Open Space conference-within-a-conference for gay youth (long)

Sat Nov 19 10:37:35 PST 2005

Hello, all -

So last week I supported a great new facilitator of Open Space in his
first OS ever.  

Robby Hill is 20 years old, and when I was asked to bring Open Space to
a national conference - but specifically to the aged 24-and-under
participants within that conference -- I wanted to find and support a
facilitator who was of the age and culture of the young people we were
serving.  

This was for the Creating Change conference, put on by the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force (a US national organization which helps
policy-makers, educators, legislators and activists work for gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender peoples' equal rights, equal access
and safety from hate violence).  Last year, the youth participants at
this skills- and community-building conference said that they were
frustrated by not finding workshop topics that reflected their needs.
They didn't see themselves reflected in the choice of keynote speakers
or panelists, and they didn't feel that the dynamic of the conference
invited them to contribute their own wisdom and experiences.  A great
opportunity to bring in Open Space.  So: the greater conference was 5
days, the OS for youth was a conference-within-that-conference and it
ran for 3 of those days.  

I sought high and low for a 24-or-under facilitator (asked all my
colleagues, who asked all their colleagues) and did not find someone who
already was experienced in OS -- but I found someone who really is 'one
of us' - he gets it, and brings a lot to it, and simply needed to learn
the method but understood the whole essence of it.  So we co-trained and
learned together over the past 2 or 3 months - he read the User's Guide
and my other 'Open Space Idea Book', we spent many hours sharing
thoughts about it all and rehearsing in my home (walking the circle with
my cat Lucy as a participant), and last week he jumped into Open Space.
And of course, he was a natural.  Robby facilitated, and I had designed
the time and materials (my other cat Ethel helped with the sign-making),
all with his input.  I also was present in the room (helping hold space,
helping move chairs, peeling off bits of tape, scribing closing circle
comments and so on - I was the 50-year-old wearing the 'Honorary Young
Person' button - a treasured gift from young people at another recent
conference).

I think one of the hardest things to do is an OS in a conference that
runs parallel to a more traditional conference format - but is not the
format of the entire conference that day.  It means that not everyone
starts at the beginning each day (when the facilitator offers the
guidelines and a look at how the day will go), new people are wandering
in throughout the day before and after going to other workshops, and you
never know how many people will come (how many notes-taker forms, how
many discussion areas to set up) - you can just guess (and plan for many
so you will be flexible for any number).  We had 15 discussion areas.
The OS each day was from 2pm to 7pm (Opening Circle and Agenda
co-creation, 3  1-hour sessions, then Closing Circle).  The greater
conference had about 2500 people in it; there were about 250 youth
delegates, and about 50 of those came to the Open Space (the oldest was
24 and the youngest was 15). Great workshops were happening at the same
time so there was plenty to go to.  We had a fine big room, and we made
extra signage to invite people (invitation being key, as always - we had
little pocket cards to pass to young people we saw throughout the
conference, signs in the hallway, a sign each of us co-facilitators wore
on our name badges saying 'ask me about the Open Space youth
conference', a huge welcome sign with directions and guidelines for
late-comers just inside the door, and more).  We (and indeed all of the
participants in the OS) made sure to be aware of any new folks wandering
into the room to include them in the process and share the guidelines
with them, plus we had a sign-in sheet at every discussion area that the
session convenor could pass around and hand in with their discussion
notes.  In that way we could track who attended and collect their
contact information so we could get their Book of Proceedings back to
them post-event (there were no mechanisms to create it at the event
itself so they will receive their Book within 2 weeks post-event).

Here was their theme for all 3 days (again: it was the Creating Change
conference):

What do I need to

share / express / learn / resolve / witness / explore / feel
build / begin / support / release / co-create with you 

to
Create Change / Be the Change

Here were some of the topics participants posted:

[ * See a few definitions of vocabulary words and acronyms before my
signature, below.]

*         Is it Vital to Keep the Labels in the Queer Community or is it
Courageous to Be Your Own Person and Try to Break Away from the Category
Boxes?

*         Do Youth Really Care about Same Sex Marriage?

*         Conservative and Queer

*         The Effects of Institutionalized Homophobia

*         Field Trip to the Quiet Room [the conference had a quiet room]

*         What are the Events, Discussions and Programs that LGBT Youth
Want to be a Part Of?

*         Sex / Drugs / Alcohol -- Out of Control?

*         Body Image in the GLBTQ Community.  I'm Big and Beautiful But
Why Am I the Only One Who Knows It?!  "Plus Size" Acceptance in the
"Community"

*         Do You Know Your Rights as a GLBTQQI Youth?

*         The Heteronormity of Identity Politics - How Current Political
Movements Have Ignored / Rejected "Unacceptable" Members of the Queer
Community in an Attempt to Attain "Equal Rights"

*         Excluding Youth from the Bigger Picture

*         Beyond Binary Thinking - Paradox and Contradiction

*         Being Queer and Out in High School

*         As a Minority within a Minority Can You Really Feel 100%
Included? How Do You Create a Diverse Safe Space that is Comfortable to
All?

*         Lack of Youth Activism Due to Complacency

*         Asian Pacific Islanders in the Queer Community

*         Transphobia in the Queer Community

*         Queer Youth and Religion

*         Relationships and Money

*         Isolated Queer Populations - What Problems are Faced?

For Closing Circle on Day 3, I facilitated the development of (so Robby
could participate for this part - he facilitated the rest of Closing
Circle) the co-creation of a group poem.  Some of you saw that at OSonOS
in Halifax - it's something I use for OS or non-OS events or workshops,
when it would be good to include in closing a co-created definition of
diverse-yet-shared experience.  

*         You divide the group into 3 (best with groups of about 24 or
less - which can be a small group selected out of the larger event
group).  
*         First, everyone writes in silence on their own slip of paper.

