In this workshop we will discuss and share stories, materials, and memories with one another to expand the hirstory of trans, Two-Spirit, non-binary, and gender diverse communities and individuals in North America during the 20th century.

This project is based on the belief that our hirstory is key to healing our communities from the scars of transphobia. We heal when we connect with ancestors and learn more about ourselves through them. We heal when we receive testament to our continued existence in this world. We heal when given the opportunity to repair the scars of past conflicts. Finally, we heal when we are able to grow from the wisdom of passing time. Gathering around oral histories and physical materials offers us the opportunity to engage with all these modes of healing.

In this workshop, we will work collectively against our erasure from society’s memory. We will reflect on the progress that has been won over the last fifty years and the many challenges that remain. During the first hour we will share stories of trans* and queer individuals, movements, and moments that hold power for us. After a break we will discuss our shared hirstory, focusing on where we have each found or not found community or conflict.

Trans communities have always taken care of ourselves when others would not. We have formed houses and families, birthed movements, underwritten research, built learning networks, and shaped culture. This workshop continues this legacy by helping us narrate a trans hirstory in which our movements are powerful, autonomous, and coalitional, so that we can continue the work to build a liveable trans present and future.

Space is limited to 20 participants

Register here

Facilitator Bios

Sky Syzygy is a white queer trans femme filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist, a racial and gender justice facilitator, and a data scientist. In 2021, Sky launched gender.network, an archive of flyers, photos, artwork, cartoons, letters, poems, and other media by trans*, Two-spirit, nonbinary, and trans-adjacent activists, organizers, and artists.

Malcolm Shanks is an activist, political educator, and consultant who works to gather people and power among marginalized groups. Malcolm has created and led hundreds of trainings with thousands of students, activists, non-profit workers, and artists. Malcolm is a co-creator of the zine Decolonizing Gender: A Curriculum, an interactive workbook that examines the relationship between transphobia, white supremacy, and European colonialism from a personal-political perspective.