Wow! You are Creating Change. We are Creating Change.
As we each return home from our time together in DC, with all that we generated together to help our communities bloom, we hope you feel our deepest gratitude.
This week was a collective practice. One that does not begin or end when we gather; rather, it is part of a continuum of purposeful process that culminates in a generative and intentional arc. Rooting. Resisting. Reimagining. And we did it with curiosity, courage, compassion, and care.
We gathered with gratitude.
Thank you to everyone who took the real risk to be here. To our presenters, staff, volunteers, ambassadors, interpreters, security teams, care teams, accessibility and language justice workers. Creating Change exists because you showed up with intention. Thank you.
We keep us safe.
We kept each other safer and braver through multi-layered experts from, with, and by our community. We kept one another safe through community accountability, clear protocols, trained volunteers, accessibility, care spaces, and de-escalation. We keep us safe.
We connected with clarity.
All week, we carried the truth of this moment and the people of Minneapolis, Minnesota, with us. The horrifying violence, occupation, and corruption intended to invoke fear are not isolated. They are militarized chaos and eroded civil liberties, attempting to divide our families andcommunities. We held and hold that weight and responsibility in our bodies, hearts, and minds while we shared tools and tactics to resist. Solidarity is an analog practice.
We practiced principled struggle.
Curiosity over certainty. Accountability without disposability. Hard conversations held with care, not avoidance. We remembered that our next steps aren’t just about knowing what to do, they’re about knowing who to be with each other.
We honored our foundations.
We rooted in the ground laid by our ancestors, by Indigenous stewards, by movement elders, by those we lost this year, and those who carried us here. We are not the first to face moments like this. We are still here because our people found each other, over and over again, and survived this before.
Our General Sessions traced our path forward:
- State of The Movement: On Thursday, we rooted ourselves in land, lineage, and the truth of this moment.
- Leaving Extremism: On Friday, we strengthened our civic skills, learning how we resist hate, protect democracy, and stay human in hard times.
- Our Abundant Future: On Saturday, we dreamed together. We held grief and gratitude together. We claimed joy and abundance as a strategy.
You can stream these sessions on our Creating Change Live Stream Page to relive these powerful moments again.
We leave with these truths.
The future is not just digital. The future is relational.
The future is together. The future is in person.
You can keep your finger on the pulse of the movement on social media. To feel its heart, we come together.
As you go home, follow up with someone you met here within 48 hours. Share what you learned over coffee and on any platform you can. Practice care and accountability, grace, and rest so you can sustain.
Stay engaged with Minneapolis and the moment. We will share more ways to do so in the coming days. Stay connected to each other. Stay accountable to the world we’re building.
Please share your thoughts with us, so we can continue to learn from you.
We will see each other next year for Creating Change in Louisville, Kentucky, January 27–31, 2027. Until then, carry what you learned, who you met, and what you felt into the work ahead. Until then, continue Creating Change.
Together, we are Unstoppable. Together, we are Creating Change.
In solidarity and gratitude,
Fernando Z. López (they/them)
Senior Strategist & Creating Change Director
National LGBTQ Task Force
All photos are credited to Neha Balachandran and the National LGBTQ Task Force
