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Two LGBTQ+ rights advocates to keynote Lead With Pride Summit
March 4, 2024
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ACSA is welcoming educators from throughout the state and country to this year’s Lead With Pride Summit, which will feature two stars of the LGBTQ+ rights movement as well as dozens of learning moments designed to help educators create safe and affirming schools for LGBTQ+ students and staff.
Emmy-nominated actress and human rights activist Angelica Ross and Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang will provide keynote addresses during the conference, which will be held Sunday through Tuesday, March 17-19, in Anaheim. This year’s theme is “Educate. Act. Transform: Uniting for LGBTQIA+ Inclusivity in ALL Schools.”
Now in its third year, the Lead With Pride Summit is the premier conference for K-12 educators looking to share experiences and best practices and build partnerships to advance equality for LGBTQ+ students and staff.
The planning committee for this event has selected 24 breakout sessions from experts and educators who are doing the work right now to make sure LGBTQ+ students and staff feel welcomed and included in our schools.
Sessions that are scheduled include:
  • LGBTQ+ School Leadership Voice.
  • Combating Transphobic Legislation with Inclusive Sex Ed.
  • Navigating Responses to Bias Based Bullying.
  • Making the Case: Communication Strategies on LGBTQ+ Issues.
  • Lead With Black Pride.
  • Out From Day Zero: Presenting Perspectives of Out Queer Administrators in K-12 Grade Public Schools.
Other special sessions include a legal roundtable and administrator panel. There will also be a student panel where attendees will get to hear authentic voices on how to support LGBTQIA+ students.
Keynote: Angelica Ross
A star of the screen and stage, a human rights activist and founder of a nonprofit, Angelica Ross will speak to conference attendees on Monday.
Ross is known to TV audiences for her breakthrough role as Candy Ferocity on the FX series “Pose” in 2018. In 2019, she joined the ninth season of the anthology horror series “American Horror Story: 1984.”
She made history in 2022 as the first openly transgender woman to have a leading role on Broadway, playing the role of Roxie Hart in “Chicago.”
A self-taught coder who wanted to open doors to the tech community, Ross founded TransTech Social Enterprises in 2014 to empower, educate and employ transgender and gender-nonconforming people through accessible education programs, inclusive events and equitable employment opportunities that teach practical career-ready skills.
Keynote: Tony Hoang
The closing keynote on Tuesday will be from a veteran of the LGBTQ+ equality movement — Executive Director of Equality California and Silver State Equality Tony Hoang.
The son of Vietnam War refugees and the first person in his family to attend college, Hoang is a proud first-generation immigrant who grew up understanding the marginalized intersections of sexuality, gender, race and immigration status.
Since joining Equality California as a field intern in 2009, Hoang went on to serve as Equality California’s database and Volunteer manager, director of operations, chief of staff and managing director prior to his selection as executive director-designate in 2021.
During that time, Tony played a pivotal role in the passage of groundbreaking civil rights legislation in California, Nevada and Washington, D.C., implementation of statewide public education campaigns and the election of hundreds of openly LGBTQ+ and pro-equality candidates up and down the ballot.
Keynotes Angelica Ross and Tony Hoang.
FYI
Lead With Pride Summit
What: Two days of sessions designed for California educators to learn the tools they need to create safe and affirming spaces for LGBTQIA+ students and staff. When: March 17-19 Where: The Westin Anaheim Resort, Anaheim Cost: $525 ACSA members; $725 non-members eligible for membership. Teachers and school staff (non-administrators): Use the promo code ASSOCIATE to get $200 off registration. Register: bit.ly/leadwithpride2024
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