Maynard goes to NLGJA!

Making new connections, seeing old friends at NLGJA2026 in San Francisco

Last week the Maynard Institute traveled to San Francisco for NLGJA’s 2026 35th annual convention.

The team caught up with Maynard Institute Co-Founder Steve Montiel, Maynard Program alumni, and colleagues from across the journalism industry.

Programs Director and Director of the Propel Regional Training Series and Maynard Communities of Practice Odette Alcazaren-Keeley invited editors and managers to the Propel Regional Training in Burbank in October.

Community Engagement Manager Amani Hamed reunited with Tre’vell Anderson and K Petrin of the Trans Journalists association, and Jireh Deng of the AAJA LGBTQIA_ affinity group, who contributed to a panel for the Maynard Institute in June.

The Maynard Institute also sponsored afternoon coffee at the impeccably executed convention, attended panels led by subject matter experts, journalists, editors and newsroom managers.

Illuminating expert panels, community-focused lunches

The Maynard Institute would like to offer our enthusiastic congratulations to The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists/NLGJA for the impressive lineup of panelists, experts and editors who staffed illuminating panels on everything from intersex inclusion in journalism, using your own voice in reporting, and practical safety for LGBTQ+ journalists.

K Petrin and Jireh Deng, seen in a webinar on Queer News hosted by the Maynard Institute in June, joined Guardian reporter Lex McMenamin and Assistant Manager for Verite News Drew Costley on coverage of trans and gender-expansive communities.

Maynard Alumni Marla Jones-Newman (VP, People and Culture, Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting) and Jahna Berry (Chief Operating Officer, The Center for Investigative Reporting) educated convention attendees on optimizing resumés for AI alongside Leonor Ayala Polley and Sonali Kohli of URL Media.

The impressive full lineup of panels and sessions is too extensive to reprint but can be found here.

Between sessions, the convention offered multiple opportunities for journalists to meet and build community during brown-bag lunch gatherings and coffee breaks, as well as receptions and after-conference Night-Out gatherings on the city.

The expo hall offered a wide range of reporting resources and tools, job connections and resources for Queer and Trans reporters.

Shared history, shared mission

The Maynard Institute team attended a screening of “Here I am, World, All of Me, At Last,” the documentary chronicling the story of Maynard Institute co-founder and NLGJA co-founder Roy Aarons and the rise of NLGJA and its stunning effect on journalism, culture and policy.

Maynard Institute Co-Founder Steve Montiel spoke beside a line-up of journalists who remembered Aarons and were interviewed in the film about their heroic efforts to co-found and steward NLGJA during the height of the AIDS crisis in America.

The emotional screening illustrated just how far coverage, policy and cultural acceptance surrounding LGBTQIA+ people has come, while the following panel confirmed just how much work remains during a time when queer and trans rights and press freedom are under consistent attack by local, state and federal administrations and hate crimes are on the rise.

Beyond remembering Roy Aarons as a man of many talents with a larger-than-life personality, panelists remembered the legacy of a man who fought tirelessly for queer liberation and diversity in journalism.