Press Release

Feb 6, 2007

For Immediate Release

Contact: Nadine Fiedler

503-297-1894 ext 301

fiedlern@catlin.edu

Oregon Queer Youth Conference to take place at Catlin Gabel School

February 24 free event planned and run by youth volunteers

WHAT: The fourth annual Oregon Queer Youth Conference for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning, and intersex youth (age 23 and under) and their allies, featuring workshops and guest speaker Oregon state representative Tina Kotek. Free admission, with free breakfast and lunch for attendees. OQYC is planned, organized, and run by a team of youth volunteers and is sponsored by Catlin Gabel School.

WHO:. Approximately 200 participants from across the state. All Oregon lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning, and intersex youth (age 23 and under) and their allies are invited to attend. Attendees are encouraged to pre-register online at the OQYC website.

WHEN: Saturday, February 24, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Registration starts at 9 a.m.

WHERE: The Middle School at Catlin Gabel, 8825 SW Barnes Rd, Portland, Oregon. The school is just east of St. Vincent Hospital.

ACTIVITIES AND MISSION: Workshops will focus on issues such as big tobacco’s targeting of queer youth, the increasing risk of HIV/AIDs and other sexually transmitted infections, and how to deal with bias in schools and everyday life. OQYC gives queer youth a chance to get together and talk in a safe environment free of social pressures to be anyone except who they are.

Catlin Gabel serves Portland and the world as an educational catalyst, drawing together dedicated educators, motivated students, superb curricular resources, and thoughtfully applied technology, in a beautiful and functional setting, all for the purpose of forming bold learners who become responsible action-takers for life. Catlin Gabel is an independent, non-sectarian, progressive coeducational day school serving 700 students from preschool through twelfth grade. Its roots go back to the Portland Academy, founded in 1859. The school occupies 54 acres on Barnes Road, five miles west of downtown Portland..