Longtime Washington Blade Editor Kevin Naff (a Hammond High alum) talks about his tenure at the nation's first LGBTQ newspaper and dishes on everything from meeting Obama and interviewing Hillary Clinton to outing closeted Republicans and clashing with two-faced Democrats. Naff presents a fast-paced, dishy overview of how our politics and culture arrived at this precarious moment.

Come together to learn and play! Our workshop will include lots of fun games that help folks get to know each other, form bonds, develop trust and debrief their shared experiences. This workshop will be a shortened "crash course" version of the full training, and give attendees the ability to understand and implement basic concepts, as well as resources to gain more knowledge and information on the topic.

As schools become more inclusive and aware of LGBTQ+ identities, there is often a focus on the L, G, and T identities. Non-binary students and teachers, those who do not identify as male or female, are often missing from the conversation or underrepresented. This session will provide background information on non-binary identities as well as neo-pronouns (they, xe, ze, etc.). We will then look at various strategies to disrupt the traditional male-female gender binary and help support non-binary students and teachers in various educational settings.

Want to hear about some awesome books featuring LGBTQ+ characters and/or by LGBTQ+ authors? Take a listen to the Howard County Library System's session on Rainbow Reads, presented by Sarah Cooke of the Savage Branch, featuring a variety of genres, topics and characters. We will be presenting books for suggestion, as well as check out, and would love to hear about some if your favorites too!

Since 2010, the It Gets Better Project (www.itgetsbetter.org) has been leveraging positive stories to uplift, empower, and connect LGBTQ+ youth around the globe. Though its work primarily lives online, the organization is now taking it's best stories out into communities and schools everywhere through It Gets Better EDU. Join this session to check out some of these amazing stories and to discuss why such stories matter now more than ever.

CARY members are family, friends, school staff and other allies of LGBTQ+ youth in Howard County. We would like to share our experiences working with Howard County schools and the community in our support for the LGBTQ+ youth.

A community-based presentation that covers the general scope of suicide, the research on prevention, and what people can do to fight suicide. Attendees will learn the risk and warning signs of suicide, and how together, we can help prevent it.

QPR stands for Question, Persuade, and Refer — the 3 simple steps anyone can learn to help save a life from suicide.

Just as people trained in CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver help save thousands of lives each year, people trained in QPR learn how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help.

As an LGBT teen, I didn’t see myself represented in YA books. Not because those books didn’t exist, but because most of my peers regarded them as unserious fanfiction without substantial literary merit or nuanced storytelling. At age 19, I decided to add my own voice to the genre. In this session I’ll talk about my decision to become a published author, what I learned once it actually happened, and how the image of the YA LGBT genre affects the way teens see themselves represented today.

Even with the tremendous progress made toward equality for LGBTQ+ Americans in recent years, there are still many who try to use religion to justify discrimination in employment, health care, adoption, and other areas of life.

Americans United is fighting back to ensure that religious freedom is not misused to justify denying equality to our LGBTQ+ neighbors.

Let's meditate, relax, chill, focus, feel good, and find calm as we practice an LGBTQ-inclusive adaptation of loving-kindness meditation. Loving-kindness meditation is also called Metta Bhavana. This mindfulness practice cultivates benevolence, friendliness, compassion, good will, and care for others. Within the oldest form of Buddhism, this meditation practice is the first of the four "sublime states" and one of the most important pathways to enlightened living. This non-religious, secularized session involves guided, facilitated meditation and is open to all people, including and especially those impacted by disability or trauma. Feel free to bring pillows, cushions, or other soft items to make yourself comfortable.

In this session, Katie Dant talks about the importance of creating safe space and how to do it. Safe Space training is a suicide prevention and intervention model that focuses on the LGBTQ+ population and the increased risk for suicide. The full training is 8 hours, and discusses how to better support these individuals and their loved ones in accessing care and treatment, differences in acceptance and tolerance, the history and evolution of language in the LGBTQ+ community, sexuality issues and gender specific issues, and their impacts on mental health. The training program combines cultural competence with prevention and intervention strategies to reduce stigma, reduce suicidality, and ultimately save lives.

This workshop will be a shortened "crash course" version of the full training, and give attendees the ability to understand and implement basic concepts, as well as resources to gain more knowledge and information on the topic.

Join Baltimore's premiere drag burlesque artist, Betty O'Hellno, as she hosts an introduction to her core beauty tips, favorite make-up brands for the queen on a budget, as well as her essential guide to accepting your body and yourself in a world of ridiculous societal pressures, beauty standards, and unrealistic expectations. Everyone deserves to sparkle!

Nathaniel Hunt, originally from Glen Burnie, MD, offers an insightful look into his career as a professional dancer living in New York City in this two-part session. Part One consisting of a lecture and talk-back about his early years growing up in Glen Burnie, his coming-out and coming into his sexuality, and his journey from his early dancing years, through his extensive professional experience as a dancer, choreographer, educator, director, and model. Reflecting on finding his own path, Nathaniel shares the importance of compassion, diligence, resilience, and kindness. Part Two is a dance performance by Nathaniel of a carefully selected piece that he choreographed in 2016. The piece, "So Lo," is a work about his reactions and reflections of the Pulse Orlando Night Club Shooting.