Robyn Ochs, a world-renowned author, speaker and activist, will visit Penn State Schuylkill on April 7 to discuss the topic of understanding bi-sexuality. There will be a presentation at noon and then a workshop at 6 p.m. in Room 202 of the Health and Wellness Building. Both events are free and open to the campus and local communities. This event is being co-sponsored by a grant from the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity.
Ochs is an educator, award-winning activist, and editor of the Bi Women Quarterly, a 42-country anthology; Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World; and the new anthology, RECOGNIZE: The Voices of Bisexual Men. Her writings have been published in numerous bisexual women's studies, multicultural and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender anthologies.
She has taught courses on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history and politics in the United States; the politics of sexual orientation; and the experiences of those who transgress the binary categories of gay/straight, masculine/feminine, black/white and/or male/female.
An advocate for the rights of people of all orientations and genders to live safely, openly and with full access and opportunity, Ochs' work focuses on increasing awareness and understanding of complex identities, and mobilizing people to be powerful allies to one another within and across identities and social movements.
Ochs serves on the board of directors of MassEquality, Massachusetts' statewide equality organization, and the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including most recently the PFLAG's Brenda Howard Award, the National LGBT Task Force's Susan J. Hyde Activism Award, and the Harvard Gender & Sexuality Caucus's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Ochs lives in Massachusetts, and on May 17, 2004, the day that same-sex marriages became legal in the state, she married Peg Preble.
