An Evening of Queer Joy:

Express Yourself

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Home Page | Agenda | Speakers | Queer Joy Fridays | Q & A

Mission: An Evening of Queer Joy centers the intersectional queer experience on the full spectrum of pain to joy by creating immersive community spaces, opportunities for authentic expression, and an environment of reflective learning.

Vision: Centering the experiences of intersectional queer pain & queer joy.

Philosophy:

Queer identities are broad, intersectional, and ever-changing.
Queer living is complex, experienced as both isolating and inclusive; sometimes dangerous, sometimes joyful at the same time. Broader society's interaction with queerness is equally complex, covering a spectrum from embracing - performative - tolerant - hateful.
We seek to express these identities and complexities via spaces and experiences in which we are centered.
We would not be where we are today without conspirators whom: are comfortable with discomfort, actively learn from their mistakes, and understand the work of allyship is never complete.
Bringing the entire queer community and their conspirators together is done through active, authentic work, and other-centered, reflective learning.
About Us, For Us, By Us

Medium: Telling/showing collective & individual stories

Focus: Building spaces of queer joy

Outcomes:

Increased sense of community amid isolation
Creating opportunities for inclusive spaces for intersecting identities
Reflective Learning with a lasting impact
Benefitting and including the communities in and beyond Stanford
Create lasting impression

Trigger Warning

Please note that these stories discuss individual’s experiences with LGBTQIA+ identities within a society that is not always accepting. Please practice self-care when attending. Within Stanford, the Stanford Help Center and CAPS offices are available for support; Resources Fair occurs after the formal program.

Agenda

3:00-3:50pm

Check-in coffee hour with art, interactive community art installation, and photo area

4:00pm

Welcome remarks

4:05-5:35pm

LGBTQIA+ Stories and Panel

Mica Yang - “The Changing Self”
Matthew Griffith - “Express Yourself, Don't Repress Yourself––It's Human Nature”
Anouska Raj - “Un-sexualizing Queerness”
Panel & Interactive Activity: “We’re New Here, We’re Queer, and We’re Getting Used to Stanford”
Nariko Nakachi - “A Love Letter to My Queer Community”
Finn Sadler - “Closing the Gap: Between LGB and T”
Jose Arzate - “Just Be”

5:30-5:35pm

Final remarks

5:35-7:00pm

Educational exhibits, cocktail hour, mingling, and dancing

Committee Members

Stevie Eberle Director

Stevie Eberle, M.Ed. (they/them/their)

Executive Director, BioSci Careers; Director, An Evening of Queer Joy

In 2022, LGBTQIA+ community members recommended and selected Stevie to oversee the development of new community events and spaces following protests the previous year. They accepted the honor with the understanding that these offerings represent the myriad voices of the community beyond lip service. To create this vision each year, Stevie convenes students, trainees, faculty, staff, patients, alumni, and other partners in and around Stanford to set objectives, mission, vision, and programs for all “Queer Joy” offerings. They are clear that this is not their event, but “ours.”

Stevie identifies as nonbinary, pansexual, and polyamorous from a small, rural town devoid of socioeconomic privilege early-on. They do acknowledge the privilege they’ve been given and gleaned, which requires them to seek multiple perspectives in their personal and professional life.

Professionally, Stevie began their career in social services serving those in addiction recovery and, later, victims of domestic violence. They also briefly studied in Thailand to better understand the impact of the AIDS epidemic on sex professionals and addicts. They appreciate this early education into human struggle and identity, privilege, and the power of actively holding someone’s story versus acting on assumption.

Today, Stevie seeks to empower others to define and tell their stories as they define them, not as others demand or expect. They do this as a coach, manager, public speaker, educator, mentor, colleague, and friend; they are honored to be invited to do so at Stanford University and beyond. When Stevie is not working, you will find them teaching yoga and other fitness classes or reading about joyful practices, philosophy, science, and politics on their porch swing with their fluffy Keeshond.

