Special Lecture: The Intersection of Queer Activism and Disability Rights Activism

Special Lecture: The Intersection of Queer Activism and Disability Rights Activism


Mar 13

For this month’s World of Sex workshop we will be hosting a traveling college class's special lecture at the LightHouse for the Blind. Guest traveling professor Sumi Colligan will be joined by disability rights activist Corbett O’Toole and anthropologist Karen Nakamura to examine the intersection (and tension) of queer activism and disability rights activism.

Cost: Free to Attend.  Space is limited so an RSVP is required.  Please RSVP to lmillar@lighthouse-sf.org or call 415-694-7345.   

While queer activism and disability activism histories share similar time periods, their methods of organizing, types of participants and political focus were very different. The lecture will look at how these different movements were shaped by these similarities and differences. How did their histories evolve from these differences?

A lot of early queer activism shared geographical space with early disability activism in the San Francisco Bay Area. Queer activism centered in San Francisco, a very hilly city while disability activism centered in Berkeley, a mostly flat city. How did location impact these movements?

The eruption of AIDS in gay men's communities in the early 1980s provided a potential bridge between queer and disability activism. Yet it did not occur. How did embedded ableism in queer activists and embedded homophobia in disability activist create unsurmountable barriers to collaboration?

Queer activism writings nearly always state intersectionality as a central tenet. Yet disability activists rarely feel included in queer activism and often are excluded through environmental barriers (inaccessible spaces, no interpreters, no braille, no scent free policies). After 50 years of co-existing, why do barriers continue to exist between these communities?

The presentation will conclude with thoughts regarding ways in which the intersectional experiences of disabled queers can be used as a platform for considering how  disability activists and queer activists can collaborate more effectively going forward. 

Seating is limited so please RSVP by contacting lmillar@lighthouse-sf.org or calling 415-694-7345.

 

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