Kay Ulanday Barrett To Perform and Speak at 2nd Asterisk Trans* Conference

Kay Ulanday Barrett

Poet, performer, and educator Kay Ulanday Barrett will bring his spoken word artistry to the opening of the 2^nd Asterisk Trans* Conference on Friday, February 26, 2016 at UC Riverside. Kay will return on Saturday to share a keynote talk for those registered for the conference.

A Campus Pride Hot List artist, Trans Justice Funding Project Panelist, Trans 100 Honoree, and PBS News Hour featured poet, Kay Ulanday Barrett is navigating life as a disabled pin@y-amerikan transgender queer in the U.S. with struggle, resistance, and laughter. Kay has featured on colleges & stages globally; Princeton University, U Penn, UC Berkeley, Musee Pour Rire in Montreal, Brooklyn Museum, and The Chicago Historical Society. Kay’s bold work continues to excite and challenge audiences. A seasoned speaker, Kay has facilitated workshops, presented keynotes, and contributed to panels with various social justice collaborators. Kay’s ideas have featured in PBS News Hour, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, KPFA Radio, and WBAI Radio.

Honors include: 18 Million Rising Filipino American History Month Hero, Chicago’s LGBTQ 30 under 30 awards, Finalist for The Gwendolyn Brooks Open-Mic Award, Windy City Times Pride Literary Poetry Prize. Their contributions are found in Poor Magazine, Kicked Out Anthology, Trans Bodies/Trans Selves, Windy City Queer: Dispatches from the Third Coast, Make/Shift, Filipino American Psychology, Asian Americans For Progress, The Advocate, Fusion.net, and Bitch Magazine. Kay turns art into action and is dedicated to remixing recipes.

See their online wobble on twitter/tumblr/instagram as brownroundboi and on the website, kaybarrett.net

Jennicet Gutiérrez Keynote To Open 2nd Asterisk Trans* Conference

Jennicet Gutiérrez of Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement

Jennicet Gutiérrez, who interrupted a White House gay pride event with a call to end detainment and deportation of LGBTQ immigrants in June 2015, will open the 2^nd Asterisk Trans* Conference on Friday, February 25, 2016 at UC Riverside.

She and other trans and queer immigrants, undocumented and allies, youth leaders and parents helped found Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement in 2014. Familia’s working vision is “to the liberation of every LGBTQ Latin@ and to a radically and collective revolution to empower and free our culture, art, history and families from oppression. We seek to abolish the systems that imprison, kill and marginalize our people. We are here to help re-vision a new world founded on the principles of self-relization and self-determination.”

Jennicet will speak about her own journey to activism and the current sitiation for undocumented LGBTQ immigrants. According to a 2014 Fusion investigation, “U.S. immigration officials detain an average of 75 transgender detainees each night. Even though transgender immigrants make up just one out of every 500 detainees, they account for one out of five confirmed sexual abuse cases in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention.”

Friday’s events are free and open to the public. Saturday’s events are open to all who register online. Learn more here.