Meet some of the BlaqOUT Conference planning crew!
These are some of the important people that are helping to plan the
Second BlaqOUT Conference 2015
The following quotes are their responses to the question
"What does the BlaqOUT Conference mean to you?"
Name: Toi Thibodeaux
Position: Professional Staff
Affiliation: UC Riverside
"The BlaqOUT Conference to me is all about Empowerment, Visibility, Support, Education, Advocacy, Community."
Name: Gabriel Maldonado
Position: Executive Director/CEO
Affiliation: TruEvolution, Inc.
“BlaqOut is not just a conference or a space for organizing community, but it is an intentional act of self-determination for the Black LGBTQ to co-create spaces that organize, educate, mobilize, and offer healing to our community."
Name: Jonathan Keefe
Year: Second Year
Affiliation: UC Riverside
"The BlaqOut Conference is a space for members of the Black/African-American LGBT community to discuss, share experiences, and heal as a collective group. Together we will be able to overcome the shadows of the past and lay the foundation for a brighter future."
Name: Jamaul Weaver
Status: UCR Undergraduate
Affiliation: UC Riverside
"It's a space where I can converse with individuals who face similar issues such as gender expression, relationship complications and racism while also identifying within the LGBTQIA collective."
Name: Sanisha Meador
Year: UCR Alum
Affiliation: UC Riverside
The BlaqOUT Conference means many different things to me. It is also my world! It means a space when I can be validated, loved, and affirmed. I can be myself fully and, can safely and courageously work on myself. I also believe that this is a space when my community can work on issues with out the rest of the world butting in.
Name: Nancy Tubbs
Position: Professional Staff
Affiliation: UC Riverside
"The BlaqOUT Conference to me is about creating courageous spaces."
Name: Khalil
Position: Undergraduate Student
Affiliation: UC Riverside
“The Blaqout Conference, to me, is space where Black people who identify as LGBTQ can come together to discuss topics and issues that only affect us. It is a safe space for us to communicate with one another and to feel a sense of community.”
Name: Megan Rush
Position: Professional Staff
Affiliation: UC Riverside
"The BlaqOUT Conference to me is an amazing opportunity for many students, who often do not have spaces like these, to meet and create community.”
