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Dean’s Distinguished Lecture: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
April 2 at 5:30 pm - 6:45 pm
Dr. Jan Hare, Dean pro tem, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia, invites you to the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture, an annual series which highlights ongoing work in the Faculty and beyond to address some of society’s most pressing challenges.
This year’s event will feature Kalki Subramaniam, a globally renowned transgender rights activist, author, artist, actor, and entrepreneur from Tamil Nadu, India. She is also the founder of Sahodari Foundation, a pioneering organization which works for the social, political and economic empowerment of the underprivileged transgender community in India. Kalki’s activism with the Supreme Court judiciary and legal fraternity in India played a pivotal role in the Supreme Court of India’s legal recognition of transgender identities in 2014.
She has created more than 12 documentary films on 2SLGBTQIA+ rights and has also appeared in international documentary films. In 2010, she trained underprivileged transgender women in community journalism and encouraged them to make short documentary films telling their own stories.
In 2017, Kalki founded the TRANS/HEARTS art project, through which she has trained more than 200 transgender people in creating expressive artworks, supporting their livelihoods through workshops. In October 2019, she organized the first 2SLGBTQIA+ pride march in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
Kalki has received numerous awards for her activism, art, and literary works and is an inspiration for thousands of transgender people in India and around the world.
Attendees are encouraged to submit questions they would like Kalki Subramaniam to address during the Q&A portion of the program.
The event will be live streamed and in-person at UBC Vancouver.
