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Watch Garden State Equality executive director Christian Fuscarino discuss issues facing the LGBT community. Austin Bogues

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"If he's happy, that's all that matters to me"

"I was struggling with my church and my belief"

"It stopped him from growing, and I can't have that"

Issues facing the LGBT community

The Rev. Gil Caldwell addresses the United 2017 Conference on Sunday at The Asbury Hotel(Photo: Austin Bogues, staff)

ASBURY PARK - For one group of concerned citizens in Asbury Park, anger won't be enoughto fight the Trump Administration and the alt-right.

LGBT activists, politicians and some of their allies gathered Sunday afternoon at The Asbury Hotel to strategize a way forward in what they view as hostile political terrain. The goal is to protect critical advancements made by the community which they believe are under threat.

Presenters at the United 2017 conference discussed everything from best strategies to organize marches and rallies, to how to promote entrepreneurship. They also talked about policy issues like health care for LGBT seniors, advocating for transgender youth in schools and ways to engage religious communities.

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The conference was sponsored by Garden State Equality and Jersey Pride Inc., two of the state's largest LGBT advocacy organizations.

Laura Pople, conference organizer and president of Jersey Pride,said in a news release that she hoped attendees would learn "what to do with the energy, frustration and despair many are currently experiencing under the current administration, especially."

Frustration with the alt-right, a nationalistic conservative movementthathelped propel Trump into the Oval Office, has abounded with some in the LGBT community.

Among the outspoken leaders of the alt-right isMilo Yiannopoulos, a British writer and former Breitbart editor.

Yiannopoulos, who is gay, proclaimed alt-right figureheads like Steve Bannon, a top Trump adviser,accept members of the LBGT community, offering his job with Breitbart, viewed as a beacon for the alt-right movement, as proof.

Yiannopoulos has come under fire for a number of incendiary statements including criticizing feminists and access to birth control for women. He was invited to be a speaker at the prominent Conservative Political Action Conference this yearuntil audio clips emerged of him seemingly condoning sex between men and boys. He also resigned from Breitbart in the fallout.

At the conference Sunday, organizers said it may be necessary to revisit some of the battles that seemed to be won.

"Until recently, we were just fighting to gain our rights," said Frank Van Dalen, vice president of operations for the organization Interpride.

But Van Dalen saidthe LGBT community faced threats in the United States and internationally in areas like health care access and the right to marry.

"What were facing nowadays is not only gaining our rights but also regaining our rights," he said. Van Dalen said he worried about actions taken by the Trump administration "denouncing what has been achieved."

The Trump administration hasbacked away from Obama administration's Justice Department guidelines stating that transgender students should be able to use the bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity in public schools.

LGBT activists should counter opposing forces by seeking to "broaden their message" in areas such as arts and sports, Van Dalen said.

"When we are faced with the time we are living in now, it is easy and simple to be angry," said Michael Billy, founder of Jersey City Stands, a grassroots group that organizes rallies, protests and vigils for an array of social causes including LGBT rights.But Billy said that being angry was not enough.

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"We have a divine opportunity to create the world we really want to live in for our neighbors," Billy said. "It starts with us not being piecemeal with what we deserve as human beings."

All movements need music, the Rev. Gil Caldwell, of Asbury Park, told attendees gathered at the room. He sang a song from his heyday in the civil rights movement and then asked for LGBT activist Sue Fulton to take the mic. She continued the tune:"Woke up this morning with my mind, stayed on freedom.Woke up this morning with my mind. Stayed on freedom. Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah."

Austin Bogues 732-643-4009; abogues@gannettnj.com

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Asbury LGBT activists strategize for 'alt-right' Trump era - Asbury Park Press