I spent a lovely evening this past Tuesday with students at St. Lawrence University. We started with a dinner with a small group of student leaders and then I did my Beyond Binaries program for a larger group of students. The conversation was good and the feedback very positive. I'm grateful to Ashlee Downing-Duke for the work she does and the spaces she creates for students at SLU. She is a force!

On our way home from visiting my mom last weekend we stopped at a little roadside stand where we bought these eggs (and met the chickens who had hatched them and were wandering around the property). What a beautiful range of sizes and colors: blue and green and tan and brown.

To my Massachusetts people: I wrote a letter for the Action Network letter campaign: Urge Your Legislators to Support the Massachusetts Parentage Act, which will update outdated parentage law so that it is clear, equitable, and provides legal protection for all families, including LGBTQ+ families. I'm hoping you will do the same. It will take about a minute of your time.

What a Combat Vet Wants for his Trans Child

This is an example of the power of personally knowing someone who is LGBTQ+.

And yes, you can identify as conservative and support LGBTQ+ people.

https://youtu.be/fi2O_SmEoGw?si=6Yh_xOryHPOsF7WF

Peg and I spent the weekend at my mom's celebrating the start of her 88th year of life. A lovely Friday night dinner with Magpie - Greg Artzner & Terry Leonino, and then more of the family arrived on Saturday, including both of my brothers and their beloveds, and two of mom's grandchildren -- Riley and Matt.

I love speaking & helping others better understand identity, gender & sexuality. Best are the conversations that follow. This gift - to travel the world & spend time with folks who are organizing & educating in their workplaces, campuses & communities - is immeasurable.

This is me at Lazard with the leadership of Lazard Proud, that company's LGBTQIA+ employee resource group.

Better late than never, right? We are excited to share with you the full list of panels for our 24h International Asexuality Day Livestream, which starts in… 7 hours! You can access each of the segments of the stream through the QR codes on the second image, or simply by heading over to our YouTube channel when the panels begin https://www.youtube.com/@InternationalAsexualityDay We hope you'll join our amazing panelists from all around the world! On this ocassion, given that IAD falls within Autism Awareness Week, we are not only highlighting the work of ace activists in different countries but we'll be also discovering a bit about the experiences of autistic aces in different parts of the world. There will be asexual artists, activists, educators, writers… and so much more. Check it out!

All images contain Alt text for accessibility, although we will not have live captions for the event, unfortunately. We will work on getting subtitles for each stream segment after the IAD is over 💜

Folks, please pay attention to the harm that is happening in parts of the United States, including Texas:

"The student groups that used to be housed at the MEC now say they’re unclear if they can even reserve space on campus to host their events." "“People are scared, people who work for the university. They might want to give us money or might want to provide resources in some way for our events, but don’t know if they can. So just out of fear, uncertainty and a lack of transparency, they might just say, ‘Sorry, we can’t provide anything at this time.’”

Lots of DEI folks have lost their jobs. And the folks who remain are scared.

Happy April! Here are my upcoming engagements:

Robyn Ochs' April Engagements 2nd - Lazard 7th - Bi+ Women's Digital Brunch 16th-17th - St. Lawrence University 22nd - Florida State University

Reach out for more info about any of these events.

Wishing all my transgender and non-binary friends a very happy International Transgender Day of Visibility!

Wishing all my transgender and non-binary friends a very happy International Transgender Day of Visibility!

For day 30 of #BiHealthMonth, here’s one last excerpt from “Without Wincing or Clenching: Bisexual People’s Experiences with Health Providers,” the chapter I contributed to Bodies and Barriers: Queer Activists on Health.

“My wish is that my current and future health providers will see beyond the binaries and remember that people who are attracted to people of more than one gender exist, are plentiful, and may use a wide variety of labels (or none at all).”

"Less than 2% of U.S. adults are trans or nonbinary, yet nearly 24% of all transgender adults report that they have experienced Long Covid. Bisexual adults report Long Covid cases at the same percentage rate (24%)."

‘Brilliant at survival’ — Long Covid afflicts trans and bi patients at highest rates:

https://clearhealthcosts.com/blog/2024/02/long-covid-challenges-trans-bisexual-lgbtq-patients/

Bi Women Quarterly is currently looking for contributions for the Summer 2024 issue “More than One Letter!” Submit by May 1, 2024 to be considered.

"“B” isn’t the only identity in our yummy alphabet soup. To those of you who identify as bi+ and also as asexual, trans, intersex, or anything else under the rainbow: tell us what it’s like to be you! We want to hear about how your identities intersect, what challenges you’ve faced, or what opportunities you’ve been given. And most importantly, we want to know what it would take to be able to bring your whole self comfortably and proudly into these bi+ spaces."

More submission info here:

https://www.biwomenquarterly.com/submission-guidelines/call-for-submissions/

Lawmakers in Thailand overwhelmingly approve a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. Thailand may soon become the first country in Southeast Asia to enact Marriage Equality.

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/thailand-moves-to-legalise-same-sex-marriage/ar-BB1kBJsM

Recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics:

"Australians with diverse sexualities and gender identities are two to four times more likely to experience a mental disorder, suicidal thoughts and self-harm than the broader population, according to the first set of national data that compares their wellbeing to that of heterosexual and cisgender people. Non-binary people, who do not identify as exclusively male or female, and people who use different terms to describe their sexuality, such as asexual, pansexual or queer, had the greatest levels of distress. Bisexual Australians also reported higher rates of mental health struggles than gay or lesbian Australians, while young transgender people, between 16 and 34, were more likely to struggle than the overall trans cohort."

Recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics:

"Australians with diverse sexualities and gender identities are two to four times more likely to experience a mental disorder, suicidal thoughts and self-harm than the broader population, according to the first set of national data that compares their wellbeing to that of heterosexual and cisgender people. Non-binary people, who do not identify as exclusively male or female, and people who use different terms to describe their sexuality, such as asexual, pansexual or queer, had the greatest levels of distress. Bisexual Australians also reported higher rates of mental health struggles than gay or lesbian Australians, while young transgender people, between 16 and 34, were more likely to struggle than the overall trans cohort."