2008 LGBT Leadership Summit big success

Dozens of community leaders attended the 2008 LGBT Leadership Summit on May 10 in part to strengthen partnerships among nonprofit organizations and learn more about legal issues affecting the community.

The summit, sponsored by the Cimarron Alliance Foundation, was held at the Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library and drew special guests from across the nation, who led breakout sessions or participated in panel discussions. Among those who were recognized at the summit were state Rep. Al McAffrey, D-Oklahoma City; state Rep. Anastasia Pittman, D-Oklahoma City; Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth; Paul Karr, director of Media Field Strategy with GLAAD; and Shawn Werner, political and programs manager for the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute.

Volunteer Jeremy Hood, and Cimarron board members Michael Cich and Tay Duran, take a break during the LGBT Summit on May 10.     (All pictures courtesy of Robin Dorner, The City Sentinel)

“It’s rare for national equality organizations to do programming in our state, and most times, those programs are only available to a select group of individuals,” said Michael Cich, a Cimarron Alliance Foundation board member who chaired the summit. “We open those same programs to anyone in our community.”

The event featured an opening ceremony with remarks from Werner, Karr and Richard Ogden, chair of the Cimarron Alliance Foundation. It was followed with break-out sessions addressing numerous topics, including equality and race, media training, fundraising and legislative issues. A closing ceremony featured remarks from Werner, Ogden and Laura Belmonte, president of Oklahomans for Equality.

“I am proud of the work the LGBT Outreach Committee of Cimarron Alliance Foundation did to present the second Leadership Summit. It is important to build a cohesive, involved LGBT community in Oklahoma, and the summit is a significant step toward that goal,” said Rob Howard, executive director of the Cimarron Alliance Foundation.

The summit featured great programming and great speakers. Pittman gave a detailed summary of the legislative process in the Legislative forum.  A lively discussion about the challenges surrounding the founding of an LGBT Community Center was facilitated by Laura Belmonte, president of Oklahomans for Equality, which runs the Equality Center in Tulsa, and Zach Mullaney, secretary of Central Oklahoma Prime Timers, a social club for mature gay and bisexual men in Oklahoma City.

Toby Jenkins, a minister and Oklahomans for Equality’s outreach chair, gave a spirited discussion of the so called “Ex-Gay Movement.” Rev. Loyce Edwards, assistant pastor of Church of the Open Arms UCC and the president of PFLAG-OKC had a well-attended workshop on equality and race. 

Toby Jenkins of Oklahomans for Equality

From the opening session featuring Karr to the closing session with an inspiring address by Werner, the day was filled with instructive workshops, opportunities for networking and good solid community development. Werner spoke about his organization’s mission to help fair-minded persons get elected. More importantly, he gave real-world advice to Oklahomans interested in running for office. Karr trained representatives on communications planning and being better spokespersons for the LGBT community. 

In addition to the workshops, community forums discussed the possibility of creating an LGBT community center in Oklahoma City; the other was a meeting of the Stop Hate Coalition, an anti-violence group founded as a result of the recent brutal murder of a gay Oklahoman.

National partners for the Summit included Human Rights Campaign, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute and Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

Community partners included ACLU of Oklahoma, AIDS Walk of Oklahoma City, Cathedral of Hope-Oklahoma City, Central Oklahoma Human Rights Association, Central Oklahoma Prime Timers, Central Oklahoma Stonewall Democrats, Church of the Open Arms, Diversity Business Association (DBA) Metro, HeartStrong, Herland Sister Resources, Log Cabin Republicans, Mayflower Congregational Church, North Care Mental Health Center, OKC Pride, Inc., Oklahoma Chrysalis Education Affirmation Network (OCEAN), Oklahoma City Community Foundation, Oklahoma City University Lesbian & Gay Law Student Association, Oklahoma Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, Oklahomans for Equality, Parents, Family, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) Norman, PFLAG Oklahoma City, Progressive Alliance, Red Rock Behavioral Health Services, Respect Diversity Foundation, The Trevor Project, the University of Oklahoma Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Friends, and The Winds House.

