While attending the Creating Change Conference in Denver this week, members of the AU Queers and Allies group are looking forward to picking up new insights and ideas about how to advocate for change on AU's campus.
"I hope to build new connections with political and movement leaders, strengthen existing connections, make new friends who are doing activism around the country and learn new ideas for my future advocacy here at AU, on Capitol Hill and back home in Anchorage," said Tonei Glavinic, coordinator of the AU Transgender Advocacy Project, an AU Queers and Allies program.
The Creating Change Conference is a five-day-long conference that revolves around figuring out ways to further equality for the LGBT community, according to a Creating Change Conference press release. It is the largest LGBT conference of its kind, with an estimated attendance of more than 2,500 people, according to the release.
The conference consists of training sessions, workshops, caucus sessions, keynote speakers, film screenings, receptions and other various events. Attendees can go to these events, meet one another, make connections and learn how to teach others to be more accepting of the LGBT community, according to the Creating Change Web site.
Glavinic is attending the conference with two other AU students and GLBTA Resource Center Director Sara Bendoraitis. He said he is not sure what he will take from the conference but hopes that when he returns to school he will be able to use the skills he learned at the conference to continue equality on campus.
"I will certainly be using knowledge and connections gained at Creating Change to further our goals for campus equality," Galvinic said.
Glavinic said he is excited about being a part of Creating Change. This is the second time he has attended the conference, which he said he enjoys attending because there are so many different people in attendance.
"As the largest confluence of LGBT activists in the country, Creating Change presents a unique opportunity to network with and learn from an incredibly diverse group of people - everyone from political leaders and directors of national organizations, to campus life and resource center staff, to high school and college activists," Glavinic said.
The group of AU students that are going to the event are not attending in coordination with Queers and Allies. Glavinic said AU's chapter of Queers and Allies is not funding the trip for the three students - they are all paying for it independently. However, he said he worked with some students to coordinate their traveling plans.
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