Though we have been working remotely over the last year, we have still been providing vital educational and direct support programs to the Carolina community. Since Fall 2019, we have depended heavily on donor contributions. During that time, we educated 4,407 people through our Safe Zone, LGBTQ 101, and other educational programs and provided community connections for 2,416 social program attendees. We were especially proud to collaborate with student volunteers and leaders to provide new online-only programs.
Learn more about how the LGBTQ Center continued its work during quarantine in this Student Affairs Carolina People Series feature of our Director, Dr. Terri Phoenix, published just ahead of the academic year during Pride Month 2020.
Instagram Stories image promoting Queer FallFest.
Queer FallFest
On August 12th, 162 students attended the first all-onlineQueer FallFest,a drop-in event for LGBTQIA+ and allied students to learn about and get involved with LGBTQIA+ organizations at Carolina. Theevent is typically organized by the student organization SAGA. This year, the LGBTQ Center provided a platform for incoming and returning students to connect with five LGBTQIA+ focused student organizations and relevant campus resource offices.
Students had the option of browsing relevant organizations and resources to join Zoom rooms for the ones that interest them, or connecting with the LGBTQ Center Ambassadors to help them decide where to start.
Queer MiniCon
During Carolina's ten-day observance of National Coming Out Week from October 6th to 16th, we partnered with Sexuality Studies and Honors Carolina Pride to host Queer MiniCon: two days featuring seventeen presentations chosen by representatives from sponsoring departments on LGBTQIA+ affirming research, lived experiences, passion projects, and creative expression.
In them, UNC System students, faculty, staff, and postdocs "queered" (deconstructed or questioned assumptions around) everything from social network mapping technologies, in Katelyn Campbell’s “Lesbian Connections: Critical Social Network Mapping and Queer Archival Methods;” to self-perception and dream environments in Sergio Jiminez’s “blue-light-being;” and conventional ideas about masculinity within both dominant and Black culture in Antonia Randolph’s keynote “Wayne Loves Baby: Queering Intimacy in Hip-Hop Culture.”
QMC was first proposed by the LGBTQ Center Ambassadors, then developed and coordinated by Dr. April Callis and Mx. Mariel Eaves with support from our partners Jason Clemmons of Honors Carolina and Jacob Lau of the Program in Sexuality Studies. We were proud to attract eighty attendees to this new virtual event at a time when Zoom fatigue was beginning to set in for many of us!
Pride and Awareness Days
This year, we engaged student input for each observance and translated our typical awareness-raising in The Pit into informational social media campaigns designed by our student workers. Students also took the lead in planning and hosting educational and social events for each observance, as requested through input polls that went out in News and Notes.
Pride Week
Pride Week is a partnership between the LGBTQ Center, student organizations, University departments, and community organizations to host events that center themes of history, inclusion, intersectionality, expression, and advocacy within Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer, and Asexual (LGBTIQA+) communities.
In its third year, Pride Week at Carolina, held April 6th - 13th, boasted over twenty events from sixteen collaborating student organizations and campus units. All events were hosted online and accessible through a new website that also featured video messages to students from campus leaders and alums; themed Zoom backgrounds; and a list of games suggested by the LGBTQ Center Ambassadors.
Through a partnership with Student Life and Leadership, we were able to bring the celebration to 100 students locally and across the nation through Pride Week in a Box: a free gift featuring rainbow decorations, educational materials, treats, a build-your-own stuffed purple alicorn kit, and a copy of Legendborn by Tracey Deonn which was selected for the LGBTQ Center's Book Club and SLL's Book Series.
Safe Zone: A Year of Adaptation
We began developing webinar versions of Safe Zone training in Spring 2020 as it became clear that programming would have to be held virtually for an unknown amount of time. At the same time, the rising visibility of anti-Black police violence, anti-Trans interpersonal violence, and direct action protests against both seemed to influence an influx of sponsored training requests: we received over 75 requests between June 2020 and June 2021.
936
People attended a foundational Safe Zone training
607
Attendees who were eligible to join the Safe Zone Allyship Network
540
Attendees who joined the Safe Zone Allyship Network by completing the Allyship Commitment pledge and became official Safe Zone Trainees
201
Safe Zone Trainees who attended Continuing Education training sessions
The LGBTIQA+ Advocacy Awards recognize staff, faculty, and postdoctoral contributions, graduate and professional student contributions, and undergraduate contributions or advocacy on behalf of the LGBTIQA+ communities at Carolina.
This year's Advocacy Awards Committee is pleased to announce the following recipients:
The 2021 celebration of graduating LGBTIQA+ students, Sexuality Studies minors, and their allies took place on Sunday, May 9th at 4:00 PM via Zoom. Many thanks to 2021 co-sponsors The Program in Sexuality Studies, The Provost’s Committee on LGBTQ Life, and Student Life and Leadership for their support.
