Schedule

11:30 a.m.–1 p.m., Fir Acres Black Box Theatre
Workshop: Joy as a Weapon: Sensual Embodiment for Activist Self-Care and Somatic Solidarity

Facilitated by Nancy Irene Benson, peer conflict coach and Eastern Washington University student
This workshop provides a trauma-informed space for participants to experience sensual/intuitive movement as a tool for personal healing and collective resistance, rooted in radical self-care and joy. No dance experience is necessary. The focus is on internal experience, not external performance.

11:30 a.m.–1 p.m., Council Chamber, Fowler Student Center
Workshop: Building Bridges: Fostering Collaboration and Mutual Aid Within and Beyond Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Facilitated by I-Yun Lee, Eric Warren-Koski, and Yolyamanitzin “Yola” Gómez, doctoral students, Oregon State University
Recognizing the interconnectedness of social justice issues, this workshop outlines a concise, multi-step approach meant to strengthen collaborations, fostering a more supportive environment based in solidarity and activism as a form of resistance against institutional betrayal and harm. A primary goal is to share a do-it-yourself (DIY) framework that participants can use to build community in their own collaborations. 

1:45–3:15 p.m., Council Chamber, Fowler Student Center
Panel: Refusing Legibility

Moderator: Ximena Keogh Serrano, assistant professor of Spanish and Latinx studies, Pacific University
Alice Ladley, independent scholar, “All Androids are Secretly Transgender: An Essay on the Liberatory Potential of Unnatural Existence”
Roc Rochon, assistant professor and program coordinator of sport leadership and management, Pacific University, “Reimagining ‘Bodywork’ in the Wake: A Collection of Black Queer, Transgender, and Nonbinary Body Autonomy Oral Testimonies”
Aimee Wodda, associate professor of criminal justice, law, and society, Pacific University, “queer! anarchist! surrealist!//We’ll print it if it’s the last effort of our lives!”

1:45–3:15 p.m., Gregg Pavilion
Panel: Liberating the Classroom

Moderator: Melanie Kohnen, L&C associate professor of rhetoric and media studies, and director of gender studies
Julie Galles, founder, Chrysalis Academy and Educational Consulting, “Resistance Through Education: Dispelling Mis- and Disinformation about Gender Identity Development and Inclusion in K-12 Schools”
Abby Jensen, Eastern Washington University ’26, “Annemarie Mol, Feminism, and Interdisciplinarity: Interdisciplinary Feminist Insights as Resistance”
Mollie Peuler, associate professor and librarian for online instructional design and services; Dusty Ross, assistant professor and information literacy librarian for the social sciences; and Laura Langberg, assistant professor and first-year experience information literacy librarian, Appalachian State University, “Creating, Sustaining, and Experiencing Joy in Our Work as Resistance

2–5 p.m., Ear Forest (behind Fields Art Building)
Open Our Hearts: Remembering the HIV/AIDS Pandemic

In the introduction to In The Company of My Solitude, Marie Howe asks, “How do you anthologize silence?” This audio installation asks a similar question, highlighting some of the U.S. voices of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the late 20th century and exploring the shape of resistance through grief. Curated by L&C students Avarie Goerling ’27 and Mae Heeringa ’28. Audio plays on a loop, and listeners can walk at their own pace. Please note that the Ear Forest is a rough and uneven path and is not ADA accessible. Also available during the symposium on Thursday from 2-5 p.m. and on Friday from 4-6:30 p.m.

3:30–5 p.m., Council Chamber, Fowler Student Center
Panel: Bodies, Minds, and Care

Moderator: Magalí Rabasa, L&C associate professor of Hispanic studies and director of ethnic studies
Annette Carpenter-Miller, Eastern Washington University ’26, “The Invisible Crisis: How the Rise in Conservative Politics is Intensifying Gaps in Mental Healthcare”
Eleanor Colgan, Washington State University ’27, “The Pregnancy Industrial Complex: Reproductive Alienation and Sexual Labor”
Natalie Connelly, L&C ’26, “A Servant Under Allah with Dignity: Gender-Affirming Surgery in Islamic Scholarly Discourse”
Cecil Decker, graduate student, Washington State University, “Communities of Care in Trans and Disability Frameworks”

3:30–5 p.m., Gregg Pavilion
Roundtable: Erecting Resistance: Sex Work, Embodied Refusal, and the Vulgar Praxis of Trans/Crip Autotheory

Moderator: Patti Duncan, professor of women, gender, and sexuality studies, Oregon State University
Yolyamanitzin Gomez, anarchist, poet, activist, and doctoral student at Oregon State University
Dharmakrishna Leria Mirza, artist, health policy advocate/researcher, cultural health educator, harm reductionist, and doctoral student at Oregon State University
Paddy Farr, psychoanalytic psychotherapist, adjunct faculty in social work at Portland State University, and outreach rep for the Palestine-USA Mental Health Network
We regret that this session has been canceled.

