The Queer and Trans People of Color (QTPoC) page is to provide MIT students with the latest resources and programs throughout the year. This page will be updated regularly, so please take a look and browse through many of the QTPoC content.
QTPoC and WoC Professional Development Funds for Undergraduate Students
We are pleased to announce the creation of two new Professional Development funds. This fund is in collaboration from WGS, OME, and LBGTQ+ brought on by WoC and QTPoC students who had advocated for additional support from MIT.
QTPOC Virtual Programming
QTPoC is for queer and trans people of color to hang out with each other once a month, chat, watch movies, and have support. The first part of QTPoC is chilling online and talking and building community. How have you been? What have you been up to? Got anything you want to share? The second part of QTPoC might be a game, program, event. Feel free to join at any time and bring your friends! QTPoC is a space for LBGTQ+ students of color in the MIT community.
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Date: May 12th, 2021
- Description: QTPOC End of the Year Celebration This semester is wrapping up and we’re having an end of the year celebration. Come enjoy games, discussions, raffles, and more.
- Time: 3:00PM - 4:30PM EST
- Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/99971935991
- Date: May 14th, 2021
- Description: AA/PI LBGTQ+ Short Film Showing + LBGTQ+ Services and OMP are collaborating to show AA/PI LBGTQ+ short films for Asian heritage month. A discussion will happen after.
- Time: 2:00PM - 4:00PM EST
- Location: https://mit.zoom.us/j/91481764880
QTPoC Spotlight
A Individual or group will be highlighted based on their accomplishments and care for the LBGTQ community.
Check out LBGTQ+ Service's Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for more QTPOC Spotlights
Name: Hinaleimoana Kwai Kong Wong-Kalu
Pronouns: They/Them
Biography: Hinaleimoana serves as a cultural consultant of several organizations striving to celebrate diversity. Not only does Hinaleimoana celebrate cultural diversity, they also dedicates their life to promoting gender diversity of the Pacific Islander community. Click here to learn more
Name: Kim Coco Lwamoto
Pronouns: She/Her
Biography: a Japanese American commissioner who became the highest ranked transgender official in the U.S when she won a seat on the Hawaii's Board of Education in 2006. Since then, she has worked with LGBTQ youth as both a licensed therapist and a foster parent, campaigned against anti-LGBT legislation such as Prop 8, and raised funds for the education system in Hawaii. Click here to learn more
Monthly Book Recommendations
QTPoC authors will be the highlight in this section. Make sure to learn about them and read their work.
Check out LBGTQ+ Services online library for more QTPoC Books
Title: A Lotus of Another Color: An Unfolding of the South Asian Gay and Lesbian Experience
Author: Rakesh Ratti
Pronouns: He/Him
Tags: Anthology, API, Autobiography, South Asian, Gay, Lesbian
Author Description: Rakesh Ratti is a psychologist who lives in Toronto with his partner Mark Haslam, an arts administrator, and their daughter Tara. Ratti attended Georgia State University for his Ph.D. and is one of the founders of Trikone in Atlanta. He is also author of A Lotus of Another Color, the first LGBTQ South Asian anthology. At age 9, he moved to the U.S. with his family from a small village in Punjab that had been founded by an ancestor 500 years ago. (Learn More Here)
Brief Book Description: An Unfolding of the South Asian gay and lesbian experience Gay men and lesbians from India, Pakistan and other South Asian countries tell their stories.
Title: Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me
Author: Janet Mock
Pronouns: She/Her
Tags: API, Black, Memoir, People of Color, Trans, Trans Women, Women of Color
Author Description: Janet Mock is a writer, director and executive producer for the FX drama series POSE and the Netflix limited series HOLLYWOOD and MONSTER. She’s also the New York Times bestselling author of two memoirs, Redefining Realness (2014) and Surpassing Certainty (2017) about her journey as a trans woman. (Learn More Here)
Brief Book Description: “A defining chronicle of strength and spirit” (Kirkus Reviews), Surpassing Certainty is a portrait of a young woman searching for her purpose and place in the world—without a road map to guide her. This memoir “should be required reading for your 20s” (Cosmopolitan).A few months before her twentieth birthday, Janet Mock is adjusting to her days as a first-generation college student at the University of Hawaii and her nights as a dancer at a strip club. Finally content in her body after her teenage transition, she vacillates between flaunting and concealing herself as she navigates dating and disclosure, sex and intimacy, and most important, letting herself be truly seen.
