Profiles in Pride’s founder and writer, Emily Starbuck Gerson, is based in San Antonio, Texas. DreamWeek is a two-week-long summit that takes place in San Antonio every year around MLK Day, and it’s dedicated to advancing the voices of tolerance, diversity, and equality in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. Events range from film screenings to panels to community dinners.
When Emily happened to meet the founder of DreamWeek at an event a few months ago and told him about Profiles in Pride, he asked if she would do a panel at DreamWeek to share some of the beautiful coming out stories and journeys from the blog. Emily agreed, and rather than sharing stories via a slideshow, she had four LGBTQIA+ activists based in Texas, all of whom she had profiled on her blog, come tell their stories in person at the event after she told hers.
The event, “Journeys in Coming Out,” took place on January 18, 2018, at the coworking space The Impact Guild, and each person spoke from the heart about their experience as an LGBTQIA+ person. The recording of the event can be found below, and here’s a list of the speakers (plus links to their profiles so you can learn more):
- Intro from blog founder Emily Starbuck Gerson
- Belinda Trevino (begins at 5:37)
- Julian Tovar (begins at 19:30)
- Alicia Roth Weigel (begins at 37:44)
- Emmett Schelling (begins at 57:05)
Note that after this, there was a panel on being LGBTQ in the military. TBD on if we’re posting footage of that one. But we appreciate those who attended in person, and we hope you enjoy the recording of the first event! Let us know what you think in the comments!