Safe-zones create inclusive environment, safe space to be in

Posted on November 27, 2012 by comm5775

A rainbow flag, the symbol for the LGBTQ+ community, is a sign to all that the space is a safe place to go and be included in everything without worry of discrimination.

Story and photo by AINSLEY YOUNG

Every month, the LGBT Resource Center at the University of Utah holds classes known as Safe-Zone Trainings. They’re a three-hour session designed to answer questions and provide a safe space for people to come together and be educated about the power of words, how they affect people around you and how to keep an open mind when it comes to diversity.

Each training session is usually formatted with a short presentation, a discussion and activities. At the training offered during Pride Week 2012, the activity was to go around the room and silently answer several yes or no questions and then add a bead to a string for each yes, to symbolize the attendees’ privileges.

“In the training, we cover concepts related to the LGBTQA community. We also do exercises that are intended to spark dialogue on what it’s like for people to be marginal on gender expression and orientation,” said Kai Medina-Martínez, the director of the university’s LGBT Resource Center.

“The trainings create a situation of inclusion around dialogue that’s intended to bring awareness to people and have them learn things based on inclusive narratives,” said Medina-Martínez, who uses the pronoun they.

“We live in a world where we assume everyone is cisgender [born as a gender and identifies and acts within societal expectations of that gender] and heterosexual but we’re not. We have people who are transgender, gay, bisexual and a-sexual,” they said.

Medina-Martínez said it’s important to break down the negative stereotypes that are cast by society.

“We value a certain type of person, but we live in a diverse world with a lot of diverse people. Not everybody is the same, and we should all benefit from equal treatment,” they said.

The trainings are designed to be a safe place where people can meet others who are interested in learning how to be inclusive of all people or people who want to share their knowledge on being inclusive.

“I think it’s a great resource for anyone who wants to know a little more about the community and the real issues that face this population,” said Valerie Velarde, the safe-zone coordinator at the LGBT Resource Center. “As for creating a safe zone, people have to know where they can go for support with no biases or assumptions precluding them. Too much of this world is harsh, and people need that place they can go to relax and be themselves.”

Velarde said the trainings can help to make the world “be that much less harsh.”

“We always say once you hear a person’s story, it is a lot harder to hate them. I think that is a lot of what we are trying to get out there — personal stories of raw and real hatred. We are all privileged and not everyone sees the pain we often inflict,” she said.

“Safe-zone training gives individuals the quaint, safe space to ask any questions they want and get a rough view of LGBT identities,” Velarde said.

These trainings are a good way to educate people on different matters and issues going on in the LGBTQ+ community that may not be shown to everyone all the time, she said.

“For too long, people have had little to no idea of what the community really looks like, simply gaining most of their assumptions from popular media or the news…. A little more knowledge never hurt anyone,” Velarde said.

It’s important to be knowledgeable and active in minority communities, such as the LGBTQ+ community, she said. These trainings are an excellent way to get involved by showing an interest and making an effort to create a safe space and environment for all people, she said.

Between five and 30 people usually attend the workshops that are held in open, public spaces. The LGBT Resource Center also holds private training sessions for companies and departments at the university or small businesses. These private trainings have more than 100 attendees.

In addition to the full-length, three-hour trainings, the center hosts quasi-trainings that are a little shorter, with varying activities tailored to the organization or department’s needs, with job-specific situations and  opportunities to work together as coworkers and peers.

“Also, I sometimes mix and match what I do and ask different questions, but usually the same concepts are brought up regardless of what I say,” Velarde said. She said sometimes she starts with a question and answer session, while other times she’ll start with a discussion or activity she created to best suit whichever audience she is educating.

“These trainings opened up a lot of doors for me,” said Kim Bliss, who attended a safe-zone training in spring 2012. Bliss attended the training when she saw a flyer for it around the university campus that caught her attention.

Bliss said she was deeply impacted by one of the discussions at the training, and that it had changed her mind about a lot of the stereotypes that she had been familiar with.

“Whether you’re straight or gay, black or white, young or old, you’re still a person and you deserve to be treated with respect. Just because you may not agree with how someone lives their lives doesn’t mean you can judge them and cause them any harm,” she said.

Velarde holds these trainings  once a month at various locations around the U campus. Velarde said there can be more than seven meetings a month depending on which department or campus organization wants to schedule one.

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LGBT youth become homeless for many reasons

Posted on November 27, 2012 by comm5775

A look into the back room of the Volunteers of America homeless youth shelter in downtown Salt Lake City shows shelves of food, clothes and other items donated by people.

Story and photo by AINSLEY YOUNG

Take a tour of the Volunteers of America resource center.

In 2009, the Road Home, a homeless shelter based in Salt Lake City, helped more than 4,456 individuals.

Statewide, 42 to 44 percent of the homeless population self-identify as LGBTQ+. This number of  individuals is disproportionate compared to the overall population. About 6 percent of every population self-identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transdender, questioning or another identity within this community. When most people think of homeless LGBTQ+, they usually get the scenario of a young person coming out to their families and then getting thrown out and are forced to live on the streets.

However, Brandie Balken, the director of Equality Utah in Salt Lake City, said that is not usually the case.

“When you think about the paradigm of… [coming] out to your parents and [getting kicked out] of the house, that’s the most extreme situation — not to say that it doesn’t happen — but that’s not the most common situation. Parents will frequently do things like ‘you can’t see these friends, you can’t dress this way, you can’t say those things’ or [they will] say things that are demeaning to folks who happen to be LGBT, and if that’s your own identity as a 13-, 14- or 15-year old, it’s unbearable,” she said.

