Ohio University’s celebration of Pride Week ended Saturday with Athens Beautification Day. The week’s events worked to create awareness about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) topics on campus.
“I’m really excited to see what will come after Pride Week,” said Amelia Shaw, vice-commissioner of LGBT Affairs for Student Senate. “Pride Week is just the first step.”
This year’s 19th annual Pride Week, themed “Out of the Classroom and Into the Streets,” was hosted by the LGBT Affairs Commission of Student Senate with help from the LGBT Center and University Programming Council. Last week’s events ranged from transgender workshops to keynote speaker Brian Sims, who spoke about “LGBT Athletes and Allies.”
“We had a really good turnout,” said Sean Martin, Student Senate’s LGBT Affairs commissioner. About 200 students came to the keynote speaker, and it was standing room only in Wednesday’s session about homophobia among African-Americans, he said.
Wednesday’s session was Shaw’s favorite event, she said, because it spawned an open and honest discussion. One notable example was when a woman came forward about her belief that homosexuality is a choice, which led to a wide outcry of responses, said Shaw, a sophomore studying sociology and women’s and gender studies.
“Normally everyone in those situations is guarded and trying to be politically correct with every word instead of saying how they feel,” she said. “Everyone was really honest on Wednesday.”
The Black Student Union and Black Student Cultural Programming Board canceled meetings for that week so their members would attend Wednesday’s session, Shaw said.
Wednesday’s event is one way the commission tried to reach out to students who don’t normally hear about LGBT affairs. Many came out who don’t normally go to the LGBT Center or who aren’t known allies on campus, said Martin, a sophomore studying actuarial science.
The week finished off with Friday’s Day of Silence, where students chose to demonstrate that the LGBT community doesn’t always have a voice. Those who hide their sexuality lose something much greater than their voice, Shaw said.
“Being silent was so uncomfortable it was painful to think of those who have to hide something much larger than their voice,” Shaw said.
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