After a 20-year hiatus, a summit to celebrate and inform the LGBTQ community in New Mexico kicks off in Albuquerque Thursday.
A coalition of advocacy groups, Equality New Mexico, American Civil Liberties Union-New Mexico and Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, are hosting the summit. About 150 people from more than a dozen counties in New Mexico are expected to attend.
In the 1990s, a coalition hosted the summit every year to work toward change within the state. But due to funding issues, the summit went dormant about 20 years ago. As part of EQNM’s 30th anniversary last year, the organization announced it would renew the summit this year.
EQNM Program Manager Nathan Saavedra said “bringing queer and trans folks together to develop community and see each other and be in that space,” is part of the reason for the summit. He said that, especially in rural parts of the state, it’s harder for LGBTQ individuals because they aren’t able to see others who “exist like them, out and proud.” So having that opportunity at the summit is especially important, he said.
Besides being seen and heard, the summit is bringing together members of the LGBTQ community in New Mexico to provide education and information on how, among other things, a person might consider what it’s like to run for a local office or learn advocacy skills. Lena Weber-Salazar, reproductive rights policy advocate of ACLU-NM, said that the summit takes place with the backdrop of a historic presidential election coming in November.
If former President Donald Trump wins another term, he has promised to roll back protections put into place for LGBTQ individuals. During Trump’s previous term, his administration rescinded a transgender student guidance plan that former President Barack Obama had issued during his term, among other efforts to roll back protections for LGBTQ individuals and students.
“No matter what the outcome of elections are, there will be challenges our communities will continue to face,” Weber-Salazar said.
Weber-Salazar said New Mexico has some of the strongest protections for LGBTQ individuals in the country, but the ACLU has tracked hundreds of proposed anti-LGBTQ pieces of legislation in other states, as well as anti-LGBTQ legislation that has passed in other states in recent years.
Weber-Salazar said maintaining solidarity against such efforts in New Mexico is a part of the summit’s goals.
“Our strength comes from community and spending time together and having these conversations. Definitely, it translates into helping us to maintain the level of protections we already have in this state and increase queer justice in New Mexico,” she said.
The summit will also hold workshops on how to organize in local communities, how to influence state and local policy, and how to have difficult conversations about LGBTQ issues within local communities.
Saavedra said the summit will not only contain information sharing on advocacy and political-skill building, but that there will also be workshops on things such as meditation, self-help and there will be two drag queen shows.
He said the summit seeks to educate attendees on a timeline history for LGBTQ history in the state.
Although there is no clear plan to resume the summit as a yearly gathering, both Saavedra and Weber-Salazar said there is hope it will continue in the future.
The summit runs from Aug. 1 to Aug. 3 in Albuquerque.