Headed to the Creating Change conference in Houston this week? Don’t miss PRA’s workshops!
You can also follow along with us on Twitter @PRAEyesRight for live updates and photos from the conference. If you couldn’t make it to the conference, watch for videos of our workshops next week!
Friday, January 31st
9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
No Denying It: Overcoming “Religious Refusal” Policies that Seek to Deny Equal Access and Protections for LGBTQ and Reproductive Rights
Debates over religious refusal policies have proliferated in the last two years, posing real risks to the rights and needs of LGBTQ people as well as successfully rallying extreme conservative legislators and movement leaders. This session will identify the current landscape of religious refusal policies, the impact on LGBTQ rights, the linkages with sexual and reproductive rights, and identify possible targets and strategies for tackling these issues at the local and national level going forward.
PRA fellow T.F. Charlton will join May Sifuentes from Planned Parenthood, Ian Palmquist, and Maureen Kelly.
Think Globally before Acting Globally: The Ethics of International Justice, Faith and Equality Work
As U.S. activists strive to be helpful in the 76 countries where homosexuality is illegal, it’s critical to reflect upon the ethics of international LGBT work. It’s a mistake to assume what is needed or will be helpful. We find ourselves in a reactive stance rather than a reflective one: Ugandan “kill the gays” bill or 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia. This workshop explores ethical guidelines for activists seeking to do international LGBT work.
PRA’s senior religion and sexuality researcher, Rev. Dr. Kapya Kaoma will join Michael Adee, Ann Craig, and Bishop Yvette Flunder.
10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
To Uganda and Russia, With Love: Stopping the Export of Homophobia Here At Home
The U.S. Christian Right has exported to Africa—and increasingly, other areas of the globe—a virulently (and violently) homophobic ideology. Those most responsible include groups and individuals that gave us DOMA, Prop 8, and other anti-LGBTQ and –reproductive choice campaigns. While much energy has gone towards condemning agents of intolerance abroad, an emerging grassroots global solidarity movement is working to hold U.S. culture war exporters accountable right her on U.S. soil. We’ll identify practical action opportunities, principles for effective and accountable cross-border partnerships, and responses to the opposition’s tactics and claims, such as “homosexuality is a Western import” or “abortion and contraception threaten traditional family values.
PRA’s LGBTQ rights researcher, Cole Parke, and senior religion and sexuality researcher Rev. Dr. Kapya Kaoma will be joined by Vanessa Brocato
12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Forum: Ethics for Global LGBT Work
A discussion with PRA executive director Tarso Luís Ramos and senior religion and sexuality researcher Rev. Dr. Kapya Kaoma on the launch of a new journal called “Ethics and Human Sexuality.”
Saturday, February 1
10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Crisis of Success: LGBTQ Momentum, Racial Regression, & Our Collective Challenge
At the ’63 March on Washington, A. Philip Randolph warned of a “crisis of success,” foreseeing that victory over legal discrimination would be treated as the end point of the country’s commitment with civil rights, rather than as an important milestone along the long road to social justice. As today’s LGBTQ rights movement finds itself on a roll, we’ll learn and share with organizers building a long-term, intersectional movement for “justice,” and not “just us.”
PRA’s executive director, Tarso Luís Ramos, will be joined by Race Forward’s Rinku Sen, Caitlin Breedlove from Southerners on New Ground, and Mandy Carter of the Bayard Rustin Coalition.
Sunday, February 2
9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Beyond Bullying: Equally Excellent Public Education for All?
Too often, discussions about LGBTQ students and education begin and end with anti-bullying policies and the creation of “safe spaces.” But LGBTQ students, educators, and activists encounter unique challenges in the classroom in other important areas as well. This workshop will take a closer look at some often-overlooked challenges to LGBTQ equality in the classroom, focusing on three crucial areas: the growing national movement to privatize education, debates surrounding school-based sex education, and the connection of LGBTQ issues and racial justice in schools. Come join us as we discuss how the equality movement can address the full range of education issues facing the LGBTQ community.
PRA’s executive director, Tarso Luís Ramos, and PRA fellow Rachel Tabachnick will be joined by Dan Quinn of Texas Freedom Network and Geoffrey Winder of GSA Network.