Footnotes of a Part-time Activist

So, I met with a super cool AVEN newbie on Tuesday for a little coffee and a lot of nonsense chitchat on my end. She'll be at UBC next year, which got me spewing off a few ideas about what I wanted to do with Pride UBC and my Political Coordinator role.

Idea: I want to politically coordinate a lecture/speaker series that addresses queer issues to the campus in a series of hour-long talks on a particular subject. Ideally, I'd like to get it integrated with the Critical Studies in Sexuality and Gender Studies departments at UBC so that they make some kind of formal announcement about the series during the classes and/or allow for a small presentation by the speakers at the start of the week to each of their classes.

Why? There are a lot of misconceptions about queer issues these days, particularly in the realm of transgender/transsexual issues. We could all do with a bit more education in those areas. I remember last year, Elijah (Our last year Outreach coordinator) got a Transgender Day of Rememberance poetry slam going and it was a huge success. After it was over, it stirred up a lot of questions about trans issues, and I remember later in the year when we did a little showing of Boys Don't Cry in the Totem residences, that was the topic that got the most questions asked in its wake.

Additionally, for such a large school, UBC has an utter lack of queer pride on the campus itself and an additional lack of tolerance. I know it isn't realistic to think this, but I feel like no one knows that there are people out there that aren't... Well. Straight.

Also, this cry for visibility brings me to my second idea.

Idea: Organize and present a lecture on asexuality to the general UBC audience.

Holy nerves. I don't know if I can do it, so I might be calling in backup on this one. However, I do need to get it organized. It will happen this year. Will.

Which reminds me? I need to talk to a certain U. Halifax gal about a cross-Canada queer talk...

Labels: AVEN, ideas, Pride UBC