Blogging live this week from the National Conference on LGBT Equality in Dallas.

Post-#CC10 Travel Adventures

It’s 1 AM Eastern time Sunday night/Monday morning as I write this from the Hilton-Dulles hotel. I should be in bed, as I have to get up in 4 and a half hours to go to the airport and wait on standby for a flight back to Harrisburg. Instead, I need to process a little bit of my day.

I think there is an incredibly common narrative of “horrible travel.” Anyone who experiences delays and cancellations and whatnot can easily relate the story with drama and flair, as if it was the “worst thing” that could ever happen to you. I want to make it clear that my intention in writing about my travel adventures today is not to evoke pity or rouse tempers. I just think it’s all kind of interesting. This post is just about my weird travel experiences, and hopefully you’ll find my stories and analysis as interesting as I do.

First, I have to say that I think it’s really unfortunate that I’m stuck in DC, while many of my colleagues who call DC home are stuck in Dallas. It’s just bizarre that I had a flight through DC that wasn’t canceled—and not only did it get here, but it had empty seats on it—but my friends and colleagues who would have been satisfied to get no further than DC didn’t make it here. There’s nothing to be said about why it happened, but it seems worth noting. I certainly can’t complain that I only got to DC when some folks might not get out of Dallas until Tuesday.

A colleague of mine had the same DC connection to his home destination. We both had seen that it was still on-schedule despite knowing many of our fellow Creating Change participants had had their DC flights canceled. We decided to go to the airport early in hopes of seeing if there were alternate connections that could still get us to our home destinations. When we got there, we were both told that even our connecting flights were still good to go, and more importantly, we weren’t really given the choice to rebook. If it’s going, it’s going, and that’s just how the airline works.

I could be really pissed about this. After all, our intuitions turned out to be correct, as we would learn upon landing at Dulles that both our connecting flights were canceled. When the airline knows that a ton of DC flights have been canceled, why wouldn’t they air on the side of caution? Maybe they want to keep our business, but also, why wouldn’t they? It’s easy to complain that in the “Age of Information” we should be able to know for sure the status of flights. Surely, though, if we didn’t trust air-traffic controllers to make that call, air travel would be more frustrating and complicated than it currently is.

The pilot informed us that we would be one of the first flights to land at Dulles and that they only had one runway open. At first, I kind of felt special. We were the lucky flight that got to land. But runways are necessary for both landings and take-offs, so it didn’t bode well for the amount of flights that were probably still going in and out of Dulles.

I wondered if the fact that there were at least three military personnel on our flight contributed to its privilege to land in DC. I’ll never know the answer, but I think it’s a worthwhile hypothesis. (I saw another servicemember in the hotel tonight, and he said he’s bound for Iraq for his 7th tour of duty, so I wonder if multiple new deployments are taking place.)

Truly, the quality of the tarmac at Dulles was of concern. Our runway landing was fine, but our taxiing was quite rough. The tarmac was clearly coated with padded snow and ice and it was the most unusual taxi I ever experienced.

It didn’t take long to get a standby flight for tomorrow morning, but I had to wait in a very long and slow line to make sure my bag was retrieved and to get a voucher for a hotel discount. The folks in the line were not happy. Many were by themselves and so didn’t have a companion with whom to socialize (myself included, as my colleague’s situation was not as optimistic and he is now pursuing other means of transportation). Tempers were high.

The situation is what the situation is. Some folks were upset and looking for answers and explanations. Others had accepted the fact they weren’t leaving DC tonight but were frustrated they had to wait so long to get answers about what they’d be doing next. Having gotten some good (and much needed) sleep on the flight from Dallas, I was moderately chipper and was hoping I could make my own relaxed state contagious. I quietly hummed “Don’t Stop Believin’” and “Always Look On the Bright Side of Life,” secretly hoping they’d catch on and the whole customer service queue would break out in song. It didn’t happen, but I think people were somewhat calmed by my smile and relaxed swaying.

One man was not happy. He was from Montreal and was furious that something like weather would be an excuse for the airline not to pay for his lodgings, let alone keep his flight from taking off. After making it clear that this would never happen at the Montreal airport, he totally berated the poor agent and his overseeing manager as well. The manager calmly answered that the problem was the weather. He acknowledged that the man was right and admitted that Dulles is not prepared (or more importantly, equipped) to respond to three feet of snow efficiently. That didn’t change the fact that the underlying problem was the weather. The man was sort of committed to being pissed, but the manager’s calm (and slightly snarky) response was impressive and did help pacify the man at least slightly.

