Community leaders, clinicians and practitioners, policy makers, students, educators, researchers, volunteers and others joined conference organizers for an interactive and exciting daylong exchange of information, ideas and suggestions. Conducted with the key objective of recommendations and requests to inform decisions framing future research projects, conference sessions resulted in a series of workshop reports for on-going reference.

World Premiere Entertainment --

Friday evening, June 28th pre-conference hospitality included an historic evening at The Castro Theater for the world premiere of “Radical Harmonies: The Story of the Women’s Music Cultural Movement” presented by the 2002 San Francisco LGBT Film Festival.

Produced by Woman Vision (www.woman-vision.org), Radical Harmonies traces the evolution of women’s music and includes commentary from pioneers including Chris Williamson, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Margie Adam and Linda Tillery.

Following the premiere, attendees joined producers, stars and supporters for a special reception at Most Holy Redeemer Church in The Castro neighborhood hosted by Woman Vision founder Dee Mosbacher, board chair Diane Sabin and other luminaries of the evening.

Saturday, June 29, 2002 --

Lesbian Health Research Center (LHRC) co-founders Patricia Robertson, MD and Suzanne Dibble, DNSC launched the opening general session presenting remarks of welcome. Drs. Robertson and Dibble delivered the annual State of Lesbian Health Research report overviewing key findings and issues on health matters from the past twelve months, and emphasizing the need for scholarship specifically about the needs and challenges faced by lesbians, bisexual women and transgendered individuals.

San Francisco Supervisor Mark Leno welcomed attendees on behalf of the City of San Francisco and presented a proclamation of commendation to conference conveners.

LHRC Summer Interns --

Honored at the conference were the five 2002 LHRC Summer Interns selected from a broad spectrum of applicants:

• Mary Catherine Friebe Intern - Erin Murphy
• San Francisco Foundation Intern - Belinda Chen
• Carole Migden Intern - Emily Newfield
• Women’s Health Intern - Helen Smith
• Danielle Hupp Intern - Caitlin Sadowski

We hope to conduct the Intern Program annually bringing together a select group of scholars to study and conduct research in association with LHRC researchers, staff and volunteers.

Health Issues and Concerns of Diverse Lesbian Communities --

Presenting jointly the keynote address during opening plenary were Trinity Ordona, PhD, LHRC Post Doctoral Fellow, and Maria Cora, MA of the San Francisco Department of Health, Office of Women’s Health. Entitled ‘The Multiple Marginalizations of Lesbians of Color,’ the address included a call to action challenging conference participants to contribute their opinions and feedback recommendations for future lesbian health research projects.

Barriers faced by lesbians of color emerged as a key thematic focus addressed by moderators, panelists and attendees of the day’s eight interactive workshop sessions. Among those addressed were challenges such as lesbian parenting and adoption, coming out and family acceptance, aging and others.

Additional workshops focused on healthy choices including fitness & nutrition, mental health, risk reduction and prevention, and complementary therapies.

Featured Guest -

Assemblywoman Carole Migden presented a proclamation on behalf of the California State Assembly and a plea to health care leaders for a renewed commitment to overcoming the lack of significant knowledge and research on lesbian health topics. Conference organizers expressed appreciation to the Assemblywoman for her commitment to lesbian health research and her vision and leadership in obtaining funding support from state and federal sources.