Converging Crises in Transgender Activism, Health, and Rights

Trans communities around the globe are affected by the convergent crises of politically motivated attacks, rollbacks of civil and human rights, neglectful and abusive healthcare systems, police and state-sanctioned violence, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But we are not all affected equally. TPATHs inaugural conference, tentatively scheduled for Summer 2021, will grapple with these complex issues.

Conference Steering Committee

Please note that not all SC members are represented here due to personal privacy and safety considerations.

Reubs Walsh
Amsterdam, The Netherlands (from the UK)
Reubs is a social cognitive neuropsychology PhD student at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam where they study the role of the social environment on development, especially in adolescent social cognition, and the consequences for mental health. Reubs examines social processes from a cognitive neuroscience perspective to develop strong theoretical frameworks for understanding identity processes in typically developing and autistic individuals. Reubs’ current projects are focused on understanding the role of the social environment in differences in mental health, as mediated by identity, and use sociometric, behavioural and dynamic-systems methodologies alongside self-report to investigate how children’s and adolescents’ negotiation and experiences of socially contextual identity is connected to mental health and wellbeing. Reubs has collaborative relationships working on projects investigating the neuropsychology of political conflict, the neuroendocrinology of adolescent self-other distinction, and diverse topics in transgender mental and physical health (mostly brain-health). Future work will explore the role of short- and long-term social context and sex- and stress-related hormones in (un/) healthy neurodevelopment and ageing.

Denise Kolia
Née à Abidjan Côte d’Ivoire
Intéressé par les actions communautaires et humanitaires j’ai donc décidé d’aller me former. J’ai intégré en 2015 ALTERNATIVE COTE D’IVOIRE, une association LGBTQ comme bénévole ou j’ai appris les rudiments du monde communautaire en matière de lutte le VIH/sida et la défense des Droits Humains. Par la suite je suis devenue Coordonnatrice de projet « Genre et VIH » pendant 2 ans. J’ai eu l’opportunité de prendre part à certaines rencontres au niveau de la sous-région Africaine avec QAYN et CAL et aussi à l’international avec SIDACTION, SOLIDARITE SIDA, DAVID & JONATHAN. Avant cela j’ai été coordonnatrice de projet « Sport et développement » (2010), Chef d’équipe du projet « Come-back to school », (2006-2008) avec l’Association des Scouts Catholiques de Côte d’Ivoire financé par L’UNICEF. Aujourd’hui, basé au canada depuis 3 ans je suis chargé de projet pour les groupes de soutien LGBTQ à TransEstrie à Sherbrooke.

Avery Everhart (she/elle/ella)
Los Angeles, United States
I’m a butch trans woman living as a settler on Tongva, Chumash, and Kizh lands in so-called Los Angeles, California. I’m a PhD candidate in the Population, Health, & Place program housed in the Spatial Sciences Institute of the University of Southern California. My work bridges my local and global activism with community-based and participatory research to improve the material conditions, and especially the health, of transgender and gender-nonconforming communities. My training is largely in GIS and geography, qualitative and quantitative sociology, and global public health, though I have a background in humanities. My current work in my dissertation and elsewhere focused on the ways in which the US is out of step with the rest of the world on transgender health and human rights and how to push the scientific literature toward human rights-based approaches to health and well-being for trans, gender-nonconforming, third gender, two-spirit, and gender diverse people.

Noah Adams (he/him)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Noah is a researcher, activist, and PhD student based in Toronto, Ontario. He currently works for the City of Toronto’s shelter system, is a PhD student at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (Adult Education and Community Development), and volunteers time on various projects. He received a Bachelor of Arts (majoring in Psychology), from the University of British Columbia in 2004, a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Victoria in 2009, and a Masters of Social Work from Dalhousie University in 2015.

Mx. Emmanuella David-ette (she/her/they)
Nigeria
Mx. Emmanuella David-ette is a Nigerian trans/Intersex human rights advocate. She’s a graduate from the University of Ibadan, Oyo state. She started the movement in Nigeria in 2013 & since then, the trans movement has birthed other groups in Nigeria. She’s currently the Executive Program Coordinator for Trans & Intersex People-TIP for Human Rights In Nigeria (THRIN) now registered as Dynamic Initiative for Healthcare & Human Rights (DIHHR).

Anja Lind
Heidelberg, Germany (from UK)
Anja is a graduate student in Transcultural Studies at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, with a focus on queer/trans studies and mobilities studies. She is an itinerant Northern European who has transitioned across four Germanic countries, and is presently writing her MA thesis on nonbinary renegotiations of trans mobilities. She occasionally publishes queer creative work under the moniker Ankó.

Percy Lezard (They/Them/Their)
Dish with one spoon, Tkaronto; Colonial name, Toronto, ON, Canada (from Sn’penkton; colonial name, Penticton, BC, Canada)
Percy is a registered member of the Penticton Indian Band and their people, the Sqilxw, have lived on the territory known as the Okanagan Valley since the beginning of people on our land. Our traditional territories stretch from Mica Creek, just north of modern day Revelstoke, BC and east to Kootenay Lake, south to Washington state and west into the Nicola Valley. Percy Lezard is a Two-Spirit Non-Binary person who lives as a guest on the lands of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples in Tkaronto (Toronto) for the past twenty years and who was responsible to uphold the Dish with One Spoon treaty in their nation-to-nation relations with the caretakers of those territories.

Percy`s background includes over thirty+ years of field experience as a social worker, activist and scholar and with strong relations with many Indigenous communities, both urban and on reserve; as well as solidarity work with Black & Racialized communities and across multiple marginalities. Percy has worked in both mainstream and Indigenous social service agencies. Wherever they go, they bring a specialization in Indigenous social work, 2Spirit pedagogies, Indigenous research methodologies, substance use/misuse, harm reduction, anti-racist/anti-colonial praxis and trauma-informed practices. Percy combines these theories, research approaches and frameworks of understanding to create a culture of healing wherever they go. Their current focus is on ensuring this culture of healing is fostered and supported within systems and structures.