To give you an idea of how complicated the weather makes things for the airport I took a picture of the scene from the baggage claim, I took a picture with my phone. There were literally bags everywhere. I can only imagine what causes this. Some people probably abandon their bags by choosing alternate forms of transportation. Some people might end up flying without their bags. Some bags might have ended up flying without their owners. As an outside observer, it’s difficult to grasp exactly what happened. Still, it was a sight to see. The picture I took does not do it justice. And keep in mind, I took this picture at 10:30 PM. Downstairs there was a line at least 100 people long to get taxis to DC locations, especially since some of those folks might not be going anywhere until Tuesday, at the earliest. This isn’t an ideal situation for anyone, but there were some airport staff working incredibly hard (and enduring a lot of duress) to try to accommodate folks, and I commend them for that.

The hotel clearly does the same. My room here at the Hilton is nicer than the one I had in Dallas the past four nights and I’m paying half the price for it. They also had the free airport shuttle running regularly, and served hot dinner until midnight. I’m sure their staff is tight given lots of people are still stuck and it’s hard to get around, but they have done much to ease the frayed nerves of stressed travelers.

On the shuttle to the hotel, I again tried to maintain some positive attitude. I offered to my eight co-passengers, “This is fun, isn’t it?” I felt particularly bad for a mother who was traveling with her son. Probably about eight years old, her son was desperately tired, and when we were in line to check-in he even started to cry—not a whiny cry but a sincere cry of exhaustion and confusion. I can only imagine the stress of dealing with delays and hotels compounded by a young child who just isn’t equipped to deal with those circumstances.

I made a lovely connection as a result of my cheerful conversation on the shuttle. I met a marketing executive of sorts from northern California who was on her way home after sailing around the Virgin Islands for the past week or two. Our rooms were across from each other, so we agreed to meet for a drink. Despite being two very different people, we had some lovely conversation. You’d think I’d be tired of networking from five days of Creating Change, but it wasn’t networking. It was just two people making the most of the circumstances.

It’s now almost 2 AM, and I’ll get barely four hours of sleep before I return to the airport and try to make my way back to Harrisburg. I’ll sign off here, but I just want to offer a final thought to make some meaning of the stories I just told.

In life, we only get the days we get. The days that aren’t spent doing the things we think we should be doing are no less a part of our lives than the other days. I’m not thrilled I’m stuck in a hotel in a city overwhelmed with snowfall, but who cares? I can still make something positive out of it. Pouting or venting would do nothing to make me feel better and would only reinforce the frustration of those around me. If we all just took the time to look out for each other and realize we’re all going through these experiences together, I think we’d all be better able to respond to complications with the optimism of opportunity.

This wasn’t what I was expecting, but you know what? It’s a new adventure.

You Have To Leave Creating Change To Start Creating Change

Well, for some reason I’m getting back to Pennsylvania tonight via one of the only flights still going to Washington, DC. I feel really bad for some of my colleagues who will be stuck in Dallas perhaps as late as Tuesday. For now, I’m reprising my post-from-the-airport as I leave the National Conference on LGBT Equality.

The trick about Creating Change is that it truly is a refreshing experience, but the challenge isn’t just to ride that fresh energy, but to utilize it. Yes, there is the withdrawal of saying farewell to a queer space and going back to the world of heterosexual privilege. But there is also the thrill of knowing that you have a ton of new information and skills to channel into important advocacy work. We go to Creating Change to learn and connect so that we truly can spend the next year creating change.

My “liveblogging” of the conference will continue this week as I continue to share many of the sessions I attended, as well as a new nine-profile Faces For Equality collection I’ll roll out over the next few weeks. I met some amazing people and reconnected with many others. I hope to share as much of this experience with you, my reader, as I can. So many of us have that passion for making a difference in the world through queer advocacy, and the more we share and learn from each other, the better.

Stay tuned for a whole lot more coverage from the Creating Change 2010 conference as well as more of the regular ZFb coverage you can expect!

Rea Carey: WE ARE STILL RECRUITING!

Yesterday, Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, presented her “State of the Movement” address here at Creating Change. Jeremy Hooper has the full text of the speech over on Good As You (I was sitting next to him as he posted yesterday!). Below I’ll offer a few highlights and thoughts on her speech.

First, I have to say I really appreciated the strong approach she took with President Obama. Last year when we convened, he had just been inaugurated and our hopes were high, despite Rick Warren’s invocation. This year, Carey didn’t hedge on the fact that he hasn’t pulled through for us.

The Bush-Cheney years were behind us. Change was coming. It was no longer a question of “if” but “when.”

And for those of us who had been fighting for so long — and that’s every one of us in this room and millions of others not with us here today — “when” was sounding pretty good.

But now, it’s a year into this new administration, a year into this new Congress. There have been glimmers of the advocate, but certainly not fierceness.

Speeches aren’t change, change is more than words; change is action.

