San Francisco will host the 20th Anniversary National Lesbian and Gay Health Conference and the 16th National AIDS/HIV Forum, July 25-to-29.

"This year's conference will have many firsts that will help set the health care agenda for the coming year for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities," said Beverly Saunders Biddle, Executive Director of the National Lesbian and Gay Health Association (NLGHA), the organizing sponsor of the conference. "We are a tremendously diverse community, and so are our health care needs."

Hot Issues

In addition to providing critical new AIDS-related information, theory and discussions, the conference will educate physicians, nurses, health educators, activists, and other health care professionals about the critical health issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people:

Bi, trans and seniors. New workshop tracks, including ones on bisexual health, transgendered health, and aging will debut in San Francisco.

AIDS Updates. The Forum will be the first U.S. meeting to follow the World AIDS Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland, as has been the practice for the past twelve years. Speakers will present in-depth analyses of the findings, including updates on protease adherence and side effects.

Authors Meet Critics. Author Michael Scarce will discuss his recent findings on male-on-male sexual violence. Similarly, other authors will discuss their research on lesbian health, gay men's wellness, "Post-AIDS" identities, AIDS survivor grief, and other topics.

New Resource Development Track. Roundtables and workshops enable the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community-based organizations and AIDS service organizations to build more comprehensive and diversified fundraising portfolios.

More than 100 topics. Institutes, plenary sessions, symposia, and workshops in a dozen different educational tracks to choose from.

Increased Interest in Conference

"Interest in the conference is growing dramatically," said Saunders Biddle. "This year, more speaker proposals were submitted - and across a greater diversity of topics - than in the 20-year history of the Conference."

Saunders Biddle expects more than 1,500 participants to attend the pre- conference institutes, the Forum, and the 20th Anniversary Conference.

Volunteers Needed

Volunteers are needed to staff the conference. When volunteers work a 5-hour shift, NLGHA will comp them an additional full day to attend the Conference.

San Francisco Health Care Workers to be Honored

NLGHA will present awards to two Bay Area leaders for their work in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender healthcare. The applications have been collected, and the San Francisco Host Committee is evaluating the nominations.

About the Conference and NLGHA

The Conference and the Forum will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, 5 Embarcadero Center in San Francisco. Additional conference information is available at NLGHA's website, www.nlgha.org, or by calling either Bob Gordon of Lorber Consulting at 415-864-8812 or NLGHA at 202-939-7880.

Since 1978, the National Lesbian and Gay Health Conference has provided a forum for presentations by and discussions among leading health care professionals, including the following constituents: - Physicians and nurses AIDS service organization administrators and volunteers, - Health educators and activists, and - Other mental and physical health care professionals.

No other national conference has consistently brought together health care professionals from diverse disciplines to tackle the challenges of creating environments responsive to the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people.

Photos courtesy of the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau.