Featuring Award Presentations: Honoring Our Past, Carmen Vazquez Leadership Award in Aging, and the Creating Change Immigration Award
The National LGBTQ Task Force kicked off our annual Creating Change Conference live from San Francisco with a Land Acknowledgement and Welcome Ceremony led by local indigenous community members. Sandra Valls tied it all together with laughter, singing, and lots of love as our emcee, whom many may remember from our Creating Change 2021 and Creating Change 2022 virtual experience. Barbara Satin was honored with the Carmen Vazquez Leadership Award in Aging, and Jennicet Gutiérrez was honored with the Creating Change Immigration Award.
Award Presentation: Carmen Vazquez Leadership Award in Aging presented by SAGE
Barbara Satin
Barbara Satin’s 30 years of LGBTQ advocacy are deeply rooted in a commitment to her faith and the desire to have spiritual communities experience and affirm the integrity, beauty, and authenticity of LGBTQ people. Nearly 60 when she came out as a trans woman, she was drawn to the needs and expectations of old queer folks like herself. In her 15 years of Faith Work with the National LGBTQ Task Force, she found time to focus on her aging peers in the LGBTQ community, working to find resources for them while also supporting training for those who would care for them in their dependent years. She played a key role in the development of LGBTQ-affirming housing in Minneapolis – Spirit on Lake, a 46-unit, affordable rental facility, celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2023. Barbara has promoted the needs and concerns and expectations of old LGBTQ people from podiums and pulpits across the nation; she was recognized for her body of work when President Obama appointed her to the President’s Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships in 2016. Barbara’s aging efforts often connected her with SAGE – a relationship she has treasured over these years.
Award Presentation: Creating Change Immigration Award
Jennicet Gutiérrez
Jennicet Gutiérrez (she/hers/ella) is a transgender immigrant Latina from Tuxpan, Jalisco. She is the co-Executive Director with Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement — a national trans and queer Latinx and immigrant grassroots organization organizing at the intersections of trans and queer rights, and migrant and racial justice. The organization’s vision is to work at the national and local level to achieve the collective liberation of trans and queer Latinx folks, by leading an intergenerational movement through grassroots organizing, direct action, and advocacy. Jennicet advocates for transgender rights and immigrant rights and prioritizes centering the voices of trans women of color in all racial justice work. Jennicet is determined to fight against all oppressive political and social institutions that stand in the way of the rights and dignity of all people.