GLBTQ issues take center stage next week

The QRC’s Queer Awareness Week hopes to bring some similarities to light, emphasizing the common need to feel accepted, understood and celebrated.

“The GLBTQ [gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and queer] community addresses a lot of issues that the straight community talks about as well,” said Zena Piccolo, student life coordinator for the Queer Resource Center.

Portland State boasts a diverse culture on campus, but sometimes groups find themselves differentiating between one another all too often.

“This is an opportunity for GLBTQ students and their allies to present to the community information that is relevant,” Piccolo said.

The week of events kicks off Monday and comes to a close on Friday, the National Day of Silence, a high school and college event when students remain silent for an entire day to show solidarity with GLBTQ students who feel silenced by intolerance in the community.

The festivities go out with a bang, in the form of a Queer Prom benefiting the Sexual Minorities Youth Center, whose facilities were damaged this past winter when the roof caved in, Piccolo explained.

Monday:
Sex Toys 101
Noon-1:30 p.m. SMSU 236
I’m Gonna Pop! Performance
3-3:30 p.m. Parkway North

Tuesday:
Trans Basics, 411 of gender revolution
Noon-1:00 p.m. SMSU 333
Interpersonal Violence in the Queer Community
2-3:30 p.m. in SMSU 333

Wednesday:
You want to put that where? Consent and Boundaries
2-3:00 p.m. in SMSU 236
QPOC Movie Showing
Noon-1:30 p.m. in QRC SMSU 401

Thursday:
Exploring History: Sexism and Homosexuality
Noon-1:00 p.m. in SMSU 333
The Importance of Only Spaces in the Queer Community
2:30-3:30 p.m. in SMSU 333

Friday:
Q-Prom 2009: Night of Noise a benefit for SMYRC
9 p.m.-1:00 a.m. at the Jupiter Hotel
Tickets: $8 for students

Questions?
Contact the Queer Resource Center
www.qrc.pdx.edu
(503) 725-9742