Dates:
Friday, October 4, 2002
Saturday, October 5, 2002
Sunday, October 6, 2002

Location:
Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, CT

2002 Workshops

Workshop I - Sat., Oct. 5 - 10:45 AM-12:00 noon

Furry selves: Anthropomorphic Fandom and the Exploration of Identity
Vicki Borah Bloom & Julia Lunetta
Popular culture has found a new community to sensationalize, the "furries." Though MTV will tell you it's all about people having kinky sex in mascot costumes, the anthropomorphic culture is much more about playing with alternate versions of who we are, and who we could be, through costuming, role-play, art, and fiction. Furries have strong personal associations with animals or animal-people, and quite often include a not-quite-human sensibility as part of their identity. A subculture very high in gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender presence, furry is a safe place for many people to 'try on a new skin' and express themselves freely. Perhaps there is such a thing as species dysphoria?

What Do You Mean "Transgender?": How the Wider Community Understands Us and How that Affects Our Civil Rights
Jill Weiss
There will be a short lecture of 10 minutes regarding the history of the "transgender community," discussing the various elements of the community, how they fit together, and how they relate to the larger queer community. This will be followed by a series of discussion questions with participants:
How is "transgender" seen by different kinds of straight people?
How is "transgender" seen by different kinds of gay people?
How is "transgender" seen by different kinds of transgender people?
These discussion questions will be used to identify the major discourses in the U.S. regarding transgender and to begin to understand how these discourses affect public policy and legal rights for more effective advocacy in the participants' communities. This will give the participants new understandings of "community" and "rights". The workshop will be ended by a short wrap-up, demonstrating how these new understandings can be used to make a difference in your community.

Queer Youth, Queer Adults: Bridging the Age Gap
Aidan Dunn
Queer youth and adults often seem to live in separate worlds, disconnected from each other. Although we may be separated by our histories, life stages, education, etc., queer youth and adults share many of the same experiences, issues and concerns. Both parties stand to benefit from stronger connections. The purpose of this workshop is to spark a discussion about what we all, as a community, have in common, and what queer youth and adults can do to be better allies and support for each other. I have found that along the boundary of age, there is a sharp but rarely discussed divide. I hope, through this workshop, to facilitate bringing queer youth and adults closer together.

It's Getting Hot in Herre
David Waterman
In this interactive workshop, participants will explore the challenges that face young men of African and Latino descent who have sex with men and understand how the urban and Hip Hop cultural has influenced their sexual identity.

Hosting Sensual/Sexual Parties
Tom Limoncelli
Massage parties, sex parties, BDSM parties, and jack 'n jill parties are all great ways to have fun, meet people, encourage safer sex, and build a sex-positive community! Learn how to select a location, create your invite list, create a safe and fun atmosphere, host the event itself, and even clean-up tips! This interactive workshop will include plenty of time for Q&A.

Bi-Trans Spirituality
Raven Kaldera and Paul Nocera
Throughout the ages, our faces have been present among the many male and female archetypes of our ancestors. The time has come to reclaim our own sacredness. Can transition be a spiritual pathway? Is being transgendered or bisexual a spiritual calling, and what does that entail? What is our deepest purpose in this dual-gendered, gay or straight world? Come and discuss these and other profound questions, and hear readings on transgendered and bisexual spirituality, and we'll all learn together.

Domestic Violence is Not Just a Straight Issue
Gunner Scott
Abuse within Bisexual/Transgender/Transexual/Queer Communities: One in four LGBTIQ will be battered in their lifetime, yet domestic violence continues to be closeted in queer communities. In spite of efforts made by pockets of lesbians in the mainstream movements to break the silence surrounding domestic violence/sexual assault in lesbian communities, these movements have made only minimal efforts to address the needs of battered bisexual and transgender/transexual folks and in some cases have excluded bisexual and transgender folks from services. The fear of confirming stereotypes of the bisexual and transgender communities often contributes to our own minimizing of abuse/assault. Combined with the belief that "among our own" or within the LGBTIQ communities we are safest, often make it difficult for community acknowledgement of domestic violence as well as community accountability. This leaves those who are battered with few options for safety and community support. This workshop will present an overview and strategies for Bisexual and Transgender communities to understand, acknowledge, and address domestic violence. Issues and topics to be covered: Dynamics of abuse in bisexual, transgender, queer communities; Ways to support survivors; Overcoming barriers in recognizing abuse/assault; Dispelling the myths/stereotypes around abuse/assault; How homo/bi/trans-phobia affects community awareness and actions; Connecting domestic violence and oppression, including racism, ableism, classism, homo/bi/trans-phobia; What you can do to help end domestic violence.

