*Gender, Sexuality and Religion* * 8-10 October, 2014*
*Venue:** Visthar, Kothanur Post, Dodda Gubbi, Bangalore* *Jointly organised by **Visthar** and **Aneka* The relationship between gender, sexuality, and religion within contemporary Indian society is complex and controversial. Women, sexual minorities, dalits, among others, face various forms of oppression around issues of sexuality. Tradition and religion are often evoked to justify such discrimination. However, scholarship as well as praxis demonstrate are emancipator spaces within these same religious and cultural spaces. There has been a recent surge of deliberation and public discourse around gender, identity, and sexuality; various prominent public figures, such as politicians and faith leaders, have made statements both condemnatory and supportive in nature. However, very few have been involved in frank and open discussions on the matters. This workshop will bring together participants from various religious backgrounds, sexual orientations, and gender identities. Drawing on the personal experience of participants and the views of religious scholars and practitioners on these subjects, the workshop aims to deepen our understanding of the intersections of gender, sexuality, and religion: strategies to develop perspectives and resist violence, discrimination, and exclusion will also be discussed. The workshop will be conducted in an interactive and dialogic mode. The workshop will focus on the following themes: 1. *Revisiting Concepts*: Sex-Gender-Sexuality *2. **Women, Sexuality, and Religion* a. The everyday experience of women; b. Perspective from different religions. 3. *Body, Theology, and Erotic Power*: Working with “Theatre of the Oppressed.” *4. * *Gender, Sexuality and Religion * a. The everyday experience of sexual minorities b. Religious perspectives on sexual minorities 5. *Religiously motivated anti-queer violence:* Bringing the sexual body back into conversation. (Workshop mode) *6. **Women’s movements’ engagement with religion and sexuality.* *7. **LGBTQI engagement with religion and gender.* *8. **Inter-sectionality: Gender, Religion, and Sexuality.* *9. **The Way Forward.* *Facilitators* Victoria Rue, a Lecturer at San Jose State University in California who teaches Comparative Religious Studies and Women’s Studies, will be one of the facilitators. She was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 2005. She is also a theatre director. Victoria and her partner Kathryn Poethig have been together for 24 years, and were married in the state of California in 2008. Shubha Chacko (Director, Aneka) and Mercy Kappen (Director of Programmes, Visthar) will also be facilitators at this workshop. Activists from sexual minorities and women’s rights organisations in Bangalore will be invited to speak on different panels. *Registration* Please register online at www.visthar.org before the 20th of September, 2014. Please make sure that you are available to attend all three days of the workshop. Participants are expected to take care of their travel. The organisers will sponsor board and lodge (3 days only) for outstation participants. Regards, Mercy Kappen and Shubha Chacko -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "lgbtdiscuss" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/lgbtdiscuss. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
