From: RAKNGLTF@aol.com 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, dmsngltf@aol.com or Robin Kane (202) 332-6483 ext. 3311, rakngltf@aol.com 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.