Washington, D.C. (December 3, 2015)--Has the tide turned for the LGBT movement in America? After a series of victories across the past year, challenges persist. Marriage equality is now a legal right, but poverty, violence, workplace and healthcare discrimination remain a reality for many LGBT individuals.
The Atlantic will present a series of conversations about the state of queer identity in America and what’s next when it comes to equality as part of “Unfinished Business: The Atlantic LGBT Summit,” an inaugural daylong event on Thursday, December 10 at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C. From politics to pop culture, the event will address a broad spectrum of issues impacting the LGBT experience, including politics and policy, culture and the public eye, violence and youth homelessness, sports and entertainment, and law.
Conversations will include: Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), the first openly gay person elected to the U.S. Senate, and former Congressman Barney Frank on their own experiences breaking boundaries in politics and the state of play on Capitol Hill; Bob Mondello, NPR film critic, on LGBT characters and themes in the movies; and Cara Page, executive director of the Audre Lorde Project, and Jarrett Lucas, executive director of the Stonewall Community Foundation, on the persistence of LGBT youth homelessness and how to support those at-risk. The event will address the LGBT experience in sports with Cyd Ziegler, founder of OutSports.com, WNBA player Layshia Clarendon, and Kentucky basketball player Dalton Madonaldo, who faced discrimination after coming out at a high school basketball game and is now working to help others struggling with being gay in rural America.