The Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) Department of Sonoma State University is collaborating with other campus groups and spokespeople to put together the Queer Studies Lecture Series 2019. Activists and members of the LBGTQI community are speaking on a different topic every Monday from 12:05 – 12:55 p.m. in Ives Hall Room 101 until April 29.

Award-winning advocate Aria Sa’id had her lecture, “The Paradox of Transgender Visibility,” on Monday, Feb. 11 this week. Sa’id presented on “the simultaneous rise of transgender representation in pop culture and hate-based violence against trans women of color in the streets,” according to the Seawolf Living website. 

Sa’id is a senior policy advisor, cultural strategist, writer and the founder/director of the Kween Culture Initiative, which is a movement towards cultural equity for transgender people of color. Sa’id’s position as the senior policy advisor for the San Francisco Human Rights Commission has her focus on humanitarian efforts for LGBTQI violence prevention as well as trans women of color, sex workers and racial equality.

“I chose to discuss the paradox of transgender visibility to have an honest conversation on the abrasive reality of being transgender in the world,” said Sa’id. “I think with increased visibility people have been actionable in learning about the humanity of transgender people.”

On Feb. 1, Sa’id became the Executive Director of the Compton’s Transgender Cultural District, which is the first of its kind in the country. A key focus of the district is to “create a hub for social and cultural growth while preventing the displacement and the creation of employment opportunities for transgender residents,” according to the San Francisco Examiner.

Sa’id is an influential part of the community and continues to create new ways for people to feel represented and included.

“I hope students can think critically on how race and class/caste systems inform the experiences that we don’t get to witness often,” said Sa’id. “Every moment has brought up race and yet we are consistently in denial of bringing it up both in the U.S. and the Western world overall.”

The Women’s and Gender Studies Department at Sonoma State has a mission of interrogating social structures, institutions and ideologies as they shape everyone’s gendered lives, as well as envisioning alternate possibilities through intersectional social justice views. 

The WGS major has been interdisciplinary in the way students and professors examine the experiences and opportunities of both men and women as they relate to race, ethnicity, class and sexuality. 

Professor Don Romesburg, Ph. D., a professor in the WGS department, has been a part of putting together the Queer Studies Lecture Series 2019. Romesburg’s scholarly publications addresses male youth sex work, the social history of queer performers and many others.

“Sonoma State’s Queer Studies Lecture Series brings movers and shakers in queer activism, scholarship and art from across the country to our campus,” said Romesburg. “Many students are transformed by learning about how queer studies and art connect to larger social issues and their own lives.”

Sophomore Claire Leever chose to declare WGS as her major after she had taken a queer studies class last semester. “It involves a lot of feminist theory and brings to light a lot of injustices that happen in our country and within our society,” said Leever.

All lectures are free and open to the public. All are welcome.