When it comes to the people who work for you, do you know the best way to reach them? Q+ EDU 2021 closes out with this special panel featuring our friends at Texas Freedom Network, Transgender Education Network of Texas, ACLU of Texas, and special guest, Lindsey Horvath, the Mayor of West Hollywood, California. It’s gonna be gay!

Join award-winning Egyptian-American journalist and author of Headscarves & Hymens Mona Eltahawy and activists from across Africa as Q+ EDU explores the rights, struggles, and similarities with Texas, of LGBTQIA+ folks in Cameroon, Egypt, South Africa, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.

Far too often the experiences of bisexuals, in particular bisexual men, are dismissed or erased. This intergenerational chat between bisexual men is here to challenge the biphobia and bi-erasure that harm non-monosexual men in our community. Time to prove once again that bisexual men do exist!

Led by high school seniors Gabriela Rupp and Nidhi Kallur who lead the North Texas GSA Coalition, this is a session nonprofit professionals won't want to miss!

Technology is the fastest-growing industry in the world, and that will likely continue to be the case, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increased reliance on virtual activities. If you have ever been interested in the tech industry, we hope you’ll join us for this panel discussion with queer folks who work in this field. This panel is a great opportunity to learn about the diverse range of tech careers (it’s not all STEM!) and to hear about how queer folks navigate the industry.

The mainstream queer narrative in the West consistently centers whiteness and excludes the experiences of communities of color. From a failure to recognize and celebrate Indigenous and Native expressions of gender and sexuality to the all-too-common inclusion of the phrase “No Asians, No Blacks” in dating profiles, white supremacy has stifled the voices of folks of color in queer spaces and movements. This panel hopes to excavate how queer, trans, Indigenous, and people of color (QTIPOC) navigate the predominant whiteness of the mainstream queer community, and they will discuss how QTIPOC can assert their Blackness and Brownness within these white spaces.

Researchers use the term “Minority Stress” to describe the strain required by members of a marginalized group to partake in society. This session is a conversation about Minority Stress and its effect on healthy lives and relationships. Understanding the term and the ways in which it affects our queer community will allow us to acknowledge the common trauma that we often share. Although our community has gained visibility and more equality, we still observe very high rates of depression, anxiety and substance abuse for queer individuals. The continuous stress endured by queer people growing up in a cisgender heteronormative society greatly impacts our ability to nurture healthy relationships and affects our physical and mental health. Moreover, these stressors are multiplied for Queer People of Color. Acknowledging this trauma will cease the circle of abuse that is often recreated within our community and ensure more joy, happiness and growth. AJ will define the terms, present data, link it to healthy relationships, and offer helpful resources too.

📣 "Undocumented, unafraid! Trans, queer, unashamed!" 🎶🏳️‍🌈 Just this summer, in the midst of Pride Month, trans and undocumented folks won major protections for their communities in the Supreme Court: their movements grounded in people power, love, and resilience. Speaking up and taking action have been a tradition even since Stonewall — so how can LGBTQ teens and their allies continue that spirit to protect their immigrant friends, classmates, and community members? Join Q+ EDU for a panel discussion about immigrant LGBTQ justice, the abolition of detention camps and prisons, and how you can get involved to create a better world that treats everyone with dignity!

Abolition. Prison. Stonewall. Queer. Riot. These powerful words are guaranteed to make for a powerful conversation. In an exciting panel of queer and trans folks who have either been directly affected by the prison industrial complex, actively fighting against the system, or both, we will be discussing how to address these matters in our own communities. Policing has always disproportionally affected the LGBTQIA+ community, and we hope that this conversation encourages you to better understand the current system and the revolutionary practices that will dismantle these structures.

We are a team of four interdisciplinary undergraduate students at the University of Texas at Austin to develop an app-based curriculum for Indian healthcare providers to work more effectively with LGBTQ+ patients. We are collaborating with two Chennai-based NGOs, SAATHII and Nirangal. During this teach-in, we will share our current findings and discuss the importance of interdisciplinary, intersectional research about LGBTQ+ health. We will discuss the ways in which LGBTQ+ identities are lived and experienced in health settings. We will address the critical knowledge gaps in existing healthcare education about the needs of LGBTQ+ communities. You can read more about our project on our blog.

This program will provide a base understanding of how the world's concepts of gender and sexuality are deeply colonized, and how transphobia and homophobia (among countless other social issues) are rooted in anti-Blackness. We will finish with a Q+A session and methods to work on dismantling these concepts in our own minds.

LGBTQ youth represent as much as 40% of the homeless youth population. This discussion will address both how queer young people can try to prepare themselves if they fear their parents or guardians might kick them out if they came out or were outed, and what rights and options they have if they have already been expelled from their homes. National Safe Place is a good resource to start with if being unhoused is a concern.

So, the Supreme Court just decided LGBTQIAP2+ folks can't be fired just for being queer – yay! But that doesn't mean every employer in the country is magically queer-friendly. Join us for a conversation about where to find reviews of employers from current and past employees, what to look for on a potential employer's website and social media to distinguish a safer workplace from a corporate rainbow Pride wash, and how to make the most of your local LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce. You'll also learn how to see what the Better Business Bureau has to say about a potential employer, and if there's time, maybe even how to find their political ties and tax returns, and if they've been sued by employees, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or community members. Although there is no equivalent to the Campus Pride Index for employers, there are lots of ways to get the dirt on a company before you decide if you want to spend 40 hours of your week there.

This conversation between progressive activist and intersex advocate Alicia Roth Wiegel and Texas State philosophy professor Jonathan Reid Surovell is a wonderful introduction to the issues that intersex people face and ways that everyone can be better allies and advocates for intersex folks.