Individual identities are so fragile at those ages, and there’s so much going on in the lives of youth. To not be supported by family, their most intimate support structure, makes the situation become unbearable. As a result, many people choose to leave home altogether, Balken said.

“They feel like it’s safer and they have a greater chance to explore their opportunities that way…,” she said.

These individuals will frequently stay with their friends, doing what is known as “couch hopping,” or sleeping on couches and air mattresses because they can’t afford a bed. Eventually, they find themselves with no other place to go but the streets, Balken said. Many of these young people haven’t even come out yet, but they feel that the unsupportive environment is not something they can live with, so they leave.

Balken said part of the contribution to the LGBTQ+ homelessness comes from a part in the adoption system that doesn’t allow any committed, long-term couples who are unmarried to adopt. This knocks out those couples as potential parents to children in need of foster care or adoption.

“We know that some of our young people are not with their birth parents or not in a stable home because of their orientation or because they don’t feel supported in their lives by their parents and we have a system that doesn’t allow youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender to be adopted into a family that could model for them what it is to be an adult and be that person,” she said.

Intrigued with the process of becoming homeless, Natalie Avery created a documentary called “Outside,” which follows the lives of homeless LGBTQ+ individuals. This documentary followed four individuals for five years and was released in May 2012. Avery was a graduate student in film at the University of Utah when she began the project.

“I was in my last year of graduate school and I learned about the issue of couch surfing.… I had never heard of it and I heard that the LGBT population was significantly higher than just the average and that when people were talking about homeless youth, at that time, they were talking about children of families, not invisible youth,” Avery said.

Avery was inspired to take a deeper look into the issue of homelessness and highlight the lives of these individuals, the problems they face and how they handled them. Avery said she was surprised at how fast the fall could be from having a home to getting involved in drugs, finding a safe place to sleep or keeping warm in the winter, some of the many issues they were met with on the street.

“There is this remarkable group of people out there trying to help [these youth] in different ways, particularly the Homeless Youth Resource Center which still exists and is getting stronger and doing a lot for LGBT homeless youth. I was really impressed with the level of service they were getting,” she said.

Many youths take refuge in shelters like the Homeless Youth Resource Center, run by Volunteers of America Utah, located in downtown Salt Lake City. The shelter runs during business hours and offers refuge, hot meals cooked by volunteers, a donated clothing box and group activities to teach life skills and also bring the individuals together.

From July 2011 to July 2012, the shelter served 1,264 homeless youth, and around 30 percent of those individuals self-identified as LGBTQ+.

“Our hope is to meet the needs of youth and help keep them off the street,” said Zach Bale, vice president of external relations at the VOA in Salt Lake.

The drop-in shelter bases its different services on the intake of individuals, mostly aged 15 to 22 years, and what their needs are, Bale said. The center allows youths to come in and get what they need, including showers and laundry, with computers just recently added to provide individuals with aid in job searching. Youth can select everyday clothing from the donations closet at the front of the shelter. A special closet in the back contains clothes suitable for job interviews.

In addition to providing individuals with food, clothes and daytime shelter, a therapist at the shelter is available to work with youths each day to give them guidance and direction on personal matters in their lives. Tanya Ray is a certified counselor who completed a class at the Utah Pride Center where she learned how to be inclusive and friendly toward members of the LGBTQ+ community.

While many may have the classic scenario of getting kicked out of the house after coming out to parents, many members of the LGBTQ+ community feel that leaving home is their best option as far as making their way in the world.

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Salt Lake City group of drag queens is changing the scene

Posted on November 20, 2012 by comm5775

Story and photos by MADELINE SMITH

Klaus von Austerlitz isn’t your stereotypical drag queen with fake breasts, high heels and glamourous makeup. Instead, he takes the stage with a chalk white complexion and black designs drawn on with eyeliner, a red wig topped off with his trademarked black mouse ears and moon boots.

“I take the stereotype and flip it on its head,” he said. “We make the idea of what women should be gross.”

Von Austerlitz is Tanner Crawford’s stage name. Crawford is a junior at the University of Utah working on a bachelor’s degree in performing-arts design. He specializes in lighting, makeup and wigs and aspires to be a wig master for a professional theater.

Growing up, Crawford felt foreign living in Ferron, Utah, and developed von Austerlitz’s character during high school. It wasn’t until 2011 when Crawford began doing drag that von Austerlitz, a German man, came to life. The foreign roots stem from Crawford’s feelings of being different in his hometown, he said.

“[Klaus] is my idea of what a boy can be,” he said.

He uses his performing-arts design experience in von Austerlitz’s costumes. He said even if the look isn’t 100 percent great, he still has a solid idea and a full design.

During the U’s Pride Week drag show on Oct. 4, 2012, von Austerlitz performed to a remixed version of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.” He mixed the song to transition from the original to a version with ghoulish vocals and a darker sound, and he performed accordingly.

Von Austerlitz pointed to his hand and the numbers 666 every time Carly Rae Jepsen sang, “Here’s my number…,” in her song “Call Me Maybe.”

Crawford said the Pride Week drag show attracted an audience he typically doesn’t see elsewhere. He was unsure how people would react to his performance.

“I was out of my element,” he said. “I just wanted to show what I’ve got.”

Crawford said his strange style stems from his concern about the drag scene being too homogenized. He doesn’t like the idea of drag entailing only dressing up like a woman and lip-synching.

“[It’s] sexist. It’s men putting on what women should be,” he said.

