Embracing Multitudes

Embracing Multitudes:

A Process Workshop Series for Queer/Trans Iranians

Iranian. American. Queer. Trans. & Scared. I grew up thinking I was impossible. But after years of processing and unlearning, I've learned important tools for moving through that self-hatred. Not only do I exist, but I am a miracle worthy of love and respect. I never ever even dreamed I could come to a place where I felt this.

This series is specifically designed to make space for our unique experiences at the intersection of queer/trans Iranian diasporic life. Each session will offer a combined processual approach, a mixture of critical race/queer theory and personal reflection exercises to make room for our complex identities.

Allow the parts of you that have been taught to hide the opportunity to move around, release, and open up. This communal space will make room for the untold, the unspeakable, and the terrifying, in hopes of letting some of that weight go.

“It was a magical experience to be seen and known for all of me, and not have to leave any of me at the door.”

— Embracing Multitudes Workshop Participant

Learn more about Embracing Multitudes!

  • 4 Week Live Workshop. Held 3x/Year.

    Typically held in March, in June, and in Septemer.

    All sessions are held live via Zoom.

  • Session 1 - Questioning the Closet: Forming an Iranian Queer Identity Within a White Queerscape

    Session 2 - Findng our Iranian (Tr)Ancestors: Historicizing Gender/Queerness in Iran

    Session 3 - The Hypervisible Iranian Queer: Compartmentalization, Tokenization, & Attempts at Healing

    Session 4 - Envisioning our Future: Creating Queer/Trans Iranian Rituals

  • Anyone who identifies as a queer/trans Iranian in diaspora is welcome to join. Mixed Iranians, queer, trans, nonbinary, and/or questioning Iranians are welcome.

  • This workshop including all the materials, readings, and live sessions is $375. Follow me @drshawndeez for early bird discounts.

    The early bird rate is $300.

Enrollment is CLOSED.

Nov 2024 Dates: 11.2, 11.9, 11.16, &11.23. from 9:30-11am PST/12:30-2pm EST via Zoom.

If you’d like to enroll (& enrollment is currently open), please send me an email or message me on instagram @drshawndeez.

If enrollment is closed and you’re interested in being notified of the next cycle, please click on the button below.

“I didn’t know signing myself up for this workshop would clarify so much in my life. The amount of work I did in this series was enough to make me happy for eternity.

— Embracing Multitudes Workshop Participant

“It’s been really cool to not fight to exist in a space. I just feel seen.”

— Embracing Multitudes Workshop Participant

“I didn’t think that I could feel such a strong connection to people miles away, over a screen, while I sit by myself in my living room. But each week, I closed my laptop feeling the most full and least alone I have felt in years.”

— Embracing Multitudes Workshop Participant

“Seeing beautiful queer/trans Iranian faces, hearing queer/trans Iranian names, listening to stories that feel so personal as if someone read my own diary, left me feeling so full.”

— Embracing Multitudes Workshop Participant

“I have always felt equally alienated in Iranian spaces as well as queer spaces. I always felt belonging had to come with silencing and sacrificing a part of myself. For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel this way during our weekly sessions.”

— Embracing Multitudes Workshop Participant

“I don’t think I could have articulated, prior to our first session, how much I needed a space like this.”

— Embracing Multitudes Workshop Participant

“To be in an intentional space with other QT Iranians was deeply connective. I’d recommend this for anyone who is yearning to meet others with histories like them, or to hear non-linear complex stories of existence.”

— Embracing Multitudes Workshop Participant

“I feel less alone and less alienated in my queer Iranian body than ever.”

— Embracing Multitudes Workshop Participant