Plenary Sessions

All Audiences

Join Representative Zooey Zephyr for a conversation about building relationships and making change in an era where fear-based politics seek to make bogeymen out of LGBTQ people and other marginalized communities. This talk will discuss Representative Zephyr’s path to politics, strategies for identifying areas where change can be affected, and advice for how to center kindness while holding those who seek to do harm accountable for their actions. The talk will include political theory as well as specific strategies to achieve these goals.

Representative Zooey Zephyr represents Montana’s 100th House District in the Montana House of Representatives and is the first trans woman to hold public office in the state of Montana. Throughout her time in office, Representative Zephyr has been a fierce advocate for affordable housing, healthcare, and human rights throughout Montana.

Prior to the legislature, Representative Zephyr worked at the University of Montana, where she oversaw the administration of the university’s curriculum approval process. She also worked as an activist, helping people file discrimination claims, drafting human rights policies for the city of Missoula, and working as a de-escalator at protests to ensure protester safety.

When the Legislature is not in session, Representative Zephyr works with people across Montana, the nation, and the world to help them get involved in the fight for progressive policies.

All Audiences

Black males are disproportionately victims of sexual violence, intimate partner violence/homicide (IPV/IPH), and suicide. Recent data from the CDC’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS/2022) indicate that 58 percent of Black males report sexual violence, physical violence, and or stalking by an intimate partner. Black males overwhelmingly report being made to penetrate, sexual coercion, and unwarranted sexual contact where the primary perpetrators are female. Frameworks such as intersectionality fail to adequately capture Black male vulnerability. Most frameworks that attempt to explain the experiences of Black males are deficit and pathology-oriented frameworks that lack empirical evidence and are inherently racist. This presentation provides comprehensive information on Black male sexual victimization that fills a critical and urgent void in the mental health field. Therefore, professionals will be able to begin to adequately recognize and articulate the sexual victimization of Black males and provide responsive care and clinical interventions that inform treatment approaches.

Dr. Yamonte Cooper is a scholar, author, professor of counseling, adjunct professor of clinical psychology, Clinical Director of the West Coast Sex Therapy Center, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC), and Certified Sex Therapist Supervisor (CST-S). He specializes in working with couples, trauma, sexual dysfunctions, gender & sexual identity, depression & anxiety, borderline personality, grief, and other mental health problems. Dr. Cooper is the author of Black Men and Racial Trauma: Impacts, Disparities, and Interventions and co-editor of Black Couples Therapy: Clinical Theory and Practice. Further, as a Fulbright scholar, Dr. Cooper has exchanged best practices globally in career counseling and development.

All Audiences

This presentation explores the journey towards intersex liberation, encompassing the complexities of identity, advocacy, and sexual health. Pidgeon Pagonis, a prominent intersex activist, shares personal anecdotes and societal insights to shed light on the challenges faced by intersex individuals. By delving into historical contexts and contemporary narratives, attendees gain a deeper understanding of the intersections between intersex rights and sexual health. Through empowering discourse, Pidgeon invites participants to envision a future where intersex individuals are fully recognized, respected, and embraced within society.

Pidgeon Pagonis has worked for over a decade as an intersex advocate, speaker, consultant, photographer and filmmaker to shed light on the human rights violations endured by intersex people. Their goal is to help end the non-consensual irreversible medical procedures meant to discipline unruly intersex bodies. Pidgeon’s accessible advocacy helps people complicate their preconceived binary notions about “biological differences”. Their work has been essential for those who want to show up for intersex people in their lives, but aren’t sure where to start.

Whether advancing the intersex cause as the co-founder of the Intersex Justice Project (IJP), co-producing viral informational videos, creating art that centers intersex voices, appearing on the cover of National Geographic “Gender Revolution” special issue or being honored as a LGBT Champion of Change in by the Obama White House, Pidgeon has staked out a place at the fore of debates on intersexuality. In 2020, IJP’s #EndIntersexSurgery campaign succeeded in getting Lurie Children’s to become the first hospital in the nation to apologize and halt surgeries.

