Transforming Gender Symposium starts Friday at CU-Boulder
The free symposium, open to the public, will be at the CU-Boulder Center for Community. Organizers and co-sponsors are committed to addressing equality, support, visibility and scholarship for transgender, gender nonconforming, and intersex people.
This year’s keynote speakers include Eli Clare, a poet, scholar and educator on the intersections of transgender identity and disability; JAC Stringer, a performer, dancer, musician and educator on genderqueer identities; and Ryka Aoki, a poet, scholar, transfeminist and performance artist.
“I am delighted to bring so many brilliant artists and writers this year,” says Scarlet Bowen, director of the GLBTQ Resource Center. “Clare, Stringer and Aoki are supremely gifted at rendering the beauty and joy of all genders, bodies and gender expressions.”
Besides the keynote speakers, session presenters will address topics such as being an ally to transgender people, transgender identities in cyberspace, gender violence prevention and response, spirituality, medical aspects of gender transition, genderqueer identities, transgender-inclusive sex education, and issues affecting transgender children.
The symposium includes a film track of transgender- and intersex-related films, and a series of caucus opportunities for transgender, genderqueer, allies and families of transgender people.
As highlighted by the recent lawsuit filed in Colorado on behalf of a transgender child’s right to choose which restroom facilities she uses at school, forums are needed for learning about the rights of transgender people. Colorado included legal protections for gender identity and expression in 2007, and the University of Colorado Boulder included gender identity and gender expression in its anti-discrimination policy in 2011. The symposium will help educate the university and surrounding community about the unique issues faced by transgender, genderqueer and intersex people, and provide sessions that will address how to forge socially just and inclusive communities.
Co-sponsors of the seventh Annual Transforming Gender Symposium include the GLBTQ Resource Center, the President's Diversity and Excellence Award, the Open Door Fund, the CU-Boulder Chancellor’s Committee on GLBT Issues, Residence Hall Association, Office of Victim Assistance, Wardenburg Health Center, Counseling and Psychological Services, Women’s Resource Center, the Graduate School, CU-Boulder departments of Anthropology, Sociology, Communication, Women and Gender Studies, LGBT Studies Certificate program, and OutBoulder, Moving to End Sexual Assault, and the First Methodist Church.
Click here to register for the symposium and view the full schedule.