Doing drag is a form of catharsis, a more intimate means of art. He said he uses it to express dark messages that people don’t want to think about. For example, he utilizes revered symbols such as painting an upside-down cross on his forehead and dousing his clothes in blood to inspire people to question societal norms.

Crawford strives to make people more open to being uncomfortable. He also puts himself in unusual situations, including watching disturbing documentaries that force him to learn how to react.

“I try to be comfortable being uncomfortable,” Crawford said. “It makes me more open of a person.”

He said a lot of his costumes are inspired by Japanese horror films such as “Ju-on” and “Ringu.”

Crawford tries to incorporate multiple cultures, such as Japanese and Native American, into his costumes by utilizing dominant symbols like a cross, feathers or culturally-influenced makeup.

Despite using important symbols, he takes precautions not to stigmatize any one group of people.

“I try not to be racist or demeaning,” Crawford said.

He also gets inspiration from the movie “Party Monster,” a story about the original club kids in New York City in the late 1980s who wore flamboyant and bizarre costumes.

The Bad Kids

The movie also inspires Crawford’s friends, a group of five queens who met at Miss City Weekly on June 2, 2011. They discovered a shared interest in challenging the standard image of a drag queen and formed The Bad Kids, named after the famous Lady Gaga song.

Cartel Fenicé, as Scotty Phillips is known on stage, is Klaus von Austerlitz’s drag sister.

“We try to be a collective, all-inclusive group,” Phillips said in a phone interview.

They encourage people to join them, be themselves and express who they are. The Bad Kids don’t follow the rules like traditional drag queens, Phillips said. They don’t portray themselves as women on stage and they’re trying to change the idea of what gender is.

“It’s disrespectful to women,” Phillips said. “It’s like we assume all women have big breasts.”

Instead of wearing fake breasts, The Bad Kids bear messages scribbled on their bare chests with eyeliner, or Kentucky Fried Chicken buckets on their heads with their bodies covered in blood and feathers.

However, The Bad Kids aren’t all about gore. They use the stage to make statements that they feel strongly about, such as abortion and greed.

Phillips dressed as a gypsy for a performance at Metro Bar during the themed show “Politics are a Drag.” He danced to a mash-up of Shania Twain’s “Cha Ching,” “Money” by the Flying Lizards, and “Money, Success, Fame, Glamour” from the movie “Party Monster.”

“[I was] the mystic woman trying to tell the world that what everyone is doing in America is filthy,” Phillips said.

He ended his performance by ripping off his dress to reveal dollar sign pasties covering his nipples and throwing Monopoly™ money at the audience.

Despite the sometimes-political meaning behind their performances, The Bad Kids never take themselves too seriously, Crawford said.

“We’re like clowns,” he said. “We make people have a fun time.”

The Bad Kids perform on the last Thursday of each month at Metro Bar, located at 540 W. 200 South. Crawford encourages other queens to join the group to ensure fresh, creative performances at the club, and can be reached by email at klausxoxo@hellokitty.com.

Even when they’re not doing drag shows, The Bad Kids dress up and go out for a night on the town, regardless of the public’s reaction. Phillips said this is how they perpetrate their vision and make their presence in the community known.

Philips said some individuals they encounter wonder why the queens don’t wear fake breasts. Others think it’s a bold thing to do in Salt Lake City.

“Some see it as unique, some people expect us to embody what women look like,” he said.

Phillips said being out in the community also creates awareness of the group. Individuals who are interested in doing drag are invited to  connect to The Bad Kids through each of the queen’s Facebook pages.

Crawford said the group tries to be friends with everyone, in part because the drag community in Salt Lake City is so small. Since 1976, the local drag scene has been dominated by The Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire, a nonprofit organization that is made up of high-fashion drag queens who perform to raise money for Utah charities.

The Bad Kids want to create a spectrum of queens to break away from the standard, Crawford said.

Klaus von Austerlitz waves to the crowd after the crown was given for the best drag queen at the U’s Pride Week drag show, held at Sugar Space on Oct. 4, 2012.

Phillips said The Bad Kids want to do bigger shows in larger venues with a variety of performances.

And Crawford said the group hopes to film videos and post them on YouTube.

“I’m being myself!” he said. “Come do it with me!”

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The importance of allies in the LGBT community

Posted on November 15, 2012 by comm5775

Story and photos by Chad Mobley

Attending a Safe Zone training, like the one held during Pride Week on Oct. 5, 2012, at the University of Utah, gives people a chance to gain a better understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Lauren Jensen works tirelessly to build education and awareness of the LGBT community around the University of Utah and Salt Lake City.

This training was an open forum with conversations led by two facilitators to create dialogue among participants. Many of the talks focused on how straight people could become allies of the LGBT community and how important  allies are in the progress of equality among all genders and sexual orientations.

“Allies are underappreciated because it takes a lot to be a part of the LGBT community whether you are actually in the community or a supporter,” said Lauren Jensen, speakers bureau coordinator at the LGBT Resource Center at the U. “The LGBT community couldn’t exist without supporters on the outside. We need as many voices and as many supporters as we can get.”

But becoming an ally of the LGBT community may bring unwarranted connotations.

“There is a stereotype for allies as well,” Jensen said. “If they support gay marriage or gay rights, then people think ‘Oh they must be gay.’ When in fact all they believe is that everybody should have equal rights. Just because you support gay rights doesn’t make you gay and that’s something people need to realize.”