*         Group A writes a phrase, sentence, word or words that respond
to an instruction like "write something that defines or expresses the
challenge / hardship / struggle".  
*         Group B - "If you could shout at it, what would you shout?"
*         Group C - "Write something that is a message of hope and
spirit."  (of course the 3 things can vary with your setting/event/needs
but this poem has to be something about which the group feels passion).

*         Then you invite each group to gather together, and in their
small groups to put their slips of paper in an order that sounds good to
them.  
*         Then you reconvene the full group and, standing
shoulder-to-shoulder in closing circle (or at the front of the room or
wherever), in the order of their slips (A 1-6, B 1-6, C 1-6 for
example), each person reads their own line in order as the whole group
hears their co-created poem.

Here is the poem created by the young gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender activists at the Creating Change
conference-within-a-conference in Open Space:

Confusion, wondering, looking, being silenced by age / ignorance.  

            You don't know the struggle I face every day.

Finding my identity when everyone has this image of what we need or have
to be.

It's hard when the bigot is inside your head; when you love every dyke
in the world

            except for yourself.

Life is almost unbearable from the pain.

Some people just don't understand.

I'm the one that I want!

Do not hate, appreciate!

I'm me!  

            Not you, not who you want me to be, even sometimes not who I
pretend to be. 

                        Just me!

Be open!  Be honest!  Share!

Every revolution is impossible

            until it happens.

                        then it becomes inevitable.

Maybe normal is bad but when I don't feel normal I'm sad.  

            I know I'm a girl now I just have to wait on the world.

Everything is exactly as it should be.  

The Law of Two Feet - motion and responsibility!

Photos of these fabulous young people creating change can be found at:
http://www.openingspace.net/gallery/agora.cgi?cart_id=6584162.28703*al3c
08
<http://www.openingspace.net/gallery/agora.cgi?cart_id=6584162.28703*al3
c08&xm=on&product=Youth_Open_Space_at_Creating_Change>
&xm=on&product=Youth_Open_Space_at_Creating_Change
(or go to http://www.openingspace.net <http://www.openingspace.net/>
and click on "Gallery" in the upper right-hand corner of the page).

Needless to say, Robby was fabulous, and so were all the participants.
Closing Circle comments included:

I admit I am a very narrow-minded person. I came here with my own set of
truths.  But participating in this, I have gained so much knowledge
about other things that are also true.  I think it will help me as a
better activist.

I learned a ton today - I was exposed to so much.  What was most
valuable was to be put in touch with a lot of people experiencing
adversity for who they are.  I have such deep respect for your courage.

I learned how people can be so fantastically different and still hold
the same views.

If I would have done today what I normally do - keeping everything on
track - I would never have learned so much.  I learned an amazing amount
of totally unrelated but infinitely useful things.

I think this Open Space youth conference is really cool.  Not just what
everyone has said, which I agree with, but also because of the
environment -- you can just be yourself and not be judged too harshly.
It makes me want every day to be like this.

What I'm taking away with me is not only some awesome friendships, but
also the feeling that not everything has to be on a set path.  I don't
have to have everything planned for things to go right.

Being the youngest presenter here, I didn't think I could contribute
anything, because I'm only 15.  But when I came here, I realized I have
things I can contribute.  People had questions and I was surprised I
could answer them.  You all have so much information and experience and
I am intimidated by that.  But I realize I have information and
experience, too.  This has been the opportunity of a lifetime, and
everything I've learned here I can take home with me.

My hat is off to Robby and his young colleagues who are co-creating a
world where everyone is loved and where everyone can offer their gifts
to the world.  And that is what Open Space invites.

Take care,

Lisa

- - - - -

* Here is a bit of vocabulary for those of you who may not be familiar
with these terms, in case any of these topic titles might sound unclear
to you.  I am by no means a linguistic expert and sometimes the very
struggle to define these terms brings forth a rich dialogue about issues
of discrimination, assumption, identity, misnomers and pride - but below
I attempt to give a bit of description for those of you for whom these
words are very new or unknown in your country's language or home
community.

"Queer" is a word used by many as a slur, a hate word, for homosexuals.
Some homosexuals (I notice it is largely folks from urban areas and
often younger generations) 'take back' the word 'queer' to use it for
their own label, to de-hate it, as it were, to own it as one's own
self-named term with pride.  Some individuals find the use of this word
unsettling (many deaths have been caused by homophobic individuals using
this word as they commit hate violence), others find it empowering.
"Out" or "Coming Out" is being open about one's sexual identity - not
pretending to be heterosexual.  For example, when your peers talk about
their relationships, you join in the discussion by talking about yours,
too.  'Coming out' means not hiding it any more - 'coming out of the
closet'.
"Transgender" is a word used as an umbrella term encompassing a
diversity of gender expression including people who dress as the
opposite gender, or people who find their gender identity in conflict
with the parts they were born with, or any range of expression or
identity crossing the line or merging, changing temporarily or
permanently through dress or surgery or hormones or choosing
gender-neutral pronouns (this is not about sexual identity, it's about
one's own gender, specifically).  
"GLBTQ".and a lot of other letters - these are acronyms for Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (or Queer).  In an
attempt to be both inclusive and appreciative of diversity (using just
the term 'gay' may only sound like gay men) many organizations and
individuals use some variation of this acronym to identify this diverse
community.

___________________________
L i s a   H e f t
Consultant, Facilitator, Educator
O p e n i n g  S p a c e
2325 Oregon
Berkeley, California
94705-1106   USA
+01 510 548-8449
 <mailto:lisaheft at openingspace.net> lisaheft at openingspace.net
 <http://www.openingspace.net> www.openingspace.net 

*
*
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