From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 19 May 94 10:49:56 EDT

NATIONAL GAY & LESBIAN TASK FORCE PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
May 19, 1994  

Contact: David M. Smith (202) 332-6483 ext. 3309,
pager (800) 757-7736, [email-masked] or  
Robin Kane (202) 332-6483 ext. 3311, [email-masked]

LARGEST ANNUAL GAY, LESBIAN AND BISEXUAL SKILLS-BUILDING CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN DALLAS 

NGLTF Creating Change Conference Will Feature Speakers Mel White, Letitia
Gomez, Glen Maxey and Phill Wilson 

 Washington, D.C.  - (May 19, 1994) -  The National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force (NGLTF) will host its annual skills-building conference in Dallas,
Texas this year during Veterans Day weekend in November. Creating Change has
become the pre-eminent national forum for lesbian, gay and bisexual activists
to share skills, dialogue about the political movement, and discuss
strategies for the year ahead. Last year, more than 1,400 organizers gathered
in Durham, North Carolina at Creating Change.

 Plenary speakers at this year's event will include Mel White, Letitia Gomez,
Glen Maxey and Phill Wilson. White is currently the Dean of the Cathedral of
Hope, the largest gay and lesbian church in the world. White has been an
author, journalist, film maker and television producer. It was in his
capacity as a communications consultant that he served as a ghost-writer for
dozens of well known figures, including right-wing televangelists, Pat
Robertson and Jerry Falwell. In the spring of this year, Simon and Schuster
published White's autobiography, Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay and
Christian in America. Since the book's release, he has been traveling around
the country, speaking out against the anti-gay rhetoric and hate mongering of
the religious right-wing. 

 Gomez is the Executive Director of the National Latino/a Lesbian and Gay
Organization (LLEGO), which she helped create in 1987. A native of San
Antonio, Texas, she was a member of Houston's Gay Chicano Caucus and a
co-organizer of the first Lesbiana Latina Retreat in Texas. Letitia moved to
Washington, D. C., in 1987. In 1992, Letitia received a mayoral appointment
to the D.C. Civilian Complaint Review Board, and in 1993, running as an out
lesbian, she was elected to the board of the D.C. Latino Civil Rights Task
Force. 

 Maxey is the first openly gay elected official in the State of Texas. Since
1991, he has served in the Texas House of Representatives. Maxey is a
founding member of AIDS Services of Austin, the founder of the Texas AIDS
Network, and is the former executive director of the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby
of Texas. As a member of the House of Representatives, Maxey has been lauded
for his voting record on civil rights and the environment and, in 1992,
received the "Texas Outstanding Public Service Award" for his work on
consumer and other issues.

 Wilson is the Director of Public Policy at AIDS Project Los Angeles, where
he drafts legislation to increase public funding for AIDS-related research,
education and support services and works to affect public policy in the
interest of those with AIDS and HIV disease. The former AIDS Coordinator for
the City of Los Angeles, Phill is the founder of the Black Gay and Lesbian
Leadership Forum, and co-founder of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. He is
currently an advisor to the Los Angeles County AIDS Commission and a board
member of AIDS Action Council and the Minority AIDS Project.

 The keynote addresses will highlight the three-day Creating Change
conference, which this year will offer day-long intensive sessions on issues
such as Fighting the Right, AIDS and Youth. This format will give activists
the opportunity to meet with their counterparts from around the country,
share experiences, examine successful and unsuccessful campaigns, debate
theories, develop strategies and set agendas for on-going work. 

 "This format will allow the conference to be more participatory and
interactive, and move beyond the time constraints of the standard workshop
presentations," said Ivy Young, Director of Creating Change. "The expertise
and experience imparted at Creating Change comes as much from attendees as it
does from presenters and panel members."

 Skills building, issue organizing, organizational development and movement
building training for activists remains a core component of Creating Change.
This year's conference will offer approximately 80 workshops in media,
fundraising, campus organizing, workplace organizing, anti-violence, health,
organizational development, lobbying and legislation, sodomy repeal, arts and
culture, sex and sexuality, and more.
     
 Creating Change 1994 will also offer three Movement Building pre-conference
institutes: The Transformation Institute: Building A Movement; the People of
Color Organizing Institute; and the Race, Class and Gender Institute. The
pre-conference institutes will be held Wednesday, November 9 and Thursday,
November 10, followed by the Creating Change Conference on November 11, 12,
and 13. Related conference events will include a day-long campaign training,
a town meeting on post-election analysis of ballot initiative results,
Digital Queers computer training, and a variety of evening entertainment. 

 The conference will be held at Southland Center Hotel in downtown Dallas.
Call 800-272-8007 for room reservations, and identify yourself as a Creating
Change participant for special rates. Conference scholarships are available
for low and limited income activists, activists of color and activists with
disabilities. For a scholarship application, please send a self-addressed
stamped envelope to Creating Change Scholarships, 1734 14th St., NW,
Washington, DC 20009. For further information about Creating Change, contact
Ivy Young at (202) 332-6483 ext. 3304.