{"id":153,"date":"2011-05-24T18:07:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-24T18:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flashback.as.ucsb.edu\/2010-11\/?page_id=153"},"modified":"2013-08-13T22:59:57","modified_gmt":"2013-08-13T22:59:57","slug":"queer-commission","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/flashback.as.ucsb.edu\/2012-13\/queer-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"Queer Commission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h2>\n

As in past years, Queer Commission<\/a> was actively involved in campus life. Their work included collaborating with the Queer Student Union<\/a> and other campus groups, including A.S. Take Back the Night<\/a>, Womyn’s Commission<\/a>, SCORE<\/a>, and the A.S. President’s Office to draw attention to LGBTQIA<\/a> issues on-campus and in the IV community.\u00a0Queer Commission collaborates with queer minded individuals working together to increase awareness, educate, elicit appreciation, offer insight, and make safe spaces in the LGBTQIA community at UCSB and the Tri-County areas. They work together with other campus and community groups to overcome problems such as homophobia, transphobia, biphobia and other forms of oppression. UCSB PRIDE, Queer Prom, Eucalyptus Seed, Queer Zine, Beyond the Basics conference and Queer bomb activism are all brought to you by Queer Commission.<\/p>\n

Anti-Homophobia Campaign<\/h2>\n

Queer Commission\/Take Back the Night March<\/h3>\n

During Winter Quarter Queer Comm partnered with Take Back the Night and held a joint march to advocate for the rights of victims of sexual violence and LGBTQIA students. Participants marched from Cheadle Hall to Pardall Tunnel and then along Del Playa Drive.<\/p>\n

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The protest was headed by Queer Commission chair RJ Thomsen and was for the most part well received, though there were also boos and negative responses. The negative responses are what make actions like this necessary. Take Back the Night Co-chair Danielle Burmudez also emphasized that collaborating on the march amplified both groups’ messages.<\/p>\n

Pride Week<\/h2>\n

Each year Queer Commission works with the UCSB Pride Committee and Queer Student Union to celebrate Pride Week with a series of events.<\/p>\n

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The week\u2019s events included:<\/p>\n

Pre Pride Week Sunday:<\/h3>\n
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Because You\u2019re Brown Honey Gurl\/Alok Vaid-Menon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Because You\u2019re Brown Honey Gurl<\/a>” at the Multicultural Center (MCC)<\/p>\n

6:45 @ MCC Theater<\/p>\n

Monday:<\/h3>\n

Opening Ceremony in Storke Plaza<\/p>\n

\u201cWho Wears the\u2028Pants?\u201d\u2028 A Critical\u2028Discussion on\u2028 LGBTQIA\u2028 Relationship and \u2028Homonormativity in the Women\u2019s Center Conference Room<\/p>\n

Student Run Drag Show\u2028 in the Hub<\/p>\n

Wednesday:<\/h3>\n

FUQIT Tie Dye on the Annex Lawn (Free Shirts!)<\/p>\n

\u201cUndocumented, Unafraid, Queer, and Unashamed\u201d event in the\u2028 Arbor<\/p>\n

PPF Safer Sex Workshop in the MCC Lounge<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the Bible Tells Me So: Reconciling Faith and Sexuality\u201d\u2028 at the Non-traditional Resource Center in the Student Resource Building (SRB)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt Gets Messy in Here\u201d in the McCune Conference Room<\/p>\n

Thursday<\/h3>\n

Free Professional Run Drag Show -Featuring William Belli and Detox in Campbell Hall<\/p>\n

Friday<\/h3>\n

Queer Wedding in Storke Plaza with keynote speaker Cristina Madrigal and Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Michael Young officiating<\/p>\n

Queer Alumni Panel\u2028 in the MCC Lounge<\/p>\n

Kink Workshop\u2028 in the Loma Pelona Center<\/p>\n

Pride Week with Shabbat: Dinner with Queer Jews and Allies\u2028 in San Rafael Tower<\/p>\n

Pride\/Magic Lantern film screening of \u201d\u2028How to Survive a Plague<\/a>” in IV Theater<\/p>\n

Saturday<\/h3>\n

Isla Vista Pride Festival featuring HIR BOIs Drag Kings\u2028 of Socal, and \u00a0Free Popcorn, Cotton Candy, Jump house\u2028, information tables, Free HIV testing\u2028, DJs, and Music. All in Anisq\u2019Oyo\u2019Park<\/p>\n

Professional Drag Show<\/h2>\n

One of the highlights of Pride Week was a Professional Drag Show co-sponsored with the Pride Committee and Queer Student Union. The \u00a0featured Ru Paul’s William Belli and Detox as emcees, plus local drag queens, Jenna Cyde, Deja Re, and Isis. Belli and Detox had full audience participation for a show that was both hilarious and deeply emotional on a more serious note. Local queen Jenna Cyde, Andrew Hamlin, performed a spoken work piece that brought many to tears. As he said to the the Daily Nexus, \u201cDrag shows celebrate everything mainstream society says is wrong and lesser about a person,\u201d Scyde said. \u201cFor me, it is my femininity that I struggle with, and through drag, I celebrate it. For others, it may be their complexion, their weight, gender-queer identity, trans identity, etc. What is hard is that the dominant culture provides criticism about these things that hurt really good people. It is definitely hard to emotionally and mentally break away from what mainstream society says and the stigma that is placed against you, but once you are there, that elevation in personal freedom is pure bliss.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Queer Wedding<\/h2>\n

