RESUME

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PAINTINGS

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WRITINGS

Chinese-Jamaican gay man and political organizer, Larry Chang has much to offer the Asian-American, LGBT, Caribbean-American, and People of Color communities.

Larry was born in Jamaica of Hakka Chinese immigrant parents; he is a founding member of the Jamaica Forum of Lesbians, All-Sexuals & Gays, J-FLAG . He had previously organized a gay group in Jamaica, the Gay Freedom Movement (GFM) as early as 1978 in a fiercely hostile climate. He held the position of General Secretary and was Publisher and Editor of its newsletter, Jamaica Gaily News .

A leader and active participant of the community for equal justice, Chang came to the U.S. as a refugee in 2000, and was granted political asylum in 2004. He currently resides in Washington, D.C., where he continues to educate and work for equal justice in the United States and for Jamaica. He is featured in the Phillip Pike documentary, Songs of Freedom , which had its world premiere in Toronto in January 2003, and is currently being shown in selected US cities. (See website for details.) He also appears in Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World , which documents the struggle for human rights of LGBT people in the global south; it premiered at the New York Film Festival in June 2003, and will be shown on PBS at a date to be announced.

He has the enthusiastic support of many scholars:

"Larry Chang is a first-rate activist, and a superb thinker and analyst of political/social issues. Anyone who hears him speak will not be disappointed."
- Thomas Glave
Assistant Professor, Department of English, General Literature and Rhetoric
State University of New York (SUNY), Binghamton, NY, USA
Author of Whose Song

"Larry Chang brings a special spirituality to whomever he meets. He has the amazing ability to transcend race, ethnicity, gender, religion and sexual orientation in his efforts to heal the planet. His wisdom might well be the path that we need to lead us to both individual and global peace."
- Jerry Wright
Professor, Social Work and Anthropology
Savannah State University, Savannah, Georgia, USA

"... dependable, thorough, focused, and knowledgeable about the arts ... He is not, however, limited to being an "expert" in the arts. His interests are diverse, and he has been able to combine history, mathematics, anthropology, psychology, and sociology into an integrated whole that define him as both an intellectual and a practitioner of his craft."
- Davilla T. Davis
Former Professor/Director, Study Abroad Programs
Morris Brown College, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

"I have had many opportunities to meet with Larry Chang. Invariably I have come away greatly enriched. He is a man of enormous knowledge and wisdom, an excellent counseller and speaker, a true humanist. I have learned a lot about Jamaican culture, about spirituality, about human nature, from him."
- Wolfgang Binder
Professor/Academic Director, North American & Caribbean Literatures
University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany

"Larry Chang is original and insightful. He is a speaker well worth inviting to provide new perspectives and stimulate discussion."
- Frank H. Wu
Professor, Howard University School of Law
Washington, DC, USA
Author of Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White

Larry Chang is an ENGAGING SPEAKER with experience as a WORKSHOP FACILITATOR, WRITER, and ARTIST. His diverse background caters to a spectrum of communities such as the LGBT, People of Color (POC), Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), Caribbean Diaspora Communities and in fields of LGBT, Asian-American, Gender, History, Latin American & Caribbean Studies.

Background and Topics:

• EMPOWERMENT
  - based on training and experience in the human potential movement and drawing from experience of working with LGBT, spiritual and alternative health groups, artisanal and rural micro-entrepreneurs.
  

  "Larry Chang was contracted to provide technical design expertise and training in product development to mainly small and medium size enterprises focused in the innovative industries. He has a capacity for connecting with the client and assisting in bringing forth their highest potential."
  - Valerie Veira, CEO, Jamaica Business Development Centre, Kingston, Jamaica

• WORKING WITH DIVERSITY/BUILDING BRIDGES
  – being an Anomaly: Asian in Black Jamaica, Gay in homophobic Jamaica, Asian-Jamaican in African-America, Hakka in predominantly Cantonese Chinese-America, Exile with no Country, A ROLE FOR THE ETERNAL OUTSIDER.

• WORKING IN THE LGBT PEOPLE OF COLOR COMMUNITY

• HISTORY of Gay Activism in Jamaica, Chinese in Jamaica, Legacy of Slavery in Gender Roles, Violence & Homophobia

• INTERRACIAL RELATIONSHIPS : Asian/Black intimacy

• THE TYRANNY of anal sexism among MSM

Recent Presentations Include:

• Participant, HIV Community Coalition Seminar on Religion, Spirituality, and Sexuality
  Washington, DC, February 2002
• Panelist, 12th Biennial Midwest Asian Pacific American Student's Conference, "Transcending Boundaries: Communities, Crisis, and Resistance"
  Oberlin College, March 2002
• Presenter, Asian Pacific American Awareness Conference (APAAC): "Affirming Identity"
  Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, April 2003
  Presentation/Workshop - "Building Then Breaking Out of the Box: Claiming, Creating and Transcending Identities"

Larry is available to groups and organizations as a presenter and facilitator at a nominal fee. For more information or to schedule an appearance, send an e-mail message.

Larry's other sites

Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing

Seeking Asylum: A Web Resource for LGBT Refugees