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Past Gender JUST Events

Gender JUST regularly organizes events in Chicago, including workshops and panel discussions and often in collaboration with fellow activists. Our list here is in progress; please keep checking back for updates. 
Radical Strategies in Electoral Politics

It's a presidential election year! What's a radical to do other than decide to vote or not vote? Many radical groups avoid electoral politics, suspicious of giving a mandate to office holders who rarely share their transformative values. But sometimes we have no choice but to engage with politicians and politics, especially at the local level, in order to advocate for ourselves and our communities. How do we do this meaningfully without compromising our core values? 


Gender JUST explored strategies for electoral politics based upon three assumptions with regards to radical engagement: 1) A refusal to engage or refusal to participate in electoral politics is a form of reclaiming stolen mandates; 2) The capacity of office holders to implement radical policies is not dependent on the extent to which they as individuals espouse radical values; 3) Not all elections are created equally - some elections and office holders are more available to accountability to marginalized values and communities than others. We explored these principles through discussion of historical examples such as the work of W.E.B. DuBois and recent local work, including the #ByeAnita campaign and BLM.

Location: Chicago Freedom School

Date: October, 2016

Resources

Insurgent Diasporas

Location: Chicago Freedom School

Date: June, 2016

Diaspora refers to a people who are dispersed across national boundaries, but said to be connected through a common place of origin, a “home country.” Gender JUST,  Semillas Autónomas, and the Center for Jewish Nonviolence (CJNV) gathered to discuss how this connection is constructed, reproduced, ruptured, experienced and expressed. Presentations by SA and CJNV introduced each group’s work both within their respective nation states (Mexico and Israel) as well as within their diasporas to confront state violence and its effects across borders. The conversation that followed also featured conversation about diasporic collaborations such as BLM Gary's campaign against an immigration detention center.

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Resources

Are The Kids Alright? - Trans Youth in Bathrooms and On The Streets

Won't someone think of the children? There is big money in advocating for queer youth. But who is being served? GJ's discussion centered on two current trends: the accommodations of gender non-conforming youth in public schools and the continuing problem of queer youth homelessness. Rather than following the wide-spread focus on the "realness" of trans people or panic about public sex, we focused on the structuring influence of money and who specifically is made more or less safe by trans-specific legislation or resources. To assist with the discussion, GJ presented research on Chicago-area organizations addressing trans needs and youth experiencing homelessness and explored the consequences that funding models have for radical engagement with queer youth.

Event image from an exhibit at the EMP Museum (http://www.empmuseum.org/)

Location: Chicago Freedom School

Date: April 16, 2016

Resources

Romancing 'The International': Or, Gay Rights After Creating Change

In our third annual Valentine’s Day event, GenderJUST shared the love with queers overseas. We discussed what radical activism looks like on an international scale. How do we determine what appropriate action is when queers in other countries ask for our solidarity on an issue that is not strictly a queer experience? If South Africa is the model of B.D.S. as international activism, what do current events there tell us about B.D.S. as a radical strategy? 

Location: Chicago Freedom School

Date: February 14, 2016

Resources

Latin@ Pride with Orgullo en Acción

Location: Humboldt Park

Date: August 15, 2015

Latin@ PRIDE Picnic is a grassroots initiative creating space where LGBT Latina/os and their allies of all ages can celebrate their multiple identities with pride. GenderJUST tabled at the event and enjoyed the mid-summer downpour that is an annual tradition for the event. We also met and networked with fellow attendees, reconnected with many of our friends and comrades in the community, and hatched plans for future events and collaborations. Many thanks to our friends in Orgullo en Acción for so generously hosting us, and for their great hospitality - we're looking forward to next year! 

 

 

Resources

Beyond Sex: Queer Politics of Resistance

In recent years, sex positivity has become a mantra for radical movement making. While sex is clearly an important factor in shaping our places in the world, do we really have a clear understanding of how it can or cannot play a role in revolutionary world-making? In celebration of Valentine’s Day, GJ hosted a conversation on these questions with a goal of starting a conversation from a structural perspective. XXXX Number of people attended and excellent questions were raised.

Location: Lozano Library, Pilsen

Date: February 14, 2015

Resources

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