Events

Pride Speaks December: Chosen Family - Meet the Panel!

Dec 03, 2021 | Seattle Pride

Pride Speaks is a recurring speaking series focused on various topics which impact our LGBTQIA+ community. Each session, Seattle Out & Proud Foundation invites experts and community members with lived experience to share their knowledge, reframe issues, and inspire action. After the panel discussion or talk, there's time for audience Q&A.

Our December Pride Speaks will focus on celebrating “Chosen Family.” The event will focus on the struggle many people face during the holiday season and the importance of their chosen family when biological families may not be as accepting or understanding of a queer person’s authentic self.

This month we will be changing our format from having just our panelists speak to including the audience contribute as well. We will be encouraging attendees to share their responses to the following discussion questions via the chat after being posed to panelists:

How did you meet your chosen family?
Who is in your chosen family?
What holidays or times of remembrance do you celebrate?
What unique traditions do you have with your chosen family?
How have you stayed connected to your chosen family?

… and more!

Date: Wednesday, December 15th
Time: 7PM - 8PM PST
Cost: FREE

Register HERE

Monique Brown (she/her)

Monique Brown served in the U.S. Army for 26 years beginning during Don't Ask Don't Tell. Serving one tour in Guantanamo Bay in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and two tours to Iraq. She is also a survivor of military sexual trauma, and has been working with veterans living on the street for the past six years. Monique earned a Master's in Nonprofit Leadership in 2020.

Facebook: @helphomelessvets
Website: fobhope.org/

Mx. Pucks A'Plenty (they/them)

Mx. Pucks A'Plenty is the Director of Junk in da Trunk, the Michelle Obama of Burlesque, and Seattle's Own Mxtress of Thiccness! This roguish radical is always ready to ride whether it be behind the scenes or on stage. Pucks is also the founder and co-producer behind What the Funk?! An All POC Burlesque Festival and is the co-producer behind Identities and Expressions: A Virtual Trans & Nonbinary Performing Arts Festival.

Facebook: @Puckduction
Instagram: @PucksAPlenty
Linktree: @Mx.PucksAPlenty
Website: MxPucksAPlenty.com

sonj basha (they/them)

sonj basha is a Seattle-based creative director, facilitator, and consultant. For 10 years, sonj has been working with teams, movements, and organizations, building capacity to bring forth a more thriving, just, and sustainable world. Thirty-two years of living as an underserved queer & Muslim immigrant has elicited a lifetime of learning how to bring deep cultural strategy to the forefront of their solutionary leadership.

Instagram: @sonj.basha
Twitter: @sonjbasha
Website: sonjbasha.com

Tim Marshall (he/him) - *Moderator*

Tim is the Program Coordinator at Seattle Pride and has had the pleasure of serving the organization for a little over a year. Tim is passionate about serving community members who are less often heard due to overlapping forces of racism, anti-LGBTQIA+ bias, misogyny, and private market functions. When not working, Tim loves geeking out over criminal justice reform proposals and slaying karaoke.