Idaho youth ‘Create Change’ in Minneapolis
Idaho youth ready for take off! (Photo courtesy of Gary Bell)
One word popped immediately into Boisean Gary Bell’s mind when describing his recent experience attending the National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change conference in Minneapolis, Minn.: “Mind-bending!”
Organized by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the event was its 23rd national conference, which presents workshops and training sessions for attendees to help advance the group’s mission to equip state and local organizations with skills to aid them in activities such as organizing broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, as well as building the overall organizational capacity of the LGBT movement.
More than 2,500 people nationwide attended the 2011 conference, held Feb. 2 to 6. Next year’s conference is slated Jan. 25 to 29 in Baltimore, Md.
For Bell, a member of the Idaho Safe Schools Coalition, the conference presented a tremendous opportunity to network with a melting pot of the country’s LGBTQ community and allies. Pride Foundation recently awarded a $5,000 grant to the Coalition through the Idaho Human Rights Education Center that in part helped with expenses for Bell and four Idaho teens to travel to the conference.
“The interaction with other people was amazing,” Bell said. “It was great to get outside of our heads, see what other people are doing, and make some personal connections. The conference was well-organized and they did a good job of making everyone feel inclusive.”
That inclusiveness extended to having gender-neutral restrooms for attendees, a gesture that for Bell stands as a positive example of how creating change in the world could stretch beyond the norms of simple acceptance of diversity.
“It clicked for me,” he said. “We’re all human. Being fully inclusive in all ways of our lives, instead of just once in a while thinking about it, is a good place where we should all be going as a society.”
Bell and his four teens, ages 16 to 19 and all from Boise, attended 10 sessions throughout the week, including a particularly notable one where a diverse group of speakers from a mix of ethnicities shared stories of inequality, ranging from not being able to marry to not having the right to vote because of being an undocumented citizen.
“It was fascinating to hear firsthand from people that being a minority and being queer go hand in hand,” Bell said. “There’s no separating the two. It was particularly good for two of my youth, who are Latina, to see the diversity outside of Idaho.”
Bell’s teens also presented their own workshop to attendees, entitled “Promoting LGBTA Youth Leadership Through Social and Educational Programming,” leading a discussion about the importance of youth leadership and how to create youth leaders. They also talked about the growing success of ISSC’s annual Youth Night event. Eighty students participated in 2009, jumping to 120 in 2010.
“So, not only were we explaining about the successes we’ve had and how to replicate it to the students there to become better leaders,” Bell said, “we were gathering information for the Coalition to move forward.”
Bell said he also intends to share resources and information he gathered at the conference with the Suicide Prevention Action Network of Idaho, who he said has been recently active in working with ISSC to meet the growing needs of Idaho’s queer community. Suicide-prevention work is particularly meaningful for Bell, who lost his own partner to suicide.
“The best time to reach people is when they’re youths,” he said. “We need to help them, and all people, know that even in places like Idaho, they have more allies than they may recognize. We also want them to recognize that there’s more to consider in their lives than the immediate difficulties they may be going through.”
Steve Martin is Pride Foundation’s Regional Development Organizer in Idaho. Email Steve.
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