Tuesday, October 26, 2021 @ 8:00 PM - 9:30 PM ET | Online (Zoom)

Free. Suggested donation of $10.

In this 1.5 hour workshop with Ty Kitchen (they/them), participants will get hands-on practice with gender affirming language, with a focus on pronouns. We will practice how to use gender-affirming language for trans children, and also how to explain the importance of using this language to colleagues and peers. Being a book-loving organization, we'll also take a look at a book that introduces this topic to children. This workshop offers a more focused follow up to Ty's workshop earlier this past Spring, to dig deeper into the HOW and get practice using affirming language.

Ty Kitchen (they/them) is a nonbinary educator, youth worker, camp counselor, and queer advocate. They currently serve as the Community Engagement and Youth Leadership Manager at SMYAL, where they lead regular trainings for youth-serving professionals and support leadership opportunities for LGBTQ+ youth. Their favorite part of the month though is working with Little SMYALs, a group for youth ages 6-12. Ty is a certified elementary educator (Connecticut College ‘16), Fulbright scholar, and amateur gardener. After having explained their identity and pronouns to many family members, friends, coworkers, and students over the years, Ty is eager to bring more people into the conversation and share strategies for making empowering space for youth to explore their gender identities.

SMYAL is a nonprofit organization that supports and empowers LGBTQ+ youth in the Washington DC metro area. SMYAL offers drop-in afterschool programming (now fully virtual), leadership opportunities, community education trainings, a youth housing program, and more. Learn more about SMYAL’s work and current offerings at www.smyal.org or on Instagram at @smyal_dmv.