UNITY CONFERENCE 2013 Workshops STUDENT WORKSHOPS

Workshop A (9:50 11:20 a.m.)

A1. Community Caf The People Project An interactive roundtable with your peers! Discuss how your identities are shaped by the relationships you nurture, negotiate and navigate with yourselves, your families, your peers, your loved ones and your communities. Meet people from other schools and share your thoughts and issues. Make connections!

A2. Breaking through the binary walls understanding bisexuality and sexual fluidity Cheryl Dobinson, Planned Parenthood Toronto, and Ilaneet Goren, Supporting Our Youth (SOY) For many, sexual orientation is a fluid, rather than fixed identity. So why does society insist on keeping us in gay/straight boxes? And how does this feed biphobia? Explore the complex, multifaceted nature of attraction, and expand your understanding of how the categorization of sexual identities affects our perceptions and judgment of self and others.

A3. Exploring Gender in the Media Michelle Cho and Jessica Cleeve, Gender-Based Violence Prevention, TDSB Explore your relationship to pop culture and how it impacts the way you see yourself and your connection with gender. What feelings are provoked by the rare representations of queerness and gender diversity? What can you do about the lack of representation in the media?

A4. Panel: Role Models Moderator: TBD; Panelists: TBD Description coming soon.

A5. Panel: Queer Newcomer Youth Moderator: Julian A. Perez; Panelists: Julian A. Perez, Xavier Brown This panel focuses on the intersectionality between Queerness/Transness, Immigration/Refugee status and being young. Education around terminology, acceptance, discrimination and ally-ship will be addressed.

A6: The Allyship Process: What does it meant to be an Ally? Maria Papadimitriou and Kate Miller, Delisle Youth Services Participate in interactive activities and discussion to explore what it means to be an ally. All are welcome to participate.

A7: Remembered Voices: Aboriginal LGBT*QI two spirit youth and homelessness Mel Carroll and Connor Pion, Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council This panel discussion opens the conversations up to Aboriginal youth who wish to add their voice to dialogues about home, homelessness, and belonging in their way. Come to a safe, culturally sensitive space where Aboriginal spectrum identity youth can tell their stories. Hosted by the Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council, an Aboriginal not-for-profit research and advocacy space.

A8: Getting to know your Anti-O: Creative Anti-Oppression Principles & Practices Sedina Fiati & Jamaias DaCosta, R3 Collective Using a combination of art, discussion & mixed media, explore the multi-layered realities of oppression. Emphasis will be placed on creating accessible definitions and living examples of how systems of advantage & oppression, privilege & marginalization intersect and affect us all.

A9: Queer Jeopardy John Caffery and Adam Benn, Supporting Our Youth (SOY) Think you have what it takes to win? Come test your knowledge in Queer history and pop culture against some of your fellow delegates in a thrilling game of Queer Jeopardy!

A10: Love Bugs

Mezart Daulet, Asian Community AIDS Services The songs we listen to, the movies we watch, and the stories we hear often dont reflect how complex and diverse our love, relationships, and sex can be. Explore the spectrum of love, relationships, and sex with interactive games and role plays.

A11: Get Empowered: Express, Meditate and Move Kathleen O'Connell, Central Toronto Youth Services, Pride & Prejudice Program This interactive workshop will use art based activities to explore our stresses and strengths as LGBTQQ youth. We will share stories, meditate, play and move. Learn strategies to develop greater selfawareness, new ways of coping with stress, celebrate our identities and get empowered!

A12: Queering Sex Ed David Udayasekaran, Planned Parenthood Toronto Discuss sexual health and healthy relationships through an anonymous question and answer session and be introduced to the Queering Sex Ed resource produced by a Youth Advisory Committee of LGBTQ youth in 2012. Learn about accessible, relevant sex education resources for other LGBTQ youth including a series of YouTube videos and text resources exploring different aspects of sexuality and sexual health.

A13: What I LOVE About Being QUEER Vivek Shraya A screening of "What I LOVE about being QUEER" followed by Q&A and the opportunity to participate in the WILABQ project. Film synopsis: 34 beautiful queers. One big question.

Workshop B (12:20 1:50 p.m.)

B1: Community Caf The People Project An interactive roundtable with your peers! Discuss how your identities are shaped by the relationships you nurture, negotiate and navigate with yourselves, your families, your peers, your loved ones and your communities. Meet people from other schools and share your thoughts and issues. Make connections! 3

B2: Body Positivity & Queer Desire Asam Ahmad & Sara Mir, The It Gets Fatter Project In a society that teaches us to hate our bodies and scrutinize every little imperfection, it can be hard to think of our bodies as desirable, even in queer spaces. Explore body positivity and how it intersects with queer desirability. We will do a short fatphobia 101 exercise before talking more deeply about the ways fatphobia impacts who we desire and what kinds of bodies are considered 'unlovable' by normal beauty standards.