For more about what drives Stevie and others like them, read this Scope feature “My Why.”

Twan Sia Student Leader

Twan Sia

My name is Twan Sia (he/him/his). I'm a queer creative writer who was born in Myanmar and raised in the East Bay Area. At Stanford, I am a second-year medical student who has been researching treatments for skin diseases affecting transgender patients and a co-chair of LGBT+ Meds. Outside of medical school, I love meaningfully engaging with my communities and ancestry through writing poetry or painting.

Magali Fassiotto OFDD Associate Dean

Magali Fassiotto, PhD, is Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Diversity, directing the development, implementation, and administration of OFDD programs geared toward the advancement, professional development, and diversity of Stanford Medicine faculty. In this role, she leads OFDD staff to advance Stanford Medicine’s faculty development and diversity initiatives as well as the integration of diversity and inclusion initiatives across the Stanford Medicine enterprise. She also leads and facilitates workshops for students, trainees, faculty, and staff on unconscious bias, effective mentorship, team building, leading inclusive teams, and building inclusive classrooms. Dr. Fassiotto has published widely in the areas of faculty diversity, unconscious bias, professional development, and organizational identity. She received her undergraduate degree in Economics from Harvard University and her PhD in Business Administration (Organizational Behavior) from Stanford Graduate School of Business. Prior to Stanford, Dr. Fassiotto worked as a private equity consultant at Ernst & Young/Investor Group Services in Boston and a social science researcher at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge. More

Lauren Hailey Committee Member

Lauren Hailey is the Communications Coordinator and Administrative Associate, and provides support to the OFDD Team. She is responsible for OFDD’s general communications, including the monthly newsletter and social media profiles. She is a Bay Area native with 8 years of experience in administrative functions and office management, as well as social media and website management. Lauren obtained her BS in Journalism and her MA in Communication Studies (with a concentration in Intercultural Communication) from San Jose State University.

Nathalie Garcia Student Leader

Nathalie Garcia

Nathalie Garcia (she/her/ella) is a pre-medical, first-generation college student studying Human Biology with an emphasis in Child Development through the Lens of Disability and a minor in Education with a subfield in Teaching and Learning at Stanford University.

Inspired by a diagnosis of Crohn's disease and a long battle with Enteropathic Arthritis in her early teens, she entered the world of patient advocacy. Serving as Crohn’s and Colitis Young Adults Network fellow in 2021 when she had just turned 18, she dedicated all of her efforts to spreading awareness about the significance of talking about mental health when living with a chronic illness. Wanting to gain hands-on experience in the medical field, she spent two years as a patient health navigator and Spanish interpreter at Cardinal Free Clinics while simultaneously serving as a crisis counselor for the National Crisis Text Line.

In addition to her advocacy work in regards to disabled and chronically ill patients, she deeply cares for promoting equitable health care for LGBTQIA+ patients, and became coordinator of Trans Talks, a series of monthly, hour-long webinars on queer, non-binary, gender diverse and transgender health and wellness topics geared towards community members, students, and health providers in collaboration with the San Mateo Pride Center, Cardinal Free Clinics, and Stanford Medicine.

Growing up in a traditional and religious Latino household, she withheld her bisexual identity for much of her life, out of fear of how her church and family might respond. Despite complex feelings of isolation, distress, and fear, she feels as though the joy and compassion she has felt through the rest of the LGBTQIA+ community, especially amongst other Latinos, have far more weight than the pain she has felt in her past. Her combined experiences of being both disabled, Latina and queer have led her to join an Evening of Queer Joy: Express Yourself team and she can’t wait to see what this evening will bring.

Kathleen Victor Committee Member

Kathleen is a Silicon Valley native with over 25 years of combined experience in office management, finance, small business management and customer service with an additional 7 years experience in the insurance industry as an administrative assistant and insurance claims investigator. She has an associate degree in Science with a background in biology and medical front office practices and procedures. She joined Stanford in 2014 as program coordinator for the Big Data initiative before joining OFDD in 2015.