The Transgender Journey: Basics and Beyond
Lisa Hartley
By the time we are ready to come out, much has taken place in our heads and our hearts. Our victory is all too often met by cultural dysphoria, i.e., the inability of culture to accept the reality of our self description. This workshop will cover the process of becoming, the insights that support our journey, and the joys and challenges along the way. This workshop is open to all and participants are encouraged to share in the discussion.

Workshop II - Sat., Oct. 5 - 1:15 PM-2:30 PM

Working Class Queer
Raven Kaldera, Dean Spade, and Jay Stewart
How does being queer and/or transgendered feel when you're low-income and living among the working or welfare classes? Is it different among the urban poor and the rural poor? What's the real scoop on what transition does to your social mobility? More to the point, what can we do about it? Join us for discussion on class, poverty, gender, and orientation.

Sexual Jeopardy
T.R. Richardson
During this workshop participants will be informed about sexuality, STDs and safer sex. They will gain the tools to be empowered to make responsible decisions as they relate to risky behaviors. This session will include a trivia game similar to Jeopardy (as seen on TV) and other interactive games. (Youth)

Intersex In a Binary World
Betsy Driver & Dandara Hill
Many intersexuals believe that the treatment protocol they are victims of was in fact gendercide, and that through surgeries and forced hormone treatments, their true gender has, in effect, been destroyed. Many adults with an intersex condition find the confines of a binary gender system too rigid and now seek to live their lives outside of a strictly male or female box. We will explore how society seems to demand we fit into its own predetermined notions of gender. The discussion will examine gender outside of the boxes and what we can do to live our lives in the realm we feel we fit into, whether or not it is within societal demands.

Boundaries within Boundaries: People of Color Caucus
B. Lois Wadas
The secrets we keep, hiding the pain, anger, and shame. Coming out of the emotional closet. Facing reality: personal stories, myth, madness and validation. (Group Discussion)

Living with/Loving a Transgender Person
Alixe Cielo
Being involved with a transgendered person who is now in the process of transitioning has made me more aware of my own transgendered/transsexual feelings and experiences. My awareness of gender/sex/roles, etc. have changed and I am moving to a new phase in my life where I discard old rigid ways of seeing myself and the world. I like this, even though I still feel uncomfortable socially, awkward in my body and in my inner self. I would like this workshop to be entirely participant discussion with plenty of questions and sharing of ideas and experiences. I will present some of my experiences and feelings, but I want to hear others' experiences. I have prepared a list of possible questions for us to consider.

Be the Bomb that You Throw: The Politics of Being Visibly Out
Sister Phyllis Stein
Without even trying, the simple act of being out about orientation or gender is a very powerful political statement. Blending is for those who want to stay marginalized. We will also discuss the sometimes subtle difference between being in the world and in your face, and the pros and cons of each. This presentation will be an open forum, asking all to speak up and out about the impact of being out about who and where they are.

Informal Women's Discussion on Safer Sex, Your Mojo, and Sexuality
Janie
For years, I have engaged friends, relatives, partners, and doctors in conversations about safer sex and birth control for women. I've read all about various options and I've spoken with some great doctors who have been very open to my questions and honest in their answers, but I've still found that other women's experiences have been an incredibly important source of information. Women's experiments, disasters, joys, and discoveries; the different methods and procedures they've used and been through; as well as how it felt for them, how it affected their sex drives, what's changed through the years, and how all these things affected their sex lives overall. In this informal discussion, I'm inviting self-identified women to come and chat, share, and listen - I'm sure we'll all learn something new!

Workshop III - Sat., Oct. 5 - 2:45 PM-4:00 PM

Report and Discussion of Transgender Health Practices
Bobbi Williams
Transgendered people may be the most marginalized when it comes to receiving medical attention. Not only are providers ignorant of the issues and needs of TG's, but many TG's are still reluctant to identify themselves to the provider. A recent survey of some 400 people who identify as TG which we conducted over the last year indicated that this problem is a long way from being resolved and there is little, if any, effort being made to address it. The workshop will be a Power Point presentation followed by Q&A and participant discussion. This will include brainstorming ways to reach out to, educate, and motivate people in this area. (Providers, Allies, Youth, Trans)

You Don't Know the Half of It: Coming Out Bisexual in a Straight-or-Gay World
Andrea DiMartino
Both the straight and queer communities have difficulty with the bisexual community. The straight community views us as gay people who are unwilling to accept our homosexuality and the gay community views us as being unwilling to give up our "heterosexual privileges." This workshop is geared toward helping bisexuals and their allies debunk the myths and promote understanding between disparate communities. This workshop is a youth-oriented participant discussion focussing on the particular problems of coming out as a bisexual person in a world that wants to define us as only straight or gay. (Youth, Bi, Allies)

BDSM101
David Fortini
A basic class about BDSM covering negotiation, safety and various types of play, with plenty of time for questions & answers.

