Considering the Possibilities for the Future of Anti-Oppressive Teaching & Learning
The SOGI UBC Transformative Education Speaker Series (TESS) brings together leading scholars and artists working at the nexus of anti-racism, Indigenous education, and gender and sexuality in education to consider the possibilities for the future of anti-oppressive teaching and learning in North America.
Re-imagining Physical Education for Queer and Trans Youth
Wren Bond in conversation with LJ Slovin
November 3, 2025
6:00 – 7:30 pm
SCRF 310
In this dialogue, we will take a closer look at the current realities for queer and trans students in Canadian physical education classes. While these spaces are meant to support learning, growth, and wellbeing, they often present unique challenges that affect not only how students show up and feel in class, but also their mental health, overall sense of belonging, and long-term relationship to sport and recreation. Together, we want to explore not only the barriers that exist, but also the possibilities—what PE can make possible when it becomes a space of belonging and affirmation.
Dr. LJ Slovin is an Assistant Professor in School of Child and Youth Care at University of Victoria. Slovin is the author of the book “Fierce, Fabulous and Fluid: How Trans High School Students Work at Gender Nonconformity,” based on a year-long ethnographic study conducted in a Canadian high school.
Wren Bond is the Education and Corporate DEI Manager at Get REAL, a Canadian non-profit focused on combatting 2SLGBTQ+ discrimination, racism, and bullying in schools, summer camps, and workplaces.
To register please email: naheed.jadavji@ubc.ca.
Abolition, Black Trans Life and the Carceral Logics of Education
Dr. Qui Alexander, University of Toronto
October 6, 2025
6:00 – 7:30 pm
SCRF 310
Dr. Alexander (they/them) is a queer, trans, Black Puerto Rican scholar, educator and organizer based in Tkaronto. They are an Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Trans Studies in Curriculum and Pedagogy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Their teaching and scholarship centers Black trans studies, abolition & transformative justice, and education outside of formal school contexts. Believing education is a practice of freedom, they aim to center transformation and healing in every educational space they have the honor to hold and co-create.
