Held on March 24, 2017
Through personal stories of LGBTQ refugees and those who advocate for them, this program led by former New York City Councilmember Daniel Dromm examines the challenges facing LGBTQ populations as they flee from brutality and oppression, and navigate the complicated world of exile. Featured panelists include Pamela Denzer, Client Programs Director at Immigration Equality; Sebastian Maguire, Esq., Legislative Director & Counsel, New York City Council; and Dr. Amy Traver, Professor of Sociology and Education, Queensborough Community College. Moderated by Dr. Amy Traver, Associate Professor of Sociology and Education at Queensborough Community College, CUNY.
Pamela Denzer is part of the legal team at Immigration Equality. She represents LGBTQ and HIV-positive asylum seekers at asylum hearings and in Immigration Court and assists asylees with adjustment of status applications and HIV waivers. She also helps binational couples and transgender clients navigate US immigration laws that discriminate against LGBTQ and HIV-positive immigrants and their families. Ms. Denzer did course work at Fordham University Law School and was a Stein Scholar for Public Interest Law. Before joining Immigration Equality, Ms. Denzer worked as a BIA Accredited Representative at HIV Law Project representing HIV positive asylum seekers, handling adjustment of status cases involving HIV waiver issues, and providing technical assistance to attorneys and BIA Accredited representatives on HIV waiver issues.
Daniel Dromm has been a progressive leader in Queens for over 20 years. An award-winning public school teacher, Dromm was elected to the New York City Council in 2009 and represented District 25 (Jackson Heights & Elmhurst). During his time in public office, he served as the Chair of the Education Committee. Dromm is the founder of the Queens Lesbian and Gay Pride Committee and organized the first Queens LGBT Pride Parade and Festival, which he still participates in on the first Sunday in June in Jackson Heights. Dromm co-founded the Queens Chapter of Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (P-FLAG), as well as the Generation Q Youth Services Program in Astoria. He also helped found the Queens Pride House.
Sebastian Maguire is a human rights lawyer whose career has focused on advancing LGBTQ+ and immigrant rights. He has a background in nonprofit management as well as direct advocacy. For twelve years, Sebastian worked with the New York City Council to advance groundbreaking legislation to empower LGBTQ+ and immigrant New Yorkers.
Dr. Amy Traver is Professor of Sociology at Queensborough Community College, CUNY. Her research interests include student success and experiential pedagogies in community college contexts, as well as intersections of race/ethnicity and gender in American family life. Her most recent publications in these areas include articles in Teaching Sociology, Internet and Higher Education (with Volchok, Bidjerano, and Shea), Qualitative Sociology, Sociological Focus, and International Journal of Sociology of the Family. She is also the co-editor (with Perel Katz) of Service-Learning at the American Community College (Palgrave Macmillan 2014), an edited volume reviewed as a “must read” that “suggests a strategy for reconsidering the priorities and practices of higher education.” Traver is a graduate of Colgate University (B.A., 1997), Harvard University (Ed.M., 1999), and the State University of New York at Stony Brook (Ph.D., 2008).