Conference

THURSDAY, JULY 19th OPENING DAY

PANEL
"Boxing Liberty:
Voices of Youth on Same-Sex Marriage and the Role of Religion in Politics"

SPEAKERS:
Marina Gatto, Youth Activist
Kim Clark, Filmmaker of "God and the Gays"

MODERATOR: Jessmaya Morales, Co-Director of Girl Fest Bay Area

TOPIC: The voices of youth are not often heard in the political arena, however, when youth speak out against injustice, their words may carry a weight that resounds, delivering a fresh outlook on how we employ democracy in America. Marina Gatto is an outspoken youth activist and leader of the same-sex marriage movement in the Bay Area. She defends her stance diligently while fighting to establish her family’s rights as a same-gendered household. This joint lecture will focus on Marina as a youth role model, her struggle in politics, and the opposition her movement faces with the religious right.

Kim Clark, producer of "God and the Gays," is a highly-acclaimed professional speaker whose interactive topics include "Comfort Zones are Slow Dream Killers". Her energy and ability to speak to everyone in the audience individually - no matter where they are in their life - places her in high demand by churches, schools and conference coordinators. Clark helps people connect the dots in their lives and guides them through the obstacle-ridden journey from what we know to feeling it, resulting in the "head to heart transfer."

SPECIAL PERFORMANCE BY: Andrea Gibson

...........

TIME
THURSDAY, JULY 19th 2007
6pm-8pm

PLACE
The LGBT Center, 3rd Floor Ceremonial Room
1800 Market Street at Octavia

Click here for map & location info

FRIDAY, JULY 20th 2007

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Farley, Director, Prostitution Education and Research
Lt. Mary Petrie, San Francisco Police Department
Anne Bissell, Author, "Memoirs of a Sex-Industry Survivor
Nola Brantley, Motivating, Inspiring, Supporting and Serving Sexually Exploited Youth, Inc.

MODERATOR: Kathryn Xian, Co-Founder Girl Fest Hawaii and Girl Fest Bay Area & Member of the Hawaii Anti-Trafficking Task Forces

TOPIC: Through a multi-faceted panel Girl Fest’s goal is to illustrate the intersections of exploitation in the sex industry – pornography, prostitution & sex slavery. The voices of survivors, law enforcement, activists and researchers all come together to discuss the differing aspects of the modern day slavery in San Francisco that is tied into the porn and prostitution industries.

SPECIAL POETRY READING BY: Agneta Falk

PANEL
"Sistaz, My Sistaz:
Women & Men Addressing Misogyny and
Reclaiming Hip-Hop"

TOPIC: Hip-Hop is one of the most influential and popular art forms for younger generations today. However, the commodification and exploitation of Hip-Hop music has created a less-than-safe enviornment for young women coming of age. Misogynist lyrics and videos in mainstream Hip-Hop expose youth to behavior and language which are often detrimental to their own personal relationships and views on gender relations. This marketing and fleecing of a once socially conscious artform born from a need to express and unite communities through art, has become one of the major influences in forming sexist views within communities of color.

Join us in discussing how women and men in the Hip-Hop movement can address and reclaim a commodified artform infiltrated by big-business and return Hip-Hop to its root-culture. Mystic, Medusa, Jennifer Johns, Kim Sims-Battiste, And Akil the MC represent old-school and new-school in their knowledge of this movement. Moderated by Aya De Leon.