2023 LGBTQIA+ Health Summit

Co-organized by: Pride Center of Vermont, Out in the Open, and Outright Vermont

The LGBTQIA+ Health Summit is a place to get together to explore, query, and celebrate the Health & Wellness needs, projects, and strategies of our communities in an environment that is dedicated to and focused on our community and our collective LGBTQIA+ lived experiences. We will provide opportunities to bridge LGBTQIA+ people, faemily, and caregivers to direct service and care providers in hopes of better meeting the holistic needs of our communities.

Our goal is to give our various communities – embracing the intersections of the many identities we hold – an environment to connect and learn from each other. You will have the chance to compare notes on what is happening around the state, dig into questions of community care as well as systems change, and generally address the gap between care providers and community members.

The Summit will create a collaborative space to host the many intersections of health justice within the LGBTQIA+ people-centered care models. There will be healthcare provider specific content, community learning/practice spaces, lived-experience storytelling, and social convergence spaces that help strengthen all our relationships. An additional aim of the Summit is to increase capacity and ensure access to quality, culturally-affirming medical and mental health care for traditionally underserved communities, including LGBTQIA+ people who hold intersecting identities and create affinity spaces specific to intersecting LGBTQIA+ identities.

Participants will be asked to wear masks in all indoor spaces (except the dining areas) at VT Tech College.

Registration is NOW OPEN!

We are excited to invite you to our first LGBTQIA+ Health Summit, happening on April 22, 2023. The conference will be hybrid, which means you can participate virtually, in-person, or both. Please note that not all sessions may be offered both online and in-person, and some session recordings may become available virtually following the Summit date. If for some reason we are unable to host the Summit in-person, then we will update our presenters and attendees accordingly as we transition to a fully remote event.

We want YOU — and people from across the Vermont region to come together and share insights and experiences with a focus on LGBTQIA+ Health, Wellness, and Justice. Whether you are an LGBTQIA+ person, faemily member, caregiver, or provide direct care and services to the LGBTQIA+ community and youth, we want you to join us! 

If you are planning to attend in-person and need travel assistance, please contact our Summit organizers at Summit@pridecentervt.org.

The Summit is a gathering to discuss healthcare for LGBTQ+ people and address health justice issues. The event will have various activities, such as sessions for healthcare providers, opportunities for community members to learn and share experiences, and social spaces. The goal is to improve access to quality and culturally-sensitive healthcare for underrepresented groups within the LGBTQ+ community, including those with multiple identities.

Our Summit is scheduled for Saturday, April 22, 2023 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Vermont Technical College in Randolph, VT.  This will be hybrid Summit, which means you can participate in sessions that are either virtual, in-person, or both. Please note that not all sessions may be offered both online and in-person, and some session recordings may become available virtually following the Summit date.

We encourage all LGBTQIA+ people in Vermont, the people that love us, and the people that care for us to attend sessions about our collective Health, Wellness, and Justice goals. Sessions will be divided into audience-based groupings. There will be sessions for LGBTQIA+ people, sessions for healthcare and wellness providers that serve LGBTQIA+ populations, and sessions that are open to anyone.

If you are able to participate in-person, our Summit will be hosted at Vermont Tech’s scenic 544-acre campus location in the geographical center of Vermont, just off exit 4 on I-89. This space will offer us the ability to host indoor, outdoor, and safely distanced meeting opportunities for all attendees. Most of the indoor spaces have hybrid capabilities to allow for hybrid participation.

Check out the VTC Campus Map here.

Countdown to Summit!

Day(s)

:

Hour(s)

:

Minute(s)

:

Second(s)

Call for Proposals

Read on to learn more about the goals of the conference and what we are looking for in session proposals.

Proposal submissions are due by Midnight on Friday, February 17, 2023.

We will let you know if your proposal has been accepted by the end of February 2023.

Ready to submit your session proposal? You can do that here:

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

The short answer here is “if you care about LGBTQIA+ health and have something to say about it, we want you to share!”  We are seeking LGBTQIA+ people and the providers actively serving us to submit proposals.

That said, there are some more helpful and concrete pointers below.

Speakers reflective of our LGBTQIA+ community

We welcome sessions from first-time facilitators, from long-term providers, and everyone in between. We believe that expertise is a shared experience within community and that lived-experience brings depth to our learning. Whatever your background and experience, we want to balance hearing about new approaches in addition to tried-and-tested initiatives. We especially welcome sessions from those whose stories are traditionally untold or unheard in Summit spaces like this.

Mix of roles and perspectives

Sessions from the medical community, social justice advocates, people with lived-experience, and direct service staff – in addition to community leaders and elders – will all be valuable to our attendees. We also recognize the harm that our LGBTQIA+ community receives in pursuit of healthcare therefore some spaces at the conference will be for LGBTQIA+ peoples only.

Diverse audience

Likewise, we thrive in the diversity of our community, and we encourage all LGBTQIA+ people in Vermont, the people that love us, and the people that care for us to attend sessions about our collective Health, Wellness, and Justice goals. Sessions will be divided into audience-based groupings. There will be sessions for LGBTQIA+ people, sessions for healthcare and wellness providers that serve LGBTQIA+ populations, and sessions that are open to anyone. You should think about WHOM your specific topic speaks to and HOW you want to bring that info best to them.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

Diverse topics

Community Health, Wellness, and Justice are intentionally broad categories to allow for more nuanced conversations. As queer and trans people, we understand that transformational change is achieved through various strategies; both inside, outside, and all around the box. We want to hear a variety of viewpoints, so we limit sessions to 30 minute or 1 hour intervals.  

Practicality and authenticity

We prefer talks backed by LGBTQIA+ lived-experiences and community involvement  versus talks about theory and conventional healthcare models. Too often we get stuck focusing on the inequities that our communities face rather than strengths and interventions that work in our favor.

Audience awareness

When crafting proposals, remember that you are going to be talking to a group with a mix  of backgrounds, skill sets, identities, experiences, and professions. Your talk does not have to be relevant to everyone, but it should be relevant to the people most impacted and should not make too many assumptions about what people already know. If you are making those assumptions about what your audience knows, it helps everyone if you state them up front explicitly.

PROPOSAL SELECTION PROCESS

The selection panel will consist of Summit organizers from the hosting organizations: Pride Center of Vermont, Out in the Open, and Outright Vermont. The panel will review all proposals and curate a schedule of diverse session offerings.

PRESENTATION FORMAT

Sessions will be scheduled in 30-minute or 1-hour blocks. As the Summit will likely be hybrid, some sessions may be pre-recorded, live & in-person, or recorded in-person and shared after the Summit date. We will offer resources and support for in-person and recorded sessions, as needed.

SPEAKER BENEFITS & LOGISTICS

Honorariums for LGBTQIA+ presenters will be available by request. Please indicate on your proposal submission if you want to be considered to receive this financial support.

**You’ll hear from us with our proposal decisions by the end of February 2023.**

All session materials and slides will need to follow our ‘Summit Participation Agreements’, which will be made available to all participants and presenters upon registration. If you have any concerns or questions regarding your content material, please ask our team for clarification.

QUESTIONS?

If you have any questions, please email us at Summit@pridecentervt.org and let us know – our team is here to help!