Workshop Descriptions
Creating a Welcoming Environment for Your LGBTQ+ Students
Facilitated by Tony Ferraiolo
LGBTQ+ students are often misunderstood. Often educators are faced with questions like…What pronoun and name should I use? What restroom or locker room should my transgender student use? This workshop will answer these questions and more. Drawing from firsthand experiences, Tony’s perspective is extremely powerful. After his own transition, he has devoted his life to training educators how to support their transgender students, reminding his audience that every student deserves a safe and respectful education.
We are All Genderfluid (And Other Myths About Nonbinary People)
Facilitated by Lindsey Pasquale
In this open discussion space, we will discuss and debunk myths about nonbinary people. This is a “Gender 101” level discussion space on NonBinary identities and common misconceptions.
Transitioning to Neutral Bathrooms
Facilitated by Trevor Charles
Get the student and teacher/admin perspective on how to successfully transition gendered bathrooms in your school to neutral bathrooms, and ensure a safe and accepting environment for all identities. Middletown High went through the process to open the school this year after receiving approval and we have students and the GSA advisor here to share insights on what they did to get it approved, how the transition went among the student body and staff, and what they would do differently if they got to do it again.
Queer and Loathing: Signs of an Abusive LGBTQ+ Relationship
Facilitated by Jett Moxley
This workshop covers the specific issues related to sexual and partner abuse in the LGBTQ+ community. The goal is to discuss how when boundaries of gender and sexual orientation are expanded it can allow for additional avenues of control, as well as breaking some myths around queer relationships which can create a framework for abuse to live in.
Shifting the Narrative
Facilitated by Dave Cruz Bustamante
Queer people have almost always existed on the margins of society. Join the discussion in how we can use revolutionary education and community organizing to go beyond what is considered “respectable” and how we can achieve long-lasting liberation.
The Art of Spoken Word
Facilitated by Sun Queen
Come together and talk about different types of poems and structure. Share ideas and identify poetic techniques. Create a poetic reading; to look at ways of reading and writing poetry. In this workshop we will look at how poetry/ creative expression connects to our life/wellness.
Sound, Healing, and Movement
Facilitated by Ala Ochumare
Join Ala for a calming and restorative experience that helps us sink into love and acceptance of our queer bodies. This space provides a glimpse into healing practice from social oppressions like “passing” fatphobia, anti-queerness, anti-transness, patriarchy and ableism among others. This space centers fat bodies, differently abled bodies and the lived experiences of Black Trans Women. Come in comfortable clothes that allow movement. There will be alternative practices and movements for those who and and need them.
Collective Queer Feminisms: Unity Beyond Difference
Facilitated by Max Fallon-Goodwin
In this discussion we will engage with theorists of color such as Adrienne Maree Brown, The Third World Women’s Alliance, Grace Lee Boggs and Audre Lorde as we discuss what solidarity can look like in 2022. What would it mean to see our differences as a way to form bonds? What would a space that focuses on folding people into community instead of exclusion look like, and what does it mean to build resistance around joy? Using meditations, readings, and ancestral engagements, we will work together to begin to answer some of these questions.
Introduction to Traditional Tattoo Flash: Spit Shading Basics
Facilitated by Finn Lockwood
Learn the time-honored techniques used in traditional tattoo artwork! In this workshop, we will go through a brief history of traditional tattoo artwork, also known as “flash sheets.” Find out what goes into creating a good tattoo design, and then understand and execute the basic principles of “spit shading,” a painting technique used to create the iconic coloring style seen in traditional tattoos.
Creative Placemaking
Facilitated by Zoe Donnellycolt
A movement, drawing, and writing workshop investigating the prompt: I am the one who moves back to Connecticut. I am the one who dances like no one is watching. I am the one who references pop music from the early 2000s. I am the one who cares deeply. I am the one who loves my family and my puppy. I am the one who is in graduate school. I am the one who believes in justice for all. I am the one who is growing. I am the one who is still healing.