She went on to echo many of the themes Martin Luther King, Jr. often offered in his speeches.

And when it comes to equality, full equality, you either have it or you don’t.

And we don’t.

As per usual, she highlighted many of our successes from the past year, including achieving marriage equality in many states, successfully fighting attempts to roll back discrimination protections, and successfully attaining new protections in other cities. Maine was a loss, but it does not represent the progress of our movement, and Carey added that we will regain marriage equality everywhere.

We have an opportunity to lead. It’s up to us to define what must happen next, what will happen next.

If we do not step up with an expansive view of what it means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, if we don’t explain that being LGB or T is simply being human, we will be making a mistake.

I particularly enjoyed it when she took an anti-gay organization to task:

Last year, the right-wing organization Americans for Truth about Homosexuality (and believe me, there isn’t a whole lot of truth there) used a quote from my annual speech here at Creating Change in one of its fundraising letters. Like good activists, we turned around and used its letter in our fundraising efforts. Well, Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, here is your money quote this year: “We are still recruiting! We are recruiting a movement of people who care about freedom, justice and equality. And we will not stop until all people can live their lives without fear of persecution, prosecution or attack because of who they are or who they love. We are still recruiting!”

However, despite the fervor of her speech, I was a little concerned that there was absolutely no mention of the National Equality March.

I actually encountered Rea in an elevator later in the day and asked her about it. She joked that the original speech was an hour and a half long and reminded me that The Task Force was incredibly supportive in the NEM and also participated. This I knew and was glad for, and definitely is representative of the way NGLTF sets itself apart from HRC.

Still, of all the things to omit, it seemed like a biggie. Mainstream media reports estimated that 200,000 people participated in the National Equality March and accompanying rally. That’s 100x more people than are here at Creating Change this weekend. It was a phenomenal event that had the same uncompromising message of equality that Carey was presenting in this speech.

To me, it seemed odd, and I can’t quite understand it. I wonder if it came down to the fact that NGLTF was not an official partner/organizer of the NEM. While I appreciate that she trimmed down her speech, I think this stark omission still speaks to the way that many of our advocacy organizations are still quite siloed and feel it necessary to control their own messages and be wary of the connections they draw.

Despite this, Carey’s speech was still a rousing call to action, our yearly refresher on the vitality of our movement and the importance of our continued commitment to it.

I encourage you to read the full speech.

Five Important Similarities Between LGBT Americans and American Immigrants

The opening plenary session at Creating Change featured Thomas Saenz, President of the Mexican-American legal Defense and Education Fund. He spoke at length about comprehensive immigration reform, reminding us that undocumented immigrants and the queer community have significant overlap and commonalities. (THERE ARE LGBT IMMIGRANTS AND THEY HAVE FAMILIES!)

In fact, all weekend, immigration has proven to be an important and salient issue. It’s important to be allies to other causes, of course, but the connection between these two issues informs the salience of talking about comprehensive immigration reform at a conference on LGBT Equality.

Saenz pointed out to us that there are five significant similarities to consider. Here they are, paraphrased:

1. Many members of both communities have to live in silence and the shadows about their status, with fear of violence and hate crimes and anxiety about whether law enforcement will step up and protect them.

2. Both communities have experienced the phenomenon of being characterized as single-issue movements.

3. Both face forces that seek to discount them in the 2010 census.

4. Both are victims of the “deficit of courage” in Washington, DC.

5. Significant portions of our communities remain outside constitutional law by not being identified as suspect classes.

Much in the same way we’ve seen in the Prop 8 trial that the court is the only check available against a voter initiative, there is similarly not due process for the immigration system. Congress has all of the power to determine how folks can immigrate.

One of the unifying opportunities to create progress for both our communities is the Uniting American Families Act, a bill that often goes unnoticed as an LGBT issue.

The most important goal is achieving full equality. We have to get there one way or another. Saenz pointed out that “We must demand comprehensive immigration reform, whether it’s one bill or many small ones.”

These issues aren’t just about sexual orientation or race and ethnicity. We are talking about families.

Real Inclusion is Proactive

I just want to take a minute to offer some thought about inclusion here at the Creating Change conference.

While it is the national conference on LGBT equality, there is an extensive commitment to recognizing and celebrating the intersecting diversity.

The opening plenary opened with an explanation about translation. This year, in addition to providing interpreters for ASL, The Task Force has invested in the technology necessary to provide interpretation for Spanish.

In addition, the conference co-chairs Russell Roybal and Susan Hyde took some time to make sure we all knew how to be considerate of people with physical disabilities, such as making sure hallways are accessible and that people don’t interact with folks’ guide dogs.

It makes me incredibly proud to be a part of a conference that is so committed to making sure everyone can participate. True inclusion doesn’t discriminate.