Now that the calendar page has flipped to September, the days are rapidly counting down to the third annual edition of the National Black Justice Coalition's Out On The Hill conference. I'm looking forward to being with my trans and SGL family and friends as we own our power in inside I-495 once again from September 19-22..
If you haven't registered yet, might be a good idea to do so since Out On The Hill is going to be chock full of informative panel discussions, forums, lobbying events and opportunities for you to meet and talk to Black LGBT leaders and as Sharon Lettman-Hicks loves to say, own your power..
If you think I'm kidding about that, check out this event schedule.
Last year was my first Out on the Hill which I was covering in my role as a blogger. The cool thing about it is that it takes place during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation-Annual Legislative Conference event which I also got to attend for the first time. I got to meet many of the persons in the LGBT movement during this week and countless others. I was honored to be able to participate in a panel discussion at Washington's DC's City Hall concerning the violence my DC transsisters were facing. I got to meet some of our emerging young leaders and yes, I did get to play tourist for a moment and see the MLK, Jr Memorial which is now a year old.
I also had some thought provoking conversations with various Black leaders and allies inside and outside the trans and SGL community. There was also the unexpected one in which I represented the national trans community at the local vigil held for Gaurav Gopalan.
And yes, my time at Out on the Hill triggered a lot of reflection and hard solid thinking on my part about the state of the Black trans community. I discussed our Black trans elders, and the state of the community in Texas and Houston when it was time to come back home.
The countdown to the 2012 Out On The Hill has begun, and I',m looking forward to seeing what happens this year.
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