Jensen sets up panel discussions all over campus at professors’ requests. She also coordinates workplace panels for companies across the Salt Lake Valley. The purpose of these events is to create a situation for people to openly ask questions about anything that has to do with the LGBT community. These panels, in conjunction with events like Safe Zone trainings, educate straight allies about LGBT issues.

Janice Marcus of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) recognizes these programs as an effective means to grow the allied community in Salt Lake City.

“PFLAG is aware of Safe Zone training and encourages members to attend trainings,” she said in an email.

In addition to Safe Zone trainings and panel discussions facilitated by the University of Utah LGBT Resource Center, PFLAG separately holds events to build and educate the straight ally population.

PFLAG provides a support group for parents, families and friends of the LGBT community the second Tuesday of every month from 7-9 p.m. at the Utah Pride Center, 361 N. 300 West. The first hour is spent as a support group helping people to understand the feelings of a friend or family member coming out to them. The second hour is used to educate members by providing accurate information about what it means to be LGBT, how it feels and how they can provide the best support.

“We provide support for parents, families and friends of gays and lesbians, as well as advocate for the LGBT community,” Marcus said. “We are willing to provide education and panel discussions for any group or work place that would like to contact us. I think that it’s critical that people understand that PFLAG is not associated with any political organization or religious belief.”

Thanks to events like these across the country, the LGBT community is gaining strength nationwide through growing allied support.

Sean Mehew, federal club co-chair for the Human Rights Campaign’s Utah steering committee, has seen this growth firsthand over the past few years.

“Voter approval of gay marriage is over 50 percent for the first time ever nationwide. Five years ago it was probably only 30 to 40 percent,” Mehew said.

One of the HRC’s top priorities is fighting for same-sex marriage. If it is ever going to become a reality, the LGBT community needs allies in high places.

“Look at President Obama coming out [as an ally]. That’s the first time that a president has ever even had a positive stance,” Mehew said. “When he originally came to office, he said he wasn’t sure what his stance was on gay marriage, but he evolved.”

Educating people and growing the straight ally community is the best means for gaining equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. People interested in becoming an ally can attend Safe Zone trainings, panel discussions or PFLAG support groups. A week much like Pride Week, called Ally Week, will be held on campus in April 2013 for students and community members.

“As allies mature in the process of providing support for the LGBT community, they transition from offering support to [the LGBT community], to speaking up when they hear inappropriate comments,” Janice Marcus of PFLAG said. “Regardless of the process in which they are involved, they cannot remain silent. Silence allows abuse and discrimination to continue unchecked, so that speaking up in small groups, followed by increased knowledge to provide education through interviews and panel discussions are critical.”

The LGBT Resource Center at the University provides a wealth of information on becoming an ally.

10 ways to be an ally and friend:

  1. Be a listener.
  2. Be open-minded.
  3. Be willing to talk.
  4. Be inclusive and invite LGBT friends to hang out with your friends and family.
  5. Don’t assume that all your friends and co-workers are straight. Someone close to you could be looking for support in their coming-out process. Not making assumptions will give them the space they need.
  6. Homophobic comments and jokes are harmful. Let your friends, family and co-workers know that you find them offensive.
  7. Confront your own prejudices and homophobia, even if it is uncomfortable to do so.
  8. Defend your LGBT friends against discrimination.
  9. Believe that all people, regardless of gender identity and sexual orientation, should be treated with dignity and respect.
  10. If you see LGBT people being misrepresented in the media, contact GLAAD.

Information courtesy of Lauren Jensen.

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Gender Blender at University of Utah Pride Week

Posted on November 15, 2012 by comm5775

Story and photos by ADRIENNE PURDY

How would you feel if your job was in jeopardy based on your sexual orientation? How about if you were asked not to associate with your extended family because of perceived negative influences from your lifestyle? These issues and more were addressed at Gender Blender, an event put on by the Social Justice Advocates in correlation with the University of Utah Pride Week during the first week of October 2012.

This year’s Gender Blender showed a short movie from YouTube, titled “Transgender Basics – Gender Identity Project,” and concluded with a panel of four students self-identifying as members of the LGBT community who took questions from the audience. Lauryn Hansen of the Social Justice Advocates was in charge of the event held in the Petersen Heritage Center. The campus organization strives to create and promote a safe environment for everyone on campus. The Gender Blender event is a way to bring up conversations that otherwise would not happen.

Decorations at the Gender Blender discussion at the University of Utah Pride Week.

The video highlighted three individuals with different identities: A transgender man or a woman living as a man, a transgender woman or a man living as a woman and a gender-queer individual or an individual who identifies as both a man and a woman.

The video showed some of the problems encountered by transgender individuals, such as gender expectations and the feeling of being forced to select a particular box, indicating that one must choose male or female and there is no other option.

A handout was given at the Gender Blender with a picture of a “Genderbread Person” showing gender identity, gender expression, biological sex and sexual orientation and making the differences between them easier to understand.

The Genderbread Person illustrates that gender identity is how you think about yourself in your head. It is the chemistry aspect and how you interpret what it means. This can range from woman to genderqueer to man.

Gender expression is how you demonstrate your gender based on how you act, dress and behave and can be expressed as feminine, androgynous and masculine.

Biological sex refers to the organs, hormones and chromosomes that you were born with that determine whether you are male or female. One can be born male or female, but one can also be born intersex, which is a biological combination of both the male and female sexes. When a child is born intersex — and depending on the type of intersex condition — surgery may be performed for social reasons rather than medical necessity.

