Press Release for annual symposium on GLBTIQQ issues, April 5-10 Narrating Equality: Speaking Our Truths 2010

This is the press release for the annual symposium on GLBTIQQ issues, April 5-10 Narrating Equality: Speaking Our Truths. Press release; KINGSTON, R.I. –March 26, 2010--The University of Rhode Island will host its 16th annual symposium on gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, intersex, queer, and questioning issues Monday, April 5 through Saturday, April 10. The symposium has been an annual highlight for the URI campus, as well as for GLBTIQQ communities throughout Rhode Island and the Northeast. All programs will be held at URI’s Kingston Campus. “Our committee has an ongoing commitment to present a free, public conference that embraces diverse perspectives and discussions of importance to GLBTIQQ people and their supporters,’ says Andrew Winters, assistant to the URI vice president of Student Affairs, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Programs and Services.; This year’s symposium titled “Narrating Equality: Speaking Our Truths,” encourages sharing personal narratives through writing and/or speaking as meaningful vehicles that promote awareness, sensitivity, and progress. All programs are intended to be interactive to afford maximum exchange and an enhanced community spirit. As always, the schedule is infused with various forms of expression and substantial opportunity for networking and socializing. Consistent with the program selection throughout the past 15 years, this symposium will feature writers, community activists, educators, films, and exhibits that focus upon and celebrate GLBTIQQ people and issues. Topics will cover a broad range to include racial, gender, and sexual identities, marriage equality, spirituality, GLBTIQQ history, health issues, coming out, and more.; Each year the Symposium Committee seeks to identify diverse voices that have not been previously heard. This year, University of Vermont Professor Brian Joseph Gilley, author of Becoming Two-Spirit: The Search for Self and Social Acceptance in Indian Country, University of Nebraska Press, will present sessions dealing with GLBTQ identities and issues among Native American communities. He will also lead a discussion about the University of Vermont ALANA U.S. Ethnic Studies Program, which he chairs.; COMPLETE PROGRAM SCHEDULE: http://www.uri.edu/glbt/symposium/2010/symp2010.htm. DIRECTIONS: To find symposium locations, go to URI’s interactive map at http://www.uri.edu/home/visitors/finder/index.php