INSTITUTE NEWS & EVENTS
Arizona Legislature's HB 2706 Targets Trans* Students, Excludes from Athletic Participation 

Image Description: A person holds up a flag during rally to protest the Trump administration's reported transgender proposal to narrow the definition of gender to male or female at birth at City Hall in New York City, U.S., October 24.2018. Photo Credit: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Last week, Arizona introduced HB 2706--also known as the "Save Women's Sports Act." This bill represents the most recent in a slew of AZ anti-LGBTQ+ house and senate bills, and targets transgender students at all levels of publicly-funded education. The bill proposes a requirement that students provide proof of biological sex to participate in athletics programs designated for "females, women, and girls." Specifically, the bill requires a student contesting exclusion from female sports/teams to provide "a signed physician's statement that indicates the student's sex based only on all of the following factors: 1) The student's internal and external reproductive anatomy, 2) The student's normal endogenously produced levels of testosterone, 3) An analysis of the student's genetic makeup." In effect, this bill would bar transgender students' participation in athletics teams if their assigned-at-birth sex does not align with teams/sports designated for "females, women, or girls." Furthermore, this bill would allow parents, teammates, and institutions to file law suits against trans* athletes who "violate" the proof of biological sex requirements, and would protect those who report trans* students.

We at the Institute for LGBT Studies vehemently oppose the continued attack on transgender rights. We stand in solidarity with our trans* family, friends, colleagues, and community and are committed to support movement toward inclusive education in Arizona, which also encompasses trans* peoples' right to participate in sports and athletics teams. Learn more about the implications of HB 2706 here. Read the full bill text here

Transform Arizona/Transformar Arizona to continue the fight for inclusive education--join their next organizing meeting!

Sunday, Feb. 9th, 2020
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
World of Words | 1430 E 2nd St (4th floor, COE)
Free, all ages
RSVP Requested

In addition to writing your AZ legislators expressing your opposition to HB 2706 and other anti-LGBTQ+ bills, you can join Transform Arizona/Transformar Arizona (co-founded by iLGBTS FAC member Prof. Carol Brochin), who will meet again to devise additional plans of action for creating inclusive AZ schools. Join in to hear committee updates and next steps as things are moving along. *NEW MEMBERS STILL WELCOME!* RSVP for this event here.
ACE WORKSHOP THIS WEDNESDAY: The Queer Voice in 19th and 20th Century Writers!

Wednesday, Jan. 29th
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
ENR2, Rm S215 | 1064 E Lowell St
Free

Workshoppers will look at the writings of queer playwrights and authors (i.e., Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, Virginia Woolf, and more) to examine how their voices shaped public perception of homosexuality while masquerading as straight voices. In the two hours of this workshop, we will trace from Victorian England to modern America, using excerpts and media clips to see how the queer voice changed over the 19th, 20th and start of the 21st century.

About the presenter: David Morden is an Associate Professor of Voice and Movement in the School of Theatre, Film and Television at the University of Arizona.

Read more about this workshop here.
THIS FRIDAY: Aging Successfully: Issues and Needs of LGBTQ+ Older Adults Ages 55+

Friday, Jan. 31st
8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
ENR2, Rm S107 | 1064 E Lowell St
FREE, All Ages, Refreshments & Lunch included

The University of Arizona (UArizona) Institute for LGBT Studies (iLGBTS), in collaboration with Southern Arizona Senior Pride (SASP) and the Pima Council on Aging (PCOA), is conducting a day long symposium to explore and illuminate the issues of LGBTQ+ adults ages 55 and older. The symposium will include national and local experts in LGBTQ+ aging, invited representatives of key elder and/or LGBTQ+ services providers in the Tucson/Pima County area, UArizona faculty, staff, and students, and interested attendees from Southern Arizona. The symposium will inform a community-wide survey of LGBTQ+ adults aged 55yrs+ in Pima County to be conducted by the iLGBTS. Survey findings, which will be made publicly available without cost, can be utilized to provide local services, support funding applications, and inform policy makers.

Refreshments, light morning snacks, and lunch will be provided during the symposium. We will do our best to ensure that vegan and gluten-free items are available. If you have any specific requests or concerns, please let us know.

Parking is available in the UA Sixth Street Garage (1119 E 6th St).

