Hey Fam,
I hope you all are ready for 2024 because BlaqOUTs cousin is! We didn't have the BlaqOUT Conference in 2023. But guess what? There is a Free Conference called BIDS, The Black Identity Development Youth Conference. It is a 1-day conference in Pomona, CA on February 24, 2024. The conference is for Black LGBTQ+ individuals up to the age of 24. But guess what a twist is there are three separate tracks.
- Youth Track ages (Ages 14-17)
- Young Adult Track (Ages 18-24)
- Adult, Community, or Provider Track (Ages 25+)
Check out the flyer attached. Look at those speakers at this FREE conference !!!
- George M. Johnson
- Hope Giselle
- BrandElsa Pereira
- Dr. Tori Weiston-Serdan
Register Now and come on out to BIDS. For questions or concerns, please email: BIDSConference2023@gmail.com.
Here is a little more from the conference organizers:
Dear Community,
The Inaugural Black Identity Development Youth (BIDS) Conference is designed to center the experiences and voices of the Queer and Gender diverse Black youth in the Inland Empire. It’s our love letter to Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+, and same gender loving (LGBTQ+/SGL) young people in the Inland Region. With this convening, we create space for Black Queer Trans youth and the community who supports them to converge, to educate and empower participants to embrace their intersectional identities. We acknowledge the toll the multilayered pandemic of covid isolation, racism, transphobia, and homophobia has had on this population. We recognize the rise in restrictive LGBT curriculum debates in school board meetings across California coupled with nationwide attempts to limit if and how race issues are taught, is anchored in preserving whiteness and white supremacy. This is our way of saying we see you and we celebrate you.
With this conference we move one step further in our commitment to use our platform to amplify and center the voices of Black youth in calling attention to systemic injustices that affect their lives and their futures. White Supremacy is a direct threat to the lives of all Black and POC youth.
It is our hope that by creating this space, we are actively engaged with young people in re-imagining and re-making youth-led, multigenerational spaces in which healthy dialogue, community-engaged education, and civic engagement create equitable environments for Black Queer/Trans youth and other youth of color to thrive in. Rainbow Pride remains committed to continue to provide safe places for Queer/Trans youth and their allies to be heard, be empowered to lead, and to heal. With your support, we hope to make this an event that will continue to shape the lives of those to which our organization serves.
In solidarity,
BIDS Planning Committee