Title: Black Tides of Heaven
Author: JY Yang
Pronouns: They/Them
Tags: API, Fantasy, Fiction, Gender queer, Trans
Author Description: Neon Yang (they/them) is a queer non-binary author based in Singapore. They have been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Lambda Literary, ignyte and Locus awards, and their work has been an Otherwise Award honoree. (Learn More Here)
Brief Book Description: Mokoya and Akeha, the twin children of the Protector, were sold to the Grand Monastery as infants. While Mokoya developed her strange prophetic gift, Akeha was always the one who could see the strings that moved adults to action. While Mokoya received visions of what would be, Akeha realized what could be. What's more, they saw the sickness at the heart of their mother's Protectorate.A rebellion is growing.
Other QTPoC Resources or Programs
BestColleges.com has curated a scholarship guide for the LGBTQ+ community. LGBTQ+ students face a variety of obstacles that includes lack of support from their families, high demands on their college expenses, and fears of selecting a gender while filling out FAFSA.
To learn more and see a list of scholarships, click this link: https://www.bestcolleges.com/financial-aid/lgbtq-scholarships/
External Resources
Please note: All links posted below are external websites and may become outdated or nonfunctional. We will do our best to update them once a semester. If you see any links out of date, please let us know: lbgt@mit.edu
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API Equality - LA |
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Black Trans Advocacy Coalition |
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Coming Home to Islam and to Self |
https://www.hrc.org/resources/coming-home-to-islam-and-to-self |
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Desi LGBTQ+ Helpline for South Asians |
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Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement |
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First Nations Two Spirit Collective |
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Galaei |
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Gaysi (The Gay Desi Blog) |
https://gaysifamily.com/ |
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Human Resource Campaign |
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Immigration Equality |
https://immigrationequality.org/ |
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Muslims for Progressive Values |
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National Black Justice Coalition |
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National Center for Black Equity |
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National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network |
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NQAPIA (National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance) |
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Queer Women of Color Media Project |
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Rest for Resistance |
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Somos Familia |
https://www.somosfamiliabay.org/resources/ |
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The Visibility Project |
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Therapy for QTPOC |
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TransLatin@ Coalition |
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United We Dream |
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Unity Coalition |
Are you an MIT student group seeking funding for an LBGTQ+ centered project, event, or leadership opportunity through LGBTQ+ services? Use this form to apply for funds. The LBGTQ+ Services team will review all applications and then get back to you about funding and possible next steps. If you are a graduate student group and have questions, please email Nina Foushee nfoushee@mit.edu. If you are an undergraduate student group, please email Robert Hines at hinesr@mit.edu.
- Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits: Two-Spirit Powwow
- Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (BAAITS) exists to restore and recover the role of Two-Spirit people within the American Indian/First Nations community by creating a forum for the spiritual, cultural and artistic expression of Two-Spirit people. This conference has passed but it happens annually with future dates announced in 2022. Learn more about it here: https://www.baaits.org/
- Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing: National LBGTQ Health Conference
- The National LGBTQ Health Conference is an interdisciplinary forum that provides an opportunity for presentation and discussion of health research and programs for LGBTQ adults and adolescents with the overall goal of addressing health inequities. The virtual conference is May 20, 2021 to May 21, 2021. Learn more about it here: https://lgbtqhealthconference.org/2021-virtual-conference
- Kenyon College: Kenyon Queer and Trans Studies Conference
- The Kenyon Queer and Trans Studies Conference is an interdisciplinary and biennial LGBTQ+ studies conference, which is free-of-charge and open to undergraduate and graduate students both at and outside of Kenyon. Community members are also welcome to attend. The virtual conference is April 9, 2021 to April 11, 2021. Learn more about it here: https://www.kenyon.edu/campus-life/diversity-inclusion/programs-services/lgbtq-community/events-programs/kenyon-queer-and-trans-studies-conference/
- National Black Trans Advocacy Coalition: National Black Trans Advocacy Conference
- The National Black Trans Advocacy Conference & Awards Gala is a distinct educational and empowerment program event, home to nearly 300 plus trans and gender non-conforming individuals, our family, friends, community allies, and corporate partners from across the country who are focused on advancing black trans equality. The conference is April 26, 2022 to May 1, 2022. Learn more about it here: https://btac.blacktrans.org/
- National LGBTQ Task Force: Creating Change
- The National LGBTQ Task Force has brought you Creating Change, the largest LGBTQ activist conference in the country. Every year, thousands of people from across the country come together to learn, connect, and resist. At Creating Change we sharpen our minds with skills and knowledge, fill our hearts with love and joy, and deepen our commitment to freedom, justice and equity for all LGBTQ people. This conference has passed but it happens annually with future dates announced in 2022. Learn more about it here: https://www.thetaskforce.org/creatingchange.html
- NSLDC: Leading for Social Justice and Change Virtual Leadership Conference Conference Opportunity
- NSLDC is providing diversity conferences and an affordable opportunity for student leaders to learn more about diversity and inclusion. The virtual conference is April 10, 2021. Learn more about it here: http://nsldc.org/virtual-leadership-conference/
- NSLDC Pride: LGBTQA+ Student leadership Conference
- NSLDC Pride is a national leadership experience dedicated to empowering and educating LGBTQA+ student leaders to create change on their campuses and in their communities. The virtual conference is October 23, 2021. Learn more about it here: http://nsldcpride.org/
- The University of Oklahoma Outreach: National Conference on Race and Ethnicity
- The NCORE conference series constitutes the leading and most comprehensive national forum on issues of race and ethnicity in American higher education. The conference focuses on the complex task of creating and sustaining comprehensive institutional change designed to improve racial and ethnic relations on campus and to expand opportunities for educational access and success by culturally diverse, traditionally underrepresented populations. Future dates are to be announced. Learn more about it here: https://www.ncore.ou.edu/en
- UW-Madison and Edgewood College: Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Asexual College Conference
- Planned and organized entirely by students—a tradition that proudly continues today—what would later become the Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Asexual College Conference emerged in the early 1990s as an answer to the question of how to connect, educate, and empower queer students throughout the region. The theme of the conference is From Protest and Beyond Pride The conference is October 8, 2021 to October 10, 2021. Learn more about it here: https://mblgtacc.org/2021
Fire Lounge
Sponsored by the MindHandHeart Innovation Fund is designed to support students who identify as Black/Brown, Indigenous, and/or People of Color (BIPOC) by offering an affirming space via weekly yoga sessions with guided meditation to enhance connection, communion and resilience. Fire Lounge is at no cost and includes free yoga supplies for any BIPOC MIT student regardless of shape or size. No prior experience with yoga is needed. Fire Lounge is about enhancing one’s spirit and strength with guided meditation focused upon themes suggested by students in collaboration with Down Under School of Yoga. Fire Lounge will be offered virtually during IAP and Spring Semester. For more info, please email: ContactFireLounge@mit.edu Fireside Lounge - Weekly Free Yoga for BIPOC Students
Any Questions?
If there are any questions or if you would like to share any QTPoC resources and have them posted on this page, please email LBGTQ+ Services at lbgt@mit.edu. Also, sign up for the QTPoC listserv (Lazo@mit.edu) in Stay Connected Tab, so you do not miss out on great opportunities.