Rainbow flags and posters are displayed proudly around campus this week while members of the LGBTQA community, along with students in the wider University community, celebrate their sexuality for Pride Week.
LGBTQA volunteer Ryan Minor said the group has invited two national speakers to the University: Oregon native and self-proclaimed expert in sexology Carol Queen; and activist, writer and performer Imani Henry, who addresses gender identity and discrimination.
But Pride Week means more to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community than simply attending events.
“For me, I believe Pride Week is about people of the LGBTQA community getting together and embracing who we are and expressing ourselves,” Minor said.
He added that he’s eager for LGBT issues to attract the public eye for Pride Week, and he hopes the University community will get involved in the events planned for the week, including the drag show on May 25 at 7:30 p.m. in the EMU Amphitheater. Minor said approximately 10 people have volunteered to perform, including drag queens and drag kings, and he will also be performing No Doubt’s “Just a Girl” at the drag show.
Jonathan Vaifale, another volunteer with LGBTQA, said joining the group has enriched his life because he’s learned more about himself from listening to the stories about other people’s coming-out experiences.
“I’m really excited because it’s my first gay pride week I’ve ever been involved in,” Vaifale said. “To see the environment I’ve always wanted to be in is great.”
He said the LGBTQA office, and the people who work there, are very supportive.
“It’s really safe to come in here,” Vaifale said. “What’s said in here, stays in here.”
He added that, overall, the University campus is accepting of the LGBTQA community.
But senior women and gender studies major Toby Hill-Meyer said the campus isn’t free of prejudice, and a small section of the student body is sometimes hostile toward sexual minorities.
“I remember when I was handing out flyers for the drag show and someone said, ‘Don’t touch me, I don’t want to get AIDS,’” Hill-Meyer said.
Minor, too, remembers being singled out and put down for his sexuality when teenagers screamed obscenities at the LGBT students marching to South Eugene High School for the national Day of Silence on April 21.
But this is not what Pride Week is about, he said.
Pride Week is meant to help lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual students “feel free about themselves,” Vaifale said. He added that even though he only recently came out, he feels safe on campus, and all the people he’s gotten to know have been very supportive.