Game Changer Kathy Belge and I were invited to do a panel this year at ClexaCon in Las Vegas. We were joined by Charlotte Robinson of Outtakes Voices, and drew quite a large crowd. We talked not only about my new book Game Changers- Lesbians You Should Know About but taught some history about lesbian pulp fiction, the gay bar scene of the ’50s/’60s and Daughters of Bilitis. We even played a lesbian trivia game at the end and gave away a couple books. Check out the highlights in the video below!
For those of you who don’t now what ClexaCon is, well, I’m not surprised. I had no idea that this kind of thing existed. It’s like a Comicon-Meets Sexy/Nerdy Lesbian convention. The official description is ‘A Multi-Fandom Event for LGBTQ Women & Allies’, but I still really didn’t understand quite what it was all about until I actually attended!
ClexaCon was created and is run by Holly Winebarger, Ashley Arnold and Danielle Jablonski with the goal to provide a safe space and a world-wide community of LGBTQ women and allies who love TV, film, comics and books and to encourage more LGBTQ women to get involved in content creation and to embolden allies to improve representation for LGBTQ+ characters in their creative work. Now in its 2nd year, ClexaCon attracted 3500 attendees to the convention, held at the Tropicana in Las Vegas. ClexaCon London, UK takes place November 3rd and November 4th 2018.
From their website: Nerdy queer fandoms rejoice! If you like your fandoms nerdy, loud, proud and queer, ClexaCon is the place for you! We are an LGBTQ+ convention for the fans, by the fans! No big corporations with sneaky motives. Just fandoms, fans and fun!
There is lots of cosplay (meaning dressing up like your favorite character) and a lot of fans waiting in line to get autographs signed by everyone’s favorite stars from film, web series and TV shows. Think L-Word, Wynonna Earp, and Black Lightning. There are the vendors selling all kinds of cool stuff including LGBTQ themed artwork, swag and books. Add in a film festival, pool party, comedy show and a big old gala style dance party and of course TONS of panels to learn about all things to do with this phenomenon called Fandom. Game Changers books sold like hotcakes to women from all over the US and abroad with the directive to read it and then pass it along to their local high schools. YAY!
Watch your valuables! Butchy McFearsome & Scofflaw Magee are on the trail
The Tropicana Las Vegas was an excellent venue. They had easy and FREE valet parking and it is way less glitzy/cheesy/overpriced some of the other bigger high-end casinos. This event skews on the younger side and even though I felt a bit like a tribal elder, we had SO MUCH FUN! People kept stopping us in the halls all weekend to thank us for our presentation. And, of course, our weekend in Vegas would not be complete without some lesbian drama, great food, lots of laughs, followed by utter and complete exhaustion. To top it off, after selling out of the big stack of Game Changers books I brought, we got to spend some time trekking around nearby Red Rock Canyon!
This is a great and powerful event. We are looking forward to seeing YOU at ClexaCon next year!
