This 2-day conference is part of Chacruna’s Women, Gender Diversity, and Sexual Minorities speaker series. It highlights the voices of queer visionaries within the psychedelic community as well as examines the history of psychedelics from queer and non-binary perspectives. As the so-called psychedelic renaissance reaches a pivotal moment of mainstream interest and regulatory legitimacy, it is vital that traditionally under-represented communities share a seat at the table and have their voices heard so as to ensure access to all the benefits that psychedelics and plant medicine offer. Additionally, it is vital that queer spaces be established for exploring the unique needs, gifts, and strengths that LGBTQI communities bring to psychedelics and psychedelic medicine. 

Sunday, June 2, 2019, 10:50 – 11:40am – Creating Pathways of Queer, Trans, and Non-Binary Liberation in This Time of Psychedelic Privilege 

This talk will examine how societal privilege plays out in the psychedelic movement and what that specifically means for queer, trans, and non-binary community. Key topics covered will be the unique needs of marginalized community in a therapeutic setting; challenges of psychedelic use in a social setting; access to psychedelic healing; the impact of racism, classism, and colonization on psychedelic use; higher rates of misuse and abuse of substance in queer and trans community; and the emerging vision and implementation of Queer Zendo. Bringing 18 years of experience in inclusion, diversity, and experiential learning this presentation will provide ideas and tools for creating engaging pathways of inclusion and representation for queer, trans, and marginalized community in the current psychedelic movement.