B3: Transfeminine? Transfeminism! Morgan M Page, The 519 Church Street Community Centre Trans feminine folks are awesome! Let's get together and talk about our histories, our differences, and our futures as trans ladies and other male-assigned-at-birth trans people!

B4: Panel: Intersecting Identities Moderator: Yegi Dadui; Panelists: Edmond Du, Shivana Ramsingh People can have multiple intersecting identities, such as gender-identity, sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic background, ethnicity, ability and others. What role does power and privilege play in the acceptance and/or ability to express these identities, as well as how people experience oppression as a result of the intersecting identities?

B5: Panel: Race and Disability Moderator: TBD; Panelists: TBD Share the experiences of how race and disability affect the connections within the LGBTQ community. Learn about both the challenges and rewards that come with the intersections of race, ability and desire.

B6: Writing Our Connections: A Creative Writing Workshop Debra Anderson, Author Why write stories? To join the conversation. - Dorothy Allison A letter. A list. A rant. An email. A series of texts. A diary entry. A note in class. An apology. A wish. A memory. A dialogue. Going back in time. Travelling forward. Staying still. Reaching out. Saying it out loud. All we have is our stories & writing them down is the most powerful way we have to connect with ourselves & each other. In this 4

hands-on workshop you'll explore short & fun creative writing exercises. No rules, no prep - just be ready to spill some ink on the page!

B7: HIV, STI's & Safe Sex 101 Shawn Fowler and Sarah Siddiqui, Hassle Free Clinic Join us for activities and demonstrations about STI's, HIV, safe sex and testing from staff of the Hassle Free Clinic!

B8: Love, Sex and Relationships Chi Ching Hui, Toronto Public Health What makes us feel good about ourselves when it comes to love, sex and relationships? Through interactive games and discussions, we will explore the different facets of sex, love and relationships.

B9: Queer Jeopardy John Caffery and Adam Benn, Supporting Our Youth (SOY) Think you have what it takes to win? Come test your knowledge in Queer history and pop culture against some of your fellow delegates in a thrilling game of Queer Jeopardy!

B10: Connecting with History Dwayne Shaw Look back and acknowledge the gains the lgbtq movement has made in the past. Gain a sense of how far lgbtq communities have come, and how much we owe to people who overcame their fears to overcome societal oppression.

B11: Sharing Our Stories: Queer and Trans Zine Making Nish Israni and Kit Wilson-Yang, Limitless at the Griffin Centre Zines are a fun, empowering way to share our stories and build community as queer and trans people. Come out and join us as we talk about zines we love, work on writing and sharing our stories, and share zine making tips.

B12: Crafting an Answer 5

David Udayasekaran, Planned Parenthood Toronto (T.E.A.C.H.) What does homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia look like in your life? With the support of staff and volunteers from Teens Educating and Confronting Homophobia, strategies for confronting this discrimination and hate will be explored. Participants will also be invited to craft their very own positive space posters to take back to their schools and communities.

B13: Panel: Queers Who Pray Moderator: j wallace; Panelists: Elisha Lim, Lu Lam. This panel will have 5 people from different faith traditions. People who are both queer/trans* and people of faith will share their own experiences and understandings of being both queer/trans* and people of faith. This is a space to explore the struggles, strengths and joys of being a "queer that prays". Elisha will also share parts of their film in development "Queers Who Pray".

Workshop C (2:00 3:30 p.m.)

C1: Community Caf The People Project An interactive roundtable with your peers! Discuss how your identities are shaped by the relationships you nurture, negotiate and navigate with yourselves, your families, your peers, your loved ones and your communities. Meet people from other schools and share your thoughts and issues. Make connections!

C2: Trans masculinity and Relationships Matt Caron Francino, Rainbow Health Ontario Explore all things about and around trans masculine people and relationships. Come connect, discuss ways to transform vulnerabilities into strengths and celebrate love.

C3: Deaf* Queer Culture Nicole Noble & Ryan Harding, Ontario Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf

Through an intersectional approach, the experiences of Deaf* Queer people are discussed to give the community a better in-depth knowledge of our community. In this presentation, sign language; deaf culture and customs; personal experiences are all shared. If you are interested in learning some new signsthis is the place for you!

