Thousands of LGBTQ Activists Gather in SF This Weekend at "Creating Change"

"State of the Movement" Keynote Highlights Upcoming National LGBTQ Task Force's Flagship Organizing Conference

Featured speakers include Dyllon Burnside and Angelica Ross of FX's POSE, gun violence prevention activist X González, and scores of LGBTQ and allied advocates and activists

SAN FRANCISCO - The National LGBTQ Task Force - the country's oldest LGBTQ advocacy group - is bringing together more than 3,000 LGBTQ activists and organizers to the 2023 Creating Change conference at the Hilton Hotel Union Square Friday February 17 - Tuesday, February 21.

Thousands of organizers will gather as the LGBTQ rights movement takes stock of the current hostile climate and will spend several days in community, strategizing on the way forward, providing skills building workshops and a space for substantive and strategic planning at Creating Change. The conference features caucuses, workshops, plenaries and events that focus on the critical issues facing the LGBTQ community - from gun violence to reproductive rights to embracing queer joy and organizing in the faith community. Over 3000 are expected to attend, with more than 100 workshops, 44 caucuses, and 14 special events, including the Agents of Change House Ball, a film festival and "Gayme" nights.

Angelica Ross, transgender rights activist and star of FX's POSE; Amy Schneider, the most successful female contestant in Jeopardy! history; X González, gun violence prevention activist and LGBTQ rights advocate; historian and author Eric Marcus, and others will share their unique perspectives about where the LGBTQ movement is now, where it needs to go, and what the next 50 years of queer activism can look like.

A selection of featured gatherings at the conference include:

• State of the Movement Address
• Task Force Executive Director Kierra Johnson will give a keynote address on the state of the movement -the past, present and future of LGBTQ organizing. She will reflect on the Task Force's 50 years of activism from 1973 - 2023 and set up the year ahead as an opportunity to reimagine what queer activism can look like.

• Legal Assault on Trans Youth Workshop
• This workshop will provide advocates an overview of policies targeting trans and gender nonconforming youth and cohesive strategy to defeat them. National and state advocates will discuss the history and impacts of anti-trans bills, strategies that have and haven't worked, and research-based messaging.
• Suicide Prevention Professionals Caucus
• Death by suicide and lack of access to affirming support is an issue that deeply impacts LGBTQIAA+ communities. This caucus session seeks to build community and create connections for people working in the suicide prevention field. This is a time to network, share best practices, and discuss current federal and state policies that impact and advance the work of supporting communities most disproportionally impacted by suicide.

• Invocation to name Colorado-based Trans Latina minister as Pastor
• Reverend Nicole Garcia - a Colorado-based trans-Latina minister who was on the ground to offer spiritual guidance to Colorado Springs' LGBTQ community in the wake of the Club Q shooting and Faith Work Director at the Task Force - is to be named Pastor during an invocation.
• AMERICA YOU KILL ME: Documentary Film Screening
• This award-winning documentary chronicles the rise, fall, and legacy of Detroit gay rights warrior Jeffrey Montgomery. When his boyfriend was murdered, and police dismissed it, Montgomery co-founded Triangle Foundation to fight anti-gay violence. Screening includes Q&A discussion with the filmmakers.
• This film is one of several that are part of a mini film festival that includes Wonderfully Made: LGBTQ+R(eligion), No Straight Lines, BEING BEBE: The BeBe Zahara Benet Documentary and The Ric Weiland Story.

NOTE: This will be the first in-person Creating Change conference since 2020 in Dallas. While we know that no policy, recommendation, or protocol can address everyone's public health concerns about attending Creating Change, the Task Force is working to make this year's conference as safe as possible.

https://www.thetaskforce.org/creatingchange/health-policy/

For more information including registration information and full schedule see HERE.

Since 1988, Creating Change has created opportunities for thousands of committed people to develop and hone their skills, celebrate victories, build community, and to be inspired by visionaries of our LGBTQ movement and allied movements for justice and equality.

About the National LGBTQ Task Force:

The National LGBTQ Task Force advances full freedom, justice and equality for LGBTQ people. We are building a future where everyone can be free to be their entire selves in every aspect of their lives. Today, despite all the progress we've made to end discrimination, millions of LGBTQ people face barriers in every aspect of their lives: in housing, employment, healthcare, retirement, and basic human rights. These barriers must go. That's why the Task Force is training and mobilizing millions of activists across our nation to deliver a world where you can be you.