The Q Center hosted their Winter GAY-la, an event showcasing on-campus LGBTQ+ organizations, this Friday.
Thomas Holland, a graduate student pursuing his master’s in teaching, said the event was inspired by the Q Center’s Rainbow Fest, which occurs at the beginning of each fall semester and hosts student organizations and performers from the Binghamton area.
“We wanted to showcase student performers for this one,” Holland said. “So that’s why we had the student performers and all the student groups, so that students could see themselves on campus and see the things they could get involved in.”
The organizations tabling at this event included both student-run clubs and departments that provide support for LGBTQ+ students.
Sean Massey, an associate professor of women, gender and sexuality studies, was there representing the department. Massey studies social and personality psychology, particularly focusing on feminism. He described the department as a place where he could focus on both his commitments to research in psychology and social justice, also emphasizing that it is an important component of students’ awareness and activism. He recalled an introductory LGBTQ+ history course that he teaches.
“In the history course, one of the reactions that I often get from students is kind of anger that they didn’t know about a lot of this stuff, that they weren’t taught this in high school, that they didn’t get any of this in their earlier education,” Massey said. “And so one of the things that I think is really important is that we provide, we fill this space that’s lacking, you know, and [give] people information about the scholarship, the research, that kind of thing, but also information about their own lives and the world around them.”
At another table was SHADES, an organization for LGBTQ+ students of color. Allen Domingo, the organization’s activities director, shared how, as he became more involved with the organization, he found a great community where he got support from his peers and also learned from them about their experiences.
“I absolutely love my time, you know, trying to craft a community, trying to craft a safe space for people of our identity, or queer students of color,” Domingo, a junior majoring in computer science, said. “And I hope that as we continue to grow and expand as an [organization], and get more ambitious with what we do, that more people can be inspired.”
In addition to on-campus organizations, the event also hosted student performers, including several a cappella groups like Change of Tone and No Strings Attached, as well as student bands like Tequila Mockingbird.
Mansha Rahman, one of the Q Center’s student managers and a junior double-majoring in art and design and Spanish, helped with outreach for the event. They expressed the main goal of the GAY-la.
“The whole point of this event, that our whole staff would also probably stand by, is the fact that we just want LGBTQ+ individuals on this campus to be able to have an opportunity to see all the organizations they could have a safe space in,” Mansha said. “We do also have queer-adjacent organizations. We ourselves, the Q Center are tabling. The CARE Team is here, in case of queer individuals on this campus who need resources. We just want people to be able to see that everything is all so accessible.”