I'm doing an intersex info workshop

[RGMCjim]

This weekend I'm giving a workshop on intersex and intersex issues to a speakers bureau at the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley - my local GLBT Community Center. The people of the speakers bureau do sensativity training for local industry, business, police, universities, school boards...the list is endless. I'll be supplying them with the information they need to know to talk about the needs of intersexed people.

I have a powerpoint program I've written for this purpose.

For those who don't know me, I'm a 49 yr. old intersexed, gay man. Some of my writings can be found on this website under "our stories". I've had articles published in Esquire and Breathe magazines.

I'll let you know how this goes. I'm looking forward to it. I'd rather sing onstage than talk, but hey it's a spotlight - I've never turned one of those down! :-P

[Dana Gold]

You look seemingly happy and healthy in the picture for your avatar, Jim. I hope that is the case....and nice to see back here on BLO.....take care and thank you for the update.

Dana :wave1:

[RGMCjim]

Hi Everyone,
The seminar I taught went very well. There were only 8 people there but luckily only 2 of them had ever heard me speak before. These were people from a speaker's bureau who do sensativity training. So I was instructing instructors. I use a power point program I've written and used 3 other times with great success.

My partner came with me, and I've always found that's a good thing. It helps them see that we're not deformed, alone and lonely out of proportion to the general public. I never present us as having persecution complexes despite the fact that we are persecuted.

I had a lot of great questions and hopefully they'll go out to the websites I gave them, of which this is one.

On Feb. 15th I'm giving a lecture to Kris Hinesley's LGBT studies class at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The National Technical Institute of the Deaf is assoc. with RIT so I'll have a handful of deaf students and the class will be interpreted. I'm using my same power point but will aim my approach to the college crowd.

The programs I do need to be relevant to the people I speak to. They have to be able to relate in order to sympathize so I use a gender variation approach and speak heavily on how everyone suffers from unfair gender expectations in our society, and people whose bodies differ from the standard male and female just get hit from a different angle. It's worked very well for me. Several people said that they weren't sure if they were going to be able to connect or identify with the topic let alone the people but that by the time we'd finished they felt totally different. That's always a relief, it means I managed to do it right.

Jim