LGBTQ+ History Month will feature events throughout campus
October is LGBTQ+ History Month, and the resource center has many plans to get the community involved.
The LGBTQ+ Resource Center is seen on Monday, Oct. 1, 2018. October is LGBTQ+ history month.
October 2, 2018
October marks LGBTQ History Month, and the LGBTQ Cultural Resource Center has many plans to educate the University of Iowa campus on the resources it provides in hopes to gain continuing support from the Iowa City and UI communities.
Jacob Gordon, the president of Reaching OUT in Business, said the Resource Center will provide many events to support that community with National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11 and a Queer Pumpkin Carving later this month.
Guest speakers lined up for the month include Raymond Perry, a co-founder of Gay Liberation Front at the UI, the nation’s first officially recognized gay student organization. Perry will appear at the Resource Center from 7-9 p.m. Oct. 9.
In addition to the two events, Reaching OUT in Business will also have an info table on National Coming Out Day, Oct. 11, to provide more information and resources for students who identify as LGBTQ and are also students at the UI Tippie College of Business.
“These events will increase LGBTQ+ awareness on campus and provide a place for students to be their authentic self,” Gordon said.
Gamma Rho Lambda, a progressive sorority that focuses on LGBTQ issues, has partnered with Delta Lambda Phi, a fraternity founded by LGBTQ-identifying males, to put on an information table on the T. Anne Cleary Walkway on Oct. 11 to seek out support for the Resource Center events.
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Gordon stressed that these events have not occurred in years past, and there is a growing movement in the LGBTQ Resource Center to provide students with the support they need.
Danielle Kaplan, a member of Reaching OUT in Business, said, “LGBTQ+ History Month is especially important for the education of both LGBTQ+ identifying students and also nonidentifying students. I believe the word ‘ally’ is misunderstood and miscommunicated in general.”
Kaplan said the importance of having events on campus was to ensure that all LGBTQ+ students feel comfortable in their identities on campus, and the UI can support them and advocate for them alongside educating both identifying and nonidentifying UI students.
Colin Lakadat, the UI Student Government’s LGBTQ constituency senator, said, “The University of Iowa and Iowa City is so accepting of LGBTQ+ youth, and it’s important we celebrate and acknowledge LGBTQ+ History Month because not all of us are afforded the privilege to live in an accepting area.”
Lakadat also said October should be dedicated to recognizing those that fought to make these places open and accepting to begin with.
“My time in this community as a LGBTQ+ identifying person on campus has been nothing short of amazing,” he said. “The contrast from my hometown to my new home here on campus is night and day.”
The LGBTQ+ Resouce Center and House of Lorde will also holding their first monthly Rainbow Brunch from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Saturday.
“I always hope that activities and events held during LGBTQ History Month will educate the masses on what it means to be deemed an ally, as well as the importance of the representation and effective support of queer people overall,” Kaplan said.
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