HR!Day237 - Gender Fluidity: A Dialogue with Donovan Ackley
- --- Humanity Rising Day 237 - Thursday April 29 2021 (GoTo Bottom)
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Donovan Ackley Attended the AfterChat |
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Donovan Ackley is a person with an intersex identity and is an active member of the national and global intersex community. Donovan’s starting point is body diversity, acknowledging that across species (including humans) biological sex itself can be complicated and even surprising: A person can be ambiguous at birth, emerge as a different biological sex than assigned through natural changes at puberty or mid-life, or discover through medical tests a different genetic code or internal organs than expected. Cultures around the world throughout history have often embraced and even honored this diversity. European colonialism with Christian missionary activity coincides as the shared factor in cultures in which this diversity has been suppressed.
Gender and sex are not the same, though for most people they are closely related. Since even biological sex is more complex than many of us have been taught, the idea that gender is a spectrum (not two polar opposites) can become easier to understand. Gender is the way a person experiences and expresses who they are, along a spectrum from feminine to masculine and all points in between. For some people, this is a dynamic experience that includes movement and change that can include people who have transitioned from one gender to another, people who are genderfluid, and other forms of gender expression and identity.
After after coming out as LGBTQI+ in 2013, Donovan Ackley III, Ph.D.'s career path changed from 15 years as full-time undergraduate college professor and Department Chair in religion toward more creative, trauma-informed, intersectional continuing education and community organizing. Using a collaborative learning community-building approach, Dr. Ackley currently teaches at universities, public schools and community organizations, specializing in Mental Health and Spirituality, LGBTQ+ studies, Trauma Recovery Yoga, and other evidence-based, embodied mindfulness practices to build resilience both digitally and in person.
Recent projects include helping to launch an 8-course continuing studies LGBTQ+ Leadership Certificate (Applied Wisdom Institute/University of Redlands, 2020); consulting on the curriculum "Fearfully & Wonderfully Made: Scripture and the New Science of Gender" (2021) & documentary film "Stories of Intersex & Faith" (2019); helping launch & accredit national non-profit peer support line Trans Lifeline, including its online staff & volunteer training (2014-2018); designing & teaching the classroom course "Yoga: Ancient Philosophy, Modern Practice" (University of Redlands, 2015-2017); and residential trauma-informed case management & intake screening for people in recovery from addiction with co-occurring mental health issues, including staff training on LGBTQIA+ diversity and inclusive care for McAlister Institute, 2018-2019).
Donovan volunteers in the bass section of the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus and with the queer neighborhood watch/crisis prevention nonprofit Stonewall Citizens Patrol. Some of his many books and articles, both academic and mainstream, including his new book Sex and Sacrament: A Queer Liberation Theology of Prayer & Worship (2021), are linked at his Academia archive and his Amazon Author page.
Recommended reading and links for those who want to learn more:
- Global Action for Trans Equality, Aestrae Lesbian Foundation for Justice, American Jewish World Service (2017). The State of Trans Organizing (2017). Understanding the Needs and Priorities of a Growing but Under-resourced Movement, 2nd ed. (455 trans groups collaborated.) ::https://s3.amazonaws.com/astraea.production/app/asset/uploads/2017/10/Trans-REPORT-for-the-web-Updated.pdf::
- Magdalene, Ky (2020). “4 resilience practices for trans people stuck in cissexist homes during self-isolation” ::https://kymagdalene.com/2020/04/06/4-resilience-practices-for-trans-people-stuck-in-cissexist-homes-during-self-isolation/::
- Trans Lifeline (2020) What does supporting trans people look like right now? ::https://www.translifeline.org/weseeus::
- The GENDER book ::https://thegenderbook.com/::
- Harris, L. (2020) Coming Out as Non-Binary and Mad at Age 45, in a Pandemic * How 2020 broke me, and broke me out of the closets I had built around myself. Medium. (12/14/2020) ::https://leahharris.medium.com/coming-out-as-non-binary-and-mad-at-age-45-in-a-pandemic-d3e6ae1faffb::
- Kutner, J. (2015) "’I want to be able to live my life’: An Indian-American trans woman on identity, tradition and India's ‘third gender.’" Salon. ::https://www.salon.com/2015/05/17/i_want_to_be_able_to_live_my_life_an_indian_american_trans_woman_on_identity_tradition_and_indias_third_gender/::
- Villarreal, D. (2020). The Muxes of Mexico Are a 'Third Gender' Who Straddle the Line Between Respected and Reviled. Retrieved August 15, 2020, ::https://hornet.com/stories/muxes-mexico-gender-two/::
- Sonoma, S. (2018) Four Transgender Indigenous and Two-Spirit People On What They Need From Allies, Impact (28 November 2018) ::https://www.intomore.com/impact/four-transgender-indigenous-and-two-spirit-people-on-what-they-need-from-allies::
- Testa, R., Habarth, J., Peta, J., Balsam, K., and Bockting, W. (2015). “Development of the Gender Minority Stress and Resilience Measure,” Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity Vol. 2, No. 1, 65–77 © 2014 American Psychological Association
- Trans Faith (2017) Letter to Our Allies about Transgender Justice: What We Really Need From You (March 23, 2017) ::http://www.transfaithonline.org/connect/memorial/allies/::
- Trevor Project (2020) National Survey on LGBTQ+ Youth Mental Health 2020 ::https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2020/:: (linked in Lecture 1)
- Williams, D.R. (2016), "Everyday Discrimination Scale" (originally developed in 1995) in Measuring Discrimination Resource (Harvard University, June 2016) ::https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/davidrwilliams/files/measuring_discrimination_resource_june_2016.pdf::
- Wilson, C. and Cariola, L. (2019) “LGBTQI+ Youth and Mental Health: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Research,” Adolescent Research Review (7 May 2019) ::https://www.academia.edu/39245997/LGBTQI_Youth_and_Mental_Health_A_Systematic_Review_of_Qualitative_Research?email_work_card=view-paper::
- Wolff, J., Kay, T.S., Himes, H.L. & Alquijay, J. (2017) Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Student Experiences in Christian Higher Education: A Qualitative Exploration, Christian Higher Education, 16:5, 319-338, DOI: 10.1080/15363759.2017.131006
Convener:
- Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University
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Category
Community Human Habitats Social Justice Culture
Presenters
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