Caitlyn Jenner makes first official keynote since the ESPYs, Nov. 12 at Chicago House Speaker Series Luncheon. Limited tickets available

Caitlyn Jenner makes first official keynote since the ESPYs, Nov. 12 at Chicago House Speaker Series Luncheon. Limited tickets available 1 Olympian Caitlyn Jenner will serve as the keynote speaker for the 7th annual Chicago House Speaker Series luncheon, being held in the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan Avenue, Thursday, November 12th, from 11:30 am – 2 pm.  This is Caitlyn’s first keynote since accepting the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2015 ESPYs in front of 7.7 million TV viewers internationally. A limited number of individual luncheon tickets is still available at www.chicagohouse.org.

unnamed (68)Olympian Caitlyn Jenner will serve as the keynote speaker for the 7th annual Chicago House Speaker Series luncheon, being held in the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan Avenue, Thursday, November 12th, from 11:30 am2 pm.  This is Caitlyn’s first keynote since accepting the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2015 ESPYs in front of 7.7 million TV viewers internationally. A limited number of individual luncheon tickets is still available at www.chicagohouse.org.

Now in its 30th year, Chicago House is the Midwest’s oldest provider of housing for those impacted by HIV/AIDS and/or LGBTQ marginalization, and is now home to the nation’s most comprehensive social service and support program for transgender individuals, the TransLife Center. The Chicago House Speaker Series luncheon brings awareness to the agency’s founding mission, domestic and global HIV and AIDS activism, as well as its new strategic focus, combating LGBTQ poverty and marginalization, while celebrating the accomplishments Chicago House has achieved locally and raising funds to support the more than 1,800 men, women and children they serve.

This year’s Speaker Series will be especially effective at highlighting the marginalization and suffering disproportionately experienced by transgender individuals. Offending the values of fairness and equity, transgender men and women face enormous intertwining barriers to stability due to discrimination, societal and family rejection, and pervasive hostility. More than a quarter of transgender persons reports having lost a job due to their gender identity and more than half reports having difficulty finding a job because of their identity.

Founded in 1985 as the first HIV and AIDS housing provider in the Midwest, Chicago House has continuously evolved its services to meet the changing needs of those who are living with this disease. Through its housing, prevention and medication adherence programs, plus case management and employment programs, Chicago House enables them to return to a life of dignity and hope.   In June of 2013 Chicago House opened the TransLife Center, offering housing services, employment services, medical services, legal services and emergency services, ironically in the same building that served as its former AIDS Hospice in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood.

As it celebrates its 30th anniversary, Chicago House looks to its origins focusing on HIV/AIDS, poverty and LGBTQ persons. Chicago House provides permanent, community-based housing, support services and prevention outreach to individuals and families struggling with HIV and AIDS, who may also be affected by poverty, homelessness, mental illness, substance abuse, or gender nonconformity. All Chicago House services are provided without discrimination and are designed to guide people toward wholeness and self-sufficiency.

In the Speaker Series’ inaugural year in 2009, Chicago House welcomed President Bill Clinton to kick off what has now become its largest and most impactful annual fundraising event. The past six Speaker Series events have featured remarks by great minds in philanthropy, business, entertainment and politics, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, award-winning actor Whoopi Goldberg, designer Kenneth Cole, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and a panel discussion on Gender, Race and Economic Disparity, featuring LGBTQ advocates Laverne Cox, Jason Collins and Dustin Lance Black.

The November 12 Speaker Series event with Caitlyn Jenner expects more than 1,000 attendees for the lunch presentation with Ms. Jenner. Individual tickets start at $200, with Premier Seating still available at an additional charge.  For more information on tickets, to become a sponsor, or to host an individual or corporate table, contact Tyler Lewis at 773.248.5200 (ext. 304) or visit www.chicagohouse.org/?post_events=speaker-series-luncheon-2015-5.