Skip to content Skip to footer

The New Haven Pride Center’s Panels & Conversations Series was created in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as a virtual town hall space for the community to come together, share ideas, and explore the issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community. Join our program officers, guest program curators, LGBTQ+ thought leaders, creators and organizers throughout the year for illuminating conversations on everything from LGBTQ+ youth homelessness to bi+ health equity and black queer art. 

Above all, this series aims to explore the issues, experiences, and perspectives that are not being adequately addressed in the broader LGBTQ+ community. Through this intersectional work, the Center strives to elevate the voices of the most marginalized and raise awareness around issues and experiences that often go overlooked.

In addition to the panels & conversations, make sure you also check out our other public humanities programs, including our Days of Action and the Lavender Lit Book Series.

Check Out Our YouTube Channel

Since 2020, the Center has hosted dozens of virtual programs, including panels and community conversations highlighting the experience and knowledge of local and national artists, historians, advocates, thought leaders, and youth organizers. We have compiled all of these programs in a virtual database on our YouTube Channel. As we move into hybrid programming, the Center will continue to archive many of our programs on the Center’s YouTube Channel.

Meet the Program Team

Ta’LannaMonique Lawson-Dickerson (she/they) 

Youth Services Coordinator

Thank You to Our Sponsors

2022 Panels & Conversations

Uplifting Queer Guyana

January 25 | 3:30p (EST)

Part 1 of our Exploring Queer Caribbean series.
Black Caribbean Queer Migration

February 7 | 12:00p (EST)

Part 2 of our Exploring Queer Caribbean series. Recent studies show that there are 44 million immigrants in the United States, which represents nearly 20% of the worldwide immigrant population. Of that 10% or 4.4 million are from the Caribbean. Black Caribbean immigrants…
Queer Caribbean Organizing

February 28 | 4:30p (EST)

Part 3 of our Exploring Queer Caribbean series. The Caribbean is known as an extremely difficult place for LGBTQ+ folks and their advocates. It is also a place where anti-black and abolitionist voices attack our communities have close ties to the Caribbean
Intersex & Faith

April 20 | 7:00p (EST)

Join us for a conversation on Intersex Identity and its intersection with faith. This panel will include perspectives from Megan DeFranza (Director of “Intersex and Faith”), Anunnaki Ray Marquez, Marissa Adams and Arlene Baratz, MD…
The Art of Drag: Kings & Masculinity

May 19 | 6:00p (EST)

The history and art of drag is long and intertwined with LGBTQ+ history and has roots beyond the LGBTQ+ experience from Greek Tragedies to Shakespeare. In Connecticut, drag has an incredible past, and present, from the Hartford… 
Bi+ Health Equity

May 24 | 12:00p (EST)

Health Equity is an ongoing struggle for many Americans, especially LGBTQ+ Americans. In this panel we sit down with providers to explore specifically the unique challenges and barriers Bi+ individuals experience while trying to access comprehensive physical and mental health care… 
Finding Gender Through Fantasy

May 31 | 1:00p (EST)

Fantasy, science fiction, and other genres of storytelling have long since held a special place for many of us in the trans/gnc community as a means to explore ourselves without the confines of the strict…

Trans and Latino/a/e

June 1 | 6:00p (EST)

Queer Latino/a/e experiences are extremely under-represented in both the Connecticut and national LGBTQ+ movement. This marginalization goes even deeper when you discuss nonbinary and transgender Latino/a/e individuals…

What is Queer Art?

June 7 | 12:00p (EST)

How do we define what queer art is? Is it queer because the subject is queer or because the artist is queer? Does queer art always have to tell stories of same-sex attraction or gender diversity? Can a landscape of rolling waves be queer art if it’s painted by a queer person?… 
Puerto Rican and Queer

June 14 | 12:00p (EST)

Queer Puerto Ricans are often lumped into the larger Latino/a/e community, but queer Puerto Ricans have a very different experience of being LGBTQ+ then their Latino/a/e peers. Join us for the fourth installment of our Exploring the Queer Caribbean Experience series…

Reproductive Rights Are Queer Rights

July 5 | 5:00p (EST)

Join us in a virtual panel discussion sparked by the recent political push-back on reproductive rights. We’ll be centering our conversation around the intersection of reproductive and queer rights. Cisgendered and heterosexual women are constantly being spoken about in regards to abortion access but they are not the only ones who need a place at the table…

Preserving Lesbian History

July 26 | 5:00p (EST)

Join in on your virtual discussion panel where Suyane, Mev Miller, and Alexis Clements will be speaking not only on the preservation of lesbian history but also on the present and future of lesbian culture. This discussion was inspired by the notion of a dying lesbian culture. Will we be able to bust that myth? Join us to find out! 

Beyond the Binary: Exploring Identity Through Art

July 27 | 7:00p (EST)

Art is more than just a pretty painting–it is a powerful form of story-telling, self-expression, and therapy. Join Eliran Ifrach and M Reim Ifrach, two local queer art therapists, as we discuss the importance of art for the trans/non-binary/gender non-conforming community–not just in terms of preserving our own well-being, but our history as well. 

Queer & Disabled

August 2 | 6:00p (EST)

One of the most marginalized sub-groups within the LGBTQ+ community is queer individuals with disabilities. Because of the long-standing underground nature of LGBTQ+ venues and spaces, most are not accessible. What does this mean for LGBTQ+ individuals who want to access our community’s support, resources or art? How does one connect with community if they can never or rarely be a part of it? …

pink navel: A Non-Binary Rap Epic

August 16 | 6:00p (EST)

Join us as we sit down with pink navel, aka Dev Bailey (they/them), as we talk about their creative process as a musician, the concept of weirdness, our favorite cartoons/video games, and how this all ties into the life of a non-binary rapper…

Dia Nacional De Visibilidate Lesbica no Brasil

29 de Agosto | 18hr (EST)

Vamos conversar com a Podcast Sapataria sobre a história lésbica no brasil, o movimento dos anos passado e a nossa luta presentemente. Camila, Giovanna e Lisiane vai sentar com a Luciana Mclure nesta conversa virtual discursando a cultura lesbica. Esperamos que essa conversa vai reconectar mulheres.

A Conversation with Alyssa Hunter

August 30 | 6:00p (EST)

As we continue our Queer & Puerto Rico series we sit down with Puerto Rican performance artist and recent participant of Rupaul’s Drag Race Season 14 Alyssa Hunter, to discuss being a queer artist and an artist of a provocative art form in Puerto Rico. This conversation will be focused on queer life in Puerto Rico, being a queer artist, and representing her art and her country on one of the world’s largest stages. This conversation will feature perspectives from Puerto Rican drag artist Alyssa Hunter with artist/activist and Center Deputy Director Juancarlos Soto.

PRIDE New Haven Panels

September 11 – 18

Join us for a special PRIDE edition of our Panels and Conversations series! Click here for a full list of panels and panelist bios.