All Audiences

How can a pleasure-focused and Transformative Justice-based approach to our work as sexuality counselors and educators support people to reclaim embodied sovereignty? How can the fields of sex therapy and sex education embrace their singular potential not only for individual healing and edification, but social transformation as well? Join award-winning author and Adjunct Faculty at the Institute for the Study of Somatic Education Kai Cheng Thom for a powerful and inspiring conversation on the role of embodied sexuality healing as a mode of collective change. Kai Cheng brings her unique perspective as a former Couple & Family Therapist and currently practicing Sexological Bodyworker and Somatic Coach to this presentation, outlining anti-oppression, embodied transformation, and collective healing as the foundations of a revolutionary approach to sexuality coaching, counseling, and education. Participants will leave with new frameworks and techniques for anti-oppressive, trauma-informed, socially conscious practice, as well as key principles drawn from the field of Somatic Sex Education.

Kai Cheng Thom, Master of Social Work, MSc Couple & Family Therapy, is a Certified Somatic Sex Educator, Qualified Mediator, Clinical Hypnotherapist and Certified Professional Life Coach based in tkaronto/Toronto. She is the author of six award-winning books in various genres, including the Publishing Triangle Award-winning essay collection on Transformative Justice, I HOPE CHOOSE LOVE, the New York Times-featured picture book From the Stars In the Sky to the Fish in the Sea, and the recent Canadian bestseller Falling Back In Love With Being Human.

Kai Cheng’s work as a noted practitioner and teacher of Somatic Sex Education, Sexological Bodywork, and Somatic Coaching focuses on the intersection of social justice, pleasure activism, and transformative approaches to healing conflict and harm. She maintains a private practice as a hands-on sex and intimacy coach with individuals, couples, and polycules, as well as a consultancy as a master facilitator and leadership coach with organizations across North America. She also teaches as Adjunct Faculty at the Institute for the Study of Somatic Sex Education and Faculty at The Embody Lab, having trained hundreds of practitioners in body-based, trauma-informed, and anti-oppressive approaches to individual and social change.

All Audiences

Does Latinidad (the experience of a pan-Latino identity) exist? And if so, is there a common experience of sexuality? Latine(x/a/o) peoples come from 32 countries across the world and are a heterogenous mix of Indigenous, European, and African ancestries (González Burchard, et. al., 2005). Using a frame of “y” the Spanish word for “and,” the plenary will focus on duality as an integral experience of Latine(x/a/o)s living in the United States. As a collective of sexuality professionals we will explore concepts that seem in opposition, such as sexual indulgence and purity, through a mixture of data y música. We will also consider how professionals may be using whitewashing interventions in the treatment of sexual trauma through rationality, boundaries, and individualism without considering the importance of familismo, personalismo, dichos, aguantarse y desaguarse. Participants will also be asked to add more conexión y sazón to their work across populations.

My name is Juan Francisco Camarena Jr. I am the son of Juan Francisco Camarena, a Mexican immigrant, and Linda Rios Ramirez, who was born in the United States to Mexican parents. My people come from the Mexican states of Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Michoacan. I was born in Fresno California and resided there until I left for college to attend San Diego State University in 1996. I have been married to the same man since 2006 and we’ve raised a few dogs and spent two years raising a teenager.

I really care about working in partnership with graduate students, psychotherapy clients, and providing educational experiences for sexuality professionals. I work at San Diego State University as an Assistant Professor, I maintain an independent sex therapy practice, and I teach sexuality courses at the California Institute for Integral Studies.

I love education and graduated with a master’s degree in counseling from San Diego State in 2003, a master’s degree in human sexuality in 2013, and a doctorate in human sexuality in 2016.

I am proud of having been a therapist and supervisor in non-profit community mental health for over 12 years, of working as a part-time lecturer for 18 years, maintaining an independent psychotherapy practice for 15 years, and being a tenure track professor for two years.

I feel passionate about exploring Latinidad y sexualidad, researching how identity helps Queer Black and Brown men thrive, making psychotherapy better for gender diverse peoples, providing clinical support for Queer and Trans BIPOC relationships, and helping adults explore alternatives
to monogamy.