Each year, EV's State Conference provides a chance for members across the Commonwealth to come together to gain new skills and learn about Equality Virginia's work building the movement that will make positive change for GLBT people in Virginia.

The 2009 State Conference was held at Mary Washington University - Stafford Campus - on October 3rd.

The conference featured workshops on anti-discrimination in the workplace, transgender and gender identity issues, how to build grassroots support at multiple levels and using the internet, how to protect your family legally, and much more.

The conference also featured a keynote address by Michael Paul Williams.  Williams discussed the significance of victories in the civil rights movement, like the Loving v. Virginia court case, and how those relate to the movement for GLBT rights and human rights.

Michael Paul Williams is a columnist and reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. His feature column runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in the Metro section of The Times-Dispatch. He previously worked as a correspondent in the newspaper's Williamsburg bureau and covered Chesterfield County and Richmond City Hall. He is a founding member and former co-president of the Richmond Association of Black Journalists and was a contributor to the book, Thinking Black: Some of the Nation's Best Black Columnists Speak Their Mind. He won Virginia Press Association awards for column writing in 1992, 1994 and 2007. During the 1999-2000 school year, he was one of a dozen U.S. journalists awarded a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. A Richmond native, he is a graduate of Hermitage High School and Virginia Union University. He earned his master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University.

EV's next State Conference will be held in the fall of 2010.  For information about participating in next year's conference, please contact Mardi at 804.643.4816 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .