Last week I had the amazing opportunity to travel to the University of Connecticut to attend and present at the 16th annual "True Colors" conference sponsored by sexual minority youth and family services of CT (http://www.ourtruecolors.org/).   When I drove in on Friday afternoon, I was not prepared for the absolute explosion of queer youth pride that had taken over the UConn campus during their spring break.  This is a three-day conference (Th-Sat) and Friday is the big day since busloads of students travel with chaperones from all over the state.  They have youth-only sessions as well as professional and general sessions that cater to the needs and interests of the various participants.  At the end of the day they packed all the attendees (easily close to 1,000) into the campus theatre for a "Rainbow Idol" talent show and open mic/speak out. 

It was incredibly moving and motivating to hear these youth (ages 13 - 21) speak about what a powerful impact the conference has had on them.  Words like - love, acceptance, pride, family, support, "best day of my life" were repeated over and over as students made their testimonials.  Many youth took the opportunity to publicly come out for the first time as: bi, trans, gay, and lesbian.  Their absolute joy and giddiness about being surrounded by people who SAW them, understood them, and thought they were beautiful just as they were was completely contagious.  It was well worth the 6 hour drive from Montreal!!

That afternoon I attended a session by Peterson Toscano - a fabulous character actor who has written and performed in several one-man shows based on his life experiences.  This session was based on his play about ex-gay ministries "Tales from the Homo No-mo Halfway House," and his own experiences in the reparative therapy movement.  It was extremely informative, entertaining, and compelling.  His workshop appealed to all ages and I would highly recommend him as a guest speaker/performer at any school/University campus looking for an entertaining/informative presentation on GLBTQ issues. http://www.petersontoscano.com/

The following day was kicked off with a panel on trans issues and was facilitated by a reporter from CT Public Radio.  She read a story she wrote called "The Land of Snowflakes" that was a beautiful children's tale about diversity on earth and allowing each person to fully be one's whole self.  Gender was at the heart of the story, so it was a great lead-in to the discussion from 5 trans and genderqueer people talking about how they understood their identities and embody their gender and how it affects their daily lives.

I was pleased to have a good turn-out at my workshop (Gender, bullying, and harassment: Strategies to end sexism and homophobia in school) and was even more encouraged to have parents in the room: a gay father whose child was experiencing harassment in her school due to his sexual identity, and a father of a trans child whose grades went from D's to A's once she was removed from her hostile school environment and allowed to be home-schooled.  There were some youth participants who shared their stories of harassment on school teams and in hallways, and some wonderful outreach educators from a domestic violence organization.  I was encouraged by the broad diversity of people in attendance at this conference and made me feel inspired to try and build on their successes.  This concept is fully replicable and possible in so many other regions.  We need to tap into the knowledge and experience of Robin McHaelen and her team in order to create events like this across the US and Canada to provide this kind of networking and personal and professional support to GLBTIQ youth and their allies and advocates.  Thank you for creating such a wonderful event and drawing together so many people into an empowered community!!

Another blog about the conference can be viewed at: http://dianacorner.blogspot.com/2009/03/true-colors-conference-true-colo...