Ikibijiki -- the newest addition to our office!
As all of us return to a new academic year, we gather at a significant precipice of time:
- Last week marked the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I have a dream speech;
- Lesbian pioneers Del Martin and Phyllis Lyons have been married for two months, after spending the last 55 years together;
- Lesbian activist Del Martin died last week at age 87;
- Colorado State University works toward being the greenest university in the country;
- Matthew Shepard has been gone for 10 years, after dying in the Poudre Valley Hospital in 1998 because of an anti-gay beating, and it has been a few short weeks since Angie Zapata was murdered because of anti-transgender bias.
- A voting season with two major presidential candidates emerges: one candidate a former prisoner of war, another candidate the first African-American person to be a presidential contender;
- Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Student Services celebrates our 10th anniversary;
- And the list could go on.
Some of us may be returning to campus after a summer of volunteering, play, exploration, and/or professional experience. Others have come to this campus for the first time as students, staff, or faculty. Still others have returned to complete a degree after years on the workforce, raising a family, or a journey embodied by these expeirences and more. As director of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Student Services, I welcome you to campus and invite you to stop by our office in the Lory Student Center.
I am also reminded that at this time, we have the opportunity to remember the roots that have brought us here – individually and collectively. The roots of ancestral families of origin, of dreaming a better world, of a career we thought ourselves suited for, of an institution situated, from its beginnings, to make education accessible and affordable. I am reminded of the salient communities from which we hail from, roots of those social identies we find home in. For many who identify as same gender loving, queer, questioning, intersex, Two Spirit, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, our roots inside and outside of Colorado are found within multiple movements, found within multiple heroes and sheroes, such as Pat Parker, Beth Brant, Lani Kaahumanu, Del Martin, Moses Kaufman, Gloria Anzuldua, Leslie Feinberg, and Loren Cameron. No matter how you identify, there is a place for you in our office.
Stop by and find out about our leadership retreat to be held later this year. Browse our film and print library. Relax in our lounge, or finish homework in our new David H. Bohnett CyberCenter. Discover ways to become more involved through Visible Voices, or watch a Friday movie with new friends. Explore the history and herstory of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, Two-Spirit, intersex, queer, same gender loving communities. Make the connection between movements of the past and present. Whatever your interest, you are welcome here.
You can find us at 174 Lory Student Center. Help us make this a year where we remember our roots and move forward to the next 10 years! The door is open, come on in!