DEI Speaker Series: A story of passing privilege and intersectionality

• Date: Wednesday, Oct. 16
• Time: Noon-1 p.m.
• Location: Aderhold Hall Room G23

Feroza Syed, trans activist and advocate of Atlanta, will discuss her personal journey with passing privilege and living in anonymity and how after virally coming out as trans, she has utilized her voice to advocate the barriers, needs, and resistance for the Asian LGBTQ+ community within Atlanta schools and communities. Syed will discuss the unique challenges and barriers Asian LGBTQ+ folks experience and the methods of creating culturally-affirming environments for queer and trans students and community members.

Syed works with Asian Q&A (queer and adolescent) to create a safe space and promote advocacy and support for Asian and Pacific islander youth. She was appointed to the historic first, LGBTQ Advisory Board for the City of Atlanta by Mayor Keisha Lance-Bottoms and continues her ongoing commitment of working with local groups towards cultivating a safe and culturally-affirming environment for the Asian LGBTQ community. Syed tirelessly spends her time to illuminate the challenges and barriers for queer and trans people of color and of LGBTQ youth. After a viral Facebook post coming out as a trans women living in anonymity, Syed has used her voice and activism to continue to bring light to the struggles of the trans and LGBTQ community.