Join NBJC at Creating Change 2013!
January 23-27, the 25th National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change is coming to Atlanta! Creating Change is an annual organizing and skills-building event for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and their allies. NBJC will be among this year's presenters. Join us for our workshops:
A Morning With NBJC: LGBT Emerging Leaders Briefing
Friday, January 25
9:00am – 10:30am
Hilton Atlanta
255 Courtland Street NE
Atlanta, GA
As an introduction to the work of the National Black Justice Coalition, this presentation is an opportunity for LGBT emerging leaders and stakeholders to meet, network and engage. Attendees will have the opportunity to interact with the NBJC staff and leadership, learn about NBJC’s overall mission and strategy, and become acquainted with our specific programs for Black LGBT youth including the Emerging Leaders Council, the White House Policy Briefing for Black LGBT Emerging Leaders, the NBJC Historically Black College University (HBCU) LGBT-Equality Initiative, and the launch of the NBJC HBCU Affiliates Program for student organizations.
National Mobilization Meeting for 50th Anniversary of 1963 March Washington
Friday, January 25
3pm – 6:15pm
Join the NBJC Bayard Rustin 2013 Commemoration Project as we mobilize and engage LGBTA campuses and communities to take part in 2013 year-long series of international events to mark the 50th anniversary year of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs & Freedom, held August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC and coordinated by black gay activist Bayard Rustin. LGBTA events are being planned in Washington, DC to coincide with commemorative activities planned by The King Center & National Park Service August 24-28, 2013 activities at the Lincoln Memorial and MLK Monument. In addition to strategy brainstorming sessions in preparation for the anniversary, this workshop will include a 2013 master calendar of activities, a presentation of film clips of the 1963 March, a list of Bayard Rustin resources, and an organizing kit.
Presenter: Mandy Carter, National Coordinator, NBJC Bayard Rustin 2013 Commemoration Project
Beyond 2012: Crafting an Agenda for the Black LGBT Community
Saturday, January 26
10:45am – 12:15pm
This past administration has made historic accomplishments as it pertains to the advancement of equality for LGBT people in this nation. From the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, to the signing of the Affordable Care Act, and the President publicly expressing his support for same-sex marriage, it cannot be denied that there were significant political gains on behalf of the LGBT community. As we enter into a new presidential administration and congressional make-up, what are our political goals? What adjustments need to be made to our strategy and messaging? How do we maintain the political gains of the last administration?
NBJC is proud to support the work of our community partners:
Not a Club but a Movement
Friday, January 25
9:00am – 10:30am
SafeSpace, Morehouse College’s, gay-straight alliance and student advocacy organization, is proud to announce that it will be presenting at the 25th National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change. SafeSpace has a goal of empowering a movement that is geared towards student advocacy, self-authenticity, and the affirmation of all marginalized groups, particularly LGBTQ. In order to facilitate this mission, the leaders of SafeSpace thought that it would be beneficial to present their model of student advocacy at the Creating Change Conference that will be hosted in Atlanta, Georgia from January 23-27, 2013, in order to encourage and validate other student organizations.
The session entitled Not a Club but a Movement will be presented under the conference track: College Campus Issues and Organizing Students. Kenneth Pass, President of SafeSpace, along with Ja’Mal Lewis, SafeSpace’s Public Relations Director, and Tre’vell Anderson, a SafeSpace Leader, will be using this time to engage participants in a session that will empower and teach them how to effectively influence their campus administration, faculty, staff, and students within spaces that are usually conservative in regards to sexually marginalized groups.Among the topics that the presenters will discuss are: asset-oriented models of advocacy, administrative partnerships, academic and scholarship programming, and organizational visions. SafeSpace does this all with the goal of igniting student leaders and organizers to join in the liberation and acknowledgement of intersectionality, that Morehouse College has taken on. The idea is that SafeSpace wants to take gay-straight alliances and related organizations to new and innovative levels in terms of advocacy. SafeSpace wants to shift the mindsets and paradigms of student leaders and organizers to see their work and leadership as more than just clubs but as movements that can positively affect their campus environments. To learn more about and join SafeSpace and their movement, please visit: http://www.morehousesafespace.org and http://www.facebook.com/morehousesafespace.
Trans Women of Color: The Sisterhood
Saturday, January 26
3:00pm – 4:30pm
Trans women of color are targets for hate violence and murder on the streets in this country. While the violence happens worldwide the focus will be on the hate experienced in the United States. What can we do to prevent these hate attacks and murders? Please join us as we work together to come up with solutions and share ideas to prevent the hate violence within and from outside of the community.
Moderater: Kylar Broadus, Founder, Trans People of Color Coalition (TPOCC)
Participants must register for the Creating Change conference.
National Strategy For Black Gay Youth In America
Saturday, January 26
4:45pm – 6:15pm
This youth-led workshop will provide attendees with organizing techniques and methods used on the largest grassroots community based project for youth of color, the National Strategy For Black Gay Youth In America. More than 9,000 black gay youth from across the country participated in a first of its kind national needs assessment, detailing what it is like to grow up black and gay in America from every region of the country.
Presenter: National Youth Pride Services
'The New Black' Documentary Screening
Saturday, January 26
4:45pm – 6:15pm
Excerpts from The New Black — a forthcoming documentary that uncovers the complicated and often combative histories of the African-American and LGBT civil-rights movements — will be screened at this year's Creating Change conference. Specifically, the film examines homophobia in the black community’s institutional pillar – the black church and reveals the Christian right wing’s strategy of exploiting this phenomenon in order to pursue an anti-gay political agenda.
The New Black goes from California to Washington D.C to Maryland to document the stories of the gay gospel singer Tonex, and Sharon Lettman, the head of the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) who are challenging homophobia in the black church and working with traditionally white gay organizations around issues of race. The film also follows some of the leading anti-gay black ministers as they fight efforts to advance gay rights, and work to pass a ballot initiative in Maryland that would reverse the recently won right for gay couples to marry. Maryland has a 30% African-American population and both sides are vying to win the black vote. Through these stories and other secondary characters, the film reveals a political alliance between members of the black church and the Christian right that has shaped the fight for gay rights over the last 20 years.
"Like" us on Facebook to check out photos of NBJC at last year's Creating Change!