CC15-Passing The Torch To Chicago

The last day of a Creating Change is always a bittersweet one for all involved.   The host committee is sad after spending nine months putting the event together. that it's come and about to be entered into the history books,.

After the last sessions concluded at 11:00 AM, the final plenary session of #CC15 started thirty minutes later.    Congrats to CeCe McDonald for winning the Paul A Anderson Youth Award!

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Once the plenary ended, Creating Change Denver was officially over and the torch was passed to Chicago.

And yeah, Chicago, you get the same challenge I issued to Denver.   Ensure that there is trans representation on your local host committee and y'all rep the 'T'.

CC15 Day 4 Recap

Since I'm done with my workshops and seminars, I decided to take this Saturday to catch up with some people who live here in the Denver area that I know.

One is an old friend of mine from Houston who moved here in 2001 and I haven't see her for years, but we made it happen over lunch at the Denver Hard Rock Cafe just up the 16th Street Mall from the hotel.

While I was marching up the street to the Hard Rock Cafe and my reunion, a protest was being held that started at 12:15 PM MST back at the hotel aimed at the Denver po-po's.  

It was still going on by the time I returned to the hotel and commenced to running my mouth with my sis Samantha Dato.   We talked about PTHC and whether I was coming for it (maybe)

My activist mentor Dainna Cicotello called me while I was talking to Samantha, and we set up a meeting for dinner at 6 PM.

I killed some time for that meeting by attending a seminar entitled The Psychology of Debunking LGBT Myths that Brynn Tannehill was an informative part of before I had to jet to meet Dainna in the lobby as we headed to a nearby restaurant.   I also got the bonus of seeing her daughter Laurie, who was celebrating her birthday

After a great meal, some peanut butter cheesecake and two hours of catching up since I hadn't seen either Cicotello in the flesh since the 2000 IFGE Conference, I was back at the Sheraton hanging out in the lobby just chilling and trying to decide what to do next.

Stacey Langley (happy birthday Stacey), Latisha, and Lynette arrived and after a few minutes, we decided the check out the 50+ Dance.    There was also a Masqueerade Ball happening., but after handing out at the dance for 30 minutes, headed back to my room after talking to Omar Narvaez about Texas politics in the bar to write up the days events and pack.

Needed some beauty sleep for my last day in Denver for awhile.

CC15-Day 3 Recap

Today marked the first full day of workshops and seminars, but I needed a little sleep and time to do some writing before I kept my promise to Imam Daayiee Abdullah to attend the Friday prayer service at 12:30.

I was pleased to see the attendance has grown, and Imam Abdullah announced some exciting news for the LGBT Muslim before the service started about an exciting initiative.

While that service was happening, Rea Carey's State of the Movement Address  was simultaneously taking place.



After talking to Imam Abdullah for a few moments after the service ended, I headed down to the vendor area to kill some time before my panel.  Ran into Andy Marra, Samantha Dato, Dani Heffernan , Kimberley McLeod and Kylar Broadus before we headed to Governors Square 14 for the 3:00 PM panel.

The Trans Women of Color: The Sisterhood featured Tela La'Raine Love, La La Zannell, Bamby Salcedo, Arianna Lint and some based Texas blogger y'all know breaking down the issues that impact us as trans women of color.

Afterwards I got to finally meet a shero of mine in Kim Coco Iwamoto, talk to Trudie Jackson, Bishop Tonyia Rawls, Diego Sanchez, Johanna Saavedra, Elizabeth Clair an my fave power couple in Aisha and Danielle Moodie-Mills.

Also ran into my NFL prognostication partner Michael Watts, and that started an almost two hour conversation in which we discussed everything from what was transpiring in our lives, football and politics to the movie Blazing Saddles.  Ran into Myles Brady, who thanked me for the engagement post I wrote about him and his now fiancee.

And the thing I'm really enjoying is running into all the people here at #CC15 who let me know how much they love the blog.  A writer always loves to hear that what they put out there is the universe for you to peruse and ponder is not only read, it's appreciated.

And the feeling is mutual TransGriot readers.

One last Slurpee run, and then I've got to shut it down for the night.

CC15 Day 2 Recap

This CC15 day started for me with the NBJC Black Institute, and ended at 2 AM cutting up in the Sheraton Denver lobby with my trans brothers and trans sisters.

After the opening remarks from NBJC executive Director Sharon Lettman-Hicks, we dove right into the first panel of the day

It was entitled From the Grassroots to the National Stage: Movement Building with Intersectional Justice for Black LGBTQ/SGL People.    It was a panel with Mandy Carter, Earl Fowlkes, Geneva Musgrave, Rev. Dr Kenneth Samuel and Chai Jindasurat and myself in a robust discussion of the state of Black LGBTQ?SGL America .moderated by Angela Peoples.

It was a 90 minute discussion that ended far to soon for the breakout sessions that followed later. and took us to lunch.

Black LGBTQ youth was served in the first panel after the lunch break was a Black Youth Project 100 sponsored panel entitled Get Free:Black LGBT Rights and Grassroots Organizing. 

The high energy and informative presentation by Angie Brilliance, Samantha Master and Charlene Carruthers discussed grassroots organizing, and building power in our community as seen from the eyes of the 18-35 set.

After their part of the institute concluded, we had the honor of Fallon Fox addressing us after being introduced by Kye Allums.   Fallon told us about her journey to becoming a kick butt WMMA fighter while trans.

That was the lead in to the next panel at 3:30 PM, presented by Athlete Ally.which focused on the sports world.   Black TBLGQ athletes such as Kye Allums, Fallon Fox, Brittney Griner, and Michael Sam have not only excelled on the field, but made trailblazing progress that also has bigger ramifications for our community.

The Color of Sports:Black Perspectives at the Intersection of Race, Gender and Orientation in Sports was moderated by Wendy Lewis after being introduced by Akil Patterson.

Panelists Kye Allums, Wade Davis Ashland Johnson and Nevin Caple discussed the challenges of being Black and LGBT in the sports world.

The final panel of the Black Institute was entitled Suffering in Silence:Addressing HIV, LGBT Health and The Black LGBTQ/SGL Community moderated by Venton Jones.

This was my second panel of the day, and I was joined by the  Rev Dr Jamie Washington, Kenyon Farrow, Jai Makokha, and Maria Glover-Wallace in which we not only discussed the HIV/AIDS epidemic in our community, but the need to focus on health care, wellness, and raising the profile of HIV/AIDS  to where it has the same level of  urgency that we give to combating obesity and diabetes in the Black community.

We also discussed the launch of the NBJC Black Wellness Initiative in that interactive panel discussion what we probably could have used another hour for.

After the closing remarks from Sharon, the second annual NBJC Black Institute was concluded.

After joining my Houston homies Ashton Woods and NBJC Emerging Leader Brandon Mack,  we headed to the People of Color suite to hilariously kill some time before heading to the what turned out to be a very interesting opening plenary session.

After writing up what happened at the protest, I returned to the lobby area to hang out with my trans sisters and trans brothers until nearly 2 AM

Yep, long day.  But I'm not complaining.Just need a little sleep and I'm good to go.