Auraria kicks off GLBT Month
by Armando Manzanares
The Metropolitan
October Events
October 8
Four Directions March – Join members of the Metro
community that are marching in this year’s event. East Direction
starts at 24th and Welton to converge at Cuernavaca Park. For more information,
email: gbundy@rmi.net or call (303) 556-6333.
October 12
National Coming Out Day Celebration – Join friends, classmates,
allies and the rest of the campus community for a celebration at the
Flagpole. 10am-3pm. For more information, please call (303) 556-6333.
October 13
Getting What You Want . . . Safely - Please join us for
a discussion, information and fun! Learn the latest information about
Sexually Transmitted Infections and how to avoid them. New perspectives
on a timeless topic! CO-SPONSOR: Health Center at Auraria. 11:30 a.m.
– 12:45 p.m. Tivoli 442.
October 14
Gig Series Gone Gay - Creating a Positive and Resilient
Self-Esteem: A Seminar for the GLBT Community. Performers: Alter Boyz.
11:00am– 1:00 pm. Tivoli Food Court.
This seminar will assist participants in identifying problems related
to self-esteem especially as they impact the GLBT community. This promises
to be a fun and interactive seminar in which action steps will be established.
12-1:30pm. Tivoli 442.
October 18
Themis: Outdoor Festival for Social Justice and Peace
- Come for activities, information tables, interactive art pieces, and
more celebrating the efforts of people working towards social justice
and peace in their communities!10:00am-3:00pm. Auraria Flagpole.
October 19
The Gay Debate - Just as the election kicks into high
gear, come for a heated formal debate between the Log Cabin Republicans
and the Stonewall Democrats, both GLBT political organizations. 11:30am-12:45pm.
Tivoli Multicultural Lounge.
October 21
Film - “The Experiment: Gay and Straight”-
This film aims to combine compelling elements of popular entertainment
programs like “Survivor”, “The Real World” and
“Big Brother” with serious and sometimes explosive issues
involving sexuality, human rights and discrimination. Five Gay and five
Straight individuals were sequestered in a house for one week and given
assignments and tasks to explore their views on these topics. Watch the
results! 1-3pm. CCD Multicultural Resource Center, SO 244G.
October 27
Two Spirit Voices - Facilitator: Mary Lou VanVoorhis.
1:00-2:45pm. Multicultural Lounge, Tivoli. Discussion and cultural sharing
of the Two Spirit experience among many tribes.
CARNIVALE: Annual High Tea for Allies - The annual banquet
thanks the campus and community allies for their support during the last
year. With feathers and food and foolery we’ll express our appreciation
and encourage our allies to continue setting an example for the next year.
4:30-6:00 pm. St. Cajetan’s Center. Suggested donation of $5 - $25.
Will benefit the Metro GLBT Gill Endowed Scholarship. Please RSVP by October
22 to 303-556-6333.
October is not only known for the tricks and treats you get should you
dress up as your favorite dead celebrity come Halloween, but it is also
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Awareness Month at Auraria.
The month-long series of events kicked off Tuesday, Oct. 5 with a presentation
and discussion of the lives and challenges GLBT Muslims face in the world
today.
Faisal Alam facilitated the presentation and discussion and is the founder
of Al-Fatiha, an international organization dedicated to the support,
recognition and advocacy of GLBT Muslims. Al-Fatiha officially began in
October, 1998 and will be celebrating its sixth anniversary this year.
Alam began by asking the audience about conceptions they have about Islam.
Responses from the audience included “praying an insane amount times,”
(Muslims are instructed to pray five times a day), headscarves, extremism
and terrorists.
He said that since 9/11 there has been a more concrete effort from within
the Muslim community to counter the misconceptions people have and the
misperceptions perpetuated by the media.
Alam said 10 national Muslim organizations, including Al-Fatiha, condemned
the Sept. 11 attacks immediately after they occurred.
He said none of the national news networks reported this and it took
almost three weeks for President Bush to publicly come out against the
hate crimes being perpetrated against Muslims at that time, thanks to
heavy lobbying from Muslim organizations.
