Exectutive Board Elections - NEXT WEEK!

Executive board elections will take place NEXT WEEK at QSA's regular meeting (Thursday, September 16). We are looking to fill the roles of secretary, treasurer, and ad coordinator. Here are the people who are running:

Abbey Rhodes, High School Student
Running for: Treasurer

Alex Emery, Senior, English - Writing Emphasis & Japanese
Running for: Secretary

Alyssa Nesiba, Freshman, Travel & Tourism
Running for: Secretary, Treasurer

Grant Pearce, Freshman, Visual Communications in Design
Running for: Ad Coordinator

Please come to the meeting if you are running for a position or if you want to vote! We will tell you at the meeting who had voting rights and who doesn't. QSA members get voting rights if they are UNK students/faculty, have attended two consecutive QSA meetings, and have not missed two or more consecutive meetings.

FIRST SOCIAL EVENT: Movie Night!

Come hang out with QSA during our first campus social!

QSA Movie Night
Showing: "Imagine Me and You"
Monday, September 12
8:00 PM
University View


Plot summary from IMDB: Rachel and Heck, long time friends and lovers, finally tie the knot, and during the celebration, Rachel starts a friendship with their florist, Luce. And while Rachel originally intended to match her new friend, Luce, up with her husband's friend, Cooper, she soon finds out that Luce is a lesbian. During the course of their friendship, Rachel starts to question her own sexuality. And though she comes to realize she may have feelings for her new friend, Rachel must decide who she will ultimately find the most happiness with: Heck, her new husband who is also adored by her family, or Luce, who has turned her life and everything she thought she knew about love upside down.

This is a great, lighthearted movie that manages to touch on many issues surrounding the coming out process. If you need a break from the stress of classes and homework, come! I promise that you won't be disappointed. :)

-Jenna

FIRST MEETING OF 2011-2012! Be there!

I invite everyone interested in equality for queer-identified people to the first Queer Straight Alliance meeting of the school year:
Thursday, September 1
8:00 PM
Nebraskan Student Union
Room 312


During this meeting, we will spend time getting to know each other as well as getting a head start on event planning. We already have events coming up (yay!) and would love members to assist with NEW ideas and planning!

QSA is open to UNK students, faculty, AND members of the Kearney community who are not students at UNK. This means high school students, teachers outside the college, or just interested folks in general are able to participate.

Looking for a place to make new friends? A place to find support? A place to make a change in the community? A place for leadership experience and personal growth? Well friends, QSA has all of these opportunities and MORE.

If none of that is persuasive, how about this: We'll probably bring a cake. With rainbows. :)

Bring yourself. Bring friends. Bring ideas. But most of all, bring ENTHUSIASM! Let's get this group rockin' and have lots of fun doing it.

New kids: Don't worry about getting lost in the Union. We'll put signs up directing you to our meeting room. Just look for brightly colored paper and follow the arrows!

Hope to see you there!
-Jenna

Some Summer Updates!

1. We are updating our facebook page! Please like UNK QSA on facebook to catch up with our major updates!

2. We have tentatively scheduled meetings for the fall semester! As of right now, we are planning on having meetings on Thursdays at 8PM in Room 312 of the Nebraskan Student Union. I am excited about this location because it is large, private, and central to campus.

3. Blue and Gold Day is coming up! It will be Friday August 19 from 5-8PM. Me and Britt are planning on baking TONS of rainbow mini cupcakes and handing them out to the community :) We would love to have some volunteers, so plan on checking out our booth.

That's all I can think of at the moment. Please check back for any important information about QSA as the school year draws closer. Enjoy the rest of your summer!

-Jenna

The website is currently under construction.

So please, do not judge its ugliness at the moment :) I am giving it a drastic make-over and it may take a few days.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!

-Jenna

Elections - NEXT MEETING

Elections are next meeting, Wednesday April 27! Below you will find a document explaining election procedure as well as the applications for the people running. Each application provides useful information about the character of the applicant, so I encourage all members with voting rights to view them in order to make an informed decision.

Feel free to email, text, or facebook me if you have any questions.
-Jenna

DOWNLOAD:
Election Procedure
Alex Bartlett's Application
Britt Cudaback's Application
Jenna Workman's Application
Ryan Stimson's Application

Some Minutes

Hey everyone! Here is some minutes from the past few meetings. We are still missing about three weeks worth, but hopefully those will be up soon too. I sincerely apologize for the delay!

Hope everyone is having a great Spring Break! :)
-Jenna

DOWNLOAD:
Feb 23 Minutes
March 16 Minutes

Queer Book List

Here is the list of queer books that Nolan is working on for the UNK Library. Please take your time to look through the list! Comment on this post or email me (workmanjl@lopers.unk.edu) if you have anymore recommendations for the list!