C4: Panel: Community Activism Moderator: Nish Israni; Panelists: TBD This panel will focus on community activism, organizations in the community that do great work dismantling homophobic and transphobic structures as well as the ways one can be an activist in their day to day lives.

C5: You Are Not Alone Yessinia Vasquez and Sandy Wynia Katz, Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth YANA is workshop presented by LGBTQ Youth for Youth in and from Care and those that support them. The workshop will explore experiences of Queer Youth in Care and how to build community and create safe spaces.

C6. Breaking through the binary walls understanding bisexuality and sexual fluidity Cheryl Dobinson, Planned Parenthood Toronto, and Ilaneet Goren, Supporting Our Youth (SOY) For many, sexual orientation is a fluid, rather than fixed identity. So why does society insist on keeping us in gay/straight boxes? And how does this feed biphobia? Explore the complex, multifaceted nature of attraction, and expand your understanding of how the categorization of sexual identities affects our perceptions and judgment of self and others.

C7: Navigating Social Media Jaime Woo Apps and cellphones and websites, oh my! What strategies are available to navigate social media? Discuss how cellphones, texting, facebook, twitter, snapchat, instagram, apps, cell phones and websites affected our ability to make and keep connections? Are connections in the made in the virtual world virtual connections? Whats real? Whats not? Whats safe? Whats not?

C8: Love, Sex and Relationships Chi Ching Hui, Toronto Public Health 7

What makes us feel good about ourselves when it comes to love, sex and relationships? Through interactive games and discussions, we will explore the different facets of sex, love and relationships.

C9: Sports, gym class and trans and genderqueer students Barb Besharat, The 519 Church Street Community Centre Watch The 519's new short film 'Trans+Sport: Changing Spaces into Safer Places,' and learn about some of the barriers trans and genderqueer youth face when trying to get into sport and physical activity. Share your experiences in sport and gym and consider your own ideas around what makes sport and physical activity spaces safe or unsafe. Then lets work together to think of new ways we can help to make school sport safer for everyone.

C10: Love Bugs Mezart Daulet, Asian Community AIDS Services The songs we listen to, the movies we watch, and the stories we hear often dont reflect how complex and diverse our love, relationships, and sex can be. Explore the spectrum of love, relationships, and sex with interactive games and role plays.

C11: Trans Migration Yegi Dadui, Supporting Our Youth (SOY) and Edmund Du, Griffin Centre Explore the experiences of trans newcomer youth; the barriers they face while settling in a new country, the importance of community support, and ways in which other youth can create safer spaces for everyone.

C12: Crafting an Answer David Udayasekaran, Planned Parenthood Toronto (T.E.A.C.H.) What does homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia look like in your life? With the support of staff and volunteers from Teens Educating and Confronting Homophobia, strategies for confronting this discrimination and hate will be explored. Participants will also be invited to craft their very own positive space posters to take back to their schools and communities.

C13: What are Bullies Made of? L King and Datajie Green, Supporting Our Youth (SOY) 8

Discuss the different forms and causes of bullying and how it is rooted in different forms of privilege and oppression. How do you deal with it? Role play to confront and understand bullying behaviour.

STAFF WORKSHOPS
Workshop A (9:50 11:20 a.m.)
S1: What to do after year two?? Michael Erickson, Harbord C.I, Toronto District School Board This session is a facilitated discussion for staff members who have had running a group for more than 2 years. As a group, we'll identify and prioritize topics to discuss. This will probably be a mix of sharing best practices, building some relationships among us and talking about the tough stuff.

S2: How are we doing? What's next? Auditing as a tool for what we do next j wallace, Vladimir Vallecilla-Orozio, Gender Based Violence Prevention, TDSB This is intended to be an active workshop! We'll share several audit tools to help assess your successes and areas for further work in your school. Staff will be encouraged to do an initial audit for their school and think about what action items and steps you, your school or your GSA might want to do next. * At no point will you be asked to share the results of your audit in the group - your answers are just for you and whomever you choose to share them with!

Workshop B (12:20 1:50 p.m.)

S3: What to do after year two?? Michael Erickson, Harbord C.I, Toronto District School Board This session is a facilitated discussion for staff members who have had running a group for more than 2 years. As a group, we'll identify and prioritize topics to discuss. This will probably be a mix of sharing best practices, building some relationships among us and talking about the tough stuff.

S4: TBD Gender-Based Violence Prevention, TDSB Description coming soon.

Workshop C (2:00 3:30 p.m.)

S5: TBD Gender-Based Violence Prevention, TDSB Description coming soon.

S6: Independent Discussion/Networking Open space for staff to relax, mingle and share ideas.

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