The Creating Change conference sponsored by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is the nation’s largest annual convening of LGBT rights activists. It came amidst a national sense of letdown and finger pointing over the passage of Proposition 8 in California which overturned a state Supreme Court ruling allowing same-sex marriage. In addition to the ban in California, voters also passed anti-gay marriage amendments in Florida and Arizona and approved a ban on gay adoption in Arkansas.

The conference looked at ways of reversing constitutional bans on gay marriage and promoting LGBT rights at the state level.  It also included sessions geared toward effecting change at the federal level, including passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, and inclusive ENDA and repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

“It has been a bittersweet year, but the state of our movement is engaged,” said NGLTF Executive Director Rea Carey in her “State of the Movement” address.

“You know, there are years when our movement for full equality jumps by leaps and bounds and other years when we toil to gain every inch of ground. This year has been a bit of both in which we made progress on the local and state level and our country elected its first person of color to the presidency! Yet our love for each other was attacked again by the majority at the ballot box; our right to marry was taken away in California; our transgender brothers and sisters were denied much needed protections; and federal policy continued to elude us under the evil empire… I mean the Bush administration.”

Among those who spoke at the conference was U.S. Rep Jared Polis (D). The openly gay member of Congress from Colorado said that the country is on the “threshold of making tremendous progress.”

“Americans are a good people who want to be fair. It’s up to your work every day in your communities to show people the way,” he told the convention.

Among the speakers were Dolores Huerta, the Co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union; Dr. Marjorie J. Hill, the Chief Executive Officer of Gay Men’s Health Crisis; and Rea Carey, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

But there also was time for some levity with participation from comic Kate Clinton and drag performers The Kinsey Sicks.

Organizers said it is the nation’s largest convening of LGBT rights activists.

“While the November 2008 election produced what many are hoping will be the most LGBT-friendly administration in history, it also produced some setbacks with the passage of anti-LGBT initiatives in states such as Arizona, Arkansas, California and Florida,” the NGLTF said in a statement.

Conference participants will hear first-hand accounts and perspectives from statewide LGBT leaders, discuss lessons learned and strategize on how to defeat future attacks against LGBT families.

An entire session at the conference will be devoted to Proposition 8, the California amendment which bars same-sex marriage, approved by voters last November.

The conference also includes sessions geared toward effecting change at the federal level, including passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, and inclusive ENDA and repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Other sessions will focus on LGBT rights battles in other states. Organizers said they hoped delegates would bring home with them the best ideas that have been successful elsewhere.

Among the speakers are Dolores Huerta, the Co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union; Dr. Marjorie J. Hill, the Chief Executive Officer of Gay Men’s Health Crisis; and Rea Carey, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

But there also will be time for some levity with participation from comic Kate Clinton and drag performers The Kinsey Sicks.