Summit sponsors included Richard Ogden, Central Oklahoma Prime Timers, HNOKC.com, Respect Diversity Foundation, Gay Alliance for Tolerance and Equality UCO, Oklahoma Democratic Party, Oklahomans for Equality, OGLPC, Red Rock Behavioral Health Services, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Rob Howard and The Peace House.

2008 LGBT Leadership Summit
Saturday, May 10, 2008, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library
300 Park Avenue | Oklahoma City, OK 73102

The 2007 LGBT Leadership Summit was successful beyond expectations. LGBT and LGBT-friendly persons and organizations acquired tools and guidance to more effectively manage themselves and, more importantly, better collaborate with others to accomplish common goals.

Workshops     2008 LGBT Leadership Summit Schedule.pdf
The 2008 LGBT Leadership Summit is a one-day event with four sessions of up to five workshops per session. Workshops will address five topics:

• Leadership Development
• Organization Development – non-profits, fundraising, etc.
• Government – politics and the legislative process
• Personal Development – spirituality, equality, etc.
• Anti-violence – anti-bullying, hate crimes, etc.

The 2008 Summit features more extensive workshops about our state legislature – by far the most attended topic last year – and programs appealing to college students and young adults.

Workshop Topics

Leadership Development – Community Organizations Leadership Roundtable; Collegiate Leadership Roundtable; Executive Team Training; GLAAD Media Training.

Growing Your Organization – Fundraising and Grant Writing; Non-Profits 101 – what you can and can’t do, organizational documents needed, things to watch out for; Strategic Planning.

The Legislative Process – ABCs of Legislation and the Legislative Process; Advocacy and Lobbying; Becoming a Politician.

Personal Development – Equality and Race; Gender, Racial, and Sexual Politics: The Anatomy of a Unified Minority Movement; Transgender discussion; Legal Issues LGBT people need to be familiar with.

Community Forums
There will also be two community forums: (1) discussing the possible creation of an LGBT community center in Oklahoma City and (2) a meeting of the Stop Hate Coalition, an anti-violence group founded as a result of the recent brutal murder of a gay Oklahoman.

Agenda

9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Registration
9:30 a.m. to 10:10 a.m. Opening Ceremony & Keynote Speaker
10:20 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. Session 1
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Session 2
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:40 p.m. to 2:40 p.m. Session 3
2:50 p.m. to 3:50 p.m. Session 4
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Legislative Panel & Closing Ceremony

*A complete list of workshops will posted after March 1st.

Register for the 2008 Oklahoma LGBT Leadership Summit

2007 OKLAHOMA LGBT LEADERSHIP SUMMIT

Oklahoma LGBT Leadership Summit Brings Together A Community:

Photos of the Event

“It is said that it takes a village, but what I see here today is better than that; I see a strong and powerful community” Richard Ogden, Cimarron Alliance Foundation President.

The Cimarron Alliance Foundation, an Oklahoma City based LGBT education group, with support from the Human Rights Campaign; held a leadership summit on Saturday April 14, 2007 at the Ronald J. Norick downtown library. The summit showcased representatives of organizations that serve or support Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Oklahomans effectively bringing together the LGBT community of Oklahoma.

“There was a time when you couldn’t have eight people in a room and them get along.” Paul Thompson, OKC Gay Pride Male Co-Chair, said “Today I hope that we surprise people who believe that to still be true.”

And it did with 140 people from 43 organizations attending the 2007 LGBT Leadership Summit and 27 community partners on Saturday, April 14. The historic gathering featured 17 workshops with 27 speakers, and provided LGBT leaders from across the state to network, share ideas, and energize themselves in their collective fight for equal rights.

