Equality Summit is NEXT WEEKEND!

The Equality Summit is going to be held in Los Angeles next Saturday January 24th! Registration is required and is free and available online at http://www.eqca.org/equalitysummit. The event will take place in the West Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA.

Despite some slightly hysterical reporting to the contrary, the event is open t the press with some slight restrictions: press (like everyone else) needs to register in advance, and in break-out sessions no quotes are to attributed to indviduals at any time (unless that person explicitly says they can be quoted by the media).

The goals of the summit are:

# To be inclusive of the entire coalition of people working for marriage equality, particularly reaching out to communities of color, people of faith, and straight allies.
# To build and strengthen relationships, so that affinity groups and working partnerships can form and thrive.
# To develop trust and create healing from the pain of electoral defeat and its aftermath.
# To disseminate information about what happened on the campaign, and what is currently happening in the movement.
# To nurture new leaders and organizations.
# To create space for activists and leaders to plan next steps and move forward with new projects in partnership.

The full agenda of the summit, formulated over many hours of phone conference calls of which yours truly participated is as follows:

7:45 a.m. Registration begins. Coffee, Pastries & Networking in Main Room
8 a.m. Shabbat services available with Rabbi Denise L. Eger
9 a.m. OPENING PLENARY SESSION - Looking Backward and Moving Forward
Welcome by State Assemblymember John A. Perez
Presentations from NO on 8 and Let California Ring Staff and Marriage Equality USA
Proposition 8 Post-Election California Voter Survey, presented by David Binder, Consultant to Obama/Biden Campaign
Question & Answer session
Keynote Speech by Eva Paterson, Equal Justice Society
11:20 a.m. Break
11:30 a.m. BREAKOUT SESSIONS for networking & strategy by interest/constituency:
African American; Asian & Pacific Islander; Faith Communities; Families;
Government/elected officials/legislative advocates;
Grassroots Community Organizers; Labor Unions; Latino; Legal;
Media (Earned and Paid); Netroots/Web 2.0; Transgender; and Youth
12:30 p.m. Lunch break (food court open and available)
1:30 p.m. PLENARY SESSION - Race, Religion & the LGBT Movement
Presentation and Q&A Prop 8 polling data analysis released by
the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute,
by Patrick J.Egan, Ph.D., of New York University, and Kenneth Sherrill, Ph.D., of Hunter College, CUNY
Discussion facilitated by Jan Adams and Bob Wing
3 p.m. Break
3:10 p.m. BREAKOUT SESSIONS for networking & strategy by region:
Central Valley/Central Coast/Nor Cal Rural areas; Inland Empire/Coachella Valley;
Los Angeles County; Orange County/Long Beach; Sacramento Area; San Diego area;
San Francisco Bay Area; and Statewide & National
4:10 p.m. Break
4:20 p.m. PLENARY SESSION - What’s Next?
Panel update on legal and electoral issues
Open Source development of strategy ideas from attendees
5:20 p.m. Break, snacks
5:30 p.m. BREAKOUT SESSIONS for next step strategy planning
Sessions proposed and led by summit attendees.
6:30 p.m Break, snacks
6:40 p.m. CLOSING PLENARY SESSION - What's Next?
Report back from breakout groups, facilitated by Lawrence Ellis
7:30 p.m. Closing

Hope to see you there!