Posted on 11/24/2004 4:51:50 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
ITHACA--The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force held its 17th annual Creating Change conference at the Millennium Hotel in St. Louis, Mo., from Nov. 12-14. The event drew over 2,500 participants, including several Cornell students.
"I knew I would learn a great deal of information that I could bring back to Cornell -- to Haven at large and to the group that I lead," said Rachel Farr grad. "Also, I felt it important to attend for the personal inspiration, motivation and knowledge I would gain from being a part of a national conference that LGBT students from college campuses across the country are attending." Farr co-facilitates LBQ, a confidential, peer-facilitated discussion and support group for women on campus who are lesbian, bisexual, questioning or transgender. The Creating Change conference is a strategy and skill-building conference for LGBT activists and organizers. The event included several national leaders in the LGBT rights movement, and over 140 workshops, panel discussions and caucuses, which covered various issues, including HIV/AIDS, LGBT culture, political activism and religion.
Attendees from Cornell took advantage of the variety of workshops available.
"I attended workshops that mostly looked at coalition-building and multi-issue movements, or movements that discussed LGBT issues in the context of economic justice, anti-racism, reproductive freedom, etc.," said Emily Izenstein '06, co-president of Direct Action to Stop Homophobia (DASH) and undergraduate representative for the LBG Studies Program Steering Committee at Cornell.
"I attended many workshops on transgender issues and broadened my knowledge about how transgender identities and non-normative gender expressions intersect with many aspects of the legal system," said Erica Kagan '05, president of Haven.
"I personally attended workshops on anti-racism and confronting white privilege, ageism, including an 'I' in LGBT [for 'intersexed'], same-sex marriage equality, how the No Child Left Behind Act impacts our LGBT youth, and genderqueer issues," Farr said.
Kagan, Farr and Izenstein all agreed that the knowledge they gained at the conference would be very applicable at Cornell.
"I am already planning a number of programs for next semester to expand the knowledge at Cornell about transgender and intersex issues," Kagan said, citing some specific programs that could be brought to Cornell in order to address these topics.
"I'd like to see a lot more anti-racism work being done at Cornell and across all the groups within Haven," Farr said, who pointed out that racism was a major topic of discussion at the conference. She attended a workshop entitled "Opening the closet door -- who are we missing?", which inspired her to suggest more initiatives to reach out to closeted members of the Cornell LGBT community. She also suggested some ways for LGBT student organizations to show appreciation for straight allies, including a possible "Straight Ally Appreciation and Awareness Day."
Izenstein mentioned the idea of "coalition-building," and expressed her hopes for increased collaboration between groups and organizations on campus.
Next year, the conference will be held in Oakland, Calif., and Cornell students plan to attend that event as well.
Sounds like they had a gay old time.
How about 'F' for 'freak'? I guess that's not very P.C.
I have a friend going to Cornell. It sounds like a real zoo.
It sounds like you slept through that one, sweetie. The underlying irony and racism in that statement cracks me up.
Very valuable work here and I would be interested in Freepers' opinions as to where the "I" should go.
Where the sun doesn't shine?? :-)
Politicized gays are sooooo dreary.
I think we need a workshop on that.
Hi I'm Killing Time and I'm a ligbt, no sorry that's lgbit, sorry I must have got my genderqueers in a bit of a tangle while I was intersexing.
"I attended many workshops on transgender issues and broadened my knowledge about how transgender identities and non-normative gender expressions intersect with many aspects of the legal system," said Erica Kagan '05, president of Haven. "I personally attended workshops on anti-racism and confronting white privilege, ageism, including an 'I' in LGBT [for 'intersexed'], same-sex marriage equality, how the No Child Left Behind Act impacts our LGBT youth, and genderqueer issues," Farr said.
What a nice bunch of hate-workshops these people attend. Let's dissect.
Anti-racism workshop: Blame whitey for almost everything
White Privilege workshop: Hate whitey for being succesfull
Agism workshop: Blame old whitey for everything the anti-racism workshop didn't cover
The rest of the workshops: Bash Christian consevative workshops
I bet. Sex can be addictive.
I wonder what was considered non-normative among the enlightened multigendered participants taking part in the undoubtedly diverse communicative intercourse celebrated in Ithaca?
Coming soon to an elementary school near you...
I think "Heather has two mommies" brought it elementary schools about ten years ago, unfortunately.
Agreed. By expanding on the "white privlege" aspect though, now children as young as 6 yrs. can not only feel confused about sexuality, but can also be made to feel ashamed of their own skin color.
And then there is God. Being phased out of American life with every one of these conferences held. I would really really like to know, WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?
A partial response would be that they are not satisfied with equality per se. By that I mean that the typical attitude toward them of tolerance-but-stay-out-of-my-face is not enough for them. They seem to be unable to remain silent about their perverted preferences.
I think the first thing they need to understand is their misapplication of the word "homophobia." Disgust is not the same thing as fear.
"genderqueer"
Oh cripes, who made up this stupid term?
Let's call it what it is: abnormal behavior, based on perceived or real childhood trauma coupled with subject's personality.
The best thing to come out of Ithaca is Rt. 13.
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