What rides on eight wheels and wears pink flannel?

Me. :)

OPEN recently attended Roll-on America's Pride Skate Night. Everyone had a blast, and hopefully there will be more skate nights in the future. I suggest that other schools try this one out. Check out your local roller rinks, see how they feel about a pride skate. Or just go for a casual outing with members. Chances are at least a third of ya will fall on your butts—which really only makes it better!

I should've seen it coming. For six years I've been in school-based LGBTQA organizations, and it always, always happens at this time of year. That's right, the second semester slump.

I've always taken it upon myself to work through it, get members back. But for some reason it's just a dead zone for clubs. OPEN meetings have halved. Participation is a fraction of what it was. We still have the same number of events, but the enthusiasm isn't there.

Does anyone have any suggestions for exciting and encouraging membership at this time of year? We have had some seriously great events, to no avail. Maybe I should just take a step back for a few weeks, and let people catch up their work. That'll be a tough one.

The R. Scott Hitt Foundation provides grant funding for college and post-graduate students to receive compensation for skill-building internships at pro-LGBT 501(C) non-profit organizations.

The R. Scott Hitt Foundation is accepting applications for our 2010 internship grants. Additional information is available at www.scotthittfoundation.org Please feel free to contact us directly at scotthittfoundation@gmail.org

PAID LGBT INTERNSHIPS

The R. Scott Hitt Foundation Internships for 2010

The R. Scott Hitt Foundation is offering funding for qualified candidates with the vision to be future leaders in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement.

The pro-LGBT sponsoring organization that you choose apply with will receive funding to compensate your internship position while you strengthen your resume and gain valuable skills towards becoming a leader of the future.

* POST-GRADUATE*
THE SCOTT HITT INTERNSHIP IN LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Application Deadline: May 7, 2010
Post graduate students with strong academic record
Duration: 7-9 months, 40 hour week - $20,000 Grant
Location: An established 501(c)3 nonprofit with a commitment to the advancement of LGBT equality
Applicant contacts host organization they want to work at and co-develops a successful curriculum encompassing these key elements: communications, fundraising, board development and grassroots policy
2-4 recipients per year

UNDERGRADUATE *
THE A.N.G.L.E. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERNSHIP

Application Deadline: April 16, 2010

• Current undergraduate students with strong academic record
• Duration: 8 weeks, 40 hour week - $4000 Grant to sponsor 501(c)3

So this is something to be excited about! That’s right, an LGBT skate night at the local roller skate rink/gaming establishment, Roll On America. It’s coming up this month, so I’ll be posting pictures! In the meantime, I’ll be encouraging my group to make sweet uniforms. It may not quite be roller derby, but it might just be a springboard. Oh yeah, it’s on.

On a more serious note, OPEN has recently come to realize that Clark University doesn’t account for any sort of gender and/or gender presentation in its nondiscrimination policy. This month we’re having a speaker on Transgender rights and showing the informative documentary Toilet Training, so hopefully we can use that momentum to work with administration and get some serious trans-friendly policies in place.

Gamma Rho Lambda rapidly expands across the country as progressive LGBTA sorority

January 23, 2010 (Flagstaff, Arizona) — A new colony ofGamma Rho Lambda (GRL) has been recognized at Northern Arizona University(NAU). GRL is the first national sorority with a focus on a social support system for college students in the LGBTA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight-ally) community. Colonies and chapters of GRL are rapidly spreading, now located in California, Arizona, Kansas, Indiana, and New York and will soon be recognized in Texas and Wisconsin.

The process of bringing a new chapter of GRL to NAU began over a year ago when Alison Schertenlieb, a sister of Arizona State University’s (ASU) Alpha Chapter, transferred schools to continue her studies in nursing. Schertenlieb and her 8 co-founders have worked tirelessly to gain recognition as a colony. She is very proud of how well her fellow founders work together. “Everyone just clicked from the beginning. We feel like sisters already,” Schertenlieb said.

The NAU colony is especially passionate about their group because NAU only has one LGBTQ student organization. “Greek life is a big part of NAU, and this is another avenue for queer and progressive students to be involved in Greek life”, said Schertenlieb. The NAU colony has greatly benefited from Schertenlieb's experience as a member of Alpha Chapter, “I think it's made me a little less nervous about starting a colony. I can't imagine going into it all without knowing anything about Greek life. I really commend those students who start GRL colonies at our other universities without prior experience in a Greek organization. It's much easier for me to work with the Greek system and tell potential members what to expect.”

I have a good feeling about Spring 2010. I’ve been investigating the other schools in Worcester, thinking about something maybe a little Prom-esque we could share? Yeah, I dig it.

