A Global South Perspective on Trans Rights and the 'Anti-Trans Menace'
Photo: WikiCommons, Author TitiNicola
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In the context of the 50th Anniversary of the first Transgender and Transvestite Conference in the UK, the organisers and the Centre of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies are pleased to invite you to the panel A Global South Perspective on Trans Rights and the 'Anti-Trans Menace'. This panel brings together four trans activists, scholars and policymakers from Asia, Africa and Latin America to discuss the advocacy for trans rights in a context of growing trans-exclusionary discourses from a global south perspective. The speakers will reflect on how a decolonial perspective rooted in the south of the world can contribute to thinking about how to undermine transnational efforts against trans rights.
This conversation engages with questions such as:
What can the trans movement and its allies from the global north learn from the experiences in Latin America, Asia, and Africa? How can the global south contribute to setting global strategies towards trans rights?
How can we define new transnational networks of knowledge production and political strategies? What are the challenges to creating a global strategy against anti-trans discourses?
Speakers.
Thomars Shamuyarira. Originally from Zimbabwe, Thomars is a transgender man and a refugee from Zimbabwe currently residing in South Africa. As the founder and director of The Fruit Basket, an organisation dedicated to advocating for the social inclusion and legal recognition of LGBTQI+ refugees seeking protection in South Africa, Thomars is a passionate human rights activist. Drawing from personal experiences as a refugee and member of the LGBTQI+ community, he has dedicated their life to creating a platform for others facing similar challenges. Through his work, he strives to promote equality, understanding, and acceptance for all individuals, regardless of their background or identity.
Kath Khangpiboon MSW., LSW., a committed Thai transgender woman and influential advocate against transphobia, co-founded the Thai Transgender Alliance (Thai TGA), actively addressing the unmet needs of the national transgender community. Going beyond borders, Kath serves on the boards of both the Asia Pacific Transgender Network and Women's Fund Asia (WFA), contributing to global efforts in advancing transgender rights. Simultaneously, she plays a crucial role in addressing healthcare challenges, serving with dedication at the Institute of HIV Research and Innovation (IHRI). Kath is pursuing a PhD in Social Work at the Faculty of Social Studies, University of Ostrava. She is solidifying her commitment to advancing social justice and inclusivity. She imparts her expertise as an Assistant Professor at Thammasat University's Department of Social Work. She actively participates in the Committee on Children, Youth, Women, Older Persons, Persons with Disabilities, Ethnic Groups, and LGBTs Division of the House of Representatives from 2020 to 2022.
Siobhan F. Guerrero Mc Manus studied biology at the College of Sciences and earned an MA and PhD in philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She also has a diploma in Art History (UNAM). Siobhan is a Researcher (B) at the Centro de Investigaciones Interdisciplinarias en Ciencias y Humanidades (CEIICH-UNAM) [Centre of Interdisciplinary Research in Sciences and Humanities]. Her areas of research are (i) studies on gender and science, (ii) philosophy of biology, (iii) transfeminism, and (iv) philosophy of subjectivity. She is at the researcher level, too, in the Mexican National System of Researchers. In 2018, she was awarded the prize "Distinción Universidad Nacional para Jóvenes Académicos", and in 2020, she won the prize for researchers in the humanities for the Mexican Academy of Sciences.
Alba Rueda is a Trans Activist from Mujeres Trans Argentina. Alba worked as a Special Envoy on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Argentina and was the first Undersecretary of Diversity Policies at the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity. In her role in the state, she promoted policies of inclusion of LGTBIQ+ people, coordinated actions to guarantee access to healthcare, eradicated institutional violence and labour discrimination against her community, and promoted the employment of the LGTBIQ+ population. She actively worked in the passing and implementation of the Travesti Trans Labor Quota Law (Decree 721/20 and Law 27.636). Her work has been recognised globally. In 2021, the BBC named her as one of 100 women "playing their part to reinvent our society, our culture and our world". In 2022, Time Magazine included her on the Time 100 Next list (100 leaders of the future). In 2023, the US Department of State honoured Alba Rueda with the Women Courage Awards as one of the Women of Courage for her work in foreign policy and trans activism.
If you have trouble booking through Ticket Tailor, email Dr. Patricio Simonetto p.simonetto@leeds.ac.uk