THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Easter tradition observed
Students visit family for church, celebrations, egg hunts. EASTER| 4A
Music expression of life
Graduate uses music to portray her outlook of life. MUSICIAN | 8A
MONDAY, APRIL 5, 2010
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 128
CAMPUS
Pride Week events offer unisex bathroom option
BY ROSHNI OOMMEN roommen@kansan.com
The routine task of choosing a restroom couldn't have been more difficult for Matthew Blankers, a senior from Claremont, Calif. He says he was born in a woman's body, but as a masculine woman who was often mistaken for a boy. Even before he knew it was possible to be transgender. Blankers noticed that he acted, dressed, and talked, in a way that was more masculine than feminine. Sometimes others would be alarmed when he would walk into a women's restroom — the one supposed for him.
"It's always been something that's created a lot of tension," Blankers said. "It felt really terrible. I was socialized female, and here I was, scaring other females."
Three years of testosterone therapy and one chest-flattening surgery later, Blankers is able to choose the men's restroom option,
though he still finds opening that door difficult. This time, he's not worried about offending others
— he's fearful of being harmed if someone realizes that he's a transmale.
"I still feel frightened this time, but now for myself," Blankers said. "I worry if someone recognizes me or knows I'm trans, it could be really, really dangerous."
Blankers is part of a small group of students conducting a survey of the bathrooms on campus, searching for gender-neutral bathrooms. Blankers ultimately hopes the University will have at least one gender-neutral, fully handicap-accessible bathroom in each campus building. Gender-neutral bathrooms don't have
≤FF PRIDE ON PAGE 3A
TODAY:
Live Queer Acts:
The Kiss-In
**WHEN:** 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
**WHERE:** Lawn of Stauffer-Flint Hall
"Sexy Time" Safe-sex and Healthy Relationships Workshop
WHEN: 2-4 p.m
WHERE: Big 12 Room of the Kansas Union
TUESDAY:
PRIDE WEEK EVENTS
Poet Staceyann Chin
**WHEN:** 7 pm
**WHERE:** Hashinger Hall
Theatre,
WEDNESDAY:
Vogue Evolution (from America's Best Dance Crew),
WHEN: 7 p.m.-9 p.m.
WHERE: Kansas Union Ballroom
WHEN: 10 p.m.-1:30 a.m.
Pride Prom
THURSDAY:
WHERE: Wilde's Chateau 24, 2412 Iowa St.
Lecture by Gilbert Baker, creator of the rainbow flag
WHEN: 7 p.m.-9 p.m.
WHERE: Alderson Auditorium
FRIDAY:
Brown Bag Drag
WHEN: 12-1 p.m.
WHERE: In front of the Kansas Union
SATURDAY:
SATURDAY
Pride Parade
WHEN: 10:45 a.m.
WHERE: Parade begins
at South Park
ENVIRONMENT
Road trip advocates reusable bottles
BY BRENNA LONG blong@kansan.com
The average person disposes of 168 bottles a year, meaning on average, KU students and faculty contribute more than 5 million bottles to landfills each year. That's a lot of needless waste. And two women are on a mission to change it.
As part of a nationwide tour called "Get Off the (H$_2$O) Bottle," director of the award-winning film "Tapped" will visit Lawrence to raise awareness about the environmental problems associated with plastic water bottles. The first 100 students to show up at the event can exchange a plastic water bottle for a free Klean Kanteen stainless steel bottle. The bottle swap starts at 2 p.m. and will be followed at 3 by a showing of the film.
Corporate Accountability International KU, Environs, KU Recycling and the Center for Sustainability are sponsoring the event.
"We are stopping at places that expressed an interest for us to come," said Stephanie Soechingt, director of the film. "Campuses are a particularly great place to stop. That's the generation that will do something. They are more motivated and still believe they can do something."
The 33 day tour started in San Diego, on World Water Day and will end in Greenwich, Conn., April 23. Soechti and Sarah Olson, the films producer, and their dog, Fellini, are driving across the country to get their message out and fill up their truck with plastic bottles.
Every bottle exchanged is tossed into the back. As of Friday, the truck was carrying 700 bottles; it can hold up to 15,000. Along with collecting bottles, Soechtg and Olson are gathering pledges from people to stop drinking bottled water and conserve. Soechtg said they had 300 pledges on their web site, more than 1,000 on Facebook and endless pages from the road — in all more than 2,000.
"There has been an outpouring of support," Soechingt said. "We have double the people we had reached two weeks ago."
The film focuses on issues
SEE BOTTLES ON PAGE 3A
FAST FACT
1,500 water bottles end up in landfills each second in the United States, meaning the average person disposes of 168 bottles each year.
index
Classifieds... 5A
Crossword... 6A
Horoscopes... 6A
Opinion... 7A
Sports... 1B
Sudoku... 6A
All contents, unless stated otherwise. © 2010 The University Daily Kansan
Energy-saving renovation project to cost $25 million
weather
TODAY
TODAY
80
65
Past due deadline
+
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Partly cloudy/wind
V
TUESDAY
74 49
WEDNESDAY
58 42
Few showers