The CU Queer Futures Conference seeks to provide a forum for LGBTQ+ and allied faculty, staff, and students to network and share their research and creative work through intentional intra-campus collaboration. In this moment of post-pandemic adaptation and political tension, LGBTQ+ identified people and their allies face daunting challenges in the classroom, in their communities, and in their areas of work, advocacy, and research. This one-day conference will empower participants with current best-practices to support LGBTQ+ life in the CU system and showcase the CU system’s contributions to art, science, social science, business, education, medicine, performance, athletics, and innovation from its LGBTQ+ and allied stakeholders. At the heart of this conference will be an emphasis on building a queer inclusive, supportive, and energized future. 

Thinking futuristically means both considering the barriers that we face today, and envisioning possibilities for growth and development irrespective of the possibilities of success. In this spirit, this symposium welcomes participants from across the CU system to share their expertise, wisdom, and insight while creating meaningful connections that will foster intercampus collaboration toward a more inclusive Colorado.

The first half of the conference will be a series of three competency training sessions facilitated by intra-campus leaders to provide executive overviews and practical approaches to key issues facing LGBTQ+ members of the CU community. The second half of the conference will consist of three, large-group panel discussions. 

Conference organizers will solicit an open call for presentations in December. 

Workshop topics could include: 

• Strategies for addressing institutional transphobia
• Key ways to support LGBTQ+ students navigating higher education
• Thinking about gender and sexual diversity in hiring and retention programs
• Key intersections of sexuality and medicine
• Navigating Queer/Trans issues in health insurance claims processes
• Understanding how generational visions of LGBTQ+ American life shape the boundaries of Queer communities
• Queer History 101
• Navigating queer and gendered language practices

We hope that you will consider a proposal, and please plan to join us May 22, 2023, for what promises to be an invigorating and community-filled day.