Would you like to book Drew for a talk?
The list of talks and training events below are not exhaustive. If you would like to book Drew for a public talk, conference, or training event, please contact him.
Drew has spoken at a range of academic conferences and practitioner events in Prague, Riga, Panama, the U.K. and Kenya. He has trained and delivered sessions in organisations as varied as the NHS, Ambulance, Fire and Police Services, World Pride, OFSTED, Lloyds Bank, COCO, HMP Northumberland, several universities, and many more Third Sector/NGO organisations.
HIV and AIDS Awareness
This is a training course which is part of Positive Allies. It is an ideal introductory training course for those who know little, to nothing, about HIV and AIDS. Taking more of a U.K. angle, but exploring global events, it discusses the differences between HIV and AIDS, the historical development of HIV, laws around HIV in the U.K., pregnancy and childbirth, and HIV stigma. This myth busting course has been delivered to over 7,000 people!
Useful for: World AIDS Day. Staff Development. General
1. A Short History of HIV
2. HIV in the Media
These short talks cover either a brief history of HIV and AIDS in the United Kingdom. The first talk explores the key landmark events and the development of HIV-related stigma. The second talk focuses the historical development of HIV-related stigma in the media, and asks whether the media has been a friend or foe to people living with HIV, and its representation of HIV and AIDS.
Useful for: World AIDS Day. General
The Men in the Pink Triangle
This talk will bring to light the lost histories of gay men (the few that have been documented) who perished in the Nazi Holocaust of World War II. This talk explores life before, during and after the Holocaust. What happened to the men involved? Whilst discussing the 'pink genocides'' of the past, this talk also highlights what has been happening to the human rights of LGBTQI+ people in Chechnya as an eerie reflection of past atrocities coming back to life. This talk contains some upsetting stories.
Useful for: LGBT History Month. General
Queering International Development
Why is international development so straight? Sexual and gender minorities have traditionally been overlooked in international development, humanitarian, and aid sectors, and this must change if we are to see meaningful development which is inclusive of all. This is a useful introductory course for aid, development, and humanitarian organisations who are new to engaging with sexual and gender minorities (LGBTQI+). Topics include clarifying terminology, the growth of human rights and international development, queering development practices, and involving queer people as part of the SDGs and Agenda 2030. It also provides some practical tips and ideas for your organisation, or for you as a practitioner.
Useful for: Staff Development. General
LGBTQI+ People and the Climate Emergency
This talk examines how the Climate Emergency is affecting sexual and gender minorities in different nation states across the globe, and how it is intimately tied to their human rights. It highlights the ‘duel burden’ faced by queer people, whereby they face heteronormative power structures, state homophobia, and isolation from Climate Emergency initiatives and planning. It offers key recommendations of how to include sexual and gender minorities in climate emergency planning, to truly fulfil the Agenda 2030 mission statement to ‘leave no-one behind.’
Useful for: Environment Themes. Earth Day. General
Bisexual Visibility
This talk will discuss the often overlooked ‘B’ (Bisexual) in the LGBTQI+ spectrum. It will discuss what is meant by 'bisexuality' and why bisexuality itself has often become either stigmatised or hyper-sexualised, including highlighting the scant literature on the lives of bisexual people. How can we begin to shift the narrative and to stop the ‘bi-erasure’ of bisexual people both within the LGBTQI+ community and outside of it? What can you we do to support bisexual people in our organisations?
Useful for: Bi-Visibility Day. General
A Useful Stigma? Sexual and Gender Minorities, the 'Pink Line' and Global Geopolitics
This talk examines the challenges 'queer' people face across the globe and it explores what homophobia looks like in today’s world. It takes a global snapshot of queer human rights in key regions of the world, including how they impacted by and are felt by, queer people and their communities. Through charting case studies of queer lives, and through in-depth interviews with activists, businesses, UN agencies and INGOs/NGOs, it brings some findings from my book interviews (so far) to light.
Useful for: IDAHOBIT. Human Rights Day. General
LGBTQI+ Travel and Safety
This talk offers a brief outline of some of the complex issues faced by LGBTQI+ people when wanting to travel abroad for work, or for pleasure. It offers personal anecdotes about queer travel in different parts of the globe. It offers a series of practical tips for queer people to consider when travelling abroad for any reason.
Useful for: General