Quinnipiac hosted Luz Burgos-Lopez and Sergio Gonzalez on Oct. 14, to talk about Latinx and LGBTQ identity, homophobia, transphobia and ally-ship.
The event was hosted in the SC133 Plaza in the Carl Hansen Student Center at Quinnipiac University. Lopez came to the meeting in person, while Gonzalez was over zoom controlling their slide presentation.
One of the people who helped set up the event, Veronica Jacobs, the associate director of multicultural education at Quinnipiac University, said the event was a way to celebrate Latinx Heritage Month.
“Latinx Heritage Month is celebrated nationally September 15th to October 15th and October is LGBTQ+ History Month,” Jacobs said. “We wanted to amplify both Latinx and LGBTQ+ voices and invite the Quinnipiac community to learn about identities they may not be thinking about daily.”
Lopez is the dean of students at University of Connecticut. Her work has focused on looking at anti-racism, racial justice, and equality in the black, indigenous and people of color community (BIPOC). Gonzales is a PhD student at Claremont University who has written multiple studies on BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities.
Lopez began to get a better understanding of these communities as she began to understand herself.
“It’s a continuous learning process,” Lopez said. “I came later into my queer identity, so I intentionally center on folks who have lived that experience sooner than I have.”
Lopez and Gonzalez made the event for students and faculty to learn and discuss current events that have impacted trans and BIPOC communities.
“I took away a lot of different words that I wasn’t aware of,” Lee Johnathan said, a freshman chemistry major. “I got to learn a lot of new things like heterosexual normativity and cis-sexism.”
The topic discussed was transphobia in the media. Lopez talked about how the media will follow transphobic jokes made by Dave Chappell, but will focus less on the death of Mel Groves, a transgender man who was shot on Oct. 11.
“I’m tired to death!” said one of the participants during the event. “I’m tired that people aren’t talking more about this [transphobia in media].”
Students that attended the event came to get a better understanding about friends they had in these communities. People in these communities were able to learn more about the topic. Cisnormativity describes someone that assumes everyone is cisgender and femme, meaning a person who identifies with the concept of femininity, were explored by students speaking with their feelings and not their thoughts.
“I am a black person and I’m also bisexual,” Olivia Ealim said, a freshman psychology major. “Coming to learn more about me or people like me is really interesting to me.”
Lopez and Gonzalez also put attention to the word “Joteria.” Gonzalez said the word was originally a slur towards gay men in Mexico and Latinx communities in America. Now the meaning has changed to become an umbrella term for queer and Latinx people.
I hope folks take away that there are always places of growth and that they can do it in communities, but most importantly being queer, latinx, or existing out of margin, there is also joy in that.
Luz Burgos-Lopez
Students who left the meeting got a better understanding of how to be a co-conspirator, someone that is doing more than saying. Co-conspirators are allies that support marginalized groups, while also showing it in their actions.
“I’m excited to engage in the resources Luz and Sergio left us with and learn more about Joteria (Queer) pedagogy,” Jacobs said. “I hope our students who attended the presentation feel inspired to continue learning about marginalized identities and figuring out how to move beyond allyship.”