“American media unfortunately has not taken the initiative to get
the other side of the story or get a balanced perspective,” Alam
said.
None of the audience members considered homosexuality in reference to
Islam.
Alam grew up in Connecticut and was actively involved in the Muslim community
early on in his life. He later moved to Boston to attend college. At that
time he began exploring his sexuality and began living a dual life: straight
Muslim by day and homosexual by night.
After about six months of this, in November of 1996, he ended up having
a nervous breakdown because of his faith and his sexuality and the internal
conflict of the two.
Traditionally, the Muslim faith is intolerant of homosexuals and contingent
on the interpretation of the faith, it is condemned.
This prompted Alam to create an e-mail list for GLBT Muslims. He wanted
to begin a forum for discussion on issues he and others like him were
confronting.
Because of this, he was outed to his family and the various Muslim groups
he belonged to. He was asked to remove himself from those groups on the
basis that he was a public figure and being gay is contradictory to the
Nation of Islam, he said.
This motivated him to continue his efforts and hold an international
retreat for GLBT Muslims in October, 1998.
He called the retreat Al-Fatiha, which remains the name of the organization
today. Al-Fatiha, which means the opening or beginning, comes from the
first chapter of the Holy Quran, he said. The Quran is the Muslim’s
equivalent of the Holy Bible.
“We continue to grow everyday and our mission is to support GLBT
Muslims who are trying to reconcile their sexuality with their faith,
while promoting a progressive vision of Islam, that advocates for peace,
equality and justice; that recognizes that there are GLBT people within
the Muslim world and they should be as equally welcomed into the faith
as anyone else,” Alam said.
Alam gave an example of what happened after 9/11. GLBT Muslims had nowhere
to go to report when a hate crime was committed against them. The local
mosque wasn’t someplace they could go and when they went to the
gay community they got the opposite reaction of Islam-phobia.
“Within the mainstream gay world there are so many stereotypes
about Islam and within the mainstream Muslim community gay people aren’t
accepted,” Alam said.
Alam no longer heads Al-Fatiha. He currently works and advocates for
an HIV/AIDS organization.
HIV/AIDS is still an issue and epidemic that the gay community is facing,
especially among young people, he said.
“The fastest growing population becoming infected are young people
at really high rates and this is an issue that we need to be concerned
about,” he said.
Alam was thankful for being able to be a part of Auraria’s GLBT
Awareness Month this year.
“For the most part, there is still a lot of stigma attached to
the issue of homosexuality and I think that events like National Coming
Out Day and Gay Awareness, which a lot of universities are implementing
now, is an opportunity to create dialogue amongst different communities,”
Alam said.
As with Black Awareness Month or Latino Awareness Month, “this
has sort of become our symbolic month,” he said.
Karen Bensen, director of GLBT Students Services at Auraria, and her
office are the masterminds behind the events of GLBT Awareness Month,
along with the help of other campus entities.
The office was established in 1993 when there were only 19 other offices
like it across the country. Bensen has been director of the office since
1994.
June is traditionally the month where GLBT events occur, coinciding with
Gay Pride. Academic institutions across the nation have started using
October for GLBT related-events because the students are gone during the
summer and it also coincides with National Coming Out Day, which is Oct.
11.
Auraria will celebrate National Coming Out Day on Tuesday, Oct. 12 at
the flagpole. The GLBTSS office did this because they felt there are more
students on campus on Tuesdays than on Mondays.
New this year will be a same-sex marriage ceremony of three couples.
There will also be a wedding cake on hand and everyone may take part in
the celebration.
Bensen said that same-sex marriage is a hot-button issue in this election
year and the ceremony is not only a political statement but also a meaningful
celebration for the people participating.
Colorado law does not recognize same-sex marriage.
“This campus is really on the cutting edge for having created this
office very early on and for doing the type of work it does. I’m
proud of what we’ve accomplished here, this is a safe campus for
GLBT people,” Bensen said.
She said her office will take some credit for that, “but the diversity
of the campus allows for people to be more accepting and open to learning
about other cultures and lifestyles.”
“I love that about this campus,” Bensen said.
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