The 27th annual Creating Change Conference held in Denver last week brought forth over 4,000 GLBT people from all over the United States (with some special GLBT observers from around the globe.) This annual conference has become the largest GLBT conference in the nation and is sponsored by the National LGBTQ Task Force. I have always looked forward to this conference because of the energy and diversity of those in attendance, especially the very large representation of youth and people of color.
The National LGBTQ Task Force is most certainly the most progressive and diverse national organization in the country. I have had the honor of serving on the national board of directors of the both the Human Rights Campaign and the Task Force. Our community needs both of these organizations as well as the Victory Fund and, yes, I am a strong supporter of all three.
But as a Latino gay man, drag queen and senior I just love the Task Force and its leadership, staff and the way it takes on issues of the day that not just face our GLBT community but all communities. Though I don’t always agree, I so much respect the fact that the Task Force speaks out while many are silent.
On the whole, this past weekend’s conference left me feeling good and re-energized as this gathering always does but some individuals, speakers and attendees I feel crossed the line. First of all, I was very happy to see the transgender activists take the stage with their demands. In many ways our community, equality movement and organizations give just “lip service” to our trans brothers and sisters and their issues. On that stage these courageous activists said what we all need to hear; they spoke the truth, for the transgender community it has indeed become … SILENCE = DEATH.
Our GLBT civil rights movement came out of police brutality and harassment (Stonewall, etc.) so I absolutely believe that we should not only understand the current concerns and issues of the African American and Latino communities, but also that this affects GLBT people of color. I have been discriminated against during my lifetime as both a “homosexual” and a “Mexican” and, yes, mistreated. And yes, I have seen firsthand the police brutality against gays and people of color. Yes, things have changed greatly in San Diego but not everywhere.
But what hurt me was the many “white” GLBT activists at the conference who felt like they were made to feel like the “enemy” with some of them subjected to angry personal words which felt very hateful. Some people of color activists seem to blanket all white people into one segment. I didn’t like the over the top vulgar swearing at the civil rights conference on the stage and I felt that Mayor Michael Hancock was treated with disrespect. I was in the “green room” with the mayor when it was decided that it would be best not to have him go on stage.
Mayor Hancock is a very strong and longtime supporter of our community. He is an African American ally who lost a brother to AIDS. This all could and should have been handled much better.
Trust me, I more than understand the anger and urgency of many of my black, brown and transgender brothers and sisters; I have lived it and get it.
But our white GLBT brothers and sisters at this conference are not the “enemy” and in fact are our supporters. But some of the language, personal actions and speakers seem to lump all white people together; words matter and can hurt.
But where else but a Creating Change Conference can this dialogue and these issues be discussed and vented? Nowhere. So, for this and many other reasons the Creating Change Conference remains the most important national gathering of our equality movement; and yes I can’t wait for next year in Chicago. Thank you LGBTQ Task Force.
I don’t understand how a conference called “Creating Change” could possibly have gone so wrong. The LGBT community has always been a united front of all races and creeds for a common cause. Someone or something said, must have triggered such a vile response. Whomever was officiating obviously lost control of the situation. The fact that the Mayor of a major U.S. city was told not to appear is shameful on so many levels. The Task Force should be taken to Task for this because they dropped the ball.
Completely missing from Mr. Ramirez’s piece is any concern as to whether the so-called “Task Force” actually accomplishes anything of value given all the money it takes in. Ramirez says that the group “takes on issues of the day that not just face our GLBT community but all communities.” If by “takes on issues” he means issues sporadic press releases which nobody reads and which have no impact, then yes, the Task Force “takes on” many issues. In truth, the group does virtually nothing other than to promote itself and to host this one conference every year. That conference has been going on since the 1980s and, despite its name, there is no evidence that it has ever created any identifiable change. It does seem to make the participants “feel good” as Ramirez affirms. But if you tally up the amount of money that 4,000 activists spent to fly, feed, and lodge themselves in Denver, it is a vast expenditure of money to generate some good feels. That collective expenditure in Denver would have been enough to hire a team of lobbyists to work on critical policy issues from now until 2025.
This used to be an effective group. But it is now dominated by people who couldn’t care less about gay civil rights. Their conference hyped every outlandish subject, from “polyamory” to fetishes, but gay civil rights on the federal level – the reason the group was created – bores them. Although their “progressive” image shields them from gay media scrutiny, their donors seem to have caught on that the group is a waste. Individual contributions have plummeted, and the supposedly grass roots Task Force now relies to an unseemly degree on large cash dumps from undisclosed donors. Just like NOM.