Pre-Spring Break Update

First, a HUGE thanks to everyone that helped plan the protest on Saturday--it turned out really well, and I think we showed the community that WashU is active and willing to put effort into things outside our often-cited bubble. It was amazing to see all of you allies and newcomers attend the protest; I hope you come to more events in coming semesters, too. Check out the two articles in Student Life for pictures and details: Protest at 'ex-gay' conference brings out students, community - News and Love Needs No Cure: A peaceful protest - News. Pride is taking a brief hiatus for the next few weeks, but we will be back in full force the week following spring break. In the meantime, here are a few items that might be of interest to you:

1.) This Saturday, March 4th at 2:30 pm at Hillel (across the street from the architecture school, which is near Brookings), Keshet, the GLBTQ Jewish group, is bringing transgender, queer, and Jewish performance artist and playwright S. Bear Bergman in to perform "Clearly Marked", a play about overlapping identities and blurring labels. Following the show, there will be a Q&A discussion with Bear. Admission is FREE! If you missed "Clearly Marked" when it came to St. Louis last school year, here's another chance for you to catch it. Don't miss it! You can learn more about the show "Clearly Marked" here: http://www.sbearbergman.com/theater/clearlymarked.html

2.) Office hours have begun! Stop by Women's Building 300 during the day to chat with exec members, hang out, do homework, or borrow items from our qLibrary. We hope to have a complete online list of all of our library items in the near future. Office hours are as follows:

• Monday: 12:00 - 5:00PM
• Tuesday: 2:30 - 3:30PM
• Wednesday: 11:00 - 1:00PM; 2:00 - 5:00PM
• Thursday: 2:30 - 3:30PM
• Friday: 12:00 - 1:00PM
  

3.) If you think we have been doing a good job this semester, nominate us (or any other fine organization on campus, for that matter) for OSA's Excellence in Leadership Awards! Nomination forms can be found here: http://osa.wustl.edu/leadership/awards/. Not that I'm begging, or anything....

Ex-Gay Protest and Teach-In: "Love Needs No Cure"

Pride Alliance, Safe Zones, and Keshet, as part of a huge, city-wide effort, plan to hold a peaceful demonstration outside of the ex-gay Love Won Out (www.lovewonout.com) conference this Saturday. Our purpose is to offer a message of truth, love, and acceptance for LGBT families and those struggling with their sexual orientation. We will have placards, posters, ribbons, armbands, and resource info available on site. Transportation to the church site will be provided on February 25th at the South 40 clocktower at two separate times: 6:15 AM and 3:45PM. The early shift is for the arrival of the conference attendees and will be car-pool only (so if you have a car and want to drive, please respond to this e-mail). The later shift will cover the end of the conference as attendees leave, and we will provide buses. The event is officially over at 5:30PM, so expect to be back no later than 6:30PM. Prior to the departure of the second shift we will be holding a Teach-in in Ursa's Fireside at 3:00PM. The Teach-in will feature guest speakers and a panel discussion about the harmful effects of the ex-gay movement. I Sincerely hope that you will join us (and the hundreds of St. Louis citizens that have been planning this event) for the event on Saturday. If you have any questions, please feel free e-mail pridewu@gmail.com or drop by Women's Building 300 during office hours.

Ex-Gays in St. Louis

On Saturday, February 25th Exodus International is holding a conference in St. Louis at the First Evangelical Free Church (perhaps you have seen the huge billboards on I-64 and 70?). Exodus promotes the "curing" and treatment of homosexuality as a mental illness, which all national psychiatric and medical organizations (and most people who have ever known any GLB people) consider complete BS. Pride Alliance, Keshet, and Safe Zones are hosting a meeting on Thursday, February 16th @ 8:30PM in Women's Building 300 (that's this Thursday!) to discuss a possible protest. We encourage you to forward this e-mail to any group or person that might be interested. If you really want to get your blood boiling, check out the Exodus website, or the website for the sickeningly named Love Won Out conference. I hope to see you at the meeting.

Note: the open exec meeting scheduled for this Thursday has been cancelled due to this event.

Latexmania

This Wednesday Pride Alliance and S.H.A.C. are hosting a Safer Sex event as part of Sex Week 2006. Individuals from the St. Louis Guardian Project (http://www.guardianproject.org/ ) and Project ARK (http://projectark.wustl.edu/) will be giving a presentation on safer sex in the GLB community (with a focus on male-male sex) that includes a rousing game of Safer Sex Jeopardy (could you ask for anything more?). We will have lots of free condoms and accessories available, as well as discreet, confidential HIV tests immediately after the event. The meeting well be on Wednesday, February 15th at 8PM in Women's Building 300. Be sure to come!

Other Items of Interest:
1) The Social Justice Center is holding an event on Monday, February 13th from 7-9pm in Ursa's Fireside, entitled "Tokenism and 'Diversity': The Easy Way Out." Professor Shawn Shimpach will be facilitating a discussion. There will also be free food representing different groups of people, in a tokenistic fashion. Prof. Shimpach taught the course "Freshman Seminar: Race and Ethnicity on American Television" and he will be using his expertise and material from this course to convey tokenism in the media. The discussion will touch on the larger issue of tokenism in hiring, recruiting, political appointment, public relations campaigns, etc.

2) The next Gayla Committee Meeting is Monday, February 20th at 9PM in the lower level seminar room of Eliot House on the South 40. We are still hammering out a lot of important details, and we could use all the help we can get!

3) Open Exec Meetings are starting this week! Stop by our exec meetings at 8:15PM every Thursday in the lower level seminar room of Eliot House on the South 40 to offer ideas of your own and take part in the decision-making process. We hope to see some new faces this semester!

Gays on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Okay. I should really stop it with the crazy titles, but they are just so much fun (I spared you last week, though--our wily treasurer really wanted to call the event "Gaym Night"). The full title of the event we have planned this week is "Gays on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown: Mental Health Issues and the GLB Community". Dr. Alan Glass, Director of Student Health and Counseling Services, will host this discussion on Tuesday, February 7th at 8PM in the NEW Student Health and Counseling Center Center on the South 40. Don't go to the old one next to Malinckrodt! The new facility is located in the basement of Forsyth House, which is accessible from Shepley Drive. Forsyth House is the very first dorm on the left when entering the 40 via Shepley Drive. Once you enter the basement it will not be hard to find us in the classroom located right off of the main lobby. Issues of mental health are rarely discussed in the specific context of gay, lesbian, and bisexual college students, so we hope that the dialogue can raise awareness about these topics and offer WashU students a valuable resource. We have worked with Dr. Glass many times in the past, and his presentations are always interactive and highly informative. If you have any questions about this event or Pride Alliance in general, please e-mail us at this address. I hope to see you on Tuesday!