7 p.m., Council Chamber, Fowler Student Center
Keynote Event
Reaching for Each Other Amid Catastrophe

Kelly Hayes, author, organizer, and movement educator

As authoritarian movements consolidate power, immigration enforcement and anti-trans and queer backlash increasingly operate through the same narratives of threat, purity, and betrayal. “Reaching for Each Other Amid Catastrophe” examines resistance to ICE as a form of care and community defense that is cast as treasonous within nationalist imaginaries–particularly when enacted by women and queer people. Rather than treating catastrophe as an endpoint, this talk explores how people reach for each other to build forms of resistance capable of carrying us forward, grounded in care, sustained by trust, and oriented toward a future that authoritarian politics insists cannot exist.

• American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will be provided. For additional information about accessibility, please consult the Event Details page.
• Book signing and reception to follow in the Beth Miller Lounge (Council Chamber foyer). Books will be available for purchase.
• A recording of this presentation is available to anyone with a Lewis & Clark login.

9:45–11:15 a.m., Council Chamber, Fowler Student Center
Panel: Navigating Hostile Terrain

Moderator: Andrea Hibbard, L&C associate professor with term of English
olivia pavek, Washington State University ’26, “Digital Panopticism in the Internet Age: Online Queer Resistance Under (Near) Total Surveillance”
Helena Bartkowski, L&C ’28, “Navigating Intersectional Identity Politics in Protest Spaces”
Sima Fasihi, Reed College ’28, “Who Do You Want Me To Be?: Neoliberalism’s Construction of the Gendered Subject”
Ellie Boian, L&C ’26, “Pedagogies of Sexual Consent: An Analysis of Reddit’s r/AskMen”

9:45–11:15 a.m., Gregg Pavilion
Panel: Researching, Teaching, and Being Queer and Trans in a Red State

Moderator and presenter: Charlotte Macorn Sutherland, former adjunct professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, University of Montana
Benny Ilac, doctoral student, University of Montana
River Watson, graduate researcher, University of Montana
Erin Heaton, University of Montana ’25

9:45–11 a.m., Stamm, Fowler Student Center
Workshop: Zinesters Keep the Revolution from Folding: A Community-Centered Zinemaking Workshop

Facilitated by Elio Curtis, L&C ’28

Postponed to Wednesday, March 18 (exact times TBD)
Free Society People’s Library Bookmobile

Stop by the Free Society People’s Library bookmobile to check out a book or two from their amazing selection of materials about revolutionary movements and radical ideas! The L&C Gender Studies and Ethnic Studies programs are proud to host a community lending shelf and book return on the 3rd floor of Miller.

11:45 a.m.–1 p.m, Watzek Classroom
Workshop: Stories of Resistance from the Archives

Presented by Karen Gross, L&C professor of English, Erin Connelly, L&C ’27, and Marin Cady, L&C ’27.
Hear stories recovered from manuscripts and rare books of medieval and Renaissance women resisting legal and cultural restrictions. As part of this presentation, attendees have the chance to view in person these 300-600-year-old items in Lewis & Clark’s Special Collections.

11:45 a.m.–1:15 p.m, Gregg Pavilion
Panel: Radical Queer Worldbuilding

Moderator: Diana Leonard, L&C associate professor of psychology
Raymond Lindquist, doctoral candidate, Washington State University, “Out of the Closet and Into the Fray: What I’ve Learned about Queer Joy, Resistance, and Existence Playing Dungeons & Dragons Across Unprecedented Times”
shabab m. kabir, Grinnell College ’26, “Tranimal Crossings: Wicker(ed) Horizons Queerweaving a Poetics of Trans*Species” 
Jonah Mroz, independent scholar, “Tingled: Gender Expression and Queer Resistance Through the Erotic Works of Chuck Tingle”
Hazel Zaman-Gonzalez, assistant professor of social work, Pacific Lutheran University, “Feeling Otherwise: Fursona Embodiment and Queer Worldmaking Among Queer and Trans Youth”

12–1 p.m., Council Chamber, Fowler Student Center
Film screening: Dialogue/Loving Yourself as You Would Love Another: Fag-Poetry, Drag, and Coming of Age in a Fragmented Body

Presented by Matthew Judd, University of Washington ’27
“Dialogue/Loving Yourself as You Would Love Another” is an interdisciplinary video poem that uses drag, poetry, and abstract movement to explore queer adolescence as a relationship of self-looking.

