Media Advisory - From criminality to formal equality - PSAC Pride Conference
will honour LGBT history and inspire new struggles for justice

TORONTO, March 24 /CNW Telbec/ - Union activists from across Canada will gather in Toronto from March 26-28 at the Public Service Alliance of Canada's Pride Conference.

The attendees are all workplace advocates who identify as part of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans communities. They will meet to discuss ways to combat homophobia and transphobia in their workplaces. They will also address the Harper government's backlash against queer communities and make connections with other struggles for human rights and social justice.

PSAC is one of Canada's largest labour unions, representing 166,000 workers, primarily in the federal public sector.

    
    WHAT:  PSAC National Pride Conference

    WHEN:  March 26-28, 2010

    WHERE: Hilton Toronto Hotel, 145 Richmond Street West

    FEATURED SPEAKERS:
    -   Helen Kennedy, Executive Director, Egale Canada
    -   Gary Kinsman, Professor of Sociology at Laurentian University and co-
        author of The Canadian War on Queers: National Security as Sexual
        Regulation
    -   Nicole Nussbaum, lawyer and trans advocate
    -   Line Chamberland, sexuality studies professor at UQAM and anti-
        homophobia activist
    -   Nicole LaViolette, law professor at the University of Ottawa,
        specializing in human rights and anti-terrorism
    -   Nicole Lacelle, sociologist and community activist.
    -   George Ssemukuutu, chair of Pride Uganda Alliance International
    -   Lezdeny Elizabeth Almendarez Castillo, LGBT rights activist from
        Honduras
    -   El-Farouk Khaki, refugee lawyer and advocate for queer Muslims in
        Canada
    -   Malek Khouri, director of the Film Program at the American University
        in Cairo
    

For further information: or to book interviews: Ariel Troster, PSAC Communications, [phone] (cell)