BISEXUALITY & BEYOND: Re-imagining Sexual Orientation Friday, October 10, 2014 | 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

The Givens Conference Room (120 Elmer Andersen Library, on the U’s West Bank Campus)

Critical Conversations About Diversity and Justice

Just as our understandings of gender continue to move beyond binary, mutually exclusive notions of male and female, so, too, do our understandings of sexual orientation and sexual identity.  Too often social and political gains, such as the legal recognition of “gay marriage,” obscure the “B” in GLBT.  Those who identify as bisexual, pansexual, queer, asexual, fluid and related identities, are often lost between the gay/straight binary that has taken hold in our language, our media, and our political debates.  This discussion moves beyond these binaries to address how sexuality actually functions in our lives, and how a more nuanced and complex understanding of sexual identity benefits all.

Panelists:  Sol Ras Asanti, Community Organizer, Pan Afrikan Nationalist, Youth Worker, Gender Liberationist; Meg John Barker, Senior Lecturer in psychology at The Open University, and head of BiUK; Alex Iantaffi, University of Minnesota Assistant Professor of Family Medicine/Community Health in the Program for Human Sexuality; Chong Moua, Community Organizer, Speaker, Mother.  Moderator:  Frankie Jader, Office Manager, GLBTA Programs Office, University of Minnesota.

These conversations are open to all students, staff, faculty and community members, and do not require an RSVP