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National Conference of University Queer Services in St. John's May 1 - 5, 2013

Memorial University in St. John's plays host to LGBTQ service providers and students from universities across Canada.

By Justin Ryder, Conference Coordinator, CUQSC

The 8th Annual Canadian University Queer Services Conference will be taking place in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador at the Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John's campus from May 1 to 5, 2013. CUQSC brings together students, service providers, and community leaders from across Canada who are engaged in queer and trans* solidarity work on their campuses and in their communities.

CUQSC offers opportunities for participants to meet, share resources, create connections, learn from expert presenters and skill-building workshops, experience LGBTQ art and expression, and ultimately build our collective capacity to take action against oppression.

This year’s theme, “Intersections & Reflection: Queering Collective Action,” will explore the connections between the multiple issues and focuses of our communities. Queer and trans* identities do not exist in vacuums; rather, they exist in conversation with the multiple parts of ourselves.

We are queer, we are women, we are aboriginal, we live with disabilities, we are racialized, we are transgender, we are workers, we are students, we are spiritual, we are friends, siblings, children, parents, partners, lovers. We are dynamic. Dynamic as individuals and as communities, queer and trans* folks are subject to multiple forms of oppression.

Homophobia, transphobia, heterosexism, and misogyny are holding their own conversations with race, culture, class, gender, disability, religion, and other bases of difference and discrimination. Speakers, presentations, workshops, and other sessions will explore our dynamism, engage with the intersections of our identities, and confront the layers of power and oppression that marginalize our communities. Reflection on intersectionality will set us en route to a united, collective approach to action.

CUQSC organizers are pleased to welcome our two keynote presenters, Eli Clare and Janet Mock, whose work, advocacy, and experience lends great insight to the theme of intersectionality. White, disabled, and genderqueer, Eli Clare happily lives in the Green Mountains of Vermont where he writes and proudly claims a penchant for rabble-rousing. Eli speaks, teaches, and facilitates about disability, queer and trans identities, and social justice. On May 2 at 7:30pm in the Bruneau Lecture Theatre (MUN St. John’s campus), Eli will deliver his talk titled “Resisting Shame: Making Our Bodies Home.”

Janet Mock is a writer and activist who creates, critiques, and contributes to media in an effort to expand society’s limited portrait of womanhood. After sharing her teenage transition story through Marie Claire, the It Gets Better Project and xoJane in 2011, Janet concentrated her efforts on speaking out about the struggles, triumphs and portrayals of trans women like herself. Janet will deliver her keynote address on May 3 at 7:30pm in the Bruneau Lecture Theatre (MUN St. John’s campus).

CUQSC 2013 is a joint effort between the Memorial University of Newfoundland Students’ Union (MUNSU), the Graduate Students Union of Memorial University of Newfoundland (GSUMUN), LBGT-MUN, the Women’s Resource Centre at MUN (WRC), and the Canadian Federation of Students Newfoundland (CFS-NL).

Editor's Note: You can find out more about CUQSC 2013 on their website and here is a link to their page on facebook.

While registration for the conference is now closed, there is a free panel discussion on May 1st (Wayves will post more information as it becomes available). In addition both of the keynote addresses listed below are also open to the public and admission is free.

May 2, 7:30 PM, NEW VENUE: Innovation Hall (IIC-2001), MUN St. John's Campus: Eli Clare presents his talk titled Resisting Shame: Making Our Bodies Home.

May 3, 7:30 PM, NEW VENUE: Innovation Hall (IIC-2001), MUN St. John's Campus: Janet Mock delivers her keynote address.