Sexual orientation is who you are physically attracted to, which can range from heterosexual, bisexual and homosexual. Knowing the wide range of possibilities of identity, expression and orientation helps us understand why the problem of “boxing in” is so prevalent.

The four-person panel who fielded questions from the audience after the movie was comprised of Adrian Harrison, Kiko Cloward, Kai Medina-Martínez and Eduardo Galindo, who are students or faculty at the U. All panelists self-identified as members of the LGBT community. Different sexual orientations were represented on the panel, which enabled different points of view to be expressed and heard.

One question from the audience regarding how to ask about someone’s identity sparked different answers from the panel.

“The best way to learn is just to ask,” Cloward said.

Medina-Martínez countered: “I think the intention of needing to know is important. If it’s to honor someone or meet them there that’s great, otherwise does it really matter?”

Galindo said: “Ask respectfully instead of asking a loaded question.”

When asked about what it is like on campus for a member of the LGBT community, Galindo and Medina-Martínez told the audience about the initiative for an inclusive bathroom policy on campus.

The LGBT Resource Center in the Union Building at the University of Utah.

Medina-Martínez, who is the director of the LGBT Resource Center on campus, said that where to go to the bathroom is something most people don’t even think about. But for a transgender individual it can be a big problem. Wanting to go to a restroom where one feels comfortable usually means going out of the way to find a single-stall bathroom. The LGBT Resource Center has compiled a list of these bathrooms.

The stigma that surrounds transgender individuals in society was a hot topic and attendees asked whether the same stigma exists in the LGBT community.

“There can be trans phobia in the LGBTQ community as well as the non LGBTQ community,” Galindo said. Transgender can still be a taboo subject even in communities who are very accepting.

A recurring theme among the panelists was the term cisgender, which means conforming to gender-based expectations. Medina-Martínez, who now identifies as gender fluid and uses the pronoun they, said they became very good at expressing hyper femininity at a younger age.

“People want to put me in boxes. I like the fluidity,” Medina-Martínez said.

Cloward, who now identifies as genderqueer, went through periods of expressing femininity and masculinity.

“I love some feminine activities no matter how I look and I love some masculine activities no matter how I look,” Cloward said.

As Lauryn Hansen of the Social Justice Advocates said, “We live in a world with seven billion people, each with our own uniqueness.”

Note: A new version of the “Genderbread Person” with a flowchart is now available.

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Campus resources and policies make the University of Utah attractive for LGBT community

Posted on November 15, 2012 by comm5775

Story and photos by JAKE GORDON

With assets like the LGBT Resource Center and policies that really benefit all students, the University of Utah is one of the top schools in the nation when it comes to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

C. Kai Medina-Martínez stands in front of a mural inside the LGBT Resource Center at the University of Utah. Medina-Martínez is the center’s executive director.

C. Kai Medina-Martínez, executive director of the LGBT Resource Center, talked to journalism students in September 2012 at the university about the benefits of having the resource center.

The center, which is located in the Olpin Student Union, had a grand re-opening in October 2011 after moving into an office space of just under 1,000 square feet.

“There is a large lounging area that the students utilize,” Medina-Martínez said. “Right now we have four computers that students can use to do papers or study and we also allow students to do 10 free copies a day.”

Medina-Martínez, who prefers the pronoun “they,” said the resource center is a great resource to U students. The center also does a lot of education, including training and outreach.

“We do LGBT one-on-one training,” they said. “We also do our Safe Zone training, which is three hours. We talk about terminology and we talk about history.”

Being an ally, or “someone who advocates for and supports members of a community other than their own,” is talked about in the Safe Zone training as well as transgender training. Medina-Martínez said it is important to educate people on what transgender means and also the importance of having trans-inclusive policies in the classroom and on campus.

Valerie Velarde, who is the center’s Safe Zone coordinator, is one of the students responsible for the trainings, which she did during campus Pride Week in October 2012. Velarde said educating people about the LGBT community is helpful for everybody involved and that it can change the way people think.

“I would really like to bring home the fact (in Safe Zone training) that this is not an exclusive issue that affects only those with queer, or different than the hegemonic norm, identities,” Velarde said in an email interview. “We have an incredibly diverse campus with a multitude of ideologies and varying degrees of liberalism and conservatism floating about ­— which is a good thing.”

Safe Zone training is an educational class for everyone to better understand the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Both Velarde and Medina-Martínez talked about campus policies that benefit all students and not just the LGBT community.

One of those policies brought about by Medina-Martínez is located on the Campus Information System (CIS) under the student tag. Students can now list a preferred name that they will go by in classes.

That is important for individuals “who are going through some sort of transition,” they said. “They will change their name that is assigned to them at birth to match more of their identity.”

The sign for the LGBT Resource Center just outside the front door. The center is just one resource for the LGBT community that makes the University of Utah a desirable school to attend.

“These policies might start out to appear to be helping a certain group but they actually expand to help more than just that one group,” they said.

Medina-Martínez has also worked to make changes to buildings on campus, such as the campus recreational activities building (HPER).

Now, there is more privacy in the men’s shower area. “From what I hear from men, regardless if they are cisgender (opposite of transgender) or however they identify themselves, they want privacy in the shower,” Medina-Martínez said.

The policy changes that the U has made in an effort to accommodate all students has earned the university some recognition.

Campus Pride is a national nonprofit organization for student leaders and campus groups that are working to create a safer college environment for LGBT students. Campus Pride also has created an index, released in August 2012, for the purpose of helping a prospective student who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender to find a university that has policies in place to create a safe study environment.