Reality of Transgender Homelessness: Inequities, Discrimination and Recommendations
Facilitated by Nichole Mayweather-Banks
This presentation is designed to empower you to reflect on your personal biases surrounding gender. It provides basic terminology and data on the root causes of transgender homelessness. Highlighting the significance of an intersectional, cultural humility and best practices approach toward making housing and shelter programs safe and welcoming for transgender individuals.
From Fear to Acceptance
Facilitated by Tony Ferraiolo
How are you accepting your trans or non-binary child? Many parents have the first reaction of fear and sadness when their child comes out. Most fear and sadness come from the lack of understanding, fear of what others will think, and “what did I do wrong?” This workshop will provide you with a better understanding of the common fears and questions that parents and caregivers of trans and non-binary youth often face. This workshop will review common terms and misconceptions, language to avoid, hormone blockers, accepting vs affirming, struggles through Artistic Expression.
Schools That Work For Us
Facilitated by Maya Sheppard
Schools that work for us a workshop dedicated to talking about creating safer schools for Black and brown Lgbtq+ youth through a lens of community organizing.
Meet Our Workshop Presenters
Dave Cruz Bustamante (he/they) is the queer descendant of Ecuadorian farmers, workers, and immigrants. They attend Wilbur Cross High School and work as a community organizer and socialist scholar and facilitator at Citywide Youth Coalition. He is humbled to work for his community everyday in the struggle for our liberation.
Zoe Donnellycolt (they/them) is a white, queer expressive arts social worker currently living on Paugussett, Wappinger land (New Haven, CT). Zoe is trained in Expressive Arts Education through the Tamalpa Institute and is pursuing a Masters of Social Work at the University of Connecticut. Zoe lived on Chochenyo Ohlone land (Oakland, CA) for eight years and founded the Performance Primers at Periwinkle Palace. Zoe performed at LevySalon, SAFEhouse for the Performing Arts, Klanghaus, and Salta. They have performed with Hope Mohr, Margit Galantar, and Melinda Ring. Zoe’s work has been published by Two Plum Press, Unmother Magazine, and Oatmeal Magazine; and Zoe was featured in New Life Quarterly. Zoe was an Emerging Arts Professional and received their BA on Mohican Wabanaki land at Bennington College (Bennington, VT). Zoe was born in the Nipmuck woods of Hampton, CT.
Max Fallon-Goodwin (they/them) is a student of Africana studies and the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College. Their work is in constant engagement with other black queer theorist and cultural mappers. They explore embodied black geographies using Saidiya Hartman’s “Critical Fabulation”, exploring the black diaspora beyond the archive shaped by white colonists. Most recently their work has taken them to Auburn, New York where they did research into Harriet Tubman’s life there post-civil war for Whetstone Magazine. They are a communist, Lorde enthusiast, queer warrior, and scholar.
Tony Ferraiolo (he/him) is the Director of Health Care Advocates International’s Youth and Family Program, whose mission is to provide a safe place for LGBTQ+ youth and their families to be supported and emphasizes that love, kindness, and diversity can empower youth to walk their truth and authentically live the lives they truly deserve. He is also known as a compassionate and empowering Life Coach and a motivating and thought-provoking trainer. Since 2005, Tony has provided trainings to over 65,000 people around the country. Tony has dedicated himself to promoting competent and respectful health care for the transgender community by educating providers and advocating on behalf of patients. He has a unique ability to make light of a sometimes challenging situation, which puts his audience at ease to fully participate in his trainings. In 2008, Tony started several support groups to support transgender youth and their families; drawing families from New York and throughout New England, the groups meet concurrently, providing a complete support system for these families. Since 2008, these groups have served over 2,000 families.
