Queer Displacements Conference

We are proud to announce the 2023 Queer Displacements Conference – the second Asia-Pacific conference to cover LGBTIQ+ asylum and migration!

15-16 February 2023 | Australian National University, Canberra | selected events

AND

22-23 February 2023 | Western Sydney University (Parramatta campus) | main event

The Queer Displacements is the first and only conference in the Asia Pacific designed to comprehensibly foreground protection and settlement challenges of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) forcibly displaced people. It was established in 2019.

The Queer Displacements is created to champion the voices and the lived experience of LGBTIQ+ forcibly displaced people. It is the space for awareness raising, solidarity, building alliances and engaging the whole of society in ensuring justice, protection and solutions for LGBTIQ+ people in forced displacement.

 The theme of the 2023 conference is Leadership, Partnership and Belonging. The 2023 Queer Displacements will foreground the leadership of LGBTIQ+ forcibly displaced people and best and emerging practices of supports of these communities, all with a common goal of achieving belonging and ending displacement. 

Comprehensive conference booklet is now available to download: https://fdpn964079271.files.wordpress.com/2023/02/the-qd2023-booklet.pdf

22-23 February 2023
Western Sydney University Parramatta Campus
(1 Parramatta Square Peter Shergold Building)

This is the main event. The 2023 Queer Displacements is organised in partnership with Equal Asia Foundation and Western Sydney University.

Register to attend in-person today. Spaces are limited. (https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/2023-queer-displacements-conference-tickets-390025285127)

Register on Eventbrite

Conference program

Check out the conference program (at a glance version): https://fdpn964079271.files.wordpress.com/2023/02/2023-queer-displacements-program-final-sydney.pdf

Please note that the program is subject to change.

You can watch plenaries online. Email conference[at]fdpn.org.au to get access.

Our confirmed keynote speakers include: 

  • Artemis Akbary, founder of Afghan LGBT
  • Olena Shevchenko, founder of Insight, Ukrainian LGBTIQ+ organisation
  • Marianna Polevikova, managing director of For Equal Rights, Ukrainian LGBTIQ+ organisation that evacuated LGBTIQ+ community from occupied Kherson
  • Danny Ramadan, Syrian-Canadian author, public speaker and advocate for LGBTQ+ refugees
  • Ryan Figueiredo, executive director Equal Asia Foundation
  • Prof. Churnjeet Mahn, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
  • Bamby Salcedo, The TransLatin@ Coalition, USA

Sponsorship

Download a sponsorship pack here and make your contribution to the success of the conference. We are still accepting sponsorship.

We would like to thank all individuals who made contributions to us directly and via GiveOUT day as well as the following organisational sponsors (in an alphabetical order):

  • ACON
  • Department of Home Affairs 
  • Gender Institute, ANU
  • Meridian
  • Multicultural Youth Network
  • Pride Foundation Australia
  • Rainbow Railroad 
  • Refugee Council of Australia
  • Settlement Council of Australia
  • Settlement Services International
  • STARTTS NSW
  • The High Commission of Canada
  • Thorne Harbour Health
  • Welcoming Australia

Direct all inquiries to conference [at] fdpn.org.au

15-16 February 2023
Australian National University Canberra

We are proud to present a Canberra edition of the Queer Displacements with funding from the ANU Gender Institute and support of the Humanities Research Centre.

[sold out]

Border-Crossing Queers: Writing and Researching Journeys of Resistance

A workshop with Prof. Churnjeet Mahn, University of Strathclyde Glasgow

February 15, 2023 2pm – 4pm  | ANU, Building 146, RSSS, Room 1.21, Lectorial Room 

Who should attend: academics at all stages of their career, graduate students and anyone else using writing as a tool of resistance 

What can we learn from looking at the history and experience of migration through a queer lens? How does this approach open up new routes to transperipheral solidarities across communities? This workshop considers histories and stories of queer migration, travel and displacement.

Free but bookings are essential as spaces are capped at 20. Light refreshments will be provided. Book here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/border-crossing-queers-writing-and-researching-journeys-of-resistance-tickets-490348223737

Queer Displacements: Leadership, Partnership & Belonging – discussion panel and a book launch 

February 16, 2023 6pm – 7:30pm | ANU, Building 146, RSSS, Room 1.28, Auditorium

The panel will feature a discussion by Renee Dixson (the chair of the Forcibly Displaced People Network), Prof. Churnjeet Mahn and Marianna Polevikova (Chair of Ukrainian LGBTIQ+ NGO For Equal Rights). Marianna Polevikova has evacuated LGBTIQ+ community from the temporarily occupied Kherson in Ukraine at the beginning of Russian invasion and has been supporting those not able to leave. 

The aim of the panel is to hold a comprehensive conversation on the current issues in the LGBTIQ+ displacements space combining an academic, activist and lived experience perspectives. The event will bring together the focus on the LGBTIQ+ rights globally and drivers of displacement as well as discuss best practices of supporting LGBTIQ+ forcibly displaced people. 

The event will conclude by the book launch: Queer Sharing in the Marketised University ed by Churnjeet Mahn, Matt Brim, and Yvette Taylor. 

Register to attend: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/queer-displacements-leadership-partnership-belonging-discussion-panel-tickets-490350911777