This year, I’ve been sitting on the board of the newly re-formed Northern California chapter of NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists, which happens to be the organization’s founding chapter.
NLGJA celebrated 35 years in September 2026 and returned to San Francisco, the city where it all began. It was my first time attending the convention, and being in community with fellow LGBTQ+ journalists meant more to me than I knew to expect.
⬆️ (Photo Courtesy of Desmond Bracken)
The Michael Triplett plenary session on Sept. 11 felt like church.
I’ve been reading the Bible with my conservative mother in an effort to find common ground while exploring my own questions around religion and spirituality.
“The Road Ahead Has Many Paths: How Can Media Meet at the Intersections of Faith, Gender, Race and Class?” was everything I needed to hear. It made space for me to feel confident in both my spirituality and my queerness, without some of the weight I associate with organized religion.
Moderated by Cathy Renna, director of communications for the National LGBTQ Task Force, the conversation featured Jason DeRose, religion correspondent for NPR; Kierra Johnson, president of the National LGBTQ Task Force; Dr. Caitlin Ryan, director of the Family Acceptance Project; and Christopher Wiggins, politics and news editor for The Advocate.
Panelists made the case for teaching LGBTQ+ history and framed it as essential to queer representation.
My main takeaway was that religion and queerness don’t have to be opposing identities. The path forward means making room for the complexity of what it means to be religious and spiritual as everyday people.
Seeing former interns supported by the California Press Foundation in the wild is one of the best parts about being present in the journalism world.
You'll notice photo courtesys from Desmond Bracken — they covered the entire convention from behind the camera.
I also caught Meghan Bobrowsky (pictured speaking above) on The Wall Street Journal’s “Finding the Real AI Story” panel, where panelists discussed using data to show the scale of AI’s impact rather than leaning on speculation. Meghan shared how she sourced local journalism to find the deeper scoop on a story she was reporting on nationally.
During the convention, attendees caught the first screening of the NLGJA short documentary, "Here I am World All of Me at Last" and heard from founding members about NLGJA’s origins, impact and evolution. Documentary director Senta Scarborough moderated a conversation featuring founding members and others who appear in the film.
We’re lucky here at the NorCal Chapter to have Randy Alfred as our resident NLGJA historian. We’re always picking his brain during our monthly meetups at Rikki’s about the early days of the organization.
I’m grateful to have connected with some of NLGJA’s “Founding Crew” over coffee (pictured below). We ended up chatting for over an hour, and I was struck by the through lines between our collective past and present.
⬆️ (Photo Courtesy of Senta Scarborough)
Stephen Gendel (pictured below) shared his experience coming out as a gay man on broadcast television. Hearing his story made me think about how much of the representation we have today came from people willing to be visible when it was harder to do so.
⬆️ (Photo Courtesy of Desmond Bracken)
There's more work to be done when it comes to LGBTQ+ visibility, representation and rights, but hearing from the people who helped make space for us left me feeling clearer than ever about all I’m working for: representation, opportunities for emerging journalists and the space to be yourself.
⬆️ (Photo Courtesy of Desmond Bracken)
Today, NLGJA has 36 professional and student chapters nationwide, with 1,100 members and rising. ⭐️
⬆️ (Photo Courtesy of Hansen Bursic)
⬆️ (Photo Courtesy of Melvin Bodmer) ️
I keep coming back to Dr. Caitlin Ryan’s call during the Triplett plenary to tell stories of change, including the possibility that families can grow and change. That feels close to home as my mother and I keep reading together.
⬆️ (Photo Courtesy of Desmond Bracken)
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#here #queer #ondeadline