Presented by the Oregon Humanities Center

Reproductive justice is a critical framework that was developed in response to reproductive politics in the US. Three core values of reproductive justice are the right to have a child, the right to not have a child, and the right to parent a child or children in safe and healthy environments.  

LGBTQIA+ individuals need and deserve unimpeded access to full spectrum reproductive health care services. Far too often the movements for reproductive health and rights only center the needs of cisgender and heterosexual individuals and couples. Yet, the reality is: everyone needs reproductive health care regardless of gender identity and sexual orientation. 

Candace Bond-Theriault will discuss the need to center LGBTQIA+ communities in the conversation about reproductive health, rights, and justice in a talk titled “Queering Reproductive Justice: An Invitation to Create Our Collective Future.” As this year’s Colin Ruagh Thomas O’Fallon Memorial Lecturer on Law and American Culture, Bond-Theriault will extend an invitation to all people who care about justice and equity to stake a claim in the fight for collective liberation. 

Bond-Theriault asserts that for reproductive justice to be truly successful, we must acknowledge that members of the LGBTQIA+ community often face distinct, specific, and interlocking oppressions when it comes to these rights. Family formation, contraception needs, and appropriate support from healthcare services are still poorly understood aspects of the LGBTQIA+ experience, which often challenge mainstream notions of the nuclear family.  

Candace Bond-Theriault, JD, LLM, is a queer lawyer, writer, mother, and social justice advocate working at the intersections of law, policy, reproductive health rights, racial justice, LGBTQIA+ liberation, economic justice, and democracy reform. She is Adjunct Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Howard University, and Associate Director for Movement Building at Dēmos, a think tank for the Racial Justice Movement.

Her book Queering Reproductive Justice: An Invitation (2024), blends advocacy with a legal, rights-based framework and offers a unified path for attaining reproductive justice for LGBTQIA+ people. Drawing on US law and legislative history, healthcare policy, human rights, and interviews, Bond-Theriault presents incisive new recommendations for queer reproductive justice theory, organizing, and advocacy. 

Bond-Theriault’s talk, part of this year’s “Re-imagine” series, is free and open to the public and will be livestreamed and recorded. Please register.