1:45–3:15 p.m., Council Chamber, Fowler Student Center
Panel: Quiet Resistance, Phenomenal Bravery

Moderator and presenter: Jason G. Damron, assistant professor, Pacific University, “In Her Time and Place: Notes on the Potential of Queering History for Everyday Life”
Moses Flores, undergraduate student, Pacific University, “Quiet Resistance, Phenomenal Bravery in the Art of Drag”
Cayla McGrail, president of Oregon Queer History Collective and adjunct professor, Portland State University, “In Quiet Resistance: (Small) Things and Ephemera in Queer Life”
Skyla Henanikapuahinano Paleka, undergraduate student, Pacific University, “Our Ancestors Knew Better: Rethinking Sexism and Embracing Diversity” 
Jose Salas-Farias, Pacific University ’29, “The Arcane Effect: How the Show Helps Destigmatize Gender Norms and How It Changes the Way We View Gender and Sexuality”

1:45–3:15 p.m., Gregg Pavilion
Roundtable: Resistance in Intersectional Feminist Research, Teaching, and Praxis: Navigating Anti-DEI Legislation and Curriculum Censorship, Resisting Authoritarianism, and Surviving Higher Education”

Moderator: Jakki Mattson, doctoral candidate, Oregon State University
Ana Carolina de Assis Nunes, postdoctoral researcher
Shaina Khan, instructor, Oregon State University
Eric Warren-Koski, doctoral student, Oregon State University
Siiri Warren-Koski, adjunct faculty, College of Charleston

1:45–3:15 p.m., Stamm, Fowler Student Center
Workshop: Sanctuary Campus Now: Resources for Organizing Networks of Rapid Response and Care on Our Campuses and Communities

Eleanor Paynter, assistant professor, school of global studies and languages, University of Oregon
Arifa Raza, assistant professor of Indigenous, race, and ethnic studies, University of Oregon
Kristin Yarris, professor of global studies and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, University of Oregon

2–5 p.m., Ear Forest (behind Fields Art Building)
Open Our Hearts: Remembering the HIV/AIDS Pandemic

In the introduction to In The Company of My Solitude, Marie Howe asks, “How do you anthologize silence?” This audio installation asks a similar question, highlighting some of the U.S. voices of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the late 20th century and exploring the shape of resistance through grief. Curated by L&C students Avarie Goerling ’27 and Mae Heeringa ’28. Audio plays on a loop, and listeners can walk at their own pace. Please note that the Ear Forest is a rough and uneven path and is not ADA accessible. Also available during the symposium on Friday from 4-6:30 p.m.

3:30–5 p.m., Smith Hall, Albany Quadrangle
Synergia Reading and Launch Party

Join us in celebrating the release of the 2025-26 issue of Synergia: Journal of Gender Thought & Expression, edited by L&C students. Contributors will read their poetry and prose. Light refreshments.

7 p.m., Council Chamber, Fowler Student Center
Keynote Event
Destroy the Family to Realize Its Promise: Abolition as Care Communization

Sophie Lewis, writer, critical utopianist, and scholar of feminist, queer, and trans politics and philosophy

The idea of family abolition has reappeared among parts of the radical left, following a hiatus of almost fifty years. But–as some have objected–is not capitalism itself “abolishing” familial life (in the colloquial sense of destroying it) in various ways? Indeed, the private nuclear household appears embattled and undermined. In this context, the resurgent debate clarifies why the form of destruction family abolitionists seek is one that realizes familism’s false promise. Abolition, here, is the actualization of humanity’s universal care-neediness through the communization of lifemaking. Defending this sense of the word “abolish” (i.e., positive supersession) remains worthwhile.

• American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will be provided. For additional information about accessibility, please consult the Event Details page.
• Book signing and reception to follow in the Beth Miller Lounge (Council Chamber foyer). Books will be available for purchase.
• A recording of this presentation is available for anyone with a Lewis & Clark login.

