I'm going to this conference at Hampshire College in two weeks on reproductive rights, and I'm super excited about it! I've been doing mostly LGBT-focused activism for the past couple of years (LGBT activism was my original "in" into organizing) and I'm just now starting to really expanding my focus and look at the intersections and overlap between different movements. I'm also taking an adult education class on white people challenging racism that starts in a week, which I am really looking forward to.
The conference is sponsored by Hampshire's Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program, and is known as CLPP. I don't recognize most of the workshop presenter's names, but the ones who I do recognize are really good. It should be a really good introduction to reproductice rights organizing for me, and it looks like it also has a lot of stuff for people withmore experience.
I'm also excited to be going to it because it's at Hampshire, and I am getting more and more excited about Hampshire. While at CLPP I plan to check out their Jewish Student Union, and hopefully go to their Shabbat dinner. I'm also planning on stopping by the Queer Community Alliance Center, and since I'm staying on campus, I'll be checking out the dorms and mods too.
This should be really enjoyable.
3 comments:
It's funny how activism works. Reproductive rights were my original "in" to activism, and I just got totally burnt out on it. Queer activism came a little later, but I've found it a lot more welcoming. I found it really hard to be a queer-identified person fighting for reproductive rights when there were older women in the movement involved. I hate to say it, but I kind of wrote off the movement for a few years as a movement for cisgendered straight women. I'll always, always, always vote for reproductive rights and all that stuff, but I got way too tired of explaining myself away every time I volunteered at something.
Have I ever mentioned how much I adore you?
I agree, Queer activism was really what got me started. But, as you said, movements always share many similarities and connections, and I am having a great time finding the connections between race and gender these days, which always be my biggest identity crises. These days, while of course the queers are always at the top of my priority list, I'm really big into the riot grrl activism scene. I just started writing my first zine called Womanifesto with my best friend Mandee... it's stuff like that that is wonderful for the activist's spirit. Not just talking about it, but doing it. Not just being all theory and no action, like so activists I see these days. They like to talk, but don't like to do. Doesn't sound like an ACTIVist to me.
Love love love.
How was it?? for me the connections - especially between trans activism and reproductive access are totally mindblowingly important. There are so many different ways to approach reproductive rights, and so many different ways to approach "queer," and for me both things come out of the same place. I hope CLPP was inspiring - I was sad to miss it - a lot of people a really admire were there. see you soon...?
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