University of Texas Holds Its First Annual Queer Conference

From Friday, April 13th, to Sunday, April 15th, the University of Texas at Austin had its first annual Queer Texas Conference. Conceived in just six weeks by the Queer Students Alliance, this event was a major success, with more than 150 queer and queer-friendly students and activists getting trained, in addition to 20 conference staff members participating and more than 40 presenters speaking. One of the presenters was gender-rights activist and writer Kate Bornstein. All in all, there were 30 different sessions available for participants, covering all different types of subjects.

Jake Holbrook, the Public Relations Director and main fundraiser for the QTC, says he can’t believe how fast they were able to organize such a huge undertaking. “When we actually sat down and looked at the numbers, and took into account how quickly everything came together, it didn’t seem possible,” he said in the press release. “We pulled together a statewide conference in only six weeks all while keeping up with school and our other jobs.”

A responsible team made the conference possible, remarked Angie-Faye Brown, the co-director of the QSA, in the release. “I think all of the work on the conference, though difficult, was made easier by the team that we’ve assembled. In the fall, we grew from a staff of two to six, and then added eight internship positions in the spring. This conference wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of our board members and interns.”

This conference is just one of many impressive projects the QSA has put together since its creation. They have also published an almost 200-page report on the state of LGBTQI life at the college; sent eight representative students to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Creating Change Conference in Kansas City (which inspired the QTC); and got the Pride and Awareness Week celebrations together. Liz Adkins, web and graphics director for the Alliance, said she feels confident knowing they were able to pull off such a successful conference the first time around: “If the first one went this fabulously, I can’t wait to see where it goes next year and all those after!”