The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) is considering Chicago as the host city for the 2016 Creating Change conference.
Staff members were in town last week scouting potential locations for the conference, including the Marriot Downtown Magnificent Mile and the Hilton Downtown Chicago.
Members of Invisible 2 Invincible, the Center on Halsted, Affinity Community Services, Equality Illinois and other community members attended a forum on May 15, at the Hilton to discuss potentially hosting Creating Change in Chicago.
"We wanted to meet with the community to see if you would enjoy Creating Change in your city … and to measure the capacity of the LGBT community to support this conference," said Sue Hyde, director of the Creating Change Conference for the NGLTF.
NGLTF has not previously held the conference in Chicago because a large packaging industry conference was scheduled at the same time. When Creating Change was moved from November to late January or early February, Chicago became a potential site for the conference.
If NGLTF decides on Chicago, a host committee composed of 60 to 100 people would do the bulk of the planning, with four devoted co-chairs coordinating the group.
"I want those four co-chairs to be not like me. If there were four 60-year-old white lesbians, we would not get the diversity we want," said Hyde. "We'd be looking for four people representing different sectors and organizations within the LGBT community."
NGLTF will look at two other cities in June for the 2016 conference, but these other cities are not yet determined.
"I would say we're quite enthusiastic about Chicago, and I would say it would be hard for another city to compete," said Hyde.
NGLTF plans to announce later this summer the location of Creating Change 2016.