Thanks everyone. :D
-Jenna

DOWNLOAD:
Queer Book List

Executive Board Applications

Hey everyone. Here is a digital copy of the applications we will be using to apply for the QSA 2011-2012 executive board. A hard copy will be handed out at our meeting Wednesday April 6, but this is here if you want to get a head start. Everyone who wishes to run for office must have an application in to QSA by Wednesday April 13th, which is two weeks before the elections.

Thanks!
-Jenna

DOWNLOAD:
Exec Board Application

Support Love Week - COMMITTEES!

Hey everyone! BOOM is over which means it's time to shift gears and start planning for Support Love Week, which is Monday April 11- Friday April 15.

This week is going to require A LOT of planning, so it's important to be super organized.

Below I have provided a list of the committees for Support Love Week. This document also includes the responsibilities of each committee and important due dates that we must stick to in order to stay on track.

Please take a look!

-Jenna

DOWNLOAD:
Support Love Week Committees

QSA Event Calendar - UPDATED!

Hey all, the tentative QSA calendar has been updated! Take a look to see updates in our event planning, as well as when we are planning on having elections.

-Jenna

DOWNLOAD:
QSA Event Calendar - UPDATED!

BOOM - Dance and Drag Show -This THURSDAY!

** LET YOUR COLORS BURST! **



Come to Martin Lounge (904 W. 27th St.) at 9PM Thursday Feb 24 to DANCE hardcore in a club-like atmosphere!

We'll be having some AMAZING drag performers coming from Club Q to entertain us for the night: Kharizma Valentine, Sharen Shorts Cox, and Jessica Cass Bauer. We've seen them get down before, and WOW - you won't want to miss it. We also have added Stella Starlight, a queen straight from Kearney, to our list of performers! It's going to be awesome.

Refreshments will be provided, and there will be no admission charge! However, if you have some 1 dollar bills to tip our lovely performers (they're making a long trip for us!), we would appreciate it very much :)

Save the date! It's going to be QSA's biggest event yet. And best of all - everyone and anyone will be welcomed and accepted. ♥

Email me if you have any questions! workmanjl@lopers.unk.edu

-Jenna

Minutes - Sorry for the delay!

Hey all, sorry for the lack of posts lately! With all the planning for BOOM and The Vagina Monologues, it was hard to find time to write any blog posts! I hope you forgive me. Here are all the latest meeting minutes for any who are interested. Last week's minutes are not included because our secretary was not present for the meeting.

Expect much more updates now that BOOM is coming up this week!

-Jenna

DOWNLOADS:
Jan 26 Minutes
Feb 2 Minutes
Feb 9 Minutes

Tentative QSA Spring 2011 Schedule

Here is the tentative Spring schedule for QSA. Please check back for any updates that we may have.

-Jenna

DOWNLOAD: UNK QSA Spring 2011 Schedule

TONIGHT! - Ryan Sallans at UNK

I highly encourage everyone to go attend "Scouting the Unknown" tonight at 7-9PM in the Ponderosa Room (upstairs in the Student Union). Ryan Sallans, a transgender man from Nebraska, will be speaking about his experiences transitioning from female to male.


Here a short biography from his website, ryansallans.com.

Ryan is a 31 year old, writer (soon to be author of a book about his transition) and performer. Over the past five years he has worked as a free-lance public speaker where he shares his story, struggles, and observations about being trans. He also works at a non-profit organization as a health educator where he focuses on transgender and LGB health care, diversity, hormone therapy and inclusion.

To get where he is today, he's completed a bachelors of art in anthropology and English, a masters of art in English (creative writing), and a masters of art in educational psychology (human health behaviors) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Ryan began his transition in 2005 and over the years has explored various areas of his gender identity, at times leaning to the extreme side of the gender continuum, but now has settled into a place that he feels doesn't need to be defined.

He grew up in a small-town in central Nebraska where he spent most of his time playing outdoors, chasing cats and dogs, riding horses and swimming. Growing up, he considered himself an extreme tom boy, cutting his hair short, wearing jeans and t-shirts, coming home with bloody knees and dirty cheeks and not knowing how it happened. His fondest memories were hanging with friends during the summer, playing out in the woods and wading through the low running waters of the Platte River.

He's currently working on a book detailing his transition and living in the midwest.

It ought to be a very awesome, educational experience! I hope many of you find the time to attend.

