NBJC OUT On The Hill 2016 Starts Wednesday!

Unfortunately I won't be there in DC because of other commitments, but had to let you TransGriot readers know that the National Black Justice Coalition's (NBJC) OUT on the Hill Black LGBT Leadership Summit is one of my favorite events.

The 2016 edition of OUT on the Hill will be taking place September 14-17, with the theme of The Post-Obama Era: What's Next?   Since this also takes place at the roughly the same time as the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Annual Legislative Conference,

OUT on the Hill has always had some collaborative panels with the CBC-ALC event and provided opportunities for OUT on the Hill attendees to access the CBC-ALC event taking place over at the DC Convention Center.



OUT on the Hill kicks off with an Issues Advocacy Day at the US Capitol on September 14, a welcome reception on Thursday sponsored by HRC, the OOTH 2016 one on Friday  and the closing State of the Black LGBTQ/SGL Community brunch on Saturday.

While I won't be in the OUT on the Hill house this year, as always I hope this event is megasuccessful, and hope my schedule will allow me to attend it in 2017.

And if your schedule allows you do do so, here's the link to register for the OOTH2016 conference.

OOTH 2015-Saturday Recap

The last full day of OUT on the Hill 2015 activity, and Saturday morning I awakened to what is a familiar sight to Washingtonians but not to this Texan.

I was awakened by the roar of motorcycles and sirens and got to my seventh floor hotel room window just in time to see the presidential motorcade speeding by heading in the direction of the White House.

I went from witnessing that sight to witnessing an amazing State of the Black LGBTQ/SGL Community panel that started at 9:00 AM focused on the wellness of our community.

It was a panel moderated by the Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington featuring Valerie Spencer, Faith Cheltenham, Dr. Cleo Manago. Tim'm West, Geneva Musgrave and Rayceen Pendavis had some tell it like it T-I-S is moments and commentary about what we needed to do in a multipronged ongoing strategic way to build and continue focusing on Black LGBT community wellness.

It ended way too fast, and I stayed in that room to check out a Tim'm West moderated panel entitled Brave Education: OUT Black Educators Advancing Educational Excellence.

The panel that started at 12:15 PM discussed the issues, challenges and joys in K-12 schools for TBLGQ students of color and the out teachers and administrators seeking to prepare them for collegiate studies and the world.

There were also comments from the panelists that pointed out that the public education system need to just as concerned about producing students who are critical thinkers than their ability to take a standardized test.

It also pointed out how important it was to have out Black LGBTQ educators on these campuses representing and being possibility models for Black LGBTQ and other students.

The final plenary session was another after lunch State of the Black LGBTQ/SGL conversation that focused on Faith and Spirituality featuring the Rev Rodney McKenzie, Minister Verdell Wright, Bishop Allyson Abrams, and the Rev Dr Jamie Washington.

The conversation touched on many issues including the been for Black LGBTQ folks to forcefully push back against the loud and wrong anti-Black doctrine that has been remixed to attack us, talk about Black liberation theology from a Black LGBTQ lens, and do a much better job of integrating trans people in this mix.

After closing remarks from Sharon Lettman-Hicks, Kylar Broadus, and Venton Jones, the bittersweet moment of #OOTH 2015 coming to a close was upon us.   I also found myself in the middle of an intergenerational conversation in which I and youth with Trini, Haitian and Nigerian heritage started a fascinating conversation in which we discussed the African Diaspora, our shared connections and history, and where Black LGBT people fit in this.

And yeah, I got to destroy two more Slurpees before I called it a day and crashed from conference fatigue.    

OOTH 2015- Friday Recap

My second full day in Washington DC was chock full of activity in addition to my OUT on the Hill business I was scheduled to handle at 12:30 PM EDT.

I ended an enjoyable two day stay with Joanna to move into the conference hotel.

The last time I was at The Beacon, there was six inches of snow on the ground and I landed at DCA thirty minutes before they shut the airport down.

This time I ended up on the seventh floor, but I had to wait two hours before that room became available after checking in at 8 AM.  I left Joanna's early and headed there in the hope that I'd be able to move my stuff in. get in diva mode for the plenary I needed to do that was scheduled at 12:30 PM, and get to handle the #OOTH2015 reporter role by live tweeting the panels before and after my session.

It was also moving day for OUT on the Hill 2015, because after having events at HRC headquarters for the last two days. we were moving to the Beacon Hotel for the afternoon session and tomorrow's events.

