Butch Voices will be holding its first ever multifocal conference and forum for all selfidentified butches, studs, aggressives, and other allied identities. We are a group of openminded, gender-bending social justice activists who share a commitment to critical thinking and a common goal of building a powerful, inclusive community for us all.

The conference will take place August 20 through August 23, 2009 in Oakland, California. We invite you to join us for four days of workshops, panels, and performances intended to reflect the diversity and complexity of butch gender, identity, and action. On the one hand, butch, stud, and aggressive are hyper-visible identities; on the other, our voices too often go unheard or are misunderstood.

This conference is an opportunity for us to speak, both to one another and to our allies. To talk about why we identify in the ways we do; about how we can tell our stories when the words available to us simply don't fit; about masculinity and maleness, femininity and femaleness, areas of overlap, and areas of none of the above; about sex and embodiment; about community and about placelessness; about homelessness and about the search for home.

Submissions of all kinds are welcome, though we especially welcome those that grapple with difficult questions:

• Desire and relationships
• Various "border wars" (and what we can do about them)
• Drag, passing, and failing to pass
• Misogyny
• Penis envy (or our lack thereof)
• Community-building
• Race
• Butch/ femme
• Class
• Trans-generational dialogue
• Culture, faith, and nation.

We particularly encourage proposals by and for people of color, working-class people, and people with disabilities. We hope to draw participants from across disciplinary, social, and formal boundaries. Relevant proposals from non-butch, stud, or aggressive presenters and allies are also welcome.

Contributions may include, but are not limited to:

• Workshops
• Performances
• Presentations
• Skill shares
• Photography/ visual art
• Video

To apply to be a presenter, please submit your proposal (no more than 500-750 words) and a completed submissions form to us at programming@butchvoices.com

Submission deadline is May 1, 2009.

To learn more about us and our mission, and to contact us with any questions, comments or concerns, please find us online at www.butchvoices.com.