We live in a time where I, an out, black, masculine-presenting, queer woman got to elect our nation's first black president. Where in a few months, I could elect our nation's first woman president. Where, in my lifetime, I will also play a part in electing the first black, lesbian president. And I'll see our first openly trans Fortune 100 CEO. And our first gender non-binary Nobel Peace Prize winner. In fact, I've already met all of them. Where? At Lesbians Who Tech.
The annual Lesbians Who Tech Summit, which took place in the historic Castro Theatre in San Francisco on February 25-28, is an experience that's so geeky and gay and diverse and full of badass LGBTQ women and allies that are changing the world, that you almost couldn't even make this up if you tried. I mean, let's take a look at the current state of the tech industry. According to a report published by CNET, women make up 30% of the industry as it stands. This number drops to 20% when we look at women leaders in tech. And according to Slate, the numbers for black people are so low, making up only 2% of many of the big Silicon Valley tech companies, that statistics for black women in tech aren't even reported. At the most prominent tech conferences, such as Facebook's f8 or TechCrunch's Disrupt, these numbers appear even lower.
By comparison, Lesbians Who Tech almost seems like a magical place. In fact, statistically speaking, it practically IS magical. Lesbians Who Tech is committed to shattering these percentages into pieces and increasing the number of women, LGBTQ women, and women of color in tech. The founder of the organization, Leanne Pittsford, has been very intentional about this. At this year's summit, she introduced her new (and first ever) staff team, which is composed of 66% percent women of color. She also announced during the summit, which is a multi-day event, composed of TEDx-style talks, hackathons, career fairs (and more) that 50% of this year's speakers are women of color. And the number of women of color in attendance? Well, to give you a visual, imagine an entire bar designated for a Queer Women of Color meetup-- because yes, this tech summit hosts its breakout sessions in bars and gay clubs-- and you can barely get in the door, let alone find a place to sit once you get in. Like I said, I couldn't make this up if I tried.
And, here's the thing: The lesbian women, trans women, and queer women of color attending and speaking at this conference are doing incredible things. If you've ever heard the term "Power Lesbian" and wondered what one looked like, you need look no further for your answer than at a LWT Summit. To name a few, at our San Francisco Summit, we had Edith Perez, MD, VP of Genetech, talk to us about The Future of Cancer Research, Joy Dunn, Senior Manager at SpaceX, give a talk on The Future of Space Exploration, as well as, Diane Mills of Amazon tell us about Robots, Distribution, and The Internet of Things. These are just a few of the many amazing, accomplished women, showing up and speaking out, for one community, on one stage.
And when we get out and show up for our own communities, other communities want to show up as well. Goldman Sachs, Google, Lyft, IBM, LinkedIn, Amazon–these companies see us. They see their LGBTQ employees and directors and VPs, and they want to support us. They want to listen and hear what we have to bring to the table, and this is how you get queer women in tech–or entrepreneurship, or the senate, or even the White House.
Our current, and first ever out, female Chief Technology Officer of the United States, Megan Smith is a Lesbian Who Techs. In fact, two years ago, Lesbians Who Tech produced the first ever White House LGBTQ Tech and Innovation Summit. Megan Smith was asked to speak, and from there the White House began to recruit her for her current role as CTO. This is because Lesbians Who Tech is about creating opportunity. From partnering with Indiegogo to help crowdsource nearly $4K to send five incredible individuals to this year's summit, to awarding code school scholarships to six different LGBTQ women, to hosting TechUP, the most diverse career fair to date, at Twitter HQ, this summit exists to create a space for us to come together and make connections, create partnerships, build apps, and hack the status quo.
"They mean well but they don't do anything about it." — @karaswisher on CEOs who want diversity. #LWTSUMMIT
Lesbians Who Tech cultivates badassery and women who are set out to make change happen. When founder and CEO, Leanne Pittsford, gave her talk on the Castro stage, she shared with us that her key to creating a world where racial equality is on the gay agenda and the first black lesbian president can exist, starts with us taking a risk, giving first, and investing in our community. It starts with us making the decision to go for it, today, right now, and actively experimenting with change, as opposed to hesitating with writing woulda-coulda-shoulda strategic plans. And if there's any testimony to show that she's right, ask any of the 1,500 lesbian, queer, and trans women that attended the Lesbians Who Tech Summit. Because Lesbians Who Tech itself, is a living, breathing example that taking a risk works, if you want to set out to change something.
When I envision what the first black lesbian president of the United States looks like, she wears a bowtie with a skirt and oxfords to her State of the Union addresses. She unapologetically wears her hair in an afro. She attended coding school back in her day and is fluent in multiple languages, including Python and Javascript. She is a bold, fearless leader, and a lesbian who techs. And I know this, because Lesbians Who Tech, a worldwide organization of over 15,000 members total, believes in a world where a black lesbian president can exist. And that's the first step to making that world a reality.
So yes, this past summit, I met our future black, lesbian president. I exchanged business cards with the first soon-to-be openly trans Fortune 100 CEO. And I hacked with our generation's next Grace Hopper and Edie Windsor.
Attend our next Lesbians Who Tech Summit, and your odds are pretty great that you'll sit next to a future Chief Technology Officer or take a photo with the queer woman of color who invents the next big 'Facebook'.
Or maybe, one of these women just may be you.
To register for this year's annual Lesbians Who Tech New York Summit, from Sept. 22-25, 2016, and get a special Early Bird ticket discount, click here.
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