THE UNIVERSITY DARY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8. 2006
ORGANIZATIONS
NEWS 3A
Campus Queers foster awareness
Panel talks about attraction, LGBT issues
BY COURTNEY HAGEN
Prosthetics, places to meet lesbians and gender reassignment surgery were all topics of discussion in the Kansas Room of the Kansas Union on Tuesday night.
The KU Queers and Allies hosted its first annual "Ask a Queer a Question" last night. Six KU students, including a lesbian, a bisexual, two homosexuals, a female-to-male transsexual and an allied friend of members of the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender community sat on a panel and answered a wide range of questions from the audience.
The question and answer session opened with a question about where to meet attractive lesbians and bisexuals.
From there the discussion touched on sexual attraction, same-sex marriage, religious opposition, preferred terminology and discrimination.
An audience of about 20 gathered for Q & As effort to get more students interested in the LGBT community.
Members of the panel also shared some of their coming-out stories when an audience member asked for advice on coming out.
Some panelists said they came out as teenagers while others didn't come out until college.
They all mentioned experiences with opposition or confusion from others about their sexuality.
"I'll be coming out my whole life, for every employer and others involved in my life," Jonathan Pryor, Queers and Allies director and Columbus senior, said during the discussion.
The panelists stressed that their sexuality wasn't about gender labels but about attraction and interest in a individual.
"You're attracted to who you're attracted to, no matter what's downstairs," Melissa Todhunter, Queers and Allies social outreach coordinator and Columbus freshman, said to the crowd.
Pryor said that this was the first time the organization had hosted an event like this on a broad scale for the public.
Pryor said he hoped the event would help people who were interested in the LGBT and allied community.
Maria Rodriguez, Dyersburg, Tenn., sophomore, came out to ask honest questions of the panelists.
"I came to support a friend and see what questions would be asked." Rodriguez said.
"This was a pretty open-minded audience tonight."
"This helps educate people who've never had a chance to ask the LGBT community questions." Pryor said.
"Where I'm from this wouldn't be happening. Gay people would not be getting asked questions without people screaming at them."
Kansan staff writer Courtney Hagen can be contacted at chagen@kansan.com.
Edited by Mindy Ricketts
and asked him about it. Giles then got "very angry" and dragged the woman by her ankles off his bed and down the hall, as she was trying to get away, according to the report. She told police that Giles then struck her with his closed, right fist on the left side of her head.
GILES (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
The woman collected her belongings, left the towers and called the police. Giles admitted to the responding officer that he dragged the woman across the floor, but denied hitting her on the head.
Attempts to contact the woman were unsuccessful. The University Daily Kansan has chosen to withhold the woman's name out of respect for her privacy.
After coming to Kansas a highly ranked recruit, Giles' career failed to live up to the hype. In his two seasons in Lawrence, Giles averaged fewer than five points and four rebounds a game.
But the bigger problem for the Jayhawkes is that losing Giles means they'll be without a much-needed post player. With Giles gone, Kansas has only two forwards on scholarship. Giles will remain on scholarship through the fall semester.
Kansan senior sportswriter Ryan Schneider can be contacted at rschneider@kansan.com.
Edited by Kate Shipley
A career cut short
CJ Giles' time as at Kansas began with high hopes, but ended with a slew of problems
HEALTH
Suit filed against birth control patch
BY ANNA FALTERMEIER
A lawsuit was filed in San Francisco last week against makers of popular birth control patch Ortho Evra claiming the patch caused blood clots that led to serious illness and one death.
"Nothing is 100 percent without risks," Guth said. "Blood clots are a complication of anything that's hormonal."
But Kathy Guth, nurse practitioner in women's health at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said the risks with the patch were the same as with the birth control pill, as far as studies had shown.
Ortho Evra is an adhesive patch that releases hormones and is applied directly to the skin. Unlike the pill, which is taken daily, the patch is replaced weekly.
"It's just a different mechanism as far as how you're going to receive the hormones." Guth said.
Krystal Werth, Wichita senior, used the birth control patch for six months. She said her mom and a friend became concerned about her using the patch after hearing about medical concerns associated with it.
"A friend of mine who's a nursing student lectured me about being on the patch because shed heard of all the problems with it," Werth said.
There are several law firms taking up claims of women who have had blood clots or complications while on the patch. Some firms set up Web sites dedicated completely to Ortho Evra claims such as orthopatchlawsuit.com and orthoevrainjury.net.
Werth said she stopped using the patch because it gave her severe cramps and was uncomfortable to wear.
She said she didn't have serious complications like blood clots while using the patch.
Ortho Evra is the only birth control patch on the market.
Last year the Food and Drug Administration changed the labeling for the patch to include a warning in bold type that said the patch exposed women to higher levels of estrogen than most birth control pills.
According to the FDA, women using Ortho Evra are exposed to about 60 percent more total estrogen than if they were taking a typical birth control pill containing 35 micrograms of estrogen.
