These events included the Stonewall riots and the civil rights movement which ultimately increased the importance of the Black lesbian conference.
The impacts of the Stonewall riots and the Civil Rights Movement created an awareness of the enormous amount of oppression surrounding the black lesbian community.
[4] In the decades leading to the conference, it was not uncommon for other various organizations to push African-American lesbian women out, as a result of the lack of knowledge surrounding diversity of sexual orientation and race.
[6] The women came together at the conference to provide support, encouragement, and strength to bring awareness to issues and hardships which the members experienced and felt were important.
[4][9] Each keynote speaker of the conference addressed relevant topics relating to strengths and oppressions faced through the struggles of African-American lesbians.
As a coordinator for Gay Health Services for San Francisco's Public Health Department, a founder of the Lesbians Mothers' Union, and also a board member of the National Gay Task Force, Norman contributed her personal experience and understanding of how internalized racism is damaging to the emergence and support for African-American lesbians from the general population.