The Summit agenda will be packed with powerful speakers, roundtable discussions, entertainment, caucuses, book and poetry readings and film previews. Activists will also be invited to participate in strategy working groups, the results of which will be presented to leaders of national organizations that work on lesbian rights issues.
The highlights of the Summit will include speakers like U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc.; Col. Grethe Cammermeyer, 1998 candidate for U.S. Congress; Urvashi Vaid, author of Virtual Equality and director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute; Willa Taylor, director of the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum; and Patricia Ireland, president of NOW.
Roundtable presenters will include a wide range of talented feminists, from young feminist Rebecca Kirkpatrick to long-time activists Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, who will receive NOW's Women of Courage Award for their pioneering work on lesbian rights.
Roundtable and working group topics will cover the gamut of feminist issues. They will address lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and trangender (LGBT) issues and incorporate multiple goals such as attaining economic justice; eliminating sexism, racism and able-ism; assuring freedom from violence; electing feminists to political office; and educating the nation on the importance of civil rights for all.
The Summit's co-sponsors represent a diverse cross-section of the feminist, LGBT and progressive movements. The list includes: PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum, the National Asian Women's Health Organization, Planned Parenthood, the African-American Women's Clergy Association, the National Latina Caucus, the American Psychological Association, the American Friends Service Committee, the World Congress of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Jewish Organizations, the Ms. Foundation and the Feminist Majority, among many others.
Entertainment on tap will include SONiA of disappear fear and singer Catie Curtis, as well as a dance.
"We are facing serious right-wing attacks on lesbian and gay civil rights -- now is the time to close ranks and fight our enemies. The Lesbian Rights Summit will give us the opportunity to start the new century with unprecedented strength and a unified Lesbian Rights agenda," Ireland said.