the sager symposium

Sager Symposium 2009 - March 27 & 28

Sassafras Lowrey is a queer history obsessed genderqueer high femme, militant storyteller, author, artist, and activist. Ze believe that everyone has a story to tell, and that the telling of those stories is essential to creating social change. An accomplished storyteller, ze was an original member of “The Language of Paradox” founded and directed by Kate Bornstein, contributor to numerous anthologies including: LGBTQ: America Today, The Femme Coloring Book, Gendered Hearts, and Visible: A Femmethology. Sassafras and was honored as one of Portland’s top emerging writers by In Other Words feminist books in 2004, and is the editor of the highly anticipated Kicked Out anthology (Fall 2009) from Homofactus Press. Sassafras is also the author of GSA to Marriage: Stories of a Life Lived Queerly (Homofactus Press, Summer 2010). Visit hir website at www.pomofreakshow.com

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Colin Kennedy Donovan is an anti-racist Irish/English/German/Spanish “white” physically (dis)abled genderqueer trans activist, performer, educator and writer. S/he has performed and facilitated workshops nationally, including Michigan State University, University of Vermont, and University of Oregon, as well as at Homo a Gogo (Olympia, WA), Sluts Against Rape (Portland, OR), Bumbershoot (Seattle, WA) and the Seattle Poetry Festival. Combining a sharp sense of humor with an astute analysis of politics and culture, Colin is the author of the radical (dis)ability zine Fuck Pity and the creator/performer of the Handi-Capable-Bi-Queer-Slut of the World, the in-your-face (dis)abled advice columnist.

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Yasmeen Perez is the Leadership Development Director at FIERCE, a membership based organization dedicated to building the leadership and power of LGBTQ youth of color in NYC. FIERCE does this through youth led campaigns, community organizing skill training and political education, and arts and cultural activism. Yasmeen is originally from Seattle where she worked as the Co-Director of Seattle Young People’s Project and was a founding member of the Queer People of Color Liberation Project, a performance art project addressing the
intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality.


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Professor Juan Battle is currently a faculty member at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (C.U.N.Y.). Professor Battle’s research interests include race, sexuality, and social justice. He is actively involved in the Association of Black Sociologists (ABS) and the American Sociological Association (ASA). He is a Fulbright Senior Specialist with a focus on race, sexuality, and social justice. Some of his recent academic papers include “Intersectionality, Heteronormativity and Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Families” (2008) and “Race, Gender Expectations, and Homophobia: A Quantitative Exploration.” (2007).

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Amber Hollibaugh, Chief Officer of Elder and LBTI Women’s Services at Howard Brown. Ms. Hollibaugh is a well-known activist, artist, writer, and community organizer. Ms. Hollibaugh has been working on cutting edge issues of the LGBT liberation movement since its beginnings in 1969. She is author of My Dangerous Desires: a Queer Girl Dreaming Her Way Home. She also co-produced and directed The Heart of the Matter, a documentary about women’s sexuality and HIV risk, which won the 1994 Sundance Festival Freedom of Expression Award and ran on the PBS series, P.O.V. Amber is the Senior Strategist of the Public Policy & Government Affairs department at the Task Force (NGLTF), is a board member of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS) and is a founding board member of Queers for Economic Justice.

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Caitlin Breedlove is a Queer Femme Organizer who lives in Durham, NC. She is proud to be a Queer, first generation immigrant of Central/Eastern European descent. She is the Co-Director of Southerners On New Ground (SONG) and loves her work with LGBTQ people all over the South. Before working at SONG, she was on the youth organizing staff at the Highlander Center for 3 years. Especially close to her heart are the struggles of working class people, sex workers, survivors of sexual violence, immigrants, incarcerated people and their families, and LGBTQ people.

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Reina Gossett lives and works in New York City where she directs the Welfare Project at Queers for Economic Justice. At QEJ she works with low income LGBTGNC people to document experiences of surviving poverty and other forms of violence, fight back against injustice and build strong self determining community. As a former Soros Justice Fellow with Critical Resistance, Reina continues to work and strategize around
abolishing the Prison Industrial Complex, working with Transforming Justice, a national network of trans, gender varient and gender nonconforming people impacted by the prisons, policing and jails and their allies working to abolish the Prison Industrial Complex and create sustainable communities.