Sam Dylan Finch
Sam Dylan Finch is an LGBTQA+ and mental health educator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a transgender person with mental illness, Sam draws from his lived experience to defy the stigmas that surround his identity, as well as teaching others about the challenges that are faced by his communities.
With a passion for stigma-busting and impacting change through personal narratives and storytelling, Sam is quickly becoming a powerful and accessible voice for queer, feminist, and mental health issues.
In addition to being an Editorial Coordinator and Staff Writer at Everyday Feminism, Sam is perhaps best known as the founder of Let’s Queer Things Up!, a platform which he describes as “queer feminism with a dash of awesome.” LQTU has readers in over 180 countries, and has been used as an educational resource in schools all over the country.
Sam has been described as “poignant, insightful, sensitive, [and] inspirational,” and queer youth in particular have seen him as “a source of excitement and hope.” Sam’s journey is living proof that being visible as a queer and mentally ill person can change lives. With a confident and engaging presence, Sam has reached diverse audiences, acting as both an educator and an inspiration to people around the country.
To learn more, you can read his Everyday Feminism articles or visit his official website.
Location: San Francisco Bay, California, USA.
Book Sam Now!
To arrange to have Sam speak at your event, please (complete this form here) and we will be in touch soon. His presentations include:
- What is Cis Privilege? An Essential Guide For Aspiring Allies – Expanding on his exhaustive list of 130+ examples of cisgender privilege, Sam designed this presentation to break down what cisgender privilege looks like in action, and how this relates to the bigger picture of transgender and gender non-conforming exclusion, microaggressions, and structural inequality. This presentation is created with allies in mind, with concrete strategies on how to check and wield your privilege in respectful and radical ways.
- Transgender 101 (For Those of Us Not On Tumblr) – Ever get the feeling that this transgender stuff is just too complicated? Fear not – this presentation, inspired by his popular Transgender 101 Guide, starts from square one, using simple terminology and analogies to break down the complexities of gender identity, expression, and more. Designed for anyone to understand and follow along, Sam sets the jargon aside and gives it to you straight (well, queer).
- Mental Illness and Self-Love – After the overwhelming response to his article of Affirmations for People With Mental Illness, Sam designed this presentation to affirm, uplift, and empower people with mental illness (and those that wish to support us). In a world which continually denies our worth, this powerful talk explores the shame, guilt, and self-hatred that can accompany mental illness. Through personal narrative and affirmation, Sam encourages each one of us to reclaim our power through a practice of self-love.
- Transgender Mental Health: The Invisible Struggle – As a mentally ill transgender person, Sam has written extensively about the obstacles he has faced in transition. From transphobic clinicians, to being denied surgery due to his mental health, transgender people with mental illness face unique challenges in accessing care. Whether you’re a clinician, a non-profit, or a transgender advocate, this presentation will address two big questions: What does mental health in the transgender community look like? And who’s being left behind?
- A Movement for Everyone: Body Positivity For All Genders – While the Body Positive movement continues to affirm the worthiness of all bodies, it doesn’t have the best track record of including gender non-conforming and transgender people. In his article on language in the body positive movement, Sam explored the ways in which the movement has focused on cisgender people. In this presentation, Sam goes further, proposing a new body positivity which affirms and includes people of all genders.
All topics can be adapted to be presentations, keynote speeches, or workshops and can be tailored to the audience. If you don’t see a topic that quite meets your needs but think we can cover it, just let us know. We are also willing to create a signature talk or workshop for groups.