SJ Janjua

I'd be delighted to speak about National Coming Out Day 2023 (October 11) and its significance to the LGBTQ+ community. As someone who is transgender, non-binary, and queer, I "come out" every day as I move through the world. This is something people outside of the LGBTQ+ community don't realize or understand the burden of. National Coming Out Day is a celebration of the courage it takes to come out, and the LGBTQ+ community.

We often think of harm as being the negative result of actions or words. However, harm may also be caused by what we don’t do or say. Come learn ways to more intentionally create identity-safe and affirming spaces for LGBTQ+ students.

They/them? Ze/zim? He/they? Confused about pronouns? Feeling out of the loop on the labels used to describe gender identity? This workshop covers the basics of pronoun usage, what to do when you misgender someone, the gender spectrum, and unpacking our assumptions about gender. This space also acts as a safe space to practice affirming pronoun usage and to ask questions!