The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center will host their first-ever summit focused on domestic-violence issues impacting the LGBT community next month. The LGBTQ Summit: Opening Minds, Opening Doors will be held from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. June 12 at The Community Room at Giant Food Store, 3301 Trindle Road in Camp Hill. PCAR technical assistance coordinator Katie Taylor chairs the internal PCAR/NSVRC work group that offers assistance to the more-than 50 crisis centers in Pennsylvania and backs the project that examine issues of sexual assault and violence through an LGBT lens. “One of our goals was to hold a summit, a miniature conference specifically for the 50 centers and their staff and affiliated professionals who would like to learn more about sexual violence and the LGBTQ committee,” Taylor said. Planning for the summit began last year and funding has already been secured for next year’s summit by the Office of Violence Against Women, said Taylor. “We hope to expand and grow this into something that is much bigger.” She said there is a 50-participant cap on attendance, but registration is still open until June 5. Taylor said sexual-violence centers, colleges, universities and LGBT organizations have shown interest in the summit. Taylor said she hopes the summit heightens awareness that sexual violence also exists among LGBT communities. “The goal is to put the LGBT community and the issue of sexual violence on the radars of rape-crisis centers and provide a safe space for allies and folks who identify as LGBTQ to come together to discuss issues relating to sexual violence,” she said. “It is an all-day summit and the focus really is at an introductory/intermediate level and for anyone who wants to learn more.” The summit will feature such sessions as LGBTQ 101, Gender Identity and Sexual Violence against Transgender People, Increasing Agency Capacity to Work With/In LGBTQ Communities and Serving the Needs of LGBTQ Survivors. The summit will also feature action-planning roundtables on topics such as LGBTQ Youth Engagement, Capacity and Outreach in the LGBTQ Community, Serving LGBTQ Survivors and Transgender 101. Speakers will include Terri Hamrick, a trainer with the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Division of HIV/AIDS; Joyce Lukima, vice president of field services for PCAR/NSVRC; Louie Marven, executive director of the LGBT Center of Central Pennsylvania; Jen Przewoznik, prevention-education coordinator at North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault; and Jeanine Ruhsam, trans advocate and president of TransCentralPA. Registration for the summit is $40 for for-profit professionals and $35 for nonprofit professionals. Taylor said she hopes the summit educates domestic-violence workers about the work that remains to be done on sexual violence in the LGBT community. “We want to put this on people’s radar and talk about issues, bring people together, collaborate and network. We hope that people invite PCAR staff to come into their organizations and programs to give more pointed, specific long-term training on how they can work with the LGBTQ community.” For more information on the summit, visit www.pcar.org.
Newsletter Sign-up