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Thursday, January 6, 2011

Equality Project Coming to Houston January 22nd

The Equality Project is coming to Houston, Saturday, January 22. Created by Equality Texas Foundation, the Equality Project is designed to teach members of the LGBT community and their allies to effectively communicate with elected officials. The January 22 training will be held at the Transgender Community Center at 604 Pacific from 10 am to 3 pm.

The training will focus on influencing members of the State Legislature during the upcoming legislative session, but will also give general information vital to communicating with any elected official. The Texas Legislature will convene on January 11, starting its biennial whirlwind of lawmaking. Several bills important to the LGBT community have already been filed, including legislation to end insurance discrimination and several anti-bullying measures.

I am honored that Equality Texas has asked me to lead this training. I attended the training the last time it was in Houston and was impressed by how thoughtfully the curriculum is constructed.

It is shocking to me that their are member of the State Legislature who claim they 'don't have any gay people in my district'. If they believe that it is our fault, as a community, for not communicating with them. This training aims to correct that.

Participants will learn about bills that have been filed and will review the process by which a bill becomes a law (the training is non-partisan and will not advocate for any particular legislation). Role-playing plays a major role in the training as participants practice speaking directly to lawmakers and staffers. Lunch will be provided.

The training is free but pre-registration is required to reserve space and so information can be gathered about each registrant's elected officials. To register, visit: http://bit.ly/g0px8j

Equality Project Training is presented by Equality Texas Foundation, with support from The Transgender Foundation of America, Houston Stonewall Young Democrats and the Houston GLBT Community Center.

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