Attending were representatives from Oklahomans for Equality, the Tulsa LGBT rights advocacy group; DBAMetro, Oklahoma City’s LGBT business association; several student groups including GATE from UCO, OUGLBTF, and OSU’s SODA. Others included representatives from across the political landscape, OCEAN – the OKC Transgender group, and many others, as well as a large contingent from Cimarron Alliance Foundation.

We have to realize our strengths as individuals but rely on the strengths of others to make successful changes” Said Monty Milburn, OKC Diversity Business Association President.

The strengths of the community were showcased in breakout sessions. The sessions, designed to discuss critical issues facing LGBT people in the state of Oklahoma, as well as anticipated legislation and advocacy. Content presented in sessions specific to strategic planning, grant-writing, media relations and programming enabled leaders to strengthen and advance the organizations in which they represent and lectures, discussions and structured activities, empowered participants with knowledge and effective approaches to educate the greater community.

The notable speakers included Oklahoma political figures; Oklahoma County Commissioner Jim Roth, State Senator Andrew Rice, and State Representative Al McAffrey. Monty Milburn, President of OKC’s Diversity Business Association acted as the host for for the event.

“The opportunity to meet new like minded people is rare, this summit was the opportunity to do that in a grand scale” Tiffany Speaks, University of Oklahoma’s GLBTF Advisor.

All sessions were well attended with interested attendees who were eager to make suggestions, ask questions, network, and share what their organizations are doing. The “T in LGBT” session was packed with people interested to hear and better understand the transgendered part of our community. Another well attended seminar was “Overcoming the Challenges Facing Women in mixed LGBT Organizations”.

The Board Leadership Roundtable, facilitated by CAF’s Richard Ogden, Oklahomans for Equality’s Laura Belmonte, and DBAMetro’s Monty Milburn, talked about organizational issues, and the effort to have a statewide LGBT rights advocacy effort. A lot of the discussion followed up the Tulsa Creation Weekend in late March, which focused on issues for our community, and discusses models for a statewide effort. A steering committee is forming to solidify that effort, led by Ogden and Belmonte.

Issues facing senior LGBT people were discussed in another workshop covering legal, medical, housing and discrimination.

Summit organizer Josh Hammers is already looking forward to making the LGBT Summit an annual event. Hammers is chair of the LGBT Outreach Committee of Cimarron Alliance Foundation. His committee, and others are looking for volunteers to help plan that event, other educational events, and participation in the upcoming OKC Pride Festival and Parade.

“An event like this doesn’t happen everyday, it is good to see so many people coming together with a common goal in mind.” Al McAffrey Oklahoma State Representative.

• Oklahoma City Community Foundation
• Respect Diversity Foundation
• Herland Sister Resources
• Winds House
• PFLAG Oklahoma City
• PFLAG Norman
• North Care Mental Health Center
• Cathedral of Hope
• Progressive Alliance
• DBA Metro
• Central Oklahoma Primetimers
• Red Rock Behavioral Health Services
• Hard News Online
• OKC Pride
• Oklahoma Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus
• Oklahomans for Equality
• Oklahoma State University Sexual Orientation Diversity Association
• Oklahoma City University Gay & Lesbian Law Student Association
• Log Cabin Republicans of Oklahoma
• Central Oklahoma Stonewall Democrats
• Oklahoma Chrysalis Education Affirmation Network
• ACLU of Oklahoma
• AIDS Walk of Oklahoma City, Inc
• HeartStrong
• The Trevor Project
• Central Oklahoma Human Rights Association
• University of Oklahoma Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Friends
  

9:00 – 9:30

Check-In. Light breakfast provided.

9:30 – 10:10

Opening Ceremony

10:20 – 11:20

Breakout Session #1 (5 sessions offered at this time)

11:30 – 12:30

Breakout Session #2 (4 sessions offered at this time) 

12:30 – 1:30

LUNCH

1:40 – 2:40

Breakout Session #3 (5 sessions offered at this time)

2:50 – 3:50

Breakout Session #4 (4 sessions offered at this time) 

4:00 – 5:00 

Closing Ceremony