-Jenna

Why We Call Ourselves a "Queer Straight Alliance"

Yesterday during the meeting's "Questions and Suggestions" time, where QSA members are allowed to write down something to ask the group anonymously, it was suggested that we change our title to something besides "Queer Straight Alliance." This suggestion has come up numerous times during our 3 years of existence, and the complaints seem to always be the same. Either...:

1. ...people do not like the word "queer" because it has a historically negative connotation that is insulting to sexual minorities. Usually these people favor names like "Gay Straight Alliance" because they think gay is less derogatory.

or

2. ...people do not like to associate with a group that has an "obviously gay" title. Usually these people favor more vague, ambiguous names that don't announce that it is a "gay group." For example, some groups are called "10 Percent," "Spectrum," or "Open Door."

Some people who are interested in the purpose of QSA refuse to actually come to meetings and become members because they disapprove of our title. Because of this, I think that it is necessary to publicly defend our group's title by providing our counter-arguments to the above suggestions.

I mean no disrespect by trying to disprove the above suggestions. Rather, I hope that by providing an official "proclamation" of the reasoning behind our title, people who dislike it may see our point of view.

We are upset that some sexual minorities of Kearney and their allies are turning away from us just because of our title. We want everyone to know that we are not using our title to offend or hurt anyone. Rather, we chose the title that we find to be as inclusive as possible while accurately and concisely describing the group's purpose.

So, with no further ado, I will provide a list of the main reasons why we choose to identify ourselves as a "Queer Straight Alliance":

1. "Queer" is an inclusive term that accurately describes all individuals that fall outside traditional heteronormative culture. "Queer" can describe someone who is homosexual, bisexual, transgender, pansexual, asexual, intersex... pretty much anything that is not heterosexual. This is beneficial because we are not just a "GAY Straight Alliance" - our members are not just gay and straight. They fall everywhere on the spectrum, and we want to recognize that diversity.

2. "Queer" has been used by activists as an umbrella term for all sexualities that fall outside heteronormative culture for decades. Using the proper activist language makes us look educated in the field of gender studies, queer theory, and political science. This makes our mission appear more legitimate, especially since we are a college group and therefore expected to be educated individuals.

3. "Queer" rejects that idea that you have to label yourself in order to be included. It can be preferred because of its ambiguity, which allows "queer" identifying people to avoid the sometimes strict boundaries that surround other labels. For example, proclaiming your "queerness" doesn't identify you as a gay person, bisexual person, transgender person, or anything else; it just means you fall outside traditional norms. "Queer" unifies all the nit-picky, divided categories under one term, creating a feeling of strength and togetherness among all non-heterosexual people.

4. By claiming "queer" as a positive identifier though it has been used as a slur in the past, we take away the word's ability to hurt us. The movement for the acceptance of sexual minorities will never be successful if people cower in fear and let the word degrade them. The fear of the word "queer" is irrational - the word only hurts if you let it hurt you. By using the word "queer" without fear, we bring strength and pride to the word. It's a survivor's word.

5. Using the title "Queer Straight Alliance" instead of something vague like "Open Door" is preferable because we want people to understand what the group is upon reading the title. This is the same reasoning for why people choose obvious names like "Chemistry Club" - they want people to know it is for chemistry so that they attract people interested in chemistry, similar to how we want to attract people who are interested in queer politics. When people read a name like "Open Door," people do not understand that it is for queer people. This means that people looking for a queer group may not be able to find it.

6. And finally, using the title "Queer Straight Alliance" instead of the more vague titles shows that we have no fear. It makes our cause visible. It forces people to realize that non-heterosexual people exist on this campus. It increases awareness every time somebody reads the name on a poster, or in a newsletter, or on the UNK website. This is what we strive for. "Open Door" could never do that. It lets heterosexism persist because it does not create visibility for non-heterosexual people.

I hope that some people found this helpful, and that maybe more people can understand why we choose to call ourselves the Queer Straight Alliance. As a whole, QSA hopes that people who refuse to attend meetings just because of the group's title might reconsider their decision. After all - by letting words own you, you might be missing out on a meaningful experience.

If you have any other questions or if you want me to explain something further, please do not hesitate to contact me.

-Jenna

New Agenda Outline

This is the new meeting agenda outline, for anyone who is interested. This is how all meetings will be formatted for Spring 2011.

-Jenna

DOWNLOAD: New Agenda Outline

FIRST MEETING OF 2011

Hey everyone! I hope you all have had a wonderful winter break!

The first QSA meeting of the Spring semester will be this WEDNESDAY - January 12, 2011.

I hope everyone comes! A new semester gives us many opportunites for change. Also, we have a lot to start planning for! Two of our biggest events are this semester - the dance and Support Love week! Come with some awesome ideas. :)

-Jenna