LGBTQ Resource Center

Bisexual? Bi-curious? Bi-loving? Ally? Not heterosexual, not homosexual -- just sexual? Join us for a workshop and discussion about the world between gay and straight, facilitated by nationally known sexuality educators, bi activists, and Brown alumni Marshall Miller and Dorian Solot. How do you know if you're bi? What are the best ways to respond to those who argue that bisexuality is "just a phase"? How can one cope with the assumption in the LGBTQ community that everyone is gay or lesbian? Are bisexual people twice as likely to get a date? We'll explore the myths, realities, joys, and challenges, and offer bi, queer, and ally buttons available for sale.

Emi Koyama: "Transgender Inclusion, or Demilitarizing the Borderlands of the Binary Gender System”

Emi Koyama is a multi-issue social justice slut synthesizing feminist, Asian, survivor, dyke, queer, sex worker, intersex, genderqueer, and crip politics, as these factors, while not a complete descriptor of who she is, all impacted her life. Emi is currently the director of Intersex Initiative. Emi lives in Portland, Oregon and is putting the emi back in feminism since 1975.

Wednesday, April 7th
Pride Series Convocation &
Opening for the Black Lavender Experience
Rites & Reason Theatre
9:00 p.m. Performance
10:00 p.m. Reception

Mangos With Chili is a Bay Area based performing arts company committed to showcasing high quality performance of life saving importance by queer and trans artists of color to audiences in the Bay Area and beyond. Founded in 2006 by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Ms Cherry Galette, Mangos With Chili features a revolving cast of QTPOC artists and has performed to sold out houses across North America, wowing audiences in world class theaters, underground performance spaces, bars and campus halls, with their high intensity, breathtaking performance, politics and storytelling craft, reflecting the lives and stories of queer and trans people of color, while making art that speaks out in resistance to the daily struggles around silence, isolation, homophobia and violence that QTPOC face.

Thursday April 8th-Saturday April 10th
The Black Lavender Experience
More information forthcoming

Thursday, April 8th
"Queering the Human as Art"
Rites & Reason Theatre
4:00-6:00 p.m
Panel discussion - moderated by Prof. Patricia Ybarra
Panelists: Daniel Alexaner Jones and Mangos with Chili performers Maria Cristina Rangel, Joe L. Johnson, Jr, Yosimar Reyes, Kali Boyce.

Join us for this workshop/discussion about what it means to be an LGBTQ Ally. Allies will discuss their expriences and assist others in learning how they can become better allies to the LGBTQ community.

"Voices Fit for Queens" addresses the nexus of vocal identity, gender, sexuality, and drag queens. The presentation examines the importance of voice in performance theory by exploring the stories of various drag queens and other vocal "tweens," hoping to shed light on vocal terminology and cultural understanding.

Tuesday, April 13th
"Training Rules" with discussion facilitated by Pat Griffin
Smith-Buonanno 106
7:00 p.m.

Rene Portland had three training rules during her 26 years coaching basketball at Pennsylvania State University - no drinking, no drugs and no lesbians. Training Rules, examines how a wealthy athletic department, enabled by the silence of a complacent university, allowed talented athletes, thought to be gay, to be dismissed from their college team. The film follows the lawsuit filed in 2006 against Portland and Penn State by student athlete Jennifer Harris. This high profile case ignite the world of women’s collegiate sports. It inspired the discussions so sorely needed to end discrimination based on sexual orientation that pervades all organized sport.

Pat Griffin is an Emerita Professor in Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She was also the Director of It Takes A Team! Education Campaign for LGBT Issues in Sport. In 2007 Dr. Griffin was named one of the 100 most influential sports educators by the International Sports Institute. She leads classes and workshops on sexism, racism, ableism, heterosexism/homophobia, and other forms of social injustice in education. Her research and writing interests focus on heterosexism and homophobia in education, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender teachers and students, and heterosexism and homophobia in athletics, with a particular interest in women's sports.

Interested in performing?
Submissions due no later than Monday April 5
Please email to RISD.QSA@gmail.com the following:

Real name(s)
Stage name(s)
Preferred stage pronoun(s)
Contact info / phone number(s)
Song in .mp3 format
Brief description of your performance
Any props or stage accommodations?

Monday, April 19th
Out For Lunch with Robyn Ochs
"Fighting Biphobia: What You Can Do"
Hillel Student Lounge, 2nd Floor (look for signs)
12:00 Noon

Biphobia (bahy – phobe – ia):
n. “fear or discrimination against bisexuals”
Allies and bi folks – join us as we explore the effect of biphobia in our own lives. How can we unlearn negative messages and misinformation and be proactive and fabulous rather than defensive? How can non-bi folks be allies to bisexual people? Join Robyn Ochs for an interactive and thought-provoking workshop. Together, we’ll answer these questions, then turn our shared knowledge into tools and tactics for fighting biphobia.

Evening Workshop with Robyn Ochs
"Beyond Binaries: Identity and the Sexuality Spectrum"
Morriss-Champlin Lounge
7:00 p.m.

Like snowflakes, no two people are exactly alike. In this interactive program we explore our sexual orientation identities. How do we assign labels to our complicated and unique experiences? We will explore: the relationship between experience and self-identity; between self-identity and the way others see us; different experiences of identity; the complexity of attraction.

Wednesday, April 21st
Rainbow Day
Tie Dying on the Main Green
12:00 Noon - 3:00 p.m.

Join us for a fun day on the Green near Sayles Hall where we will be tie dying t-shirts. We will have some t-shirts available but you can also feel free to bring your own.

Tuesday, April 27th
"Jihad For Love"
Film and discussion
List 120 - 7:00 p.m.

Fourteen centuries after the revelation of the holy Qur’an to the Prophet Muhammad, Islam today is the world’s second largest and fastest growing religion. Muslim gay filmmaker Parvez Sharma travels the many worlds of this dynamic faith, discovering the stories of its most unlikely storytellers: lesbian and gay Muslims.

Wednesday, April 28th
Grad/Undergrad Social
Graduate Student Lounge
9:30-11:30 p.m.

Join us for what has become an annual Pride Month tradition bringing undergrads and graduate students together for an end of the year social. Beer (I.D. required), soda and pizza will be provided.