Announcing a Call to Action
LGBTI Health Through the Life Course
The 2009 National LGBTI Health Summit,
in conjunction with the BiHealth Summit
August 14 – 18, 2009 in Chicago
About the Summit
The 2009 National LGBTI (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Intersex) Health Summit is an event dedicated to preserving and improving the emotional, physical, spiritual, intellectual, psychological, environmental, and social health and wellness of LGBTI people, a population that continues to experience significant health disparities because of its members’ sexual orientations and/or gender identities.
We welcome all individuals who support the health and well-being of LGBTI people as well as all members of the community (no previous health experience necessary) to explore what it means to be a healthy LGBTI person, living in a healthy LGBTI community.
We invite you to spend a few days in Chicago working intensively with colleagues from all over the nation and world who are grappling with similar challenges, and engage in deep thinking and extended discussion about innovative programming related to the theme of “LGBTI Health Through the Life Course.”
We are especially excited to be holding this summit in the year marking the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the event frequently cited as the beginning of the LGBTI rights movement. The Stonewall Riots was a series of spontaneous, raucous demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn of New York City. in response to a government-sponsored system that persecuted homosexuals, and started the modern gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.
This summit is different from traditional health conferences. Our LGBTI Health Summits (previously in Boulder, Colorado; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and most recently in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) have been described as nurturing retreats, exciting and intense think tanks, and an event of great enlightenment. Participants come away with a renewed passion for the cause, energized and inspired to tackle the problems confronting LGBTI health and wellness.
The Summit is a chance for all participants to reach out across differences in sexual and gender identity, ethnicity, race, age, and socioeconomic status and begin to work toward common goals. We avoid a focus on celebrities and big names, and we take plenty of time to relax, have fun, and make meaningful contact with other participants.
We Need You
The Summit needs the input of those who face daunting questions and formidable challenges as well as those who have succeeded in creating effective programs and campaigns related to LGBTI health and wellness. We welcome activists as well as researchers, doctors as well as holistic health practitioners, religious and spiritual leaders as well as sex workers. Most of all, we request the participation of ordinary LGBTI-identified people who will share their valuable experiences, questions, and energy as we build a movement around community health and empowerment. We welcome all individuals who support the health and well-being of LGBTI people and all members of the community (no previous health experience necessary) to explore what it means to be a healthy LGBTI person, living in a healthy LGBTI community.
Registration and a call for abstracts will be announced in the first quarter of 2009. In the meantime, you can stay abreast of our work by contacting Cat Jefcoat at CatJ@howardbrown.org or Jim Pickett at JPickett@aidschicago.org. We will be disseminating information about the Summit widely as details are finalized. Please stay tuned.
Thank you, and see you in Chicago, August 14 – 18, 2009!
The Chicago Host Committee of the 2009 National LGBTI Health Summit
Thanks for posting this info!
I would like to quickly let you know what is happening in terms of summit planning…..
•Locally, we have pulled together a (growing) group of individuals to help with communications, program planning, event planning and other logistics.
•This group has met once in person, and another smaller group of folks interested in being on the Steering Committee has met as well.
•We have launched a Google group for any and all interested in staying closely connected to the entire planning process. http://groups.google.com/group/2009-chicago-lgbti-health-summit?hl=en
•Howard Brown Health Center has graciously taken on the role of fiscal agent.
•A Summit website is currently in development. Bookmark the URL http://2009lgbtihealth.org/ and expect to see the site go LIVE in January 2009.
•A group of local Chicagoans interested in communications work for the Summit has been collaborating with a graphic designer to develop a Summit logo and color palette. The logo and color palette should be in place by year’s end, and will be unveiled with the new website.
•Initial fundraising letters have started to go out from Howard Brown.
•We have secured a couple of dynamic interns who will work with us locally to help pull together the many threads of planning work, from outreach to Program Book to registration and scholarship administration.
As you can see, a lot has been going on. And many of you have wondered how you can be involved in the planning activities. We are delighted with the level of enthusiasm we have heard so far. You can certainly join the Google group if you would like (link above). It will have a decidedly “local” feel and include discussion of lots of the local nuts and bolts.
You can also wait for the website to be launched, as we will have “Ning-like” interactive components on the site that will allow for discussion as well as organizing and planning activities to take place in that cyber space. “Ning-like” qualities include blogs, forums, threads and the ability to form different groups.
A Call for Abstracts will also be going out soon into the new year and there will be a huge need for people thereafter to help evaluate the abstracts and develop the programming – both educational and social.
The website will serve as a hub for all of our communications and as needs arise, or as people have ideas for the Summit, the site will serve as the meeting place for all of us. That said, we will be looking to folks like you to help communicate information about the Summit to ensure we reach a wide, diverse audience in terms of geography, race, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, spirituality, interests, talents, perspectives, and professional/personal backgrounds.
All the best, and happy holidays to each of you,
Cat Jefcoat – Howard Brown Health Center – CatJ@howardbrown.org
Jim Pickett – AIDS Foundation of Chicago – jpickett@aidschicago.org
(your friendly co-chairs)