The Queer Agenda: To Survive and Thrive (1.0 CEs)

Overview

The current administration is stripping rights away from multiple marginalized communities and the LGBTQIA2S+ community seems to be high on the priority list. People are afraid, but they’re also angry and determined. These threats to our personhood and our civil liberties are not new. They’re the same narrow-minded packages that are wrapped in different bigoted paper.

The acceleration in attacks on the Queer community has made its members even more resolute in protecting each other. Mutual aid groups are being formed; calls and letters are going out to congresspeople; protests and marches are being organized. We’ve never stopped fighting for our rights, and we certainly won’t stop now.

Along with our resolution comes heartbreak. Already, in the last month, we have lost too many Trans and Queer siblings to preventable deaths. This is also a too-common refrain. Sadly, we can’t completely protect ourselves by ourselves. We need the non-Queer community to contribute to join our call to action. We need systemic change and support. We need all communities to remember that our survival is intertwined. My liberation is linked with yours.

Objectives

1. Participants will hear a brief history of the Queer Rights Movement.
2. Participants will hear about the ways the LGBTQIA2S+ community is at risk in the current political climate.
   
3. Participants will learn ways to support the queer community through advocacy, activism, and political action.
   

Registration and CE Information

• Register here for the CE version and earn 1.0 CEs on completion of the post-webinar quiz
• This listing is for those wanting CEs for LCSW/LSW and LCPC/LPC licenses.
• Please see the non-ce version if you do not need CEs
• The live webinar will be held April 17, 2025, from 12:00pm - 1:00pm
• Once registered, you will be able to access the course site to complete the Zoom registration to receive the link for the webinar.

Presenter: Martha A. Mills

Martha A. Mills (they/them) has been an activist in Champaign County for almost twenty years. From advocating for individuals with developmental disabilities, to protesting in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street; from marching with Black Lives Matter, to working toward queer equality, Martha has experience in many aspects of civil disobedience and civic engagement.

Martha was on the Board of Directors for Uniting Pride of Champaign County for many years and served as President of the Board for two years. They facilitated UParent, a support group for parents of queer and transgender children, and founded The Name Change Fund: a mutual aid fund that pays for legal name changes for transgender individuals across the country. They belong to multiple local organizations that support the queer community through direct action, civic engagement, protests, and accessible healthcare. They are also a youth mentor for CU One to One Mentoring, an openly and visibly queer staff member at University Laboratory High School, and a coach at CU Women’s Boxing where they have established a queer-friendly, all-gender class.

They are a mom to their own queer child and to all queer kids they know whose parents aren’t ready to love them fully yet.