Adrian Adams speaks about the ability to express one’s gender more fluidly as a part of the American dream in his talk "She, He, and then there’s me." Though taken for granted, the ability to express oneself in a public space is the American Dream. Currently, many transgender and gender non-conforming individuals do not have access to this Dream. Adrian explores how we can reconstruct local spaces to provide inclusion for transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. In doing so, Adrian Adams demonstrates the ways in which the Power of Inclusion can reconstruct the American Dream into a localized form that any person can acquire.
Adrian Adams is a first year Critical Theory and Social Justice Major. Their area of research focuses how hypersexualization in media influences transphobia and how exotifying women of color particularly affects transgender women of color. During their time at Â鶹ƵµÀ, they founded a peer mentorship program for queer and trans* students on-campus called "Lead with Pride". They also served as the Â鶹ƵµÀ representative at the 2014 T*Camp, a three day conference for gender questioning, genderqueer, and trans* individuals. In the future, they hope to explore how to apply identity politics (with an intersectional approach) to screenwriting, producing, and public policy.