KINGSTON, R.I. –October 4, 2011 – Robyn Ochs, an award-winning lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activist, professional speaker and workshop leader will speak at the University of Rhode Island on Tuesday, Oct. 11 from 5 to 7 p.m.
Her talk, Beyond Binaries: Identity and Sexuality, will be held in Room 124, Memorial Union Gallery, 50 Lower College Road, Kingston. It is free and open to the public. Her visit is in celebration of National Coming Out Day. The program is cosponsored by URI ‘s GLBT Center and the Women’s Center.
The program will explore the landscape of sexual orientation. Similar to snowflakes, no two people are exactly alike. So, how do we assign precise labels to our complicated and unique experiences? What is the relationship between experience and self-identity, between self-identity and the way we are “read” by others? In this interactive program, different experiences of identity, the complexity of attraction, and more will be explored.
Ochs is the editor of the 42-country anthology, Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World (2nd edition). Her writings have been published in numerous bi, women’s studies, multicultural, and LGBT anthologies.
She has taught college courses on LGBT history and politics in the United States, the politics of sexual orientation, and the experiences of those who transgress the binary categories of gay|straight, masculine|feminine, black|white and/or male | female.
An advocate for the rights of people of ALL orientations and genders to live safely, openly and with full legal equality, her work focuses on increasing awareness and understanding of complex identities, and mobilizing people to be powerful allies to one another within and across identities and social movements.
For more information, e-mail Marisa O’Gara at MarisaOGara@gmail.com, Joseph Santiago at balanceheart@hotmail.com, or Carolyn Sovet at sovet@uri.edu.