About this event
Join us online to explore the intersections of Buddhist and LGBTQ+ identities. As part of our programming for LGBTQ+ History Month, this dialogue between members of the Jamyang community will navigate topics as diverse as gender and sexuality in Tibetan medicine, the links between Queer identity, Buddhism and environmental justice, and the experience of LGBTQIA+ people within traditional Tibetan communities.
Is this for me?
Absolutely. If you’re interested in hearing diverse Buddhist perspectives then please come along!
About the panel
Rhonwen Sayer is a long standing member of the Jamyang Community and a member of the FPMT Translation Team. Rhonwen translates Buddhist texts from Sanskrit and Tibetan into English. Over the years, she has received many precious teachings from different teachers and she has a Masters degree in Buddhist Studies from SOAS, University of London, specializing in Tantra.
Erik Jampa Andersson, founder of Shrīmālā Healing Arts, is a Tibetan Medicine practitioner, teacher, and meditation instructor, and a Buddhist practitioner of 17 years. He received a complete education in the Four Medical Tantras (Rgyud bzhi) at the Shang Shung Institute, along with extensive theoretical and clinical training from Dr. Nida Chenagtsang and other senior physicians in the Himalayas, North America, and Europe. He is currently completing his MA in History at Goldsmiths University, specialising in the historical development and transmission of medical knowledge along the Silk Roads. Erik is the author of the forthcoming book Unseen Beings, to be published by Hay House UK in early 2023.
Tashi Choedup (They/She) is a practicing Buddhist monastic. They have more than a decade of experience in human rights and community work. They are currently working as a project fellow at Anveshi Research Centre for Women’s Studies, Hyderabad India. They are also an executive committee member at Anveshi. They are a core group member of the National Ecumenical Forum For Gender and Sexual Minorities (NEFGSM) at the National Council of Churches of India and a fellow at Salzburg Global LGBT Forum. They are one of the founding members of Telangana Hijra Intersex Transgender Samiti and Queer Swabhimana Yatra. They are also a student of Buddhist philosophy and psychology. Their primary areas of interest are faith, religion, mental health, and queer rights and their intersection.
Kunsang Kelden is the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Coordinator at the Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London. Born in the US to Tibetan and Kalmyk parents, Kunsang grew up in the Tibetan Buddhist communities of New York and New Jersey. As a long-time activist and producer of programmes highlighting Himalayan arts and culture, she is a founding editor of Lhakar Diaries, a Tibetan identity blog, lead coordinator for the Tibetans of Mixed Heritage Project and Tibetans For Black Lives. She is also a co-founder of the Tibetan Writers Network and producer of the Tibet Film Festival London. Her work seeks to raise the profile of Tibet in the arts, while advocating for diversity and inclusion within the wider Tibetan community.
…and more to be announced!