Janaya Khan

Janaya “Future” Khan, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto, will visit UNC Charlotte as the 2019 OUTSpoken guest speaker.  “Future” will deliver their keynote address at 7:00pm Thursday, October 17, in McKnight Hall in the Cone University Center, followed immediately by a reception in the Lucas Room.

Janaya Khan is currently the executive director of Gender Justice LA, a grassroots multi-racial coalition of transgender people and allies.  They identify as Black, queer, gender-nonconforming activist, (pronouns are they, them, theirs), and social-justice educator who presents a message about the transformational power of protest, and leads discussions about social justice, equality, and systemic racism, highlighting the far reaching effects of these social/power structures. Their presentations use compelling narratives illustrating how individual lives with an emphasis on intersectionality of identity are affected by inequality rousing audiences to actively seek justice for all.  Janaya has been honored with several awards including the 2015 Bromley Armstrong Humanitarian Award, and has been featured in media outlets including Feminist Wire, RaceBaitR, and The Root.  

Given the ongoing anti-blackness violence and rhetoric and the invisibility of LGBTQ+ issues often within social justice movements, Future’s visit is timely, as their work seeks to increase visibility of LGBTQ+ issues within the Black Lives Matter movement and speak to the impact of anti-blackness violence and rhetoric within the LGBTQ+ community.