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First Friday forum at the Office of Multicultural Affairs discusses transgender issues on campus
LARA KORTE
@lara_korte
Students and faculty gathered in the Office of Multicultural Affairs early Friday afternoon to discuss issues surrounding transgender people and gender identity.
The event was the first of the office's "First Fridays," held this year. First Fridays are a series of brown-bag forums held every month where students are invited to engage in conversation over their lunch hour. The topic this month was over the Stonewall Riots, a movement sparked in 1969 by protests from the LGBT community against police in New York City.
At the forum, participants
discussed the controversy surrounding a recent film inspired by the riots called "Stonewall." The film, which came out last week, has received negative reviews from the LGBT community.
"It's controversial for a lot of reasons but one of the main reasons is because the protagonist is someone that actually isn't an identity that was at the forefront of the movement," Program Director Emily Gullickson said.
"It was actually transpeople, specifically transpeople of color who were at the forefront of the things that happened with pushing back at the police. It was not a cisgendered white man," Gullickson said.
Assistant director of the Center for Sexuality and Gender
Diversity Vanessa Delgado said many people are about the severe nature of the Stonewall Riots.
"Stonewall was a gay bar at a time before there were gay bars. This is also a time in our history when homosexuality and the act of homosexuality was still criminalized and it was still considered a mental disorder," Delgado said.
"This is at a time when it was still illegal to be gay, to be out and to be gay. Because it was criminalized and you could actually be incarcerated for a lot of these things." Delgado said.
Furthermore, Delgado said, the Stonewall riots and other LGBTQ+ movements haven't been properly documented in history.
"In the course of history.
queer and LGBTQIA movements have really been left out of our textbook, have been left out of the discourse. I've taken college-level history courses that focused on American history and this was never talked about," Delgado said.
Katherine Rainey, a senior from Shawnee, said she believes that, although there has been more conversation about transgendered people, there are still limits to their acceptance.
"When someone is transgender, it's like that becomes their only identity and that's the only space you see them in. So while someone may be like 'oh, okay, there are transgender people,' it wouldn't necessarily be acceptable to have them as your boss or to see them
educating you as a professor. So they're visible, that doesn't mean their accepted."
"They're really just seen as like entertainment pieces. They're no longer people," Rainey said.
Mauricio Gomez Montoya, Retention Specialist for the Office of Multicultural Affairs, said that when it comes to trans students on campus, it's difficult to anticipate their needs because the University has no way of identifying or tracking them.
"KU doesn't track this. We don't know what is making these students drop out or be successful. We don't know the metrics on population. So we cannot be here to solve problems if we don't even understand," Montoya said.
According to Delgado, there are organizations on campus working towards making the University better equipped to meet the needs of transgender students.
"The center for sexuality and gender diversity has got this," Delgado said.
"We're working on it."
The First Friday brown-bag forums will continue next month on Nov.6. Each month will feature a new topic regarding sexuality, gender diversity, women, multicultural groups or any intersection of the four. All students are welcome to attend.
- Edited by Katie Kutsko
KAMIL ZIHNIOGLU/AP
A man dances with a headset as he takes part in a silent disco at the railway station Gare du Nord, turned into an giant nightclub, during the 14th edition of the Paris cultural event "Nuit Bianche," or "Sleepless Night," in Paris early Sunday.
Paris parties all night with silent disco and exhibits
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thousands of Parisians danced in eerie silence at the Gare du Nord train station and galleries left their doors open all night for the French capital's annual "Sleepless Night" festival.
At the train station, twelve DJs performed for crowds wearing headphones at a special "silent disco" event from Saturday to Sunday. The party-goers could choose from three different music channels, dancing to their own rhythms.
Dancer Clementine Schal said she sees the station "differently now." It's normally used for Eurostar trains to London and trains to other points around France and Europe.
In a reference to U.N. climate talks that Paris is hosting in December, City Hall hosted an all-night exhibit of 270 colorful blocks representing melting ice. About 130 events were held throughout the city.
SUA will host its own silent disco event on Tuesday, Oct. 6 from 1-2:30pm at the Kansas Union.
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