According to the Campus Pride Index, the University of Utah scored the highest possible score of five stars as a prospective place for higher education for the LGBT community. The university scored perfect in the sub-categories of support and institutional commitment, academic life, student life, campus safety, counseling and health and recruitment and retention efforts. The only categories that the university fell short on was in policy inclusion and housing/residence life.

“Campus Pride is really the only resource out there for the prospective LGBT student to find out what college to go to,” said Jess McDonald in a telephone interview. “Being highly ranked says a lot about the campus and that they value LGBT students as much as any other student,” said McDonald, who is media, communications and programs manager for Campus Pride.

Medina-Martínez also talked about the U’s favorable rating.

“They (Campus Pride) rated the university based on their policies and procedures as one of the top-25 schools in the nation out of more than 300 schools,” Medina-Martínez said. “What it means is a really great thing for the university.”

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University of Utah LGBT Resource Center breaks “out of the closet,” allowing for improvement, greater student outreach

Posted on November 13, 2012 by comm5775

Story and photos by RACHEL JACKSON

The expansion of the LGBT Resource Center at the University of Utah has enabled the center to provide more assistance for members of the LGBT community, as well as a judgment-free zone for all students to study.

The first LGBT center, which opened at the U in 2002, was housed in a cleaned-out utility closet in the A. Ray Olpin University Union. And now, 10 years later, the center has doubled in size, to nearly 1,000 square feet, thanks to the David Bohnett Foundation, an activist group from California, which gave the LGBT center a grant of $15,000.

“We broke out of the closet,” said Kai Medina-Martínez, LGBT Resource Center director. “Last year the space was expanded and we now have a larger area to work in.”

The sign that is featured in the LGBT Resource Center on the University of Utah campus. The center is located on the fourth floor of the Union building.

The center on the fourth floor of the Union also offers a larger lounging area for all students, including a printing center with computers that students are able to use with no cost to them.

Before the grand “re-opening” on Oct. 17, 2011, students had to meet in the library for advocacy groups and training classes. Now everyone who is interested has an exact place to go for information on LGBT issues and the staff has the chance to be more organized.

The resource center offers a variety of informational classes and training on LGBT issues, such as Safe Zone training, which is designed to educate participants about the LGBT community and how to stop discrimination.

“We make sure the policies of the university are inclusive of LGBT and other identities also,” Medina-Martínez said.

The policies that Medina-Martínez has been working on are important, because they focus on equality for all. This includes all students in general and specifically trans-gender or non-gender-conforming students who might be in a transition stage.

“One of those policy changes that occurred about a year ago … is any student regardless of how they identify can go on [the student system] and choose a preferred name,” Medina-Martínez said. This was a way to allow people who are going through a gender transition to be identified in class by a name that more appropriately matches the gender they wish to identify with.

Another top priority for Medina-Martínez is to have a place for transgender students and everyone in general to have private, single-stall bathrooms that they can access on campus.

The LGBT Resource Center website has a list of unisex and single-stall bathrooms that includes the areas on campus where the bathrooms are located and on what floors.

“So these policies even though they start out to be inclusive of a certain group, they actually expand to everybody to be able to utilize,” Medina-Martínez said.

In the College of Health building (HPR) on campus, some trans-identified students were unsure of where they could go on campus to shower. Medina-Martínez was able to have some shower curtains installed. This was for the benefit of the trans students, but also for students in general who prefer privacy.

On Aug. 21, 2012, the U was named one of the top 25 friendliest LGBT campuses in the nation by Campus Pride, a nonprofit organization striving for a safer environment for LGBT students all over the country.

The top schools were chosen based on data from the Campus Pride Index and rated on a 5-point scale according to policy inclusion, student life and academic life. The study included a total of 339 universities and colleges.

Even though the U excelled above several other schools in areas of policy and acceptance of LGBT students, Medina-Martínez said work still needs to be done in the area of gender-neutral housing on campus.

“Many of these things couldn’t have taken place in the small closet our office used to be,“ Valerie Velarde, a student worker at the center, said in an email. “This is a highly important place to come hang out in, gain community, or even do homework in comfortably.”

One way the center encourages community is by hosting an event called Fabulous Fridays once a week from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. This brings people together to enjoy free food, play games and meet new people.

Brandon Vanschoiack feels at home in the LGBT Resource Center at the U.

The continual goal of the center is to create a place where students can meet peers with similar interests and experiences.

“It’s a great place to connect with others,” said Brandon Vanschoiack, a senior double-majoring in political science and philosophy.

Vanschoiack said he has been going to the resource center for a year since it has moved locations. He keeps coming back, because he feels a kinship with other students who visit and likes to share experiences “of feeling unwanted.”

Unwanted is something he never feels at the LGBT Resource Center.

“When you walk in there are no flashing lights that go off and say, ‘gay, gay, gay,'” Medina-Martínez said. “Anyone is welcome to come up.”

This type of environment is what the center has worked toward since its original opening in 2002.

Vanschoiack said, “It’s really a safe place I can go to be myself.”

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Utah’s gay and lesbian parental rights

Posted on November 8, 2012 by comm5775

Story and photo by KOURTNEY COMPTON

Your worst fear is realized: your spouse and children have been involved in a horrific accident. In the emergency room you find your spouse on life support, and your children being wheeled into various ICU units.

As you rush to their side, an unstoppable force prevents you from walking in. This is not a force of nature or a force of man; it is a force of law and prejudice. For you are of a same-sex marriage and according to the law, you have no rights here.

