Save the date! On April 25, Commonwealth Club World Affairs teams up with the San Francisco Human Rights Commission LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee and the Office of Transgender Initiatives for a timely panel discussion on transgender history.

Event details and speakers TBA.

About the Speakers

Shawn Demmons is a queer African American trans man committed to social and racial justice. Shawn has 10+ years of experience providing community health education training, capacity building, and technical assistance to increase provider knowledge and awareness about trans people and the best practices to engage transgender communities in health care. Shawn has developed training curricula, webinars, and interactive presentations for the staff and leadership of numerous health care organizations across the U.S., led the development of a Trans 101 eLearning course, and has co-coordinated the National Transgender Health Summit since 2017 for the UCSF Center of Excellence for Transgender Health. Currently, Shawn directs an HIV capacity-building program where he works to expand the number and ability of health care professionals to provide high quality HIV care and decrease inequities. Shawn has an undergraduate degree in Black Studies and a Masters in Public Health from San Francisco State University, and is the proud papa of a 10-year old chihuahua named Cooper.

An activist, politico, and drag queen rolled up into one, Honey Mahogany is a San Francisco native and a social worker by training who received her Masters in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley. Currently an appointed member of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, Honey is also co-founder of the Compton's Transgender Cultural District, a co-owner of the Stud Bar, and currently works as a legislative aide in San Francisco. Honey's work has earned her commendations from the Board of Supervisors; Sainthood from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence; and awards from the Milk Club, SFYD, SFWPC, and the Women's Foundation of California. In 2019, she was featured in both the Stonewall 50, Queerty's list of advocates continuing the legacy of Stonewall, and in Out magazine's Out100, a yearly list of the 100 most impactful and influential LGBTQ people in the world.

In demand worldwide as a public intellectual, Susan Stryker’s historical research, theoretical writings, media-making, activism, and academic field-building activities have helped shape the conversation on trans issues since the early 1990s. She lives in San Francisco. Susan retired from the University of Arizona as professor of gender and women's studies in 2020. She currently holds a distinguished visiting appointment at Stanford University's Michelle Clayman Institute for Gender Research.

Donna Personna is an activist and artist for transgender rights who got her start with the Cockettes. She served on the boards of Trans March and Transgender Day of Remembrance, and also the committees to name streets after Vicki Marlene and Compton’s Cafeteria in the Trans District. She raised San Francisco’s first transgender flag at City Hall, with Mayor London Breed. Donna was the subject of the Iris Prize-winning short film (2013) My Motherand, featured in the film Beautiful by Night. Donna has been covered in more than 14 publications, including Out, The Advocate, San Francisco Chronicle and the Daily Beast. Her immersive play, The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, recreates SF transgender history and received many accolades, including “Best Of 2018” in SF Weekly. The play will be reopening in the spring of 2025 for an open run. Donna was a Grand Marshall at Pride 2019. Donna was the subject of the BAFTA-nominated documentary for best film, Donna, directed by Jay Bewani. 

Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer is a fierce advocate for homeless and LGBTQ communities who has been featured on Netflix's "Queer Eye," Cosmopolitan and People. Megan received an honorable mention as an Unsung Hero of Compassion by Wisdom in Action, with His Holiness the Dali Lama, and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in transgender nonfiction. His latest book for Arcadia Publishing's Images in America Series tells the history of San Francisco's Transgender District with historic images from the 1880s through the present and is available for pre-order now.

Ms. Bob Davis, founder and director of Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive, served two terms on the GLBT Historical Society Board of Directors. She has presented papers at Moving Trans History Forward conferences at the University of Victoria and at Queering Memory 2019 in Berlin. Her articles have appeared in issues of Transgender Studies Quarterly (Duke University Press) and in books published by TransGender Publishing (a division of Perceptions Press). In 2024 she co-authored two entries for Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects (University of Chicago Press): "Louise Lawrence (1912–1976): Unsung Mother of the Trans Community" with Jules Gill-Peterson and "The Critical Role of Virginia Prince's 'Transvestia' in Early Transgender Organizing in the United States" with Dalles Denny. Her most recent publication is the essay "The Artist in an Activist Community" in I Was the Girl: Art by Vicky West (Matte Edition) edited by Mariette Pathy Allen.