MARGARET CHO - Spankin' New Comedy

FAISAL ALAM - Keynote & LGBTQ Muslim program

THEA HILLMAN - Spoken Word performance & Intersex program

NOEL ALUMIT - "Master of the (miss) Universe" performance

QUEER COFFEEHOUSE - featuring Raja, Angela Motter

FILM FESTIVAL - Day of Queer Celluloid

MARGARET CHO

Friday, February 21, 2003, 8:00pm, Riverside Municipal Auditorium
>>Requires separate ticket. Discounted to $20 with conference registration
>>Reception at Riverside Municipal Auditorium follows performance (cash bar)
>>All new material! Get ready for Cho's new tour - "Cho Revolution"

Margaret Cho's success as one of the country's premier comedians has been is partly because of her wildly funny sense of humor and also because she has the courage to be absolutely uninhibited. Born and raised in San Francisco, where she began her standup career at the early age of 16, she's long been recognized for being a devastatingly funny talent in the intensely competitive realm of comedy.

Through humor, Cho demonstrates her commitment to unity and acceptance among many different cultures and lifestyles. This has led to a string of important accolades: the Golden Gate Award from GLAAD; a Friend of the Community Award from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; a Media Award from the National Organization of Women; and the Lambda Liberty Award from the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. All ample proof that Margaret Cho means so much more to people than simply great comedy.

FAISAL ALAM

General Assembly Keynote Address at Saturday General Assembly
and Featured Program on the LGBTQ Muslim community

Faisal Alam is a 25-year old queer-identified Muslim activist of Pakistani descent. He is the Founder & Director of Al-Fatiha, an international organization dedicated to Muslims who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, those questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity, and their friends. 

In less than 4 years ago, Al-Fatiha has grown to include ten chapters in three countries (in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom) with an estimated membership of 700 people. The organization has held five major conferences and retreats bringing together hundreds of LGBTQ Muslims & their allies. Al-Fatihaís mission is to provide support to LGBTQ Muslims who are trying to reconcile their sexual orientation or gender identity with their religion (Islam). Al-Fatiha also advocates on behalf of the LGBTQ Muslim community in immigration, refugee, and asylum cases, and in the HIV/AIDS and human rights movement. Under Faisalís leadership and as an all volunteer-run organization, Al-Fatiha continues to serve as a crucial resource for those that are struggling with issues of sexuality, gender identity, and faith.

Faisal is the youngest member of the National Religious Leadership Roundtable (NRLR), an interfaith network of more than 45 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender leaders in the United States, a national advisory board member of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, and an advisory board member of the Families of Color (FOC) network, an advisory group for PFLAG National (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays).

In addition to his LGBT faith-based activism, Faisal is also active in the LGBT human rights, immigration and asylum rights, and LGBT youth movements. He is a member of numerous local organizations in Washington, DC including:  AQUA (Asian Queers United in Action), Khush (LGBT South Asians) and OUTFront (the LGBT program of Amnesty International, USA).

Faisalís work with Al-Fatiha has been featured in newspapers and magazines around the world, including the New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Atlanta Journal Constitution, and the Miami Herald. He was selected as an "Innovator" by Advocate Magazine (in 2001), a "Founding Father" by Genre Magazine (in 2002) and as one of 30 "Young Visionaries" by the Utne Reader (in 2002).

Faisalís full time work has included LGBT youth organizing and HIV/AIDS prevention and education in the Asian/Pacific Islander community. He is a former staff member of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) in Washington, DC, the Massachusetts Asian AIDS Prevention Project (MAAPP), and the Asian and Pacific Islander Partnership for Health (APIPH). He is currently employed at a national HIV/AIDS organization as a conference planner and lives in Washington, DC, USA.

THEA HILLMAN

Spoken Word Performance at Sunday Empowerment Brunch
and Featured Program on the Intersex community

Thea Hillman is a is a writer and intersex activist from San Francisco. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Depending on the Light (Manic D Press). A San Francisco poetry slam champion with an MFA in English/Creative Writing, Thea has performed her work at festivals, bookstores, and reading series across the country. She has produced many performance events, including the sold-out Intercourse: A Sex and Gender Spoken Word Recipe for Revolution for the 2001 National Queer Arts Festival. She is on the Mills College Board of Trustees and one of the coproducers of ForWord Girls, the first inclusive all-girl spoken word festival.

Thea serves on the Board of Directors of the Intersex Society of North America. ISNA was created in 1993 as a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to systematic change within the medical community to end shame, secrecy and unwanted genital surgeries for people born with atypical reproductive anatomies.

NOEL ALUMIT - "Master of the (miss) Universe"

Saturday, February 22. 2003, 7:00pm, Performance Lab (UCR campus)
>>FREE to all conference attendees (bring your name tag)
>>Limited seating - box office opens at 6:00pm to public

Noel Alumit's new show is a rollicking statement about sexuality and race, competition and defeat, beauty pageants and more beauty pageants. "Noel Alumit performs his new solo show 'Master of the (miss) Universe,' a tribute to that cultural icon, the beauty pageant, as a gay Filipino man gives his account of a search for beauty in a seemingly unbeautiful world."  BEST BET for the Weekend--LA Times

Noel Alumit was born in Baguio City in The Philippines then raised in the United States.  He is the second of four children and is addicted to chocolate. Due to his chocolate habit, Noel keeps in shape by running long distances. He has five marathons and a number of other races under his belt.
 
He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama from the University of Southern California, studied playwriting at the David Henry Hwang Writers Institute at East West Players.

He received an Emerging Voices Fellowship from PEN Center USA West  and  a Community Access Scholarship to UCLA’s Writers Extension, studying fiction and the personal essay form. His work has been published in Tilting the Continent (New Rivers Press), Take Out (Asian American Writers Workshop/Temple University), and the literary journal DisOrient. His first novel is Letters to Montgomery Clift (Macadam Cage).
 
As an actor, Noel's film and TV credits include Beverly Hills 90210, The Young and the Restless, and Red Surf. He has performed in many Los Angeles productions, including the world premiere of Chay Yew’s A Language of Their Own (LA Weekly Award) and Michael Kearns’ Whose Afraid of Edward Albee.
 
Noel is most proud of his work preventing HIV infection in gay Asian men with the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team.  He has been an employee with APAIT for nine years.

QUEER COFFEEHOUSE

Saturday, February 22. 2003, 7pm-midnight, The Barn (UCR campus)
>>FREE to all conference attendees (bring your name tag)
>>Featuring host Raja, and Gay and Lesbian American Music Award (GLAMA) award winner Angela Motter
>>Non-alcoholic event

FILM FESTIVAL

Sunday, February 23. 2003, 1:00pm, Arts Building Screening Room (UCR campus)
>>FREE to the public
>>Click here for schedule