This blog caught me after all the action of last semester, so I’m excited to take you all along for the adventure that will be this year. We have our Week of Awareness to plan, fundraising through Day of Silence/Night of Noise, and hopefully some good movie screenings and an inexpensive speaker here and there. I’m personally looking forward to some serious collaborating, so I’ll keep you all posted.

And I've heard a few whispers about a gay skate night at Roll-On-America. That’ll make for an interesting blog, and one step closer to my dream of creating a gay roller derby team. :)

REGISTER NOW

2010 Regional LGBT & Ally College Conferences

Every year thousands of LGBT college students and their allies meetfrom coast to coast to network, learn and celebrate with PRIDE. Choose from several LGBT national events and regional conferences across the United States. REGISTER NOW.

Feb 19-21 -- Midwest BGLTA College Conference
University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
http://www.mblgtacc.org

Feb19-21 -- Western Regional LGBTQIA Conference
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
http://www.comeoutwest.org

April 2-4 -- Power of One Northwest LGBT Conference
Co-hosted by Washington StateUniversity and University of Idaho
http://www.nwlgbtleadership.wsu.edu/

Apr16-18 -- Northeast LGBT Conference
University at Buffalo – http://www.nelgbtc.com

Campus Pride is a Proud Partner

Believe In -- Campus Pride. Campus Pride is the leading national nonprofit organization 501(c)(3) for student leaders and campus organizations working to create safer, more LGBT-friendly colleges and universities. It exists to give "voice and action" in building future LGBT and ally leaders. More information online at www.campuspride.org

I know I had already touched upon it, but now that school’s out and all my pictures are uploaded, I wanted to mention more about Clark’s Trans Day of Remembrance this year. One of OPEN’s main goals next semester will be making the campus more Trans-friendly and aiding legislation meant to help Transgender individuals, so I thought it might be helpful for myself as well to recap. It was a multi-faceted event, and we had a vigil, signs, tabling, and a push to make more of our restrooms gender neutral.

I had hardly realized the vigil was happening until it was over. Being the busy-body I am, I had been too worried about its production than actually experiencing it. After everyone had gotten their tea lights, we stood around in a circle and read off stories of Trans victims. I was counting to see how many we had gone through so I’d know when to make the closing remarks (thinking: “Five? Yes, I think that was the fifth. Seven more? Wait, was that sixth? Oh no…”), when I heard a few sniffles. It was frigid out; my nose was running too. “Okay, twelfth. That’s the last one. No, actually one more. Alright.” And then it hit me. There were sixty people crowded around a circle, and they hadn’t all just come down with colds. Nope, people were crying; people were genuinely moved. And that’s when those sniffles hit me too, and we concluded the vigil.

Washington Post, Friday, December 11, 2009
Campus Pride Executive Director
Shane Windmeyer

As quoted:

For decades, public and private universities have grappled with how to support gay students and protect them from verbal or physical attacks. Religious schools also have the challenge of upholding church teachings, such as the Catholic stance that it is not sinful to be attracted to someone of the same sex but it is sinful to act on such desires.

This delicate balance often puts gay students in a “conflicted state of acceptance,” said Shane L. Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride, a national organization that helps colleges assess their gay friendliness. “The church wants to love the person and hate the sin. But what does that really mean?”

So visible support for gay students — such as a resource center, rainbow stickers, club tables and awareness weeks — is especially important at religious schools, he said. But such actions do not change campus attitudes overnight, he said.

Read the Article

Hey everyone! Sorry about the brief hiatus; finals and papers have got me bogged down like never before. Just one more week!

OPEN finished up our semester with a lovely holiday party. We’ve been collaborating with several other clubs and events, including CureFest— a flea market type event with artists and vendors from the area, with a portion of the proceeds went toCentral Massachusetts Health Awareness Services in honor of World AIDS Day. We also worked with VOX (student advocates for Planned Parenthood) at their annual Sex Fest—a FUNdraiser promoting sexual health and awareness (we had a “Pin the Gender/Bender on the Person” game table!).

I feel really good about this semester. It’s been an eventful one for OPEN, and a monumental one for me.I can’t help but feel like the tireless hours I’ve put toward the organization have helped us bring about some majorly successful events. The intimate relationships I’ve worked to create and maintain with the members have been a great source of joy, and my Executive Board and I have become very close friends. I’ve learned a lot about what are realistic goals, what are not, and why realizeability shouldn’t always be my main concern (a queer’s gotta have dreams, ya dig?). It feels really good to look back on four months with great events and member turnout and think, “Wow, I helped make that.”