Cas Di Cultura is offering two events next week, a spectacular Pride on Stage show on June 10th, and a free townhall meeting, Pride Talks, on June 9th.
I have attended Pride on Stage before, it is a lot of fun, and great entertainment. Now, Pride Talks is a first, adding rich content to the weekend activities.
I called moderator Carolina Thiel Span, a diversity, equality and inclusion advocate, for some additional information.
Having listened to her eloquent narrative, I think Pride Talks will be a very eye-opening, important event.
As I said before, it is free. The forum will have a panel of experts talking about a variety of subjects regarding gender identity, followed by a Q&A session.
People who have questions, youth, adults, parents, friends, are invited for an open conversation with Veer Alwani, a queen rights advocate, Dorilis Werleman, and Jeff Feliciana, both psychologists, and Jaclyn M.L. de Kort, MD, an infectious disease specialist. Also in attendance Famia Planea and HIAS, an organization supporting the undocumented immigrants, living in Aruba.
The issue of gender identity is everywhere around us, in real life, movies and books, and many are confused about LGBTQ term definitions, and what they mean. The CDC forum is a place to get more knowledge about the subject.
According to Carolina, Aruba follows the protocols of the Dutch kingdom, and while in the US the religious right is practicing denial, and recommending aversion therapies, etc., in Aruba treatments are supported by AZV and all schools and most civic society organizations accept reality, and move on. Local church going parents might not be aware but perhaps there are transgenders in their daughter’s / son’s classroom already, going through whatever process required, as well as an open gay and lesbian population, with the blessing of their parents and peers.
Aruba is ahead of the US, and follows Dutch guidelines.
Interestingly, if you are more than 12 years old, you can take decisions for yourself, in consultation with psychologists and doctors. The medical institutions cannot automatically share info with your parents. You must give consent to share information about infectious diseases, contraception, or hormonal treatments, at the hospital or house doctor, with your parents, and the hospital will make you sign a release form allowing mom and pop access to the information.
The forum will discuss social issues, name changes in case of gender change, inner psychological processes, in the LGBTQ and in their surrounding environments, medical procedures, and how they affect the individual and their support system, the type of help and support available on the island, including mental and medical aspects and lastly HIV/Aids in Aruba, where medications are supported by AZV to keep the virus undetected, and contraception supplied by Famia Planea – check out their excellent website — https://famiaplanea.org/ — where you can shop and get delivery.