Unlike the pill, the patch exposes women to a constant level of estrogen. The pill has estrogen levels that peak and decline depending on the time of day.
This September, the FDA announced the results of two studies on Ortho Evra done to evaluate the risk of serious blood clots associated with the patch.
The results of the studies contradicted each other. One found that the risk with the patch was the same as with a pill containing 35 milligrams of estrogen. The other study found that the risk of a serious blood clot doubled from the pill to the patch.
The FDA said the findings "support the FDA's concerns regarding the potential for Ortho Evra use to increase the risk of blood clots in some women."
Guth said about 25 patches were prescribed each month at Watkins. She said the price recently went up to $46.16 per month from $38.50 per month and this caused fewer people to use it.
Guth said she talked to patients about risk factors of the patch just like she did when she prescribed anything hormonal, like the pill.
"At this point, the patch is still being recommended and still being used," she said.
Kansan staff writer Anna Faltermeier can be contacted at afaltermeier@kansan.com.
Edited by Dianne Smith
》 HASKELL
Conference to explore African, Indigenous culture in America
Drumming up awareness
BY COURTNEY HAGEN
Thumping hip-hop beats and discussions on African-American culture will be heard in an unexpected place this week: Haskell Indian Nations University.
Rap beats will fill Navarre Hall at Haskell on Thursday night, thanks to the hip-hop group Culture Shock Camp. The sound of African djembe drums and Inuit harmonies from Alaska will resound through the halls of the Kansas Union on Friday night. Scholars and professors from Arizona State University, the University of New Mexico and Johns Hopkins University will converge to discuss laws, issues and culture relating to African-American and Indigenous people. Representatives and scholars from Pawnee, Cherokee and Quinault Indian Nations will also make presentations.
Ruben Afagla, Lome, Togo, graduate student, will speak on Thursday afternoon at Haskell. Afagla will speak on a paper he wrote about commonalities of African-American and Native-American experiences in the United States. He said his international identity allowed him to approach the topic from a different angle.
Afagla said he found three similarities between the two cultures. Both constitute minorities in the United States, both have been displaced or denied sovereignty or an equal place in society and both resisted Western cultural domination.
"I knew of African Americans and white Americans before coming to the United States, but I believe that American Indians are not really known about outside the United States" Afagla said. "They haven't
disappeared. My priority at KU was to see if these people were still around."
Afagla said he hoped the conference would open up more discussion in Lawrence.
The conference is the culmination of the Shifting Borders project, two years worth of study and research on African-American and Indigenous cultures between the two universities with the help of a grant from the Ford Foundation.
Zanice Bond de Perez, Shifting Borders co-director at the University of Kansas, said the project began as a way to discuss racial and cultural connections that were being ignored by the majority of university studies. The "First and Forced" conference was modeled after a similar one held at Dartmouth College in 2000,
she said.
"The African American and First Nations people have had a long history of collaborating and serving as allies" Bond de Perez said. "Yet they have also served on opposite sides in some issues. We often don't see these intersections as multifaceted as they are in university discourse."
Bond de Perez said she looked forward to the change in learning and understanding that the conference and project might bring about in Lawrence and on a national scale.
"There is a lot of history to uncover" she said.
Kansan staff writer Courtney Hagen can be contacted at chagen@ kansan.com.
Edited by Brett Bolton
"FIRST AND FORCED" CONFERENCE
INDIGENOUS AND AFRICAN AMERICAN INTERSECTIONS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS
8:45 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.
— "Race and identity; Law, Science, Culture" panel with Carla Pratt, associate professor at the Pennsylvania State University School of Law; Arica Coleman, post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University; Monica Joiner Tsinagini, independent scholar — Navarre Hall, Haskell
» 1:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. — "Hip-Hop, World Music and the Politics of the Message" workshop
THURSDAY
8:45 am to 10:15 am
»» 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. — Haskell student roundtable presentation
— Navarre Hall, Haskell
»» 8 p.m. — Culture Shock
Camp performance — Navarre Hall, Haskell
FRIDAY
1 p.m. to 2 p.m. — "Operation American Freedom" speech by Tall Oak, independent researcher — Kansas Union ballroom
4 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. — Contemporary filmmakers panel including Kevin Willmott, associate professor of theater and film; Alcilla Woods, documentary filmmaker, the University of Washington; Jenni Monet, independent filmmaker — Alderson Auditorium, Kansas Union
7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. — Paryua performance of djembe
7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. — Pamyua performance of djembe drums and Inuit harmonies
(keral lina)
-Kansas Union
SATURDAY
>> 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. — Afro-Indigenous musicians in jazz with Ron Wellburn, University of Massachusettsusetts — Big 12 Room, Kansas Union
7:30 p.m. — Ualil in concert,
followed by Q&A — Haskell
Auditorium, Haskell
Source: Zanice Bond de Perez, Shifting Dorders co-director at the University of Kansas