Spicer organized two events on campus which are discussed in this interview—first, a panel discussion and screening of Paul B. Preciado’s film, Orlando, and second, a workshop with the queer activist Preciado himself. These two events were hosted by Search Engines, a programming series housed within the DISCO Network that focuses on the intersection of art, tech, and justice. The project brings artists to the U-M Ann Arbor campus whose work critiques existing social and political inequalities. In addition to this Q&A, coverage of these events can be found here. [Responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.]
Out of every guest you could have asked to come, why did you pick Paul B. Preciado?
When Search Engines first talked about who we wanted to invite to campus for this year’s programming, I truly didn’t know much about Preciado at all. His writing was starting to become more relevant to my own research interests (trans theory, cultural history, etc, as they pertain to my specialization in modern violent extremist misogyny and popular anti-queer rhetoric online). I had heard of Paul’s book Testo-Junkie: Sex, Drugs, and Biopolitics in the Pharmacopornographic Era and started looking more into his career. In doing so, I learned that he’d recently pivoted to being a director, which didn’t seem like an obvious shift for him, as someone who had been firmly planted in academia. Curious, I kept digging and realized just how crucial his documentary Orlando was/is for our current political moment. I thought that if anyone could have such significant overlap with my interests and was similarly invested in advocating for our community from a critical gender studies lens, it would be Preciado. And we needed to speak with him about all of this.
In addition, I knew that I wasn’t the only person around campus interested in Paul’s work. I wanted to put on something that resonated with students on campus and that would speak to the specific issues trans people, trans Americans, and trans Michiganders face. These issues are legal, intimate, complex, personal, and lifelong. In my view, the best aspects of the DISCO Network are the ways it can facilitate community conversations about nuanced subjects and develop connections between interdisciplinary creators. If my role with Search Engines enabled me to platform someone going to such lengths to humanize the trans community AND allowed an opportunity for junior scholars to meet with an influential figure in our field, why wouldn’t I try it? I thought it would be lovely if we could pull off an event that was so meaningful, in so many ways, and targeted all three of our series’ themes: art, tech, and justice. Orlando does it all, and does so beautifully.
How did the two events, the screening and the workshop, work well together?
Each event served a distinct purpose, despite centering the same ideas. For the screening and follow-up panel discussing Orlando, we wanted to bridge the gap between abstracted gender theory and a film poetically documenting the lives of gender nonconforming people of all ages. What political realities are affecting trans people in Michigan, and at U-M specifically? The panel featured Jesse Beal, director of Spectrum Center (our resource center for LGBTQ+ students, which is also the oldest in the U.S., having started in 1971), and MI State Representative Laurie Pohutsky (HD 17, Livonia). I moderated the discussion, focusing our conversation on what resources are available to U-M students, what legal protections have been fought for and won by Democrats in our state, and what “doing the work” during shifting political rhetoric in higher ed and on social media is like. We had a productive conversation, which I feel helped ground the gorgeous and wide-ranging content depicted in Orlando with the more localized context in which we’re operating.
The second event, a more intimate conversation and Q&A with Preciado, was intended to hold space for a lot of weighty, emotionally fraught topics like facing discrimination, oppressive governments, and seemingly endless conservative backlash to queer progress. We invited attendees whose research and professional interests had overlap with Paul’s; in moderating, I focused on how Preciado has conceptualized his own career and contributions and how he might model ways of resistance for fellow writers/researchers. It was to be a “peek behind the curtain” for an academic and creative powerhouse whose work we all respect. And beyond that, speaking with Preciado is just a lovely, fun time.
If the first event asked how we as a community might go about protecting ourselves and what proactive measures have been taken to retain our personhood legally, then Preciado’s event was about how we might preserve our sanity and will to continue the fight.
What were the main takeaways from both the documentary and workshop events? Did you learn anything unexpected?
The main takeaways, for me, were plentiful. Information shared during the post-screening panel was extremely practical, and the conversation with Preciado gave directly inspiring insight. Our Q&A with Beal and Pohutsky told us and our audience more explicit, hard truths: what the state of affairs is for trans/queer Michiganders, what risks there are, what opposition, what local connections and community initiatives exist, what are available options for help navigating larger bureaucratic systems. We discussed the threat of doxxing that progressive officials and professionals face, the dissolution of LGBTQ+ student centers at colleges in TX and FL, the right-wing escalation of anti-DEI political strategies, and more. We talked about specific programs Spectrum offers, like their legal name change and passport update clinics, and specific legal wins of the Democratic Party in Michigan, like expanding the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender expression. One of the most significant protections to me was the banning of the “panic defense,” which is a legal strategy that allows defendants in murder or assault cases to weaponize a victim’s real or perceived sexuality or gender. The idea is that it’s a valid defense to kill or assault someone if you found out they were gay, trans, etc. That was formally banned in the state of Michigan in July of 2024, and as someone who has been assaulted over their sexuality in Michigan before, I’m grateful.
On a lighter note, one thing I learned on the panel had very immediate implications for myself: the University recently changed its rules about what names are allowed on diplomas. I graduated in May and had been in limbo with ordering mine because I hadn’t yet completed my legal name change. My community, friends, coworkers, parents, literally everyone in my life has known me as Atticus for two years, but because of the financial barriers to achieving a legal name change, I was holding off on ordering my diploma (which I would have to re-order after the change), which in turn was affecting my ability to seek employment. Beal off-handedly mentioned that the Office of the Registrar had changed their policy to allow preferred names to be printed on diplomas, and hearing them say that is what informed me that that was an option at all. It’s not something that the University had publicized, so I was thankful I happened to be moderating a panel where that information was relevant and shared with me.
From Preciado, I learned so much, but most importantly, given where I was mentally at the time, on November 8th, 2024, I felt comforted. Preciado has such a skill for delivering succinct overviews of very real, very scary political challenges with an inherent optimism. One phrase that he shared, on considering himself a “pathological optimist,” has stuck with me. I pair it with another phrase Beal had shared on the panel, on the necessity of keeping up “critical hope” in organizing spaces moving forward. My loved ones and I repeat these phrases to each other when things get difficult or the future appears bleak. The main takeaway I’ve internalized from speaking with Preciado is the importance of creating in spite of it all; we have a responsibility to cultivate positive fictions if we ever want to transmute them into our possible realities.
Read a related article about the Orlando event series with Paul B. Preciado on the DSI website:
https://www.digitalstudies.umich.edu/news-events/all-news/search-news/event-spotlight---screening-and-workshop--orlando--my-political-.html
