Tinkham Veale University Center, Senior Classroom, 11038 Bellflower Road
Sports participation is one of the many areas where LGBTQ+ youth experience exclusion and discrimination resulting in decreased levels of participation, and increased negative impacts on a youth’s physical, mental, and behavioral health. The need to foster safe spaces where LGBTQ+ youth can participate in accessible, inclusive, and equitable sports platforms has never been more critical.
Among the first of its kind in the country, the LGBTQ+ Youth Sports League affords LGBTQ+ youth the ability to participate in athletics as their authentic selves. The LGBTQ+ Youth Sports League is dedicated to helping LGBTQ+ youth utilize the program to address, influence, and embrace mental and behavioral health solutions to the challenges these youth face.
Because on our court… all are welcome!
Registration requested. Register .
This event is sponsored by the West 117 Foundation.
About the Moderator:
As a Black trans man, veteran, mentor, and pillar in the community, Gio Santiago brings the representation and experience to make the LGBTQ+ Youth Sports Leagues a success. He helped create the country’s first transgender-specific clinic in 2015 after realizing a lack of resources during his transition at Louis Stokes Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Gio has since founded META Center Inc, an Akron-based nonprofit dedicated to educating, motivating, and inspiring transgender youth in need of resources and support. In addition, Gio serves as the Northeast Organizer for Equality Ohio, an organization that identifies and transforms systems and institutions so LGBTQ+ Ohioans can fully access legal & lived equality.
About the panelists:
(he/him) is a transgender advocate, communications professional, and former women’s college ice hockey player. A proud New Mexican, he serves as the Impact Campaign Producer for Changing the Game, developing educational materials, leading and curating events on trans inclusion in sport, and bringing the lifesaving power of storytelling and sport to people across the country, one screening and conversation at a time.
Honed over the past decade, Shane’s wealth of experience includes nonprofit communications and storytelling, practicing and teaching empathy-building, and developing tangible action steps to create lasting change. He also offers in-depth review and overhaul of company-wide human resources and benefits packages to bring policies in line with best practices for transgender and nonbinary inclusion.
Dorian Rhea Debussy, Ph.D. (they/them) is the Associate Director for the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Kenyon College, where they specialize in fostering LGBTQ+ inclusion and equity on campus. In addition to their role with . Rhea also serves as the Executive Director of the , which is the state’s first organization focused upon serving the asexual and aromantic community; a member of the , which is a community-led working group that is focused on improving health outcomes for LGBTQ+ people living and working in Columbus, Ohio; and a member of the Advisory Board for the TGX360 Initiative of the , which is the state’s first transgender-focused economic empowerment initiative.
Jessica (Jess) Davis is from Stone Mountain, GA now living in Cleveland working for the Cavaliers as the Manager of Youth Basketball Operations. Jess is a graduate of Florida State University majoring in English with a minor in Business. Upon graduating from FSU, Jess quickly found her purpose which was to make an impact in lives through the game of basketball. She went on to coach at Emory University, High School Girls/Boys, AAU and prior to joining the Cavs, she was the Assistant Coach/Director of Basketball Operations at Tennessee State University.