Lambda Legal at Creating Change

Lambda Legal will have a big presence at the 25th annual Creating Change conference this week in Atlanta.

Organized by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Creating Change is the largest annual gathering of activists, organizers and leaders in the LGBT movement. It attracts more than 3,500 people from across the country every year. This year’s conference starts tomorrow and runs through Sunday.

Lambda Legal community educators, attorneys and other staff will be leading and presenting at 15 educational sessions at this year’s conference. We welcome you to attend one of our sessions or stop by our table in the exhibit hall. If you cannot make it to Atlanta this year, you can stay up to date on conference events by following our live tweets during the week.

Here are some of the highlights of Lambda Legal's participation at Creating Change:

Unión=Fuerza
Thursday, January 24, 9:00 am – 6:00 pm

Through Proyecto Igualdad, our Latino outreach project, Lambda Legal has been instrumental in organizing the first Latino/Hispanic Institute at Creating Change. Proyecto Igualdad Coordinator Francisco Dueñas will be one of the conveners for this full-day gathering, which hopes to build a stronger, more united Latino LGBT community by bringing together diverse groups of LGBT Latinos/as and allies from across the country to foster supportive relationships and build each others' capacity to advance LGBT Latino/a activism. Visit the Unión=Fuerza website for more details.

Bad Science, Bad Policy, Bad Health: HIV Criminalization Laws, What You Should Know and What You Can Do
Friday, January 25, 9:00 – 10:30 am

Lambda Legal Senior Staff Attorney Gregory R. Nevins will delve into the questions of whether people living with HIV should disclose their status to potential sex partners. This workshop will explore how a good personal ethical standard can be a bad criminal law. The workshop will also discuss what participants can do to effect change in this area.

Defending Our Courts Against Anti-LGBT Assaults: Strategies for Keeping State Courts Fair & Impartial
Friday, January 25, 9:00 – 10:30 am

Lambda Legal’s Fair Courts Project Manager, Eric Lesh, will join a panel of experts to discuss ways we can address the growing threats to an independent judiciary—including the court-funding crisis—and achieve a diverse bench reflecting our nation.

Cruel Exclusions: The Fight to End Health Care Discrimination Against Transgender People
Friday, January 25, 10:45 am – 12:15 pm

Lambda Legal Staff Attorney M. Dru Levasseur joins a panel to discuss the pervasive practice by health insurers to deny life-affirming and medically necessary care to transgender people. Learn about efforts to achieve health care equality and discuss how this issue is coming up in your community and where this fight is headed.

Breaks in the School-to-Prison Pipeline: How Queer Youth Can Stop Bullying and Win Alternative Policy Solutions to "Zero Tolerance"
Friday, January 25, 3:00 – 4:30 pm

Lambda Legal National Community Educator Holiday Simmons will participate in a panel to discuss ways “zero tolerance” discipline policies, high-stakes testing and the school-to- prison pipeline, mixed with anti-LGBT harassment, creates a dangerous cocktail for LGBT students.

LGBT Pipeline Project Reception: 2012-13 21st Century Fellows Cohort
Friday, January 25, 8:30 pm

Proyecto Igualdad Coordinator Francisco Duenãs and Lambda Legal Staff Accountant Shonda Simpkins will be honored as two of the members of this year’s fellowship cohort that seeks to advance the leadership of LGBT managers of color.

Deepening the Roots of Our Movement; Organizing to Prevent and Reduce Police Violence and Misconduct Against LGBTQ Communities
Saturday, January 26, 9:00 – 10:30 am

Beverly Tillery, Lambda Legal’s Director of Community Education and Advocacy, and Holiday Simmons, National Community Educator, will present national data on LGBTQ police violence and other forms of misconduct, as well as concrete organizing strategies. Information presented will include preliminary data from Lambda Legal’s “Protected and Served?” survey of LGBT/HIV contact with police, prisons and courts.

The Second Closet: The Pros and Cons to Living Openly With HIV
Saturday, January 26, 10:45 am – 12:15 pm

Lambda Legal HIV Project Director Scott Schoettes will join Lambda Legal community organizers Omar Narvaéz and Aron Cobbs to explore both the individual and group benefits of living openly with HIV, as well as the persistent stigma, legal protections and pitfalls surrounding HIV disclosure in various contexts.