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2014 Bios

Meet some of the BlaqOUT Conference planning crew!
These are some of the important people that helped put on the Inaugural BlaqOUT Conference 2014.
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: Sy Simms
Position:  Professional Staff
Affiliation: UC Riverside

"The BlaqOUT Conference is a chance for us to learn, teach, empower, and support each other as members of a larger Black/African/African American Community."







Name: Nancy Tubbs
Position:  Professional Staff
Affiliation: UC Riverside

"The BlaqOUT Conference to me is about creating courageous spaces."





Name: Gabriel Maldonado
Position: Executive Director/CEO
Affiliation: TruEvolution, Inc.


"The BlaqOUT Conference is an innovative space empowering leaders to engage in dialogue, strategy, and give voice to the issues experienced by the Black LGBT community."





Name: Sanisha Meador
Year: UCR Alum
Affiliation: UC Riverside

"The BlaqOUT Conference means a lot to me, because it will give my community, on the West Coast, a space to address issues going on within our community for an entire a day rather than just 45 minutes of caucus space (Although, a day is not long enough as well). I am excited and ecstatic to be contributing to making a space for fellow queer Blaqs to use as they see fit."


Name: Andre J Molette
Position: Prevention Training Specialist
Affiliation: AIDS Project Los Angeles Health & Wellness

"The BlaqOUT gathering is all about creating safe spaces for Queer & Trans* folks. For my knowledge this is one of the first spaces where we can honor our cultural traditions, self-care and heritage while working on advocacy, racial economic justice and spirituality."



Name: Ashlee D. Turner
Year: Junior
Affiliation: UC Riverside

"The BlaqOUT Conference means having a safe space to express and embrace ALL aspects of our identities. It is a space for us to start the healing individually, culturally, spiritually, and also for our ancestors. A conference that caters to Blaq LGBTQ folks and is for us by us is just amazing and I look forward to the beautiful experiences, conversations, and stories that we will share with each other. I have hope that we will begin to write our own narratives and share our own stories where we control the content."



Name: DeeJay Brown
Position: Professional Staff
Affiliation:  UC Irvine

"Creating space where we can express how our vulnerability and our resiliency can be radical places both for ourselves as Queer* individuals and how our power and solidarity can create more space for the Larger Queer Community. We have an immense power to transform and self determine who we are and it is awesome to just bear witness of who we are when we join in community."


Name: Jonathan Keefe
Year: First 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."