"Breaking the silence" with a conference filled with talk of action, The Coalition for Justice and Respect ( CJR ) and the Coalition for Justice and Respect Foundation ( CJRF ) hosted "Bolder Than Out ( BTO ): Breaking the Silence: Chicago International LGBTQSGL Black African-American Community Social Justice Identity Conference" April 4-6 at Provident Hospital.
"The conversation was broadened by all the voices that were there," said CJR Executive Director Marc Loveless. "This was an identity conferencea social justice identity conference and it lived up to every syllable of those words."
Each year, "Bolder Than Out" commemorates the life and actions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In the conference's second year, the theme "breaking the silence" was taken from Dr. King's speech of the same name.
"Dr King was really a drum major not only for civil rights, but for social justice," said Loveless. "We brought all of those issues to the table, even the health issues. The whole issue around how we look at a broader perspective of African-American LGBT health, we have issues we need to put on the table and we're calling upon our friends and allies and the LGBT community to join with us on. Everything from minimum wage to employment opportunity, to homeless services for youth, we're not saying it's not being done. We're saying there's never too much for trying to meet people's needs."
Discussion topics between each workshop ranged from health to politics to restarting after prison, and organizers encouraged participant interaction. Speakers leading the discussions included TransOhio Cherno Biko board of directors member, clinical psychologist and University of Illinois at Chicago's College of Nursing Associated Professor Dr. Phoenix Matthews ( whose uncle was human-rights advocate Stephen Biko ); former Ambassador and U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun; and The Publicity Works founder and CEO Delmarie Cobb, among others.
"I just think 'bolder than out,' as I see it, is that it's not just about being gay and being accepted on that level," said Cobb, who focused on effective civic engagement and political action. "It's about voicing all of your concerns. That's just one concern, but you have to make sure the people understand the picture is larger than that."
In talking about civic engagement on Sunday afternoon, Cobb emphasized nobody has just one issue to address. She said all the issues advance together and people with different identities should be advancing each other.
"I think it's just important for people to understand that we're trying to make this difficult and politics is not difficult," said Cobb. "It's really about being engaged and doing what you're supposed to do in terms of individual responsibility and not just sitting back and complaining. We can't do that. We have to be engaged in the process. The reason I'm in politics is I'm passionate about what politics is about and what we can get out of it as people and what our leaders are supposed to be doing for us."
The international conference kicked off on Thursday evening with an LGBTQ international roundtable with LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS activists from African nations, CJR hosted with the Chicago Department of Public Health ( CDPH ). Centering on international issues impacting the lives of LGBTQ people in Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Kenya, panelists traveled overseas to speak on the topics including the proliferation of HIV/AIDS, anti-gay laws and the role of the United States interest.
"With the folks that came internationally, I think it gave the conversation a deeper, real meaning," Loveless said. "We weren't talking about afro-centric stuff; we were talking about what's happening to people right now, people who are like us, people we have a kinship with, that sort of thing."
Open to the public, this year's interactive event welcomed over 50 attendees. Among the sponsors helping to support the event were M.A.D.E-Cook County Provident Hospital, Coalition of African-American Leaders ( COAL ), Equality Illinois, Chicago AIDS Foundation and Chicago Department of Public Health and Illinois African-American Coalition for Prevention ( ILAACP ).
"It's clear to see there's a coalition of people that are coming together to do what we got to do, to do what we can do and that's the good news," Loveless said.
In response to the conference and how people may have received all the material, Loveless exclaimed, "Stay tuned!"
"People connected like I have never seen people connect before," explained Loveless. "People came from different places and they made certain pledges with each other with bonding with each other as far as what we're going to do together. That's why I say 'stay tuned.' It was good and it was a very rich conversation. It was soul-stirring on some issues. There were personal things I learned. One of them being that there is a real enthusiasm and a rich interest amongst African-American LGBT SGL people to go deeper than party, to know more than what the next trend is, but people are ready to make some trends and take some steps to do something in a deliberate way. That's exciting."
For more information, visit cjrchicago.org .