Gay Men’s Health Summit
by G. Youngman, MBA, MPH
Welcome to the 2008 National Gay Men’s Health Summit:
Building a Multi- Issue, Multicultural Gay Men’s Health Movement.
If you are interested in leading a workshop at the Summit, please click here to submit a proposal.
If you are interested in sponsoring the Summit, or contributing to the scholarship fund, please email gmhs2008@gaycity.org. The Gay Men’s Health Summit is a national call to all LGBT/ queer communities and our important allies from across this nation to come together to build a multi-issue, multicultural gay men’s health movement focused on long-term strategic goals for gay/bi/queer men’s health and wellness. The Summit will cover a full range of health concerns, ranging from physical and mental health, to social issues, to community building and organizing, and is inclusive of all gay/bi/queer men, including those who identify as transgender or who have transgender histories. Read the national call to the Summit here.This summit seeks to encompass many of the same health issues and concerns as traditional health conferences, but with an important difference. This conference takes a look at those issues from the perspective of those who face disparities and discrimination in their everyday work lives and home lives. We engage in deep thinking and extended discussion about new responses and innovative programming. Earlier summits have been described as nurturing retreats, exciting think tanks, and moments of great enlightenment. Read more about the Summit here.
We create activities where we ask attendees to reach out across ethnic / racial, generational, and socioeconomic differences and begin to talk and work toward common goals. We avoid a focus on celebrities and big names, and we take plenty of time to relax, have fun, and make connections with other participants in meaningful ways.
While the summit will include speakers, panels, workshops, and organizing meetings, it will also include interactive exercises, experiential education activities, yoga and other forms of self-care, as well as creative festivities.
The 2008 Summit will take place October 17-21 at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel, located at 515 Madison Street.
Registration will open June 15, so check back for updates!
If you care about creating healthy, sustainable, multicultural communities for queer men, join us in Seattle for the National Gay Men’s Health Summit!!
For more information or to get involved, email gmhs2008@gaycity.org
Gay Men’s Health Summit | About the Summit
National Gay Men’s Health Summit 2008 October 17-21, 2008 Seattle, Washington.
Welcoming people of all genders who support the health and well being of men who are gay, bisexual, queer, or have sex with men.
This gathering’s events will encompass the needs of all gay/bi/queer men, including those who are FTM or transgender-identified.
OverviewHundreds of local, national, and international leaders working to support the health and wellness of our communities will join forces at Gay Men’s Health Summit 2008 in Seattle, Washington from October 17-21, 2008. Many people are anticipating this event with great enthusiasm. They are eager to come together in Seattle for several reasons:
- Many are ready to tackle the ways in which federal, state, and local politics are creating barriers to the health and wellness of our communities and want to engage in collective activism and strong advocacy on behalf of gay, bisexual, and queer health.
- Some people attended the earlier gay men’s health summits in 1999, 2000, 2003 and 2005 and found them to be rejuvenating retreats that expanded their commitment to our communities’ health and left them restored and reinvigorated.
- Others are eager for a chance to learn more about community building, sexual empowerment, and the health needs of gay, bisexual, and queer men in a comfortable and supportive setting.
- Some want to be present because this Summit is a landmark convergence of activists, health providers, policy-makers, and community leaders working on a range of issues impacting the health and wellness of our communities.
- Still others consider GMHS 2008 to be the launching pad for a new movement among gay, bisexual, queer, and transgender men committed to building caring, democratic, and activist communities.
All are welcome to join in this event and contribute to creating a powerful and comprehensive program that addresses the central features facing our communities at this time.
Objectives
This year’s program will prominently feature four key objectives:
- To strengthen our movement’s infrastructure by training a cohort of independent activists for leadership roles in local, regional, and national gay men’s health movements.
- To support and grow a powerful health promotion effort specifically targeting gay, bisexual, and queer men of color throughout the United States.
- To improve the sexual health of men who have sex with men by launching activism demanding research into technologies that reduce health risks associated with sex between men.
- To draw public attention to the health and wellness of middle-age and older gay men of all colors, classes, and ethnicities and to support the creation of various local and national projects designed to meet the needs of these men.
Following on the heels of other gay men’s health summits held in Boulder, Colorado, Raleigh, North Carolina and Salt Lake City, Utah -and after many local summits were held- Gay Men’s Health Summit 2008 is expected to expand our activist grassroots movement aimed at:
- Transforming the public conversation on gay male populations from one narrowly focused on disease and victimization to an expanded focus including our rich community assets, and our collective resistance and resilience.
- Strengthening local efforts supporting the health and wellness of gay, bisexual, and transgender men through the creation of grassroots health projects addressing not only HIV, but a broad range of health challenges facing our communities.
- Reviving our individual and collective spirits after the first two and a half decades of HIV efforts, recreating the infrastructure of a nurturing and life-affirming community, and restoring a broad community agenda focused as much on celebration and community-building as on responding to disease and discrimination.What to expectThis is no ordinary health conference. Instead, GMHS 2008 will attempt to cut through the professionalism and “attitude” of many gatherings focused on gay male health and create a warm, welcoming, and equitable climate at the summit. We come together in Seattle and move beyond our occupational identities and affiliations and reach across all kinds of differences – racial, generational, geographic, and political – to restore an original vision of gay liberation. So consider joining us in Seattle for an event that may be like nothing you’ve experienced before:
- It is a five-day retreat that will offer all of us plenty of time to rest, rejuvenate, and become recommitted to creating strong and resilient queer communities throughout the nation.
- It is an agenda-setting meeting where leading doctors, activists, health workers, policymakers, holistic healers, community organizers, and mental health professionals come together to grapple collectively with a range of health challenges facing gay men.
- It’s a space where we gather to talk about our communities with an emphasis on our assets and our collective strengths; a place where we talk about desire and sexual cultures thoughtfully and critically but also celebrate our bodies and acknowledge the powerful link between sex and the spirit. It’s as much about building community and reflecting on our identities as it is about HIV, cancer, depression or violence.
Join us in Seattle in October if you are eager to find a community of open hearted people who are seriously committed to improving the health and wellness of local communities.
Join with us as we continue to build a multi-issue, multicultural Gay Men’s Health Movement!
This is your opportunity as members of the Gay Community to learn more about your Health other HIV/AIDS. Everyone is welcome to attend
G. Youngman, MBA, MPH
They also feature on another night their signature Prime Rib as a special. Don’t miss any of the other succulent favorites at good prices. On Sundays they have one heck of a Brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. You can’t beat the price and the quality. Here is a little tip Chef Hugh told me the other day - If you ask for a special table close to the carving station you can watch Chief Hugh serving up his meat with a gusto I’ve never seen anywhere else.
The Lunch bar and restaurant open at 11:00 a.m. So come as you are, or dress up for a dining experience you wont forget for a long time. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to go to the Tropics when your in South Florida just take a side trip to Wilton Manors and there you are. It’s a Don’t miss place to go 7 days a week. .
We want to introduce you to the piano player that night – he was great, playing what the guests liked and sang with them.