QT-Con: A Queer and Trans Conference

QT-Con is led by the CSDI and the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program, and the 2024 conference is sponsored by the Department of Global and Intercultural Studies, Miami Activities and Programming, the Western Program for Individualized Studies, the Office of Transformational and Inclusive Excellence, the Office of the Dean of Students, the Graduate School, Love.Honor.Pride, the University Libraries, the Department of Family Science and Social Work, Kate Kuvulanka, the 1809 LGBTQ+ Alumni Board, and the Alumni Association.

QT-Con 2024

April 11-13, 2024
Armstrong Student Center

Resist. Refuse. Repose.

Queer activism is a form of collective resistance that rejects the social norms associated with gender, sexuality, sex, and sexual activity. Similarly, as gender scholar Nikki Sullivan reminds us, queer theory is an unruly “discipline that refuses to be disciplined.” Throughout our history, resistance and refusal have been integral to our self-identification, the securing of LGBTQIA+ rights, and the building of queer cultural movements.

The demand for resistance and refusal are ongoing - but we cannot wait until the marches have ended and the discriminatory laws have been defeated before we take rest.

Rest is not only vital to sustaining the work but also to sustaining the self. Refusing to burnout - we rest. Building off the foundations of rest as resistance as positioned by Black performance artist, activist, and theologian Tricia Hersey, we consider what it means to refuse the call to overwork by choosing to repose. Repose (like queerness) is multifaceted. To repose is to rest, gaining composure and becoming in harmony through the process. When expressed as an action, repose becomes repositioning. Shifting our perspectives and adjusting our alignment, we can view our situation from a new angle or through a new lens.

This year’s theme invites folks to reflect on the needs and competing demands to Resist, Refuse, and Repose in LGBTQIA+/QTBIPOC communities. Presenters can pull from academic studies, from lived experience, from areas of passion, and/or from creative expression. Do you want to present your spoken word poetry? Your treatise on how queer media icons (i.e. Dr. Doofenshmirtz, Luz Noceda, Steven Universe, etc.) are a source of relaxation and comfort? Your peer-reviewed, years-long research project on LGBTQ-related legislation, drawing from lived experience and in-depth interviews? All are welcome!

Proposals of 200-300 words should describe the content and purpose of your presentation. Please explain how your submission connects with the conference vision and theme - creative and broad connections to the theme are welcome! Proposals are due by end-of-day Feb. 15.

For resources on how to write a proposal and sources related to the theme, please check out this fantastic Library Guide.

Prompting Statements and Questions

• What should we be refusing? What have you been refusing?
• How do we balance the call for action with our need for rest?
• Where do you find balance in resistance and rest?
• What helps you rest or repose?
• How can we reposition ourselves in our advocacy?
• What are the ways that these competing demands have been addressed in the past or will be in the future?

Submit a proposal