Queer Tour: Big Ideas Conversation Series

Spring 2009

Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities often find the biological argument for civil rights distasteful and even disingenuous. While demographers, survey researchers, and economists consider the conceptual frameworks that create various portraits and arguments about LGBTQ communities and its needs, legal and social movement theorists struggle to build a vision for liberation that connects LGBTQ people to a broader movement for justice.

This panel will explore the costs of moving away from a biologically determined sexuality as a central argument in the fight for LGBTQ equality.

The tour features Shannon Minter, Legal Director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Dr. Jaime Grant, Director of the Policy Institute, and Kenyon Farrow, Policy Institute Fellow.

• University of California-Santa Barbara: Saturday, February 14, 2009. Cosponsored by UC-Santa Barbara Resource Center for Sexual & Gender Diversity and the 2009 UCLGBTQIA Western Regional Conference.

• University of Pennsylvania: Tuesday, April 7, 2009., 7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m., Goodhand Room, LGBT Campus Center, 3907 Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA 19104. Cosponsored by the Lambda Alliance.

• University of Texas at Austin: Wednesday, April 8, 2009., 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. , Main Building, Room 212, 2400 Inner Campus Drive, Austin, TX 78705. Cosponsored by the UT-Austin Gender and Sexuality Center, and the UT-Austin Division of Diversity and Community Engagement.

• University of California-Davis: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., MUII, Memorial Union, 1 Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616. Cosponsored by the UC-Davis Gender and Sexuality Commission.

• Vanderbilt University: Thursday, April 16, 2009, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., Multipurpose Room, Commons Center, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203. Cosponsored by the Office of LGBTQI Life, Lambda Association, and the Office of Housing and Residential Education.

• University of Wisconsin-Madison: Tuesday, April 21, 2009, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., 1280 Grainger Hall, 975 University Ave., Madison, WI 53706. Cosponsored by the UW-Madison Queer Student Alliance, and the LGBT Campus Center.

• University of California-Santa Cruz: Thursday, May 7, 2009, 7:30 – 9:00 p.m., Lionel Cantú GLBTI Resource Center, 1156 High St. Santa Cruz, CA 95064. Cosponsored by the Lionel Cantú Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Resource Center.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force works to build grassroots power of the (LGBT) community. They do this through training activists, equipping state and local organizations with the skills needed to organize broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and building the organizational capacity of our movement.

The Policy Institute, the movement’s premier think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality and to counter right-wing lies.

These events are free and open to the public.

Refreshments will be served.

Sponsored by Campus Progress, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

For more information, please email speakers@campusprogress.org.