Show Them Solidarity!
The 17th Annual Creating Change Conference Will Be Held in St. Louis Missouri
A statement by Matt Foreman, Executive Director, Sue Hyde, Conference Director and Rea Carey, Deputy Executive Director.


Over the last week, we've received a few letters asking that the 17th Annual Creating Change Conference be moved from St. Louis, Missouri because voters in that state voted overwhelmingly on August 3 to amend the state's Constitution to prohibit the recognition of same sex marriages. We won't do that and here's why.

Creating Change is when our movement comes together every year for inspiration, to learn skills, and to give advice and information to community leaders and organizers. Every year, the conference is a source of solace to those of us who have lost an important battle and a site of celebration for those of us who have won.

Our friends and colleagues in Missouri were the first in the nation to face a statewide campaign to enact an anti-gay constitutional amendment since the historic Massachusetts Goodridge decision late last fall. With scant resources, they fought valiantly and with great heart in an uphill battle against deeply held prejudice and antipathy towards our people. In fact, they turned it around in the city of St. Louis where voters rejected the amendment 53% to 47%, the only city in the state to do so.