Queer and Now Highlights

Bamby Salcedo is a prominent and celebrated Latina activist, known all over the world for her passionate and productive social, political, and economic influence.  As the president and CEO of the TransLatin@Coalition, Bamby steadily leads this nationally recognized organization that advocates for and addresses the issues of transgender Latinas throughout the United States.  Bamby received her master's degree in Mexican Latin@ Studies from California State University, Los Angeles, and also established the Center for Violence Prevention and Transgender Wellness, a multipurpose, multiservice space for trans people in Los Angeles.

She will speak from 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. in Conference Rooms A&B in the Campus Center. Her appearance is also part of the Momentum event series organized by the Social Sciences and Humanities Division.

Bamby's wide-ranging activist work has brought visibility and given a voice to not only the trans community, but to countless others whose efforts focus on critical topics that include immigration, HIV, at-risk youth, LGBTQIA+ issues, incarceration and more. Through her dynamic leadership, Bamby has established several organizations that have created networks and connections where there were none. She tirelessly advocates for the rights, dignity and humanity of those who are often silenced.  Determined to effect change at every level, Bamby actively engages and supports many local, national and international organizations and planning groups.

Originally from LA, ASHA is an international poet, striving to use art to create radical change. She has been featured on the cover of Content Magazine in 2017, KQED Arts in 2018, and many of the prominent poetry events in the Bay Area, including LitQuake, San Jose Poetry Festival, the ILLlist and more. She has also been an active speaker, emcee, and performer at numerous rallies and marches for civil and human rights. Her Tedx in 2020 tells her own personal story of identity through poetry. 

She published Crawling in my Skin, in 2019, a Kafkaesque exploration of the mind and mental health through the metaphor of arts, which was featured by Brown Girl Mag in 2021. Her latest book release, Not Your Masi’s Generation is a memoir-like workbook that tackles mental health and healing from intergenerational trauma. In 2018 ASHA was given the Hank Hutchins award by the Santa Clara County Alliance of Black Educators.  Her dream is to establish her own K-12 learning space rooted in transformative practices, art and social justice focused healing.

Sarah O’Neal is a queer Moroccan, Black, and Muslim writer and artist born and raised in the Bay Area. Sarah’s work grapples with the impact of colonial violence on familial memory and the way systems of oppression shape the most intimate detail of our lives. Her debut collection, Even Two Hands Pressed Together Are Split, brought together poetry, photography, and ephemera to create an immersive experience for readers to explore the way embodied trauma shapes all of our relationships. Her writing has been featured in the Institute for Palestine Studies, The Nation, and Teen Vogue. When she is not writing, you can find her scheming on the end of empire, swimming laps, or on IG and Twitter @atayqueen

Jocquese Whitfield (SirJoQ) is a dancer/choreographer/MC born and raised in San Francisco. He is the first Vogue instructor of San Francisco and has been teaching his Vogue & Tone classes since 2010. Starting his career steeped in the improvisation of freestyle hip-hop, Jocquese has added modern, classical, and Diasporic dance traditions for the past 11 years. He was voted “Best Dance Instructor” of 2014 by the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Vogue & Tone was also featured in the San Francisco Chronicle & MTV's hit show, The Real World.

A shape-shifter, Jocquese challenges assumptions of sexual identity in dance as he plays with both “masculine” and “feminine” aspects.  After pursuing studies in Dance and Theater, Jocquese’s current movement vocabulary revisits the bold, rebellious statements of the 1980’s as expressed through fashion, nightlife, and a love of the abstract.  They are currently signed to Molly House Records.  Their original music has been featured on Beyonce’s Renaissance World Tour, HBO’s “We’re Here”, and Viceland’s docu series “My House.”

Honey Mahogany is a performer, small business owner and activist who grew up in San Francisco and earned a master’s degree in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley.

She will speak from 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. in Campus Center Conference Rooms A&B. Her appearance is also part of the Momentum event series organized by the Social Sciences and Humanities Division.

Honey's work as an advocate, culture creator and change-maker has earned her recognition from the city of San Francisco and the state of California, sainthood from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and awards from numerous organizations including the Imperial Court of San Francisco, Harvey Milk Democratic Club, Trans Day of Visibility and the Women's Foundation of California.

A co-founder and inaugural executive director of San Francisco's Transgender District, Honey is also a founding queen of Drag Story Hour, a co-owner of the Stud Bar, a singer with nu-metal group Commando, and recently ran a historic campaign for District 6 supervisor in San Francisco. Currently, Honey is working as the district director for Assemblymember Matt Haney and serves as chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party.