The Good Breast - Relationships In The Raw-Being Our Own Role Models
B. Lois Wadas
The Good Breast is a Relationship workshop. The Good Breast is a metaphor for healthy loving relationships beginning with our relationship with ourselves. The Good Breast was founded/developed and is conducted by B. Lois Wadas, RN, Psychotherapist. While it was conceived with the needs of people of color/ women/gay/lesbian persons in mind, it is in no way limited or exclusive. The needs of these groups are addressed because of the added stress and imposed dysfunction of living and loving in an intolerant culture. One need not be in a couple to benefit from this workshop.

Playing Well with Others: Unlearning Genderism as an Organizing Tool
Diane Sofia Frank, Ph.D, H. Paul Schwitzgebel, David Marsteller, Joni Christian, Sandy Bowers, Colleen Norris, Priscilla Smith, Ph.D
The Akron Area Pride Collective has a policy that all of our discussion groups and meetings (including board meetings) are open to everyone. This openness has strengthened our community and has empowered us to normalize diversity within the Akron metropolitan area. Several of our local activists will explain how inclusiveness created a safe environment for people to learn about gender and to unlearn genderism. Specific programs and policies which have been proven effective for generating inclusion and therefore combating genderism will be discussed. We breach barriers with Adventure Pride, which organizes ordinary field trips to ordinary events for everyone including families and children. GLBT and other social events at our center reinforce the inclusiveness initiated in our discussion groups. The solidarity generated by these programs allows us to influence the community by our broad-based engagement with existing programs for victim's assistance, battered women, and diversity awareness for local police departments.

How to Facilitate a Support Group
Tom Limoncelli
You can be a great facilitator! Every support group needs more facilitators. Every community needs more support groups. The techniques are easy and fun to learn! Learn how to get people to talk, how to increase repeat attendance, how to deal with difficult people, and where to advertise. Learn the difference between a "support group," a "discussion group," and how that affects the location you select, the facilitation style you use, and what kind of audience you will draw. While this workshop will focus on facilitating, tips for starting your own group will be included if there is interest. This mix of lecture and Q&A will be customized depending on audience needs.

TransFeminism: Where Trans and Feminism Meet (A Youth Gender Project [YGP] workshop)
Taryn Levitt and James Hoagland
How can trans-folks incorporate feminism into their lives? How can feminist communities and organizations include and recognize trans-folks? How do trans-folks learn and act out misogyny and sexism? How do feminists reinforce the binary gender system? How do genderqueer identities influence this important dialogue? Can Transfeminism be included within feminism? Come participate in an open discussion around the complexities of these two communities and explore the questions that come up when these issues meet.
Role-plays and small group discussions will lead to specific action plans that attendees can bring back home to break down these walls that divide communities. This workshop is about connecting oppressions, exploring power and privilege, understanding gender oppression, and ally building as well as connecting this important dialogue to work towards social justice and social change in feminist and transgender communities. We will discuss the interelatedness of sexism, binary gender oppression, and transphobia and what this approach would look like in our activist work.

Workshop IV - Sun., Oct. 6 - 10:45 AM-12:00 noon

Trans/Gender-Variant Youth Discussion
Aidan Dunn
Calling all youth (defined as anyone 25 or under) who are genderqueer, transsexual, drag kings and queens, bi-gendered, androgynes, gender-blenders, gender-benders, gender-questioning or otherwise gender-variant: this workshop is your space to vent, share stories, ask questions, exchange tips, decompress, or whatever else you want to do with it. The time can be used to talk about basic issues or anything beyond: coming out, family, non-trans peers, passing, concerns, transition, discrimination, not passing, school, waiting to transition, living "out", or anything related to gender that's on your mind. The content will depend on how you as participants want to use the time. (Youth Only)

Finding a Bisexual Place in the Gay and Lesbian Community
Alice Leibowitz, Mike Bracken, and Don Lee
The workshop will revolve around two themes: building bisexual community and promoting bi inclusion in the LGBTIQ community. It will be a combination of a structured discussion on people's experiences with bi community and the LGBTIQ community and stories about Conn-Bi-Nation's history.

Everything You Wanted to Ask those LGBT and Straight People with Wheelchairs White Canes Dogs in Harness Etc. but Were Too Afraid to Ask
Linda Helene Schnitzer
A relaxing discussion about what it is like to be Disabled. A sharing of feelings and questions. Disability etiquette. How LGBT people cope. Intro to Disability Rights 101. Some audio may be included.