There's an old saying that if you want to make God laugh, plan something. The room not being ready screwed that game plan I had to move, get into diva mode and get mentally ready for the panel.

Mu main business of the day was the Valerie Spencer moderated panel entitled a Focus on the Plight of  Trans Women of Color in America that featured myself, Lourdes Hunter, and Angelica Ross..

While many of the #OOTH2015 attendees liked the panel and told me so after it was over, I wasn't happy about it.

I felt the conversation got far too focused on sex work.  I was also not happy about some drama stirred up by one of the panelists, and our panel's start being delayed not only by that drama and her shady behavior during it,by a speech from a DOJ official who stated in it that he wanted to ';learn more about the trans community', then bounced after his remarks.

I spent an hour after that panel taking with Donna Payne-Hardy, so I didn't rejoin the OOTH2015 action until it was time for the final workshops of the day.

I checked out one entitled I Just Don't Do Doctors' which was an enlightening discussion about the medical needs of aging Black lesbians that got broadened to talk about the health needs of Black LGBTQ women in general,

We then headed up to the Beacon's Sky Bar for the OOTH 2015 Partners and Sponsors reception. While I was still a little bummed about the trans panel, getting some delicious food in my system, conversation and straight up partying with a purpose helped ge get over it.

So did that free Slurpee I got a few hours later.

OUT on the Hill-Saturday Preview

Seems like it was just a few days ago OUT on the Hill was kicking off on Tuesday with a pre conference event, and now we have reached the last full day of plenary sessions and seminars for the 6th annual edition of OUT on the Hill

At 9:00 AM EDT will be the first of two The State of the Black LGBTQ/SGL Community sessions.   The first of two sessions is entitled  A Focus on the Wellness of our Community and will run for a scheduled two hours.

We will then move to the final concurrent sessions for #OOTH2015 starting at 11;15 AM before we go into the second State of the Black LGBTQ/SGL Community event focusing on faith and spirituality starting at 1:00 PM and scheduled for three hours..

OOTH 2015-Thursday Recap

The first full day of OUT on the Hill activity
found me battling DC traffic in order to get to HRC headquarters for the opening plenary session scheduled to kick off at 9 AM

I got there about 9:15, but because there were so many people checking in to pick up their registration packets, the start got delayed a bit.

But we did get the OUT on the Hill party started at 10 AM as NBJC ED and CEO Sharon Lettman-Hicks and Venton Jones stepped to the podium began a fast paced opening plenary that focused on the health and wellness issues facing our Black TBLGQ/SGL ranks that covered the issues and the NBJC responses to them that got us back on schedule for our first workshop sessions of the day that commenced at 10:45 AM.

Since I`d seen Brandon`s excellent effemiphobia presentation, I checked out the one entitled Somewhere Over The Rainbow:  Can We Talk About Bullying?

Noelle Adams and Margaret Conley launched into their presentation that talked about the causes, led us through an exercise demonstrating bullying, strategies for combating it, and triggered an interactive discussion by the session attendees and our facilitators.

12:15 PM came too quickly, and we reassembled for lunch and the start of the 12:30 lunchtime plenary discussion focusing on the health and wellness of Black bi and lesbian cis women of color.

That was also another informative discussion that pointed out the lack of research and data focused on bisexual and lesbian women, and also the dearth of information and research concerning masculine presenting women.

That segued into the second plenary session of the day that discussed the just introduced by Congress Equality Act moderated by Stacey Long Simmons.   The panelists discussed the proposed law, gave us a snapshot of where we are in the legislative process  (170 House co-sponsors, 40 senate co-sponsors) and how it impacts our Black SGL, trans and bi community.

We also has the pleasure of having one of the sponsors of the legislation in Rep. Ted Liu (D-CA) visit us, talk about some of the issues facing BTLGQ people, and then take questions.

And yes, your fave blogger asked one about getting trans as an identifier option on the  upcoming 2020 census.  His response?   He likes the idea, and I`m going to have some discussions with his legislative staff about it.

There was also some discussion by Sandy James about the US Trans Survey, which is closing in a few days before the floor was opened to questions from the audience before it ended at 4:30 PM.

At 5:00 PM we made our way to the 8th floor of the building for the OUT on the Hill welcoming reception HRC sponsored.   We enjoyed taking time to meet of and new friends, network and have some conversations about various subjects before it ended.

This first full day of the sixth annual OUT on the Hill is done.   So looking forward to tomorrow and my own lunchtime plenary discussion.