Picturing Equality LGBTQ+ Workplace Equality Symposium
Friday, Sept. 18, 2026
Keynote addresses by Donna Rose, author of the memoir Wrapped in Blue, and trans employee rights activist; and Attorney Elizabeth Birch, national LGBTQ workplace equality activist and head of the Human Rights Campaign from 1995-2004.
Dryden Theater, George Eastman Museum
Free and open to the public.
ASL interpretation provided.
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Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026
George Eastman Museum, Dryden Theater
10:00-11:15 a.m.
Keynote address “Making Queer Home: Photography from the Commune to the Corporation" by Dr. Elspeth Brown, Professor of History, University of Toronto. Free and open to the public, ASL interpretation provided.
The remainder of the symposium is free and open to the public; however, registration is required and attendance is capped at 100 total due to space restrictions in 7Crest Hall, George Eastman Museum.
ASL interpretation will be provided for all of the sessions.
Register here!
11:30- 12:15 p.m.
- Tour Picturing Equality: The Lambda Network at Kodak in Gallery Obscura or other exhibitions at GEM on your own.
12:15- 1:00 p.m.
- Lunch in 7 Crest Hall. Note: a free catered lunch will be provided for the first 50 attendees, beyond that, food is available for purchase in the Open Face cafe at GEM.
1:00-2:15 p.m.
Panel LGBTQ Workplace Equality: Past and Present, 7Crest Hall Speakers:
- Dr. Alex Ketchum, Associate Professor, McGill University, talking about her new book, Digital Queers and High Tech Gays: The History of LGBTQ+ Cyber Activism, forthcoming from MIT Press.
- Dr. Shay Ryan Olmstead, Lecturer, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, RIT, discussing their research, “Refuse to Run Away: Transsexual Workers Fight for Civil Rights, 1969-1992.”
- Dr. Tamar Carroll, Professor of History, curator, Picturing Equality: The Lambda Network at Kodak.
2:30-3:45 p.m.
Panel, Museums and LGBTQ Inclusion, 7Crest Hall Speakers:
- Dr. Monica Mercado, Associate Professor of History, Colgate, “Sex in the Museum.”
- Michael Lesperance, Founding Partner, Design Minds, Inc.; Adjunct Professor, Johns Hopkins University, “The AAM Welcoming Guidelines: Best Practices and LGBTQIA+ Representation in Heritage Institutions.”
- Dr. Daniel Royles, Associate Professor of History, Binghamton University, “Community Archives and the Challenges of Preserving HIV/AIDS History.”
- Ashley Hopkins-Benton, Curator of Social History, New York State Museum, "Uncovering and Sharing Queer History from the Collections."
4:00-4:45 p.m.
- Dr. Ali Feser, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Binghamton University, 7Crest Hall "Flower Show (a performance lecture)."
Co-sponsors: George Eastman Museum, Central New York Humanities Corridor, RIT College of Art and Design, RIT College of Liberal Arts, RIT Department of History, RIT Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Resource Center, RIT Academic Affairs
Event Snapshot
When and Where
Who
Open to the Public
Interpreter Requested?
Yes