This is the reality of Jessica Finnegan’s everyday life. She has been a caring parent and the financial provider for her family for the past 13 years. She paid for the expensive process of in vitro fertilization (IVF) using her brother as the donor, so she and her partner could have two children together. They both had children in prior relationships and together with these two new ones they face constant legal hardships.

Jessica Finnegan, center, Jasmyn, left, Jacquelyn, right.

“I have no rights, I have to lie and tell them I’m the babysitter or Katherine (her partner) to get medical care for my own children,” says Finnegan, who lives in Salt Lake City.

Luckily, she works for XO Communications, a company that offers equal health benefits for all domestic partners whether heterosexual or LGBT.

Many Utah companies are following suit. Intermountain Healthcare (IHC) has decided to extend health care benefits to both same-sex and opposite-sex domestic partnerships.

However, even with this progress, it is just a step toward equality, not a final resolution. This became evident once the employees discovered IHC would not be subsidizing the benefits of LGBT couples. Subsidized health insurance means that part or all of the premium is paid for with state or federal funds to ensure that low-income individuals have access to health care. This means they will likely pay anywhere from $100–$300 monthly more than a legally married couple.

“I commend Intermountain for taking the first small step in allowing access to benefits,” said Brandie Balken, executive director of Equality Utah. “We will continue to have conversations about equity in the way those benefits are applied.”

IHC is the third largest employer in Utah; the first and second are the government and the LDS Church. Neither of these extends healthcare benefits to same-sex partners.

According to the Corporate Equality Index, “57% of Fortune 500 companies offer healthcare benefits to same sex domestic partners.”

Healthcare is just one of the many aspects of life where members of the LGBT community face inequality.

In 2000, Utah adopted a law that prohibits anyone cohabiting with an unmarried partner from adopting or fostering children. Gay men and lesbians who live alone may adopt. One individual who asked not to be identified said, “To get around this law, many same-sex couples hide their lives together, pretending their partner is a renter or hiding them completely. We hung pictures of the LDS temples in our house when we knew they were going to come over and we changed all the pictures of us to pictures of just myself.”

In Utah, close to a third of all gay and lesbian couples living together are raising children. There are 2,900 children currently living in homes with two same-sex parents, according to a 2008 report, by The Williams Institute a national think tank at UCLA Law, dedicated to conducting rigorous, independent research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.

However, even though there are thousands of children living in same-sex parents homes, the children themselves may not have the same legal rights as opposite-sex married ones.

According to Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, New England’s leading legal rights organization, in the event of the parents’ death, their children may not receive Social Security survivor benefits. In the event of the legal parent’s death, the non-legal parent may not be able to win a custody hearing against biological relatives.

Not only do they face multiple difficulties in their union together, but in the event of a separation or “divorce,” the non-legal parent does not have any standing in court.

One LGBT couple here in Salt Lake City is currently in the midst of their partnership break up; they said it was primarily because of these inequalities. “Peter,” who asked that his real name not be used, said, “The top frustration of our marriage has been the extra hoops we have to jump through to gain just a fraction of the legal and financial protections that come automatically with a marriage license.”

In February 2008, the Salt Lake City Council unanimously approved an ordinance to create a citywide domestic-partnership registry, providing a mechanism by which employers can extend health care and other benefits to adult designees of their employees.

While Peter has not had to test the effectiveness of the Salt Lake City Registry with a hospital visitation, he and his partner have encountered other problems. He added, “Even though we have paid the thousands of dollars in legal fees and completed the registry to get the paperwork necessary, oftentimes companies choose to ignore the paperwork when it is presented. By the time we have obtained resolution legally, oftentimes the original crisis has passed.”

Peter also said he is frustrated by lawmakers. “The anxiety I feel every winter when the Utah legislature is in session, wondering what kind of hostile and nonsense laws they are going to try and pass.”

He said if he were given the power, the top thing he would change is to get government out of marriage altogether. He said he would start with the elimination of DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act, enacted Sept. 21, 1996, as he feels it is unconstitutional and an overstep of federal and states rights.

Jessica Finnegan, whose partner was involved in the accident, said, “I have supported my family for over 13 years, I have paid for the house, the food we eat, the medical procedures to bear our children, yet I feel like a renter in my own home.  I have raised my children side-by-side with my partner, yet should anything happen to her, I have no rights to my own family.”

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The difficulties of being LGBT in sports

Posted on November 6, 2012 by comm5775

A local high school football stadium has seen brighter days.

Story and photo by CARSON HUISKAMP

Many boys grow up hoping to become an All-Star like Lebron James or Aaron Rodgers.

Throwing the ball around with friends, they imagine they have just caught the game-winning pass at the Super Bowl, or made that buzzer-beating 3-pointer just before time ran out. Sprinting down their driveway in pure joy, they look around as the crowd around them screams and shouts their name in rejoice.

In a sense, every child is just like one another.

But when it comes to LGBT student-athletes, not every child is just like one another. And some members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community must examine the risks and dangers of coming out to the public, especially in sports.

“I think it’s just fear. Not knowing what they will be faced with, and especially not knowing themselves,” said Bernadette Bell, director of student services at Judge High School, located in Salt Lake City.

“I don’t even know any LGBT kids who play sports. But our school policy is they get to play like anyone else,” Bell said.

LGBT students face many more risks with coming out than just losing family or friends. Peer pressure from fellow classmates can have a lasting effect on LGBT kids and sway their decision about coming out in school.

A teacher at Rowland Hall who asked not to be identified said, “There was one time I walked by and a couple students made the comments ‘you’re just so gay’ to another student. I stopped them and said, ‘you think I’m a bad person?’ They just stood there. Walking by that stuff concerns me. You’re using the term so freely and people tend to just laugh that stuff off.”

