Queers & Allies Blog
Over touring week, ten students traveled to Lansing, Michigan to attend the Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference (MBLGTACC), hosted by Michigan State University. This conference provides the opportunity for queer and allied college students to come together in efforts to educate and unify the queer community in a safe and supportive environment. This conference fosters networking and thoughtful, passionate discourse about issues that impact the queer people as individuals and a collective community. It is also an opportunity to students to discover and explore many different parts of every individual identity.
While at MBLGTACC, these students attended workshops ranging from “Overcoming Internalized Homophobia” and “We’ve always been redefining Sexual Morality: An Explortation of the Curious Turns in Religious Sexual Ethics” to “Queer Sex 101”, “Understanding the LGBTQIA-alphabet Soup” and “Making Trans* Inclusive College Policy Happen”.
They also attended plenary speakers, including Ben Cohen, a World Cup Rugby Champion and Anti-bullying activist, and Robyn Ochs, an advocate for increased awareness and understanding of complex identities and educator on how to mobilize within and across diverse identities and social movements. This was interspersed with fabulous entertainment, such as StacyAnn Chin, a renowned and celebrated poet performer, and a performance by Latrice from Ru Paul’s drag race!
MBLGTACC is a wonderful opportunity and experience for our group and many others! We will be using the knowledge and inspiration found to better the experiences and opportunities of Gusties, and to make Queers and Allies a more inclusive, understanding, and motivated group. We hope to return next year, hosted in Kansas City, Missouri!