By Brittany Trewin
Queer, gay, lesbian, gender-bender, two-spirit, homosexual, bisexual, trisexual, pansexual, polysexual, omnisexual, transsexual, transgender, drag queen, drag king, gender queer, asexual, intersex, queer heterosexual — these are not terms typically discussed at length here at Loras.
Just a short drive away, however, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, these identities and the issues surrounding them provoked a fascinating dialogue. From Feb. 19-21, the UW hosted the XX Annual Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transsexual Ally College Conference. The conference provided a rare opportunity for me to support, learn about and network with the queer community. For all intents and purposes, the term “queer” will be used to embody everyone who identifies as LGBTQIA, non-normative heterosexuals and those who do not conform to our hetero-normative society.
Junior Brittany Trewin with guest speaker Loren Cameron (front and center) during a group photo after the conference.
What really impressed me about the conference was its inclusiveness: there were discussions about queer people of color, queer people with disabilities and creating safe zones for all people in the queer community, as well as discussions about mental health in the queer community. Each of these taught me to see how crucial it is to understand one’s own privilege and how that fits into every facet of life.
It really reaffirmed for me the importance of Safe Zones on our own campus. The Loras Alliance started this program to educate people about treating the LGBTQIA community respectfully and create places where people aren’t afraid to be themselves. The conference put this at the forefront and showed me that although this is a step in the right direction, we have a long way to go. Another discussion that I found interesting was about the more marginalized members of the queer community — asexual, intersexed and trans individuals — and how to be better allies and supportive people. Keynote speakers for these discussions included Loren Cameron, a photographer who is also a female-to-male (FTM) trans man who published the book “Body Alchemy: Transsexual Portraits” and is working on another project.
Another speaker was Mia Mingus, who fights to improve how people handle things like reproductive justice, race, disabilities, gender, sexuality and transracial adoptions. She is a queer woman of color who also has a disability and was adopted from South Korea. She spoke predominately about how all of the progressive movements are intersecting and how each group needs to help support the others in their struggles. Her message was that we all need each other to make this world a better place for one another and to propel our own causes. An example of these struggles includes the issue of immigration and how that affects the LGBTQIA community. Partners have been separated because they are not legally recognized and can’t gain citizenship to be with one another. Recognizing the overlapping issues and actively engaging in them is something I would love to see our campus get more actively involved in.
The final keynote speaker was Kate Bornstein, a male-to-female transgendered individual who uses the pronouns “ze” and “hir” as opposed to she/he and him/her. Bornstein spoke of labeling and breaking the binaries, queer theory, mental health, staying alive (one-third of teen suicides are committed by someone in the LGBTQIA community), being kind to one another and recognizing our individual privileges. In addition, “ze” talked about the intersection and influence race, gender, sexuality, age, ability, religion and language, among other factors, have in our lives. Information related to such topics can be found in Bornstein’s books “Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws; Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us; and My Gender Workbook.” I’d encourage anyone who’s curious to pick up a copy.
The key theme I took from the conference was that we tend to view the world based on fake binaries: in terms of gender, sexual orientation, whatever. Binaries are everywhere because people like labels and putting themselves and others into the boxes they think are most accurate — Democrat and Republican, black and white, male and female, homosexual and heterosexual. Labels make people more comfortable and people who don’t fit neatly into a label put many people on edge. In reality, no one can decide for someone else which binary someone fits into or even if they belong in a binary. Sexuality and gender are on a spectrum; they are fluid and people exist everywhere on that spectrum, not just on the two ends. Alfred Kinsey researched sexual fluidity among gay men back in the 1940s and proposed a spectrum model which is often used today.
Kinsey wrote, “Males do not represent two discrete populations, heterosexual and homosexual. The world is not to be divided into sheep and goats. It is a fundamental of taxonomy that nature rarely deals with the discrete categories.The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects.”
In the 1950’s Fritz Klein developed the Sexual Orientation Grid, which takes the element of time into account when discussing sexuality. Sexuality is not a constant and these charts aren’t perfect but they provide a starting place. People’s sexuality may change over time as they mature and discover themselves. If we combine this with our society’s erotiphobia, people tend to be uncomfortable thinking or discussing such issues, even though everyone is somewhere in the spectrum — including the middle and ends of the spectrum.
The conference really showed me the importance of community when dealing with these issues. I encourage anyone who’s interested in getting involved to attend our Alliance meetings, which are held every other Wednesday at 5 p.m. in the Pub — a meeting will be held this week.
Watch for information on Safe Zone/Ally training, which will be taking place in the beginning of April and posted on the portal. And if you are interested in next year’s MBLGTACC, it will be taking place at the University of Michigan, and, in 2012, at Iowa State. I hope many of you will consider taking part in any of these events and discussions. Attending an Alliance meeting or participating in Ally training is a great place to start.
Trewin is secretary of Alliance.