In 2017, Tony was a contributing author for an article in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry entitled “Ten Things Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Youth Want Their Doctors to Know.” In 2019, he received his teaching certification in mindfulness and he incorporates mindfulness into all his trainings. In 2020, he was a contributing author for the Springer Publication “Pediatric Gender Identity” Overview and Terminology chapter. Tony is the subject of the award-winning documentary A Self-Made Man and the author of the book series “Artistic Expressions of Transgender Youth.” He also hosted the A&E miniseries Transitioning, were he coached three transgender young adults through social transition. Tony is also the co-founder of the Jim Collins Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides financial assistance to transgender people for gender-confirming surgeries. Tony also held the position of the President of the board for 10 years.
Finn Lockwood (they/them) is the Trans Program Curator for the New Haven Pride Center. They are a trans and non-binary artist, activist, and lifelong resident of Connecticut. Having lived and worked all over the state, you may know them from their work as a hairstylist, tattoo artist, and/or event coordinator. Since diving into the New Haven arts community in 2018, Finn has found a passion for bringing people together and creating uplifting and inclusive environments all over the state.
Lindsey Pasquale (she/they) has curated many large non-binary spaces on Facebook and is the creator of “Older and Non-Binary.” She has paneled as Guest Faculty for the Yale Internal Medicine residency program on the intersection of medicine and transgender identities since 2018. They have worked on magazine articles including “Coming Out,” which is aimed at parents of LGBTQ+ youth. Lindsey took part in Facebook@Stonewall at the Stonewall Inn as a panelist as part of the 50th Anniversary to speak about about building meaningful communities on Facebook and reflect on its impact on LGBTQIA+ activism. Lindsey has moderated/participated in numerous panels for the Center on topics such as transgender athletes, non-binary identities, community, and faith. Lindsey is on the Board of Directors for the New Haven Pride Center and PFLAG Hartford and currently serves as Northeast Regional Director for PFLAG National.
Jett Moxley (she/her) is a licensed Sexual Assault Counselor with the Sexual Assault Crisis Service covering Hartford county. She has a decade-long background in community management as well as a long history of working in queer spaces. She started her mental health career by volunteering with RAINN and, while she has also worked as a substance use counselor, she has never stopped working with survivors of sexual violence. She is passionate about getting us all to a place where we feel safe and realize we are not alone, whether that is for queer clients, survivors of sexual violence, or both.
ala ochumare (she/they) is the Director of Youth Services at the New Haven Pride Center, but her first and most beloved label is that of mother. ala describes herself as a change-making, hood healing, liberation seeking, divination practicing person committed to creating Black Centered Spaces of liberation and joy, who wakes up every day and chooses to be a pro black, pro nap, pro-queer community co-creator. ala is one of the founding members and Principal Organizer of New Haven’s chapter of Black Lives Matter. She is also one of the creators and facilitators of Marsha P. Johnson Black and Brown Queer Camp also created and facilitated by Alyssa Marie Cajigas Rivera Ortiz. In addition to her work at the New Haven Pride Center, ala is an anti-bias and anti- racist Life Coach, Consultant, and founder of Liberating Us. Liberating Us has a central focus on healing, decolonization, abolition, and transformational justice. Part of that work was the creation and community offering of “ABAR 4 you,” a series of abolitionist, anti-bias, and anti-racist workshops, trainings, and consultation guides that shed light on our socialization into the systemic institutions of Racism, Capitalism, Patriarchy, Anti-blackness and, most importantly to ala, our collective transformation out of and the undoing of these systems.
ala is a graduate of the 2018 BOLD AMANDLA cohort, the CEIO Organizer’s Path, The City of New Haven Democracy School, and the Yale University and Southern Connecticut State University’s C.A.R.E. New Haven Health Leader program. ala is a recipient of the 2021 New Haven Pride Center’s Lion Award for service to her community, The 2021 Southern Connecticut State University Women and Gender Studies Conference’s Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa Service Award, and The 2021 Southern Connecticut State University President’s Medal.
Sun Queen (she/her) is a New Haven native. She is a Black queer woman whose passion, love, and activism are born out of her journey of self-exploration. Sun Queen is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter New Haven, established in 2015. Sun is a poet, a creative, and an inspirational messenger. “Black Girls are Sunshine” is Sun’s trademarked brand, appearing on apparel.