Active Queer Ontario Member Denise Freedman will be co-hosting the PTS Ageism Challenged Conference in Ottawa. She will also be facilitating a number of the sessions at the event.
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About Denise:
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Denise is an older, committed and somewhat talkative queer woman. For a decade, she has participated in projects and organizations aimed at the full equality of all Queer people: Canadians for Equal Marriage; Around the Rainbow, Family Services Ottawa; GLBTTQ Community Centre of Ottawa, Inc.; Ottawa Trans Community Consultation; Ottawa Dyke March; AIDS Committee of Ottawa; Egale Canada; National Consultation on the Human Rights of Trans People. Both Bill Siksay, MP, and Yasir Naqvi, MPP, have read her name, respectively, into the Federal and Ontario Hansards.
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Along the way, Denise involved herself in the evolution of Pink Triangle Services (PTS) culminating ten years of work now as president of the board. Within the past year, she has acquired a Masters in Social Work.
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Her life of struggle, resistance, and resilience as a queer woman with a transsexual history, along with her education as a (queer) social worker, allow her perspective, understanding, and ability to articulate experiences of exclusion. Her work with PTS allows her the possibility to work for inclusion and community.
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According to Denise: “The norms through which youth and older adults interact are not always healthy, but are particularly harmful for queer youth and older adults. This is why I’ve supported this conference from the beginning, and even if only first steps, I anticipate its results with excitement.”
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For a conference schedule, please see the write-up on the Ageism Challenged Event Page at
https://www.facebook.com/events/358707744246484
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