The National LGBTQ Task Force announced that they have retained We Are Rally and Lucky Break PR, two premiere LGBTQ owned and operated media, communications, and events firms, to guide the organization in its landmark 50th anniversary year. The anniversary will officially kick off at the organization’s annual Creating Change conference, February 17-21, 2023, at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, where thousands of LGBTQ+ and allied activists will come together in person for the first time since 2020.
The anniversary will be a year-long recognition and celebration of one of the oldest LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations in the movement. Founded in 1973, the Task Force has played a critical role in our fight for liberation and equity from the early days of the queer rights movement to today, always an uncompromising progressive queer voice in the LGBTQ+ community and a queer, intersectional leader in progressive movements.
Said Kierra Johnson, Executive Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force: “The National LGBTQ Task Force has been making history for half a century, and we will honor that legacy as we look to the next 50 years. The Task Force has played an important role in queer liberation from the earliest days of our movement, from being an effective advocate for the removal of homosexuality as a mental illness in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in 1973, our long and successful fight for the abolition of sodomy laws, organizing and participating in historic events like the first ever meeting of LGBTQ+ activists with the Carter administration in 1977 and facilitating grassroots movement building at our annual Creating Change conference. Our decades of work on issues, at the policy level and in the streets, has always been inclusive and intersectional on issues ranging from marriage equality to the rights of the trans community to racial and gender equity. In 1973 we experienced an expansion of our civil and human rights, but it wasn’t enough then, and it isn’t enough now. From the current extremism playing out in state legislatures to the crumbling and stalled federal protections of the most vulnerable, it is clear that our democracy and our humanity are under attack. Our work is far from done but our liberation is written in the stars. We are the progeny of freedom fighters and rabble rousers of magic makers and forgers of new paths. With us, the legacy continues. I cannot wait to see the ways our anniversary year offers opportunities to gather, learn, share, and grow as a community. Our history is too often erased, and it is our responsibility to honor those who came before us and work together to dream about how we will continue the movement towards liberation.”
“We are honored and excited to join the National LGBTQ Task Force, and help celebrate a 50 year legacy of advancing freedom, justice and equality for LGBTQ people,” said Manny Rivera, Principal at RALLY. “Our firm has deep roots working on issues of importance to the LGBTQ community. Through this new partnership, we are excited to recognize the progress of the movement, while setting the groundwork for another momentous 50 years for the Task Force.”
“What an honor to be part of such a momentous anniversary for an organization that has contributed so much towards the fight for LGBTQ+ equality,” said Mike Stommel, Founder of Lucky Break Public Relations. “We look forward to increasing the visibility surrounding the Task Force’s fifty-years of advocacy while helping to lay the foundation for another fifty-years of stewardship fighting for and protecting our hard-won rights and those rights we have yet to achieve.”
As we approach 2023, the Task Force will have more updates about events, programs, and opportunities to work with the Task Force to recognize this landmark anniversary. For more information or to speak with us about our plans, contact crenna@thetaskforce.org and follow us on social @thetaskforce on Twitter and Instagram and on Facebook.
The National LGBTQ Task Force advances full freedom, justice and equality for LGBTQ people. We are building a future where everyone can be free to be their entire selves in every aspect of their lives. Today, despite all the progress we’ve made to end discrimination, millions of LGBTQ people face barriers in every aspect of their lives: in housing, employment, healthcare, retirement, and basic human rights. For more information go to www.thetaskforce.org
