Michigan Community College Gender & Sexuality Conference

Queerness is as old as humanity. But, when we decenter humans as the “main” life on our planet, queerness is much, much older. We humans are just another, new way queerness naturally manifests in our universe.

We’re proud to be putting on the Michigan Community College Gender & Sexuality Conference (MCCGSC), especially in 2027 when political and cultural forces will lie, saying our queer family is something unnatural, or aberrant, from "normal" existence. When societal institutions betray our community’s trust, and betray the truth, it is up to us to speak truth and light into that darkness.

Queer people have always been our own sun. Whether we are shining on the mountaintop or in the dive bar, in our homes, places of worship, parks, cafes, the ballroom, or everywhere else we’ve always been, it’s through coming together and loving all the beautiful contradictions and overlaps of queerness that we can find ourselves, our home, and our place in the universe.

The MCCGSC’s theme this year is "Our Transcendent Planet: Queerness in Nature, Science, and Society.” We invite all who wish to be in community to join us in speaking truth to power - that queerness is not an aberration nor defect, but a needed, wonderful, beautiful part of the fabric of life.

We hold this conference because we are privileged enough to do so and because opportunities for queer people to gather are absent and suppressed nationally in academic spaces. We feel it is our duty to create a space for queer folks and their allies to be in community together.

Our goals for the MCCGSC are to:

• Create a space where community college students, faculty, and staff can exchange ideas, present relevant research, and learn from each other.
• Facilitate an accessible conference experience, both in-person and digitally, for students, staff, faculty, and community members. This is what accessibility means to us.
• Provide a life-affirming space that builds community, creating opportunities for intergenerational connection and visibility of diverse queer identities.
• Strengthen collaboration among community colleges, nonprofits, and local organizations to build a united network that actively supports queer belonging and safety.

Disability is not a deficit—it’s a lived experience, a culture, and a source of knowledge. We recognize that disability justice is inseparable from queer liberation, and that our movements share a history of resisting systems that define bodies and minds by their proximity to “normal.”

Accessibility, to us, means expanding access to all aspects of the conference. It means designing spaces, both physical and digital, where everyone can participate fully and authentically.

We understand disability as a collective identity and a political reality, shaped by ableism, racism, colonialism, and other social & material factors—but also as a site of creativity, solidarity, and transformation. In gathering across screens and shared spaces, we aim to build a conference that welcomes and celebrates all people.

We know we have not always embodied the ideal of inclusion with our conference, but we strive to get better each time with new knowledge, feedback, and approaches. We sincerely ask that if you see a way we can be more inclusive, let us know! Email the MCCGSC Committee at [email protected].

A day-of Accessibility Guide will be available prior to the conference.