Creating Change 2004
Surrender Dorothy? Never!
Recovering from the disappointments of the November elections and revitalizing the movement's leadership core were consistent themes at the 17th Annual Creating Change Conference. More that 2,000 activists arrived in St. Louis still reeling from the rhetorical assaults of the Presidential race and the loss of 13 state anti-marriage constitutional amendments. The annual gathering — featuring leaders and heroes of community organizing, both historical and contemporary — was balm to many and solace to most. They came, they listened, they vented, they taught and learned, and they went home ready to get back to the work of creating change in their home communities.
Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman set the tone in his "state of the movement" address with a short video clip that parodied the Wizard of Oz scenes in which the Wicked Witch of the West writes in the sky, "Surrender Dorothy." Stirring the crowd to action and to its feet, Foreman said to opponents and even some of allies saying the LGBT community needs to "straighten up" and keep quiet, "I say just the opposite — if you have been loud in the past, go home and be louder now. If people think you've been pushy about equal rights in the past, let them know they ain't seen nothin' yet!" The rallying cry for the attendees became, "Surrender Dorothy? Never!"
Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, giants of the LGBT political movement and the first same-sex couple in the U.S. to be granted a marriage license, were guests of honor at the opening gathering of the conference. They recounted their own struggle for equality — including the freedom to marry — over five decades. "We must keep in mind how hard we must work to create change, said Lyon. Other featured speakers at the conference who drove home the point that one bad election cannot stall out a movement for social justice included Clarence Patton, acting Executive Director of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects, Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, Amber Hollibaugh of SAGE USA, Dr. Mary Frances Berry, the Chairperson of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Roey Thorpe of Basic Rights Oregon and Keith Boykin, a founder of the National Black Justice Coalition and author of Beyond the Down Low.
The Task Force presented four leaders with Creating Change Awards and $5,000 stipends funded by the Clarence Anderson Prize Foundation. The honorees were Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon; singer and activist Doria Roberts; and St. Louis activist, HIV educator and Black Pride President Anthony Galloway.
The 2005 Creating Change Conference will be held in Oakland, California November 9 through 13, 2005. For more information please visit http://www.creatingchange.org.
