workshops
Occupy What?!?
NEW WORKSHOP by popular request!!!
Protesting in Zuccotti Park
In September 2011 justin became involved with Occupy Wall Street in its first week of encampment in Zuccotti Park in Manhattan. On October 1st, 2011 he was arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge with 700 other protesters. Following his arrest justin was mistreated by the NYPD and then decided to go public about the way he was treated and to advocate for trans people who are detained by the police.
justin adkins arrested on Brooklyn Bridge
In the months following, justin became a vocal advocate for protocols and training for police on how to respectfully deal with transgender detainees.
Have justin come speak about the occupy movement, queer people in activism, queer anarchy and what all of this occupy stuff means for trans and queer identified people!
Words Have Power
Words can be used to help, to sooth and to hurt. In this workshop we explore various identity words for sexual orientation, biological sex, and gender identity and expression. Interspersed with justin’s life stories this is a great beginners workshop.
justin developed this workshop when he realized that his audiences often did not have a firm grasp on current LGBTQQIAA terminology. This workshop does not talk about sex, in the sense of how we do it, and thus is great for high schools and workplace diversity trainings.
justin’s “Words Have Power” workshop touches on identity, biology, respect, and empowerment.
Bully to advocate in 5 hard steps
Growing up justin bullied one of the only queer people he knew, going from being friends to enemies when he found out that his friend had lesbian mothers. justin was shaken when in 1998 his friend committed suicide. Still in the closet, justin knew that his bullying may have contributed to her death.
Now justin tells this tale and his story to help prevent teenage bullying. Talking about words that heal and words that hurt, justin references pop-media allies such as Glee and Modern Family as examples of what an ally looks like.
My fabulous transgender life
Spend an hour hearing justin’s tale of growing up in an evangelical house, becoming a missionary, coming out as a christian lesbian and as a transgender buddhist.
justin’s humorous life story focuses on identity development and acceptance. As he says, “you can’t make this shit up”
justin has not met a question he will not answer. Knowledge is power and he believes that even most “offensive” questions come from a place of ignorance not hatred.
Coming out … not a one-stop shop
Referred to as a “master of coming out” justin has completed a hat-trick, coming out as a lesbian, as a trans man, and as bisexual/pomosexual. justin’s coming out workshop focuses on self-care and understanding.
In 2004 justin came out to his extremely conservative evangelical christian family as a lesbian and ran off to Massachusetts to get married. In 2006 he came out as a trans man on the job at a fly fishing/hunting company and then in 2009, to the dismay of some of his lesbian and gay co-workers who were invested in their little identity boxes, as a bisexual/pomosexual after his divorce.
In this workshop justin discusses tools and ideas to make coming out a doable process. He addresses that you are never done coming out and how identity labels are often more restricting than the closet doors they are meant to open.
My “I’m from Driftwood” story:
Posted in workshops
Tagged bisexual, college, coming out, lesbian, pomosexual, transgender, workplace
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Meditation, it’s kinda queer
Spending the past 5 years as a practicing buddhist, justin approaches meditation as a practical tool to add to your toolbelt, using meditation as a way to relieve stress and to train the mind.
Being queer is not easy and justin believes that meditation can help.
justin has been studying with Noah Levine since 2006 and is a trained meditation facilitator with Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society.
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