It was both a privilege and honor for me to attend the recent "Creating Change" Conference held right here in San Diego during the month of November. I was there in behalf of Dignity/USA and Dignity/San Diego through the gracious assistance of both.

It was, at times, a bit overpowering to be in the midst of so many remarkable people who are in charge of so many wonderful projects and organizations, working behalf of lgbt communities. And this was a working conference. In fact this was the best-attended conference in the 10 years it has been held.

In 1987 the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force first sponsored this unique conference. It has since become a major vehicle for LGBT leaders from across the nation to gather and share ideas and hopes and frustrations, and to support one another in our noble efforts to bring about and to create change.

In addition to the two religious/spirituality workshops, a special three hour roundtable discussion of glbt religious leaders and volunteers, & 3 plenary sessions I had the opportunity to network with a lot of individuals. You can take great comfort in knowing that Dignity has tremendous name recognition the in the glbt community.

A couple of very significant decisions were made at this conference that is of direct interest to us as a religious/spiritual community. It was agreed that at the next Creating Change Conference next year (to be held in Pennsylvania) there will be a full one day institute devoted to glbt religious & spiritual issues. The second most important thing to happen at this conference, in my opinion, was the creation of a Spirituality Caucus Statement of Values. This was the direct result of the three-hour roundtable discussion in particular and the workshops in general.

That statement is reprinted below. It is the first time ever that such a statement has been attempted. It sets the tone for the importance of what we are doing to help create change in our society and in our churches, synagogues, and other places of worship. It is all the more remarkable when you realize that this statement represents a very diverse religious and spiritual collective of people.

LGBT Spirituality Caucus

Statement of Values: A Working Dialogue

NGLTF Creating Change Conference

San Diego, California

November 16, 1997

As lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) people, we publicly declare that our existence is part of the natural fiber of every society.  We have an inherent right to participate in the full spectrum of life's activities with Dignity and pride, and to realize our full spiritual potential.

We believe that every human being is imbued with an innate spirituality, which connects everyone to the whole of life, as well as to each other.

We believe that healing the wounds of our spiritual and religious disenfranchisement is of utmost importance to LGBT individuals and communities.  We further believe that such healing is intricately tied to our ability to achieve our highest potential, as well as to our attainment of full human Dignity.

We believe that sex and gender are divine gifts, intended to be celebrated, bring pleasure, and be shared.  We affirm the need to reflect and integrate sexuality, spirituality, and our communal response to justice.

We believe that all aspects of our lives, including social and political activism, are by their very nature spiritual.  We encourage our communities to advocate for social justice and to work with allies to end repression of all people.

We respect all spiritual paths and believe in the synergy of collaboration.  We encourage individuals and organizations from divers spiritual traditions to work together towards the liberation of all people from religious, economic, and social oppression.

We encourage LGBT communities to incorporate spirituality in the life of our movement.