Who am I? Whose am I? What am I? The questions of identity are often woven within the spiritual fabric of our being. In the Christian tradition, Ignatius of Loyola, offers one way to live into these questions using the powerful resource of our imagination. By stepping into sacred stories, placing ourselves in various times and places, it is possible to listen for the rhythms within our heart. In this workshop, storytelling and conversation were used to lay the foundation for a spiritual exercise on identity inspired by the Ignatian practice of imaginative contemplation. Developed by an agender individual with a genderful experience, this meditation is designed to use a Christian framework to delve into questions that transcend boundaries and limitation. Through powerful descriptions and lingering silence participants were invited to embrace questions in order to free ourselves to live into the answers. Explore the meditations

Bathroom use is something most of the world takes for granted. In public settings you find the restroom of your gender and those are the facilities you use. While this has always been more complicated for trans folk, the matter has recently become a major political football in the United States. This panel will focus on the ramifications of this with respect to the political, social, moral, and activist issues involved. Panel with Diego Miguel Sanchez, Mara Keisling, Dr Miqqi Alicia Gilbert, and myself.

This workshop explores ways of staying in healthy relationship with people who are partially supportive. Often gender, romantic and sexual minorities who invite their communities to share their experience are presented with a horrifying dichotomy, either your family & friends are totally supportive and you ride into the sunset or they are terrible people who reject you and you must learn how to cope. This workshop is designed support those whose communities are in the middle. We will explore homes that aren't safe but that still provide needed support along with ways of deciding when to be patient, firm, and firmly patient. By delving into the three most common barriers to ally formation (fear of change/loss, the isms, and peer pressure) we will provide each other with tools to decide when, if and how to stay present when sharing our identities with the people we care about.

With waves of churches rushing to "progressive" Christianity our subversive history is often lost in our zeal to distance ourselves from corrupt forms of religion that weaponize our language and traditions. Yet we can learn to see ourselves within the ancient manuscripts of our faith and to hear our gender bending, sexual ancestors teaching us from centuries past. For too long we've let certain sects dictate the terms within which we can explore our genders and sexuality in our faiths. It's time to reclaim our history, to remember the radical nature of faith, and to relearn the stories we've forgotten. Led by a genderqueer pansexual Christian who daily prays the ancient creeds this is a space to embrace the sacramentality of ourselves, to grow into an understanding of faith that embraces the healing truth of scripture and learn how we can find ourselves within the roots of our tradition.

An event to educate people about who our transgender youth are, what it means to be a transgender young person; identify gaps in services and support to transgender youth in schools, mental health treatment, places of worship, sports programs,families, and all other places where transgender youth live and interact; and to develop specific and concrete goals for workshop participants to make positive change in our institutions so that transgender youth and their families feel supported and welcomed in all aspects of our community. The panel consisted of Diana Lombardi, M.S.W., Marie Alford-Harkey M.Div, and myself.

Inspired by a need to break the binding narrative of binaries, this workshop was designed to encourage a healthy embrace of questions. This space demonstrated how faith and religious resources can be used to support ourselves as we continue to explore who we are and who we are becoming. Storytelling and conversation were used to lay the foundation for a spiritual exercise on identity inspired by the Ignatian practice of imaginative contemplation. Through powerful descriptions and lingering silence this workshop was an invitation to embrace our questions in order to free ourselves to live into the answers. While this workshop is primarily drawn from Christian resources on discerning identity, people from all backgrounds of belief and unbelief were invited to this conversation. Explore the meditations

Seeking the via media (middle ground) between a spiritual coming out story and discussion this workshop was designed to equip participants with tools for discerning their identity, offer time for personal exploration, and provide space to reflect on how religious institutions are responding to the rise of individuals who were made in an image of God who goes beyond assumptions of masculinity and femininity. Hosted by a Bigender Episcopalian participants of all backgrounds were invited to join the conversation about how we can respond to the gift of diverse gender identities.

Workshop and activities designed to promote a healthy reflection on the dynamics of privilege and oppression and how we can respond when we witness such destructive power dynamics in action.

This event consisted of conversation and activities to engage with gender in ways that go beyond social assumptions of masculinity and femininity.