The National LGBTQ Task Force has announced that U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez will be speaking at the annual Creating Change conference Friday, Jan. 22 at 1:30 p.m. CT. The conference, the nation’s largest gathering of LGBTQ activists and allies, will take place Jan. 20-24 at the Hilton Chicago. Close to 5,000 LGBTQ community leaders and activists from across the country are expected to attend the conference in Chicago. Secretary Perez is expected to discuss the Obama administration and the Labor Department’s work to advance LGBTQ justice and equality, emphasizing the tremendous progress of recent years as well as the barriers and challenges that remain.
“We’re thrilled to have Labor Secretary Perez join us at the Creating Change conference in Chicago this year. Creating Change is the nation’s premier annual organizing and skills-building LGBTQ conference. For over twenty-seven years, the conference has trained over 40,000 activists and community leaders from across the country and elsewhere in the world,” said Rea Carey, National LGBTQ Task Force executive director.
Creating Change features two-dozen day-long institutes, a welcome reception, four dynamic plenary sessions, and over 350 skills-building workshops, presentations, and trainings. Also included in the registration cost are special receptions, caucuses, film screenings, networking sessions, hospitality suites, interfaith services and more. The pre-registration rate is $400 and onsite registration is $450. A limited income and student rate of $185 is also available for anyone for whom the cost of attendance may be prohibitive. The conference’s schedule is available online here.
Since 1988, Creating Change has grown from 300 people to over 4,000 attendees. Previous conference keynote speakers include actress/activist Laverne Cox, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, Civil Rights icons Coretta Scott King, Dolores Huerta and Julian Bond, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) President Thomas Saenz, former U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, and former NAACP President Ben Jealous among many others.