11:30 a.m.–12:45 p.m., Council Chamber, Fowler Student Center
Panel: Literary and Visual Expressions of Sex, Rage, Violence, and Desire

Moderator: Jess Perlitz, L&C associate professor of art
Tessa Schwartz, Whitman College ’26, “Transphilia or Transphobia? Gender Differences in Consumers of Transgender Porn and Attitudes Toward Transgender Persons”
River Adonis, Washington State University ’26, “Embracing Disabled Rage as We Survive a System Trying to Kill Us”
Lillian Witsoe, L&C ’26, “Wearing Nation: Violences of Display in Alexander McQueen’s Highland Rape”

11:30 a.m.–1 p.m., Gregg Pavilion
Panel: “Is This Play About Us?”: Surviving, Thriving, Resisting, and Educating Within Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Discipline Amidst Political Attacks and Institutional Barriers

Leslie Selcer, labor organizer and recent PhD, and Javay Frye-Nekrasova, sex educator and doctoral student in communication and media studies, University of Oregon, “Defending Academic Freedom is Not a Metaphor: Workers and Students Rise Up for Higher Education”
Javay Frye-Nekrasova, sex educator and doctoral student in communication and media studies, University of Oregon, “‘They’re Always on Their Phones, Might as well Make the Best of It’: Using TikTok as a Pedagogical Tool for Surviving, Thriving, and Learning”
Jinsun Yang, doctoral student in sociology; Suenia de Azevedo, doctoral student in communication and media studies; and Yui Yamada, graduate student in Asian studies and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, University of Oregon, “‘We’re Not Scapegoats and We’re Not Invisible’: Centering the Voices of International Student Educators Amidst Attacks on Academic Freedom”

1–1:30 p.m., Stamm, Fowler Student Center
Performance: Radical Joy

A performance by ClownBloc

1:45–3:15 p.m., Council Chamber, Fowler Student Center
Panel: Listening for Trans and Nonbinary Experiences

Moderator: Karen Gross, L&C professor of English
Oliver Gerbig, L&C ’25, “‘I’m Probably Nonbinary But I Have a Job so I Don’t Care About That Right Now’: Negotiating Transgender Identity at Work”
Haydyn Grace Davila, Reed College ’26, “Nonbinary Identity: Sensemaking Along the Biosocial Continuum”
Sam Barton, L&C ’26, “Gender in Tenth-Century Byzantium: The Feminization of the Eunuchs Samonas and Constantine the Paphlagonian”
Wren Arbor, Reed College ’26, “Talking while Trans: Modifying the Voice for the Cisgender Listener”

1:45–3:15 p.m., Gregg Pavilion
Panel: Blurring Borders: Justice, Colonialism, Sovereignty, and Resistance

Moderator: Sarina Saturn, L&C visiting assistant professor of psychology
Yu-Fang Cho, professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, University of Oregon, “Reproductive Justice and Decolonization in the Marshall Islands”
Razan Ghazzawi, assistant professor of women, gender, and sexuality studies, Oregon State University, “Popular Sovereignty and Trans Mothering of Anti-War Syrian Soldiers”
Sang-hyoun Pahk, assistant professor of sociology, Pacific University, “Climate Resistance and the Palestine-Mexico Border”

3:30–5 p.m., Stamm, Fowler Student Center
Workshop: Kink as Radical Queer Practice and How to Cultivate It

Facilitated by Natalie Connelly, L&C ’26, and Fellow Moratti, L&C ’26, L&C Feminist Student Union board members and sexual health and consent peer facilitators
This workshop explores kink and BDSM as radical political practice in the context of queer liberation from capitalism, homonationalism, and respectability politics. Please note that this workshop will present images of nudity. Co-sponsored by L&C Feminist Student Union. Masks are required and will be provided.

4–6:30 p.m., Ear Forest (behind Fields Art Building)
Open Our Hearts: Remembering the HIV/AIDS Pandemic

In the introduction to In The Company of My Solitude, Marie Howe asks, “How do you anthologize silence?” This audio installation asks a similar question, highlighting some of the U.S. voices of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the late 20th century and exploring the shape of resistance through grief. Curated by L&C students Avarie Goerling ’27 and Mae Heeringa ’28. Audio plays on a loop, and listeners can walk at their own pace. Please note that the Ear Forest is a rough and uneven path and is not ADA accessible.

5–6:30 p.m., Hoffman Gallery
Transgressors Exhibit and Symposium Closing Reception

Join us for a closing reception to celebrate the 45th Annual Gender Studies Symposium and Transgressors, and exhibition of now and future Indigiqueer ancestors who move beyond boundaries in life and art.

Let’s gather to honor forms of resistance that sustain us: the everyday acts of refusal, the radical creativity that nourishes movements, and the steadfast bravery of stories that need to be told. This collaboration invites us to consider how Indigiqueer artists enact the very coalitional solidarities the symposium calls us to cultivate and examine—reminding us that art can be an act of resistance, a practice of endurance, and a way of imagining futures worth fighting for.

Come curious, ready to celebrate the power we hold together, and primed to make a new friend and eat a snack.