At this time, we are at our maximum capacity for in-person attendees. However, we welcome those unable to join us on campus to attend remotely via Zoom. If you are planning to join us remotely, please RSVP here.
Queer Conexiones: This Week!
Join Graduate Students of Color Collective for their next business meeting!

image description: flyer with gray background, and orange and black geometric shapes and line patterns on top and bottom . Image text reads: Graduate Students of Color Collective, Business Meeting, Date: 1.27.2020, Time: 2:00PM, Chávez, Rm 204A. 
Join Sarah Lopez Au at the WGRC this Thursday for weekly wellness series!

image description: pale pink flyer with darker pink paint smears on left and right. Image text reads: WGRC Wellness Series, Thursdays, 1PM with Sarah Lopez Au.
Join Masculinities in the Mix + LGBTQRC this Friday for a movie screening: Feminist on Cellblock Y

image description: Black and red flyer resembling a stage, with three still photographs from Feminist on Cellblock Y bordered to look like movie film. Image text reads: Masculinities in the Mix & the LGBTQ Resource Center present Movie Screening, Feminist on Cellblock Y. Join us to watch the documentary and engage in dialogue. Date: January 31, 2020, Time: 12-2PM, Location: LGBTQ Resource Center. 
Just Najima Presents: The Apocalypse Cabaret

Friday, Jan. 31st, 2020
9:00 PM
Club Congress | 311 E Congress
5.00, 21+ Only

Come down to Club Congress to celebrate the release of local artist Just Najima's new album, Queenie. Featuring musical performances by Just Najima, Jaime J. Soto, Na-il Ali, and Moontrax. Drag and burlesque performances by Jaime J. Soto and Jeena Doucure. Hosted by Jeena Doucre.

Purchase tickets and read more about this event here.
Join Queers United Coalition for Game Night!

image description: hot pink flyer with black dice, game controller, and spade. Text reads: Queers United Coalition Presents: Our First Ever! Game Night! 2/2 @ 6PM. RSVP with the link in the description: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScNg4ymRqhGG2gTfEnCU8IjBQ6t4TJULETFX3P8_uN_q7fXBQ/viewform?usp=sf_link&fbclid=IwAR1RPtPnwKJyF7qQBsQnO7_97Oc0lRxvlKav2rUsoK1lAJVrqh2P13yCkzc. Come hang out, eat food, and play video/board games in a safe place! Admission is $3 or food item donation. No one will be turned away if they can't afford admission.
CONFERENCES, CALLS, CLASSES and FUNDING
CFP: Let's Get Better Together Conference 2020

Submission Deadline: Saturday, Feb. 15th, 2020
Conference Date: June 25-26, 2020
Pointe Hilton | 7677 N 16th St 
Phoenix, AZ

Share your insight, experience and knowledge about healthcare and wellness for adult or children in gender and sexual minority communities. Become a workshop host! The 9th Annual Let's Get Better Together Conference Committee invites workshop proposals that address new and existing healthcare practices for adults and children who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, or Two-Spirit. Proposals should address current and new best practices in health and human services that focus on eliminating disparities and promoting equity. This greatly ties into our theme for the 2020 conference: Building Bridges - Eliminating Barriers for LGBTQ+ Health Equity. Let's Get Better Together conference is an annual statewide LGBTQ Healthcare conference hosted by the LGBTQ Behavioral Health Coalition of Southern Arizona and the Queer Resource Collective (QuRC, formerly the LGBTQ Consortium).
Full CFP Details can be found here
Mark Your Calendar!
Save the date for Jesus I. Valles'  (Un)Documents !!

image description:flyer featuring U.S.-required immigration documentation and images of Latinx folx. Flyer reads: (Un)Documents. Written and performed by Jesus I. Valles. Directed by Rudy Ramirez. An excerpt reads, "somewhere in an archive, i am burning soft and young i am pages of testimonies, receipts, report cards, case numbers making up the limbs i lack on the page and somewhere else my brothers, their papers deportation proceedings, testimonies, receipts, criminal records scratched and bound and gone and case number making up the limbs they lost leaving and why." Dates of performance: April 10th, 2020, Time TBA, Free. Where to go: Harold Dixon Studio, Details forthcoming.


With a single phrase, you can give up your country. With a single signature, you can tear a family apart. With a single word, you can learn to transform. In their first full-length solo show, (Un)Documents, award-winning actor and poet Jesús I. Valles journeys across both sides of a river with two names, moving between languages to find their place as a child, a lover, a teacher, and a sibling in a nation that demands sacrifice at the altar of citizenship. In doing so, they create a new kind of documentation written with anger, fierce love, and the knowledge that what makes us human can never be captured on a government questionnaire. Join us for a riveting performance on  April 10, 2020  at the Harold Dixon Studio. Tickets will be available in the coming weeks, stay tuned!

This event is being sponsored by the Queer Migration Network, a research initiative of ILGBTS and the Department of Gender & Women's Studies.

View a trailer of the play here
 
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