Statesman

Issue date: 10/1/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Joe Olivieri Sara Thomsen performing during the GLBTA summit last Friday.

UMD hosted the first ever univeristy system-wide Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Ally (GLBTA) summit this past weekend. Over 100 students, faculty and staff from all five University of Minnesota campuses came together in an effort to strengthen the GLBTA Movement. Uniting the campuses gave participants the opportunity to network and to share ideas with each other.

"We get so busy on our own campuses, and we want to support each other in our GLBT work," said Anne Phibbs, director of GLBTA for the Twin Cities campus. "We're starting to get GLBT activism in Crookston, Rochester and Morris. We're starting to think about these issues together, not just as separate campuses, but as an entire system."

The activities kicked off on Friday and carried on into Saturday. Mayor Don Ness welcomed the summit at a dinner that featured keynote speaker Dr. Nancy Barceló, who is the vice president and vice provost for Equity and Diversity for the U of M. There was also a benefit concert, a stand-

up comedy show, door prizes and raffles for any who wished to participate.

The networking aspect of the summit was an especially important tool for smaller campuses. Schools like University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC), who doesn't have a GLBTA program, got to see how larger campuses are increasing visibility for GLBTA.

"We're interested in improving campus climate to be welcoming to everyone," said UMC student Kim Jorgensen. "It's hard to stand up for yourself or anyone else if the climate is not safe to do so. Duluth and the Twin Cities are large campuses, and it's helpful for us to be able to share experiences."

One of the key issues that the summit addressed was fostering anti-racism in GLBTA movements. OutFront Minnesota presented a workshop at the summit to look at how the GLBT community can be more deliberate at tackling issues of racism.

"One of the biggest problems is how invisible the issue is," said Jo Haberman, co-director of the workshop. "We have to raise the issue in the GLBT community so that it's at the same level of commitment of equality."

Participants of the workshop were encouraged to share their feelings and brainstorm ideas on how to fight racial inequality.

"A phrase that we use is 'leave no queer behind,'" said Kelly Lewis, who co-directed the workshop with Haberman. "In the GLBT movement, we have to include everyone."

UMD sophomore, Arielle Schnur agreed.

"All oppression is connected. If one person is held down, all of us are held down," she said.

Schnur stressed the importance of the issue of racism, both within the GLBT community and in society overall.

"When we place ourselves above one another, we don't allow ourselves to communicate. We miss the stories of those being oppressed because we are dismissing them as unequal people."

Schnur was excited to see UMD and other campuses coming together for the summit, and explained that it is an important step in bringing progress to the GLBTA movement.

"This summit represents the U of M system being accepting of the GLBTA community," she said. "It is setting a standard for faculty, staff, students and all those involved that oppression in our group is no longer acceptable."

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