The Art of Sexual Communication
Julie Ebin
Want to share and learn strategies about how to talk to our partners about sexual boundaries, our bodies, and safer sex? Topics to be included: discussing our body's particular needs, including our anatomy, figuring out safer sex practices that work for us, how to break the ice, and how to express our sexual comforts and limits.

Polyamory Panel
Jay Stewart, Valerie White, Erika Woodams
Polyamory ('many loves') is the practice of responsible non-monogamy, and an alternative relationship style embraced by people of all sexual orientations, genders, races, ages, etc. Every polyamorous relationship is different, constantly fine-tuned to the needs of the partners involved, and it's more common than you might think. The participants of this panel will share their experiences concerning polyamory as well as facilitate a discussion on the issue.

Trans Employment: Status, Issues and Activism
Jerimarie Liesegang
Employment for the Transgender community specifically, and the Gender Variant community at large, is a critical issue today. More and more Trans identified people are either coming OUT and/or Transitioning in the workplace. Though we are seeing more success in these transitions, there still exists an important education effort within the Corporate and Business communities regarding the Trans-identified individual. We will have a few Human Resource or Employee Resource Group personnel, in an unofficial capacity, from one or two of Connecticut's Financial Institutions to present their knowledge of this area, as well as address specific questions of the attendees. Specific topics to be covered: current status of transitioning in the workplace, general legal and corporate policies, HR Role in the transitioning process, Employee Resource Groups/Diversity Networks, and Medical Insurance issues. The workshop will also focus on the ongoing process at a local Connecticut Financial Company to educate and to hopefully incorporate Gender Identity into its workplace.

Is It a Boy or a Girl?
T.R. Richardson
During this session we will view "Is It a Boy or a Girl?," a one-hour documentary produced by The Discovery Channel that has been endorsed by the Intersex Society of North America, and has been nominated for a GLAAD award for outstanding television journalism. A discussion will follow the movie.
"From the moment of birth, everybody wants to know is it a boy or a girl? This question can be complicated when a third option is introduced; one out of every two thousand children in America is born intersexual. Sometimes biology malfunctions and children are born with mixed sexual characteristics, in what is called an intersexual birth.
"Many argue that the standard practice of sexual assignment by surgery in infancy should be discontinued giving the intersexual the right to chose or not to chose surgery once that person reaches adolescence. But whatever the surgical choice, intersexuals show us that gender is infinitely more complex than shape of our genitals." (This summary prepared by The Discovery Channel.)

Workshop V - Sun., Oct. 6 - 2:45 PM-4:00 PM

Sexual Freedom and the Law
Valerie White
This workshop will help people learn how to avoid legal difficulties in living their chosen lifestyles including dealing with custody of children, zoning, immigration, criminal prosecution, illness, accident or death, property ownership, etc. (GLBTI, Kinky, Polyamorous)

The Future of Transcending Boundaries, The Organization

GenderQueer Panel: Exploding the Gender Boxes
James Hoagland, Taryn Levitt, and Gunner Scott
Are you a boy or a girl? What about those of us whose identities don't fit this and know there are more than two options? How can we break down these binaries? This panel will help educate conference participants about: the identity "genderqueer;" the genderqueer community; ways in which genderqueer issues can best be addressed within the transgender and broader lesbian, gay, and bisexual communities; issues and concerns that can bring communities together; and how to best understand what the genderqueer community has to offer all communities working against gender binary oppression. This panel will help increase the understanding of how genderqueer communities are marginalized within the GLBTQ community and how networking and education can lead to new understandings of gender and oppression. We will discuss our own identities and will allow for question and answer and discussion.

Transgender Erotica
Raven Kaldera
What would it be like if we transgendered people had erotica that really represented us, and was made by and for us? Raven Kaldera will read sizzling and heart-wrenching trans-positive smut from the anthology "Best Trangender Erotica", and then we'll discuss what we all want to see, hear, and read in really good tranny porn, and how we can go about making it happen.

Trans People: Are We Nuts?
Justin Cascio
Are trans people likelier to also be suffering from mental illness? Trans people are already considered "mentally ill" by virtue of the Gender Identity Disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-- the DSM-- used by psychiatrists. A great deal of research has been conducted focusing on causes of GID and other attendant mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. A lecture on research of co-morbidities and aetiologies of GID to be followed by participant discussion on the inclusion of GID in the DSM and the pathologizing nature of GID research.

Coming Out
Sheeri Kritzer
Have you been out for years? Just coming out? If you'd like to talk about the coming out process, past or present, or if you have questions about new ideas you've learned this weekend, this workshop is for you. This is an informal support group -- bring your experiences and your questions.

Queer Parenting Panel