Imagine a student who has a passion for sports but may possibly be shunned by other players or coaches because he or she is gay or lesbian. Imagine the possible tension in locker rooms from not-so-accepting teammates, or even opponents.

“I think in women’s sports and women’s fields of play, it’s not as bad,” the teacher said. “But in the male field, everyone feels they have to keep up that aura that ‘I’m masculine and physical and tough’ so they aren’t seen as weak to others.”

The fact is, sports and being gay don’t mix well. In fact, the two don’t mix at all. It wasn’t until 2007 that the first NBA player came out to the public well into his retirement. The NFL has not had a single active player in its entire history come out to the public about their sexual orientation either. And nearly every professional sport one hears about avoids the topic altogether.

When such little attention is given to the issue by the media, it’s no wonder kids are hesitant about coming out to their respective high school teams. When no professional player is willing to risk coming out to the public in fear of the ramifications, a child will likely be hesitant in their personal lives to come out as well. Professional athletes are role models for millions of kids, and yet many refuse to even talk about the issue of equality and LGBT communities.

“I think that you are so worried that you will lose your family, and peer pressure is so difficult,” the Rowland Hall teacher said. “In junior high, middle school, and high school, the peer pressure can just be so harmful.”

It is very rare to see openly LGBT kids in high school sports, mostly because of the threat of stereotypes and bullying.

“A guy who is gay doesn’t want to come out to others because they don’t want people to say they are not as strong,” the teacher added. “The same can be seen in the armed forces, you don’t want the assumption that you’re not strong enough in sports.”

Strong, tough, brave, confident. These are the messages boys and men are bombarded with on a daily basis.

“There is so much fear out there that people are afraid to be who they are,” the teacher said. “It has a long ways to go.”

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The Salt Lake City LGBT community wants equal rights

Posted on November 6, 2012 by comm5775

Story and photo by VALERIA MONCADA

Many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Utahns want equal rights. This does not only include equal marital status but also includes issues such as adoption, benefits, the protection of their children and the right to make choices for their partner.

Monica Martin, 22, and Hali Taylor, 23, have been dating for a year and living together in Logan for 10 months.

“Neither of us has been disowned or had our parents disappointed in us,” Martin said. “But my father was remarried this summer and he made it clear he didn’t want us introduced as a couple at his wedding because he didn’t want people focusing on us and our relationship rather than his marriage. In reality he was afraid that he would be judged as a father.”

Martin and Taylor have also encountered difficult situations where landlords did not want to rent them an apartment due to their sexual orientation.

“Renting an apartment was hard in a religious community,” Martin said. “Even though people are not supposed to discriminate, they do. We have had to be careful not to disclose our relationship to possible prospective landlords.”

When it comes to acceptance, some people are not as lucky as Martin and Taylor.

Berlin Schlegel, 20, who lives in Murray, did not have his family’s support during his coming-out process.

Berlin Schlegel, on the left, and Tadd Mecham are like any other couple: they enjoy reading together, hanging out and spending time with their dog.

“The biggest struggle I have had to overcome was the disapproval from my family,” Schlegel said. “My mom did not take my coming out well and it has since then created an ongoing conflict.”

Schlegel not only had to face family issues, but he also began to get cyberbullied.

“I would receive anonymous emails that said things like faggot, queer, homo, etc.,” he said. “There were not any instances that were very assertive, just a few offensive slurs here and there.”

In the lives of a gay or lesbian person there are more difficulties than just marriage. Equal rights, renting a place, buying a car and family situations all can be challenging.

Martin and Taylor have thought about these difficulties.

“Honestly marriage is the least of our worries,” Martin said. “I am more concerned about hospital rights, partnership rights, insurance, all the details that straight couples often take for granted. It scares me that one day I could end up in the hospital or Hali could and we would not be able to see one another without permission of an immediate family member.”

Others do worry more about equal marriage rights, such as Tadd Mecham, a student at the University of Utah.

“I am concerned that equal marriage rights will take longer than they should to become legally recognized nationwide it is already long overdue,” he said.

Mecham added, “If I want to get married it should not be a process of moving to another state. I should be able to get married and adopt if I want to. Also, it would be nice to be able to legally visit my partner if they were in a serious accident. Things like that should not fall under anyone else’s responsibilities.”

Martin worries about end-of-life issues. “If I die my wishes would be determined by my family who honestly has no clue what I want if such a thing were to happen,” she said.

“I would love to one day call Hali my wife, but if it cannot happen tomorrow or even five years from now that is OK, it doesn’t change how much I love her,” Martin said. “All we ask for is the ability to gain civil union rights.”

Sometimes there may not be any family members to decide what happens. Brandie Balken, the executive director of Equality Utah, recently related a story about friends of hers.

“Nikki and Ann had been together for 24 years, they had all of their paperwork put together,” she said. “Unfortunately Ann died of a heart attack. Nikki called the morgue and then went to pick up the body. She had every contract except Disposition of Remains.

“Ann’s parents were dead and she did not have any siblings, there was no one to give the body to because Nikki did not have that contract, Ann’s body goes to the state and Nikki does not have a say in what happens,” Balken added.

Despite all of the challenges the LGBT community faces, Martin stressed how ordinary their lives are.

“We are definitely normal,” Martin said. “We are best friends; we build forts like kids, have sushi dates and spend nights watching our favorite shows and doing homework together. And we could not be happier.”

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