Q Center, winter 2022
OUTober - LGBTQ+ History Month
The Q Center celebrated LGBTQ+ History Month throughout October, affectionately referred to as OUTober. During the month, the Q Center sponsored eight initiatives with 204 students in attendance. Notably, Q Center staff partnered with the Southern Tier AIDS Program (STAP) and the Broome County Health Department to hold a Mpox Vaccine Clinic in the Q Center, where 26 community members received their first shot. Staff also collaborated with SHADES, a student organization centering on the experiences of LGBTQ+ students of color, on its second annual Vogue Ball, where over 45 students were in attendance. Queer vogue artists of color from the local community joined to consult on the event and perform a handful of professional numbers. There was also the annual OUTober Pride March on National Coming Out Day and a collaboration with Late Nite for the annual Rocky Horror Picture Show screening the Friday night before Halloween.
Additionally, the Q Center hosted an inaugural LGBTQ+ faculty and staff mixer during the month to bring together the campus’s diverse professional community. Faculty and staff members from across the University, including employees from our Health Sciences Campus in Johnson City, were in attendance. Nicole Sirju-Johnson, assistant vice president for diversity, and Anne Guanciale, director of intercultural affairs, provided brief remarks.
Transgender Awareness Week
Transgender Awareness Week was from Nov. 13–19, ending with Trans Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20. This week is meant to celebrate trans and gender non-conforming people while also providing education about the trans community to cisgender people. The Q Center celebrated by holding events each day of the week, ending with a Trans Day of Remembrance Vigil to honor the 72 trans lives lost so far in 2022. All events were attended by a cumulative 128 students.
Notable events included a partnership with Harpur Edge and the Binghamton University Art Museum where trans art created by students in Transcend was a featured stop on the annual Art Walk, a screening and discussion of the Netflix documentary Disclosure, and a gender expansive clothing swap in the Bartle Library Breezeway with the Human Development Association and local thrift shops Stellar Human and Lilac Thrift Co. The Trans Day of Remembrance Vigil included remarks from Transcend student leaders, a reading of the trans lives lost in the past year and remarks and a moment of silence led by Rev. Douglas Taylor from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Binghamton.
Center initiatives
On Oct. 25, Aiden Braun joined the staff as the new Q Center coordinator and will facilitate Active Ally workshops, coordinate the center’s internship program and outreach with the LGBTQ+ student organizations on campus to further educational initiatives.
Q Center staff focused on building meaningful partnerships with local community agencies and organizations, culminating with a World AIDS Day event Dec. 1. The Southern Tier AIDS Program, UHS PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis), Health Promotion and Prevention Services, and Family Planning of South Central New York were in attendance to provide critical sexual health resources to students and raise awareness of HIV. Derek Jorden, resident director of Newing, hosted the event along with Q Center graduate assistant Emily Salvemini.
Q Center Assistant Director Nick Martin continued to serve on the Bias Incident Response Team and the Strategic Priority 3 Road Map committee as well as work with a task force to implement a new SUNY initiative to have an “X” gender marker and personal pronouns in University-wide information systems. Q Center Coordinator Aiden Braun served on the Pathways to Inclusive Leadership committee.
Campus Educational Initiatives
Q Center Assistant Director Nick Martin worked with SOGIE (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression) peer educators to conduct gender and sexual identity workshops with three UNIV 101 classes and four University-related groups, including the Mountainview RA staff, a Decker School of Nursing class, a Watson College engineering class and the Biochemistry Club. Over 300 students participated in these peer-led workshops.