Women Honored at Chicago's Creating Change Conference

From January 20-24, the National LGBTQ Task Force's 28th Creating Change will be held at the Hilton Chicago. The event will honor organizer, writer and elected official Barbara Smith, homeless LGBT youth advocate Kasey White, Latina organizer Marisa Franco, and former Astraea Lesbian Foundation Executive Director Katherine Acey, as well as social justice organizer Nick Sakurai and leatherman Bob Miller.

"At the 2016 Creating Change Conference, we'll�reflect on the outcomes of many pressing issues facing us, including what follows after the June 26 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states, our full and expansive agenda for legal equality that is beyond marriage, our community's resolve and action steps to end the AIDS epidemic, our community organizing efforts to create safer schools, legal protections for all and especially our trans sisters and brothers, the urgent and critical needs of LGBTQ people of color, and building alliances with pro-LGBT allies and religious organizations," write organizers.

The primary goal of the Creating Change Conference is to build our movement's power from the ground up to secure our overarching goal of full equality, social justice and dignity for LGBTQ people in the United States.

At the 28th Creating Change, we'll celebrate decades of building the grassroots power of our people and families. Over 50,000 people have attended Creating Change to learn, grow and expand their skills and confidence to create change in their communities, their states, this country and the world. For each Creating Change attendee, our annual skills-building and training event is a life-changing experience.

Over the five days of the Creating Change Conference, the program presents over 20 Day Long Institutes, two dozen sophisticated trainings in the Academy for Leadership and Action, a special programming segment called Practice Spirit, Do Justice for faith leaders and organizers, approximately 250 workshops and caucus sessions, four keynote plenary sessions, worshipful gatherings, film screenings, meetings, receptions, social events, and a multitude of opportunities for attendees to meet and learn from each other.

More than 3,800 people attended the 2015 Creating Change Conference in Denver from all over the United States, with a few attendees from other countries. Attendees represent all sectors and demographic groups in our movement, including young and old activists, organizers and activists of color, paid and volunteer staff people at LGBTQ political and community organizations, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer advocates and straight allies, HIV/AIDS activists, elected officials, safer school advocates, anti-violence activists, faith community organizers and leaders of campus communities and local community centers. In short, Creating Change is an annual gathering of organizers and activists working to create a world in which our sexual orientations and gender expressions will be welcomed and celebrated.

Barbara Smith will be honored with the Susan J. Hyde Award for Longevity in the Movement. Smith is an organizer, writer, publisher, scholar-activist, and elected official, dedicates herself to multiple social justice movements, including Civil Rights, feminism, LGBTQ liberation, anti-racism and Black feminism.

Chicagoan Kasey White will receive the Paul A. Anderson Youth Leadership Award, for her work with LGBTQ youth. Born and raised on the South Side, she spent a portion of her teenage years staying with friends, family members and sleeping on the street. Kasey is prominently featured in the 2014 documentary film "The Homestretch," which followed three homeless young people in Chicago as they work to finish their high school diplomas and navigate their futures.

Marisa Franco, who will take home the Leadership on Immigration Reform award, is campaign director of the #Not1More campaign and co-founder of the new organization Mijente, an organizing hub for radical Latina/o and Chicana/o people.

And Katherine Acey -- formerly Executive Director of Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice for 23 years, and GRIOT Circle, an intergenerational, community based, LGBTQ people of color elders' organization -- will be honored with the SAGE Advocacy Award for Excellence in Leadership on Aging Issues.

The National LGBTQ Task Force sponsors and organizes the Creating Change Conference. 2016 marks the 28th gathering of this unique national conference, the pre-eminent political, leadership and skills-building conference for the LGBTQ social justice movement. Since 1988, Creating Change has created the opportunity for thousands of committed people to develop and hone their skills, celebrate victories, build community, and to be inspired by visionaries of our LGBTQ movement and allied movements for justice and equality.

"We'll create enduring change at the 2016 Creating Change Conference in Chicago!" write organizers.