The Annual Queer Wedding caps off Pride Week with a public ceremony officiated by Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Michael Young. The event is an affirmation of the LGBTQIA community as fully equal citizens and on a more personal level of the bonds of love and respect that bind together individuals committed to each other. It’s also where allies can declare their support in a public space.<\/p>\n

\"QC13-Queer<\/p>\n

After the ceremony, many couples and groups walked under the rainbow arch and down the aisle to have their picture taken before grabbing some snacks and drinks. As in past years, the weather for the event was glorious and the participants’ smiles showed that they clearly enjoyed each other’s company.<\/p>\n

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Text of Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Michael Young’s Queer Wedding Speech<\/h2>\n

“Good afternoon!\u00a0 My name is Michael Young and I am the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.\u00a0 I am honored to be here today both personally, as an individual who views himself as an ally to the Gay, Lesbian, transsexual and transgender community AND as a vice chancellor and representative of the highest levels of the administration of UCSB.\u00a0 While I cannot prove it, I think it is the case, that I am the only member of the UCSB community who has participated and spoken at all of the Queer Weddings since they began.<\/p>\n

\"QC13-Queer<\/p>\n

The Queer Wedding has always had two aspects to it.\u00a0 It has always been a political event, a political statement, a symbol of the growing movement on the part of the LGBT community and its allies to push and fight for full personal, political, civil, and human rights for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender people. Possibly the most visible symbol of that struggle for full human, political, civil rights is the right for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to marry the person they love—marriage equality!\u00a0 \u00a0The Queer Wedding from the very beginning has always been a powerful political statement.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the Queer Wedding has been a celebration of community pride and love for each other.\u00a0 It has been an opportunity for members of the LGBT community at UCSB to declare and celebrate gay pride, and pride in self and community!<\/p>\n

Over the years as the struggle for full equality has evolved, the Queer Wedding has maintained both its political and celebratory roots.<\/p>\n

I was asked by the organizers why I think having such an event as the Queer Wedding is important. For me, that is a great question and goes straight to the heart of why I am honored to be here and participate in this year\u2019s ceremony and why I have eagerly participated as an official in the Queer Wedding for all of these years.<\/p>\n

For me the answer is simple, unambiguous, and crystal clear!\u00a0 This event, the Queer Wedding, symbolizes the struggle for full and equal rights for all of the people of this nation.\u00a0 The Queer Wedding is an extraordinarily important reminder that we, as a nation, are continuing to struggle to ensure basic and fundamental rights for all members of society—all of us—regardless of our race, regardless of our gender, regardless of our health and ability, and regardless of our sexuality.\u00a0\u00a0 The Queer Wedding helps ensure that we keep our eyes squarely on the prize of full, complete, and unambiguous civil and human rights for all of us, no matter who we are, what we are, or who we love!<\/p>\n

Which brings me to the final question the organizers asked me to speak to, which is, \u201cWhat do I think love is?\u201d\u00a0 What is love?<\/p>\n

As I think of love and have experienced love, Love is a deep and tender, almost indescribable and at times uncontrollable feeling of affection and caring for someone.\u00a0 As a close colleagues described it, \u201cyou don\u2019t pick who you love, love picks you!\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, love is universal!\u00a0 All human beings from all societies love!\u00a0 Love is a human universal.\u00a0 In the context of the Queer Wedding , if , indeed, love is a human universal, then how can something so natural, so distinctive, so beautiful and so fundamentally human, be kept from some members of society, simply because of who they love.\u00a0 Love is a human universal and who you love and who you bond with or who you marry should not be dictated by someone else\u2019s religion or by the government.<\/p>\n

Human rights are fundamental and are not situational.\u00a0 You either have them or you don\u2019t.\u00a0 I am proud and honored to have been asked to participate once again in the Queer Wedding and to both stand with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community in their struggle for full equality and to celebrate the pride and beauty of the LGBT community at UCSB.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0Allison Moon Speaks on Artivism<\/h2>\n
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Allison Moon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Allison Moon<\/a> spoke on art as activism. She explored the politics, privileges and identity issues involved with creating art.<\/p>\n

In her interactive talk, Moon deconstructed notions of \u201cprivilege guilt\u201d into useful components for creativity, discussed the intersection between art and social justice, deconstructed activist skill-sets to turn them into useful tools for the creation process, and shared methods for distilling passion from conflict to turn activism into relevant art.
\nThe event was co-sponsored by the Student Commission on Racial Equality, Commission on Student Well Being, and Take Back The Night.<\/p>\n

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Reach Out to Queer Alumni<\/h2>\n

This year Queer Com. reached out to Queer alumni and began work on an alumni database. \u00a0If you’re an alum, check out the link and submit your info at:\u00a0http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/UCSBqueeralum<\/a><\/p>\n

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