rights activists.

While the November 2008 election produced what many are hoping will be the most LGBT-friendly administration in history, it also produced some setbacks with the passage of anti-LGBT initiatives in states such as Arizona, Arkansas, California and Florida. Conference participants will hear first-hand accounts and perspectives from statewide LGBT leaders, discuss lessons learned and strategize on how to defeat future attacks against LGBT families.

Another session will focus specifically on the battle against Proposition 8 in California, which eliminated the fundamental right to marry for same-sex couples there. California LGBT leaders will share their perspectives about the campaign, including myths and facts about communities that voted for and against Prop. 8; larger factors behind the loss; strategies to regain the freedom to marry in California; and ways for people to participate. There will also be a session focusing on the ensuing grassroots protests led by Join the Impact immediately following the passage of Prop. 8.

Task Force Organizing & Training staff who were on the ground in California will conduct a workshop on volunteer recruitment and voter mobilization. In addition, there will be related sessions on how to advance the freedom to marry nationwide.
The conference, which will take place Jan. 28-Feb.1, also includes sessions geared toward effecting change at the federal level.

For more information, visit www.CreatingChange.org.

Creating Change in Denver

GLAAD is proud to announce its partnership with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Academy for Leadership in Action at this year's National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change. This year's conference is taking place in the "mile high" city, Denver, Colorado, from January 28 through February 1, 2009. We cordially invite you to join us at the conference and to be a part of this incredibly exciting skill building and learning opportunity.

Creating Change is 21 years old this year, and it is still the largest and most diverse gathering of the LGBT movement. GLAAD is excited about bringing its media training expertise, along with its most seasoned trainers, to the Academy for Leadership and Action. GLAAD will contribute to a series of more than thirty courses offered through the Academy – all of which will provide an important opportunity to build the sustainability, leadership and skills of LGBT and allied activists and organizations.

"GLAAD is proud to partner with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force again this year and provide media advocacy workshops and skills-building opportunities for the movement," said Rashad Robinson, Senior Director of Media Programs for GLAAD. "Creating Change is one of the most important annual events in the movement. It's a time for us to celebrate our successes, evaluate our work and build our skills to continue moving forward."

Please join us for this dynamic and visionary gathering of leaders and activists in Denver. Together we can continue to increase the vibrancy of the LGBT and allied movements by sharing our skills, knowledge and collective passion for social justice. You really don't want to miss this!

To learn more about Creating Change and the Academy and to register for this year's exciting conference, go to www.creatingchange.org and www.thetaskforce.org/our_work/academy.