Over the Edge + February 23, 2011

Respect Week: Express Your Sexuality
What's going on with UNBC PRIDE?

BIANCA CHORABIK
CLUBS EDITOR

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Tear down that wall!

Sarah foot, the student life coordinator, and Robert
Giadino organized this Respect week, which spanned
from Jan 31 to Feb 4th. This event promoted acceptance
towards one another and within one’s self. Everyday from
11am to 2pm people came down to the Winter Garden
to celebrate their cultural identity, gender, sexuality,
and respect mental health and mobility. Finally, the
ultimate goal was to break down the wall of ignorance!

| interviewed Margaux Schilling who was in charge of
the “express your sexuality” event on February 2nd.

Bianca Chorabik: Respect week was divided into a few
categories (gender, sexuality, heritage, illness), is that correct?

that is correct. | was _ in
each day was_ presided

Margaux Schilling: Yes,
charge of sexuality day;

over by different organizations of campus. For
example, gender day was run by the women’s centre.
BC: Can you tell me your role in the event?

MS: For sexual diversity day | decided to create two posters
about anti-lgbtq discrimination. On the first one | asked the
UNBC community, “do you think that homophobia/biphobia/
transphobia is a problem at UNBC?” and on the second
one | asked “how are YOU going to stop homophobia/
biphobia/transphobia at UNBC?” | left space on the posters
for whoever walked by to write their ideas and opinions.

We had a great variety of contributions, ranging from
people mentioning heterosexism, to the continued stigma
of same-sex couples expressing affection in public, to a
person saying that they personally are ignorant in this area.

As well, we had free cupcakes in the colours of the Pride
rainbow flag that represent: life, healing, sunlight, nature,
magic/art, serenity/harmony and spirit. These drew in many
people who were walking by. People could take a cupcake
in exchange for signing a respect pledge or creating a box.

Theboxesweredesignedtorepresentbricks, whereparticipants
can write down hurtful words on them. At the end of the week,
the boxes were stacked into a wall which students could knock
down as a symbolic destruction of these negative words.

BC:
that

Was that occurred

you?

there anything
surprised/intrigued

Sai.

iss

MS: | was really happy to see the diversity of people who
stopped by the exhibit to look over the materials and
contributed to the posters. Sometimes it’s easy to think that
the only people who are interested in LGBT issues are those
within the LGBT community, so it’s nice to see that they
are becoming more publicly acknowledged and affirmed.

BC: Did people take the matter seriously?
MS: For sure, there were a_ lot of _ great
questions and = everyone was_ very _ respectful.

BC: The world has become more accepting of each other’s
differences, but do you believe there is still a long way to go?

MS: Absolutely, discrimination and hate are still big issues
for LGBT people, in many countries it is still illegal to
identify as LGBT and can even result in the death penalty.

BIANCA CHORABIK

In Canada, trans people are still not covered under the
charter and do not have the full protection of the law against
discrimination. So even though we've achieved a lot of
great strides toward equality, such as the right to marry,
there are a lot more challenges that need to be addressed.

BC: Ignorance is everywhere. What else can we,
as a group or as individuals, do to help people
see the truth and become more _ accepting?

MS: One of the best actions that someone can take is to
not make assumptions. Let people define their identities
for themselves rather than assuming you know everything.
Another idea is to take an active stance against hate and
discrimination, such as speaking up when someone says
something homophobic. Ittakes effortto make a place safe and
accepting for everyone butin the end itis ultimately worthwhile!

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