You are registering for the 2023 Building Beloved Community Beyond the Binary conference. This conference will be offered in-person at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Syracuse, 109 Waring Road Syracuse NY 13224. We also have an online component for folks wishing to attend virtualy. To register for the online conference, please go to:

https://firstuusyr.breezechms.com/form/bbcbb2023virtual

Please enter your email below.  Please use an email that you check regularly.  We will be sending your confirmation to that email along with other important information.

Our building is fully accessible to those using wheelchairs or mobility aides. We have accessible and all gender bathrooms available. We have assistive hearing devices in our sanctuary. Seating in the sanctuary is mainly pews. Other rooms have folding chairs. Couches are located in the Parlor and East Room.

There will be a dedicated quieter space in our nursery. This is a small room with limited seating, and pillows for the floor. Fidgets are available throughout the building.

Conference materials are available in large print and electronically (please let us know ahead of time if this will be helpful for you).

If you would like an orientation tour of the church prior to the conference, contact us to make arrangements.

Covid precautions:

Based on our values of radical hospitality, we are committed to ensuring the safety of our most vulnerable members to the greatest extent possible.

·        If you are attending in person, we require N95/KN95 or KF94 masks, covering both mouth and nose, in all indoor spaces. When outside, masks are highly encouraged. Masks will be available at the conference if you need one.

·        Air purifiers are used in every room. Ventilation is increased by opening windows when weather allows.

·        Lunch seating will be available outside weather permitting, and you will be encouraged to spread out throughout the building if inside.

·        If you have symptoms of illness, please stay home. We have an online conference option.

·        Rapid testing is encouraged the day of the event. Tests are available at the church for those who need them. Again, if you have symptoms of any illness, please stay home and participate virtually.

Session #1 (10:30-11:30)
-- Transition: what is it? How does it work? What does that mean anyway?

Presenter: Davia Moss

 

This presentation covers the different forms of transition including: social, medical and surgical, including insurance coverage in New York State. This presentation is right for anyone who wants to better understand transgender healthcare and the ways they can best support transgender or gender non-conforming people.

-- Behavior, Boundaries, and Binaries: Exploring Healthy Relationships Through an LGBTQIA+ Lens

Comprehensive Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program, ACR Health

In this workshop, we will encourage folx to explore and unpack how we interact within many different types of relationships, analyzing our communication styles and how they can impact our interactions.  By exploring these topics through an LGBTQIA+ lens, we showcase the many intricacies that affect the relationships we form with others and our surroundings.  This workshop will utilize activities to help us examine how our values impact our behaviors in relationships, helping us to establish and enforce boundaries.  We will focus our intentions with this community by including topics of safety, pronouns, and more.  There will be a Q&A session at the end of the presentation.

-- GSA Student Networking

Amy Spitzer

Genders & Sexualities Alliances, or GSAs for short, are student-run organizations that unite LGBTQ+ and allied youth to build community and organize around issues impacting them in their schools and communities. This networking is essential to the emotional health and wellbeing for both students and adults. Come meet with other students and school leaders to share ideas and resources, facilitated by a 10 year+ advisor to a GSA in a local public middle school. Network and learn from each other.

Session #2 (12:30-2:00)

-- Supporting Parents and Caregivers of Trans and Gender Expansive Youth

Karen Fuller FPA-C, Family Peer Advocate & Ashley Davis, Cultural Competency Specialist, The Q Center @ACR Health

This workshop covers information about The Q Center @ ACR Health programs, what parents/caregivers might experience when their child comes out, what the transition process might look like, and best practices for supporting parents/caregivers and youth.

-- Puberty Conversations for Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth

CAPP Health Educator, Comprehensive Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program, ACR Health

This interactive workshop will allow participants to brainstorm ways to be more inclusive when talking about puberty. Aimed at caregivers, this presentation will allow participants to explore language alternatives and resources needed to have affirming and inclusive conversations about puberty. Participants will be able to explore different products hands on and leave with tools and resources to use with the youth in their lives. While applicable to all youth, this presentation focuses on how to have puberty conversations with transgender and gender diverse youth that are experiencing gender dysphoria.

-- Gender Expression in History

Cam

This workshop is designed for people of all ages to explore gender expression as it changes throughout history and how it may relate to or differ from today's gender expression. There will be images, readings, and even an option to dress up.

-- InterPlaying with the Gender Binary

Coran Klaver

InterPlay is a creative, engaged way to unlock the wisdom of the body, using voice, movement, storytelling, and improvisational elements. This workshop will invite trans, nonbinary, genderqueer, and cis folks to become present to the demands, limits, and violence of the gender binary imposed by most Western cultures, and to become aware of and bear witness to our feelings around such demands and limits. We will then use InterPlay forms to explore and celebrate the expansive possibilities and experiences of our bodies, genders, and sexualities outside of the gender binary.

Session #3 (2:15-3:45)

-- So, you want to change your name?: the Pride and pitfalls (but mostly Pride) of trans name changes

Adam Martin, Senior Law Fellow, Volunteer Lawyers Project of CNY, Inc.

We will give a bird’s-eye view of the process for changing your name and gender marker, review the supporting documents you’ll need, and talk about ways to prepare for the process. Also up for discussion, gender markers in select states as opposed to New York – what we can and can’t do.

-- Inclusivity Beyond Pride Month: Creating Inclusive and Affirming Environments for All

Karen Fuller FPA-C, Family Peer Advocate & Ashley Davis, Cultural Competency Specialist, The Q Center @ACR Health

This workshop covers information about The Q Center @ ACR Health programs, a breakdown of the four components of gender and sexuality, terminology and language, statistics related to the LBTQ* community, best practices, and tips on being an ally.

-- Neurodiversity and Trans Identity: Exploring Truth and Busting Myths

Rev. Molly Hammerhand & Scout Reinkraut

Neurodivergence—the act of having a neural processing system that deviates from the "norm"— is a natural variation in humans that includes autism, ADHD, OCD, PTSD, personality disorders, anxiety, depression, and much more. It is slowly becoming known that transgender and nonbinary identities have a unique connection to neurodivergence. Just as there are oppressive myths about what it means to be trans or nonbinary, there are myths about being neurodivergent. When someone holds both identities, these myths and misperceptions can become barriers to welcome, understanding, and acceptance. This workshop is for anyone seeking to understand how neurodiversity and gender are related (and not related!), and how to provide accepting, liberating support for those in their own lives who reside at the crossroads of transness and neurodivergence.

Photo Release: I hereby grant permission to First Unitarian Universalist Society of Syracuse and The Q Center @ACR Health to use photographs and/or video of me taken on May 6, 2023 at the Building Beloved Community Beyond the Binary conference in publications, online, and in other communications related to the conference.

We are committed to making sure that finances are not a barrier to you coming to this event.  If you can pay full price that would be great, and if full price is a bit more than your budget can handle, pay what you can. 























Youth under 18 are free.  If you are under 18 and want to pay something that would be greatly appreciated (wording about our sliding scale based on Hadassah Damien's work at ridefreefearlessmoney.com)

Payment Options

Pay full price 50.00
Sliding Scale pay what you can - you will be asked to fill in the price you can pay
Under 18 free - or you can enter an amount that you can pay (15.00 covers the cost of the lunch)
Pay at the door - you can pay by cash or check this way or pay by credit card. If you choose this option please enter 0 so you are not charged at this time.