“We’re Not Going Back”: Protecting and Advancing LGBTQIA+ Rights in 2022

Activists have described it as civil rights whiplash: Despite all of the progress in LGBTQIA+ rights, visibility, and acceptance in this new century, a wave of transphobia and homophobia is sweeping the nation. Join BU Diversity & Inclusion and the LGBTQIA+ Center for Faculty & Staff for a Learn More Series panel event for a discussion on the state of LGBTQIA+ affairs today and to learn how we can protect and advance LGBTQIA+ rights in the future.

This year alone, more than 200 pieces of anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation was introduced in 36 states, the majority targeting trans and nonbinary people for discrimination in accessing health care, obtaining identification documents, using appropriate bathrooms, and participating fully in sports. We are also witnessing a correlation between the rise in authoritarian governments and a rise in anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiment worldwide. Panelists include:

Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality

Urooj Arshad, Senior Program Manager for Dignity for All: LGBTQI+ Assistance Program at Freedom House

Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart, Director for Faith-Based and Interfaith Affairs for the City of Philadelphia and Adjunct Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University