K. Tajhi Claybren
Keynote Speaker
K. Tajhi Claybren (UNC 2014) brought messages of radical self-care and lessons from their career.
K. Tajhi is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the field of community health-supporting youth and young adults (ages 12-24); black, indigenous, and communities of color; transgender and non-binary communities; LBGQ communities, and people living with HIV. They are committed to supporting the healing (individual and collective), self-actualization, and liberation of TNB/LGBQ communities of color at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. While at Carolina, she was a Ronald E. McNair Research Scholar, a program assistant for the LGBTQ Center, and the student leader of the Gender Nonspecific Housing Coalition from 2011 to 2013. K. Tajhi earned their Master of Social Work and Social Work Administration from the University of Chicago and is now part of the Integrative Empowerment Group (IEG) therapy collective in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
For the last three years, the Center has been fortunate to have a consistent staff of three undergraduate program assistants and Trans Talk Tuesday Facilitator Anole Halper, MSW, MPH collaborating with three professional staff (Dr. Terri Phoenix, Dr. April Callis, and Mx. Mariel Eaves).
Jay Jayaraman
Jay Jayaraman
This year brought Jay Jayaraman (she/they), a first-year Master of Social Work student, as the new Graduate and Professional Student Programs Coordinator. Jay took on joining the Center during the COVID-19 pandemic and organizing all-remote programming with adaptability and attention to student requests.
In addition to coordinating social events for graduate and professional students and monthly LGBTQIA+ Speaker events, Jay notably collaborated with the School of Social Work Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to provide a tailored Safe Zone training for staff of local refugee assistance organizations.
Unfortunately, we are also saying goodbye to two staff members who have worked diligently to bring innovative and affirming programs to the Carolina community:
Dr. April S. Callis
Dr. April S. Callis
Dr. April S. Callis, who served as Assistant Director for four years, recently accepted the position of Associate Director of LGBTQ+ Initiatives at Miami University in Ohio. Her last day at Carolina was May 10th, 2021. April was diligent in seeking and operationalizing student input in programming and in educational content that reached audiences across campus
and the nation.
April coordinated the Safe Zone program - training and mentoring volunteer facilitators; developing new Continuing Education offerings in Bisexual and Queer identities; and managing the transition to providing accessible online training for campus and community audiences. Further, she worked with colleges and organizations across the United States to create their own versions of Safe Zone programs.
April also served as liaison and mentor to the LGBTQ Center Ambassadors - a
group of undergraduate students who help plan and host Center events. With their input, feedback, and assistance April worked closely with Mariel during the past year to develop three new programs that provided much-needed platforms for connecting to resources, exchanging ideas, and cultivating a sense of community for Carolina students, faculty, and staff: the first all-virtual Queer FallFest, the first-ever Queer MiniCon, and an online adaptation of Pride Week. Through all of these contributions, April built coalitions with departments across campus to ensure students felt valued and understood, especially in the absence of access to spaces like the LGBTQ Center.
During her last week, students met in person for the first time in over a year to thank April for her work and commitment to centering student voices in programming.
Katie Marroquin
Katie served as a program assistant at the LGBTQ Center for four years. She is a diligent and thoughtful worker who was always willing to assist others. Katie earned her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Women’s and Gender Studies, with a minor in Social and Economic Justice.
During Lavender Graduation, she used her portion of the ceremony to say: “I want to thank the LGBTQ Center for creating such a welcoming and accepting environment over the last four years. Specifically: Terri, April, Mariel, Rowan, and Max.”
Supporting the Center
We would like to thank the 76 donors who gave $5,998 during Give UNC 2021. The work of the LGBTQ Center to create a safe and inclusive campus environment would not be possible without your generosity and support. If you would like to support the Center's efforts to ensure that all people at UNC-Chapel Hill are treated equitably, please take this opportunity to learn more about our impact and to make a gift of any size.
Send us your non-campus email and/or mailing address to receive the LGBTQ Center's semi-annual alum magazine, Aluminate.
Quarterly Alum Newsletter
Get updates on LGBTQ life at Carolina, plus invitations to our annual Homecoming, Graduation, and alum appreciation events.
Alum Recognition and Directory
Share your post-graduation plans or update us on milestones in your life! With your consent, we will use this information to highlight the achievements of LGBTIQA+ graduates and to compile a resource directory for current Carolina students.
Celebrate Pride Month by supporting the UNC LGBTQ Center today. Though we have been working remotely during the past few months, we have still been providing vital educational and direct support programs to the Carolina community. Your participation today will enable us to continue conducting educational presentations and offering direct support to students, faculty, and staff at Carolina.
In the Fall of 2019, we operated entirely on donor contributions. During that time, we educated 1,554 people through our Safe Zone and LGBTQ 101 trainings and provided community connections for 1,083 people.
In its second year, Pride Week at Carolina boasted over 25 events and even more collaborating student organizations and campus units. Though canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, this year's celebration represented an ever broadening campus commitment to centering, funding, and showing up for LGBTIQA+ campus members and initiatives.
2020 Advocacy Award Recipients
These awards recognize contributions to or advocacy on behalf of LGBTIQA+ communities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We are pleased to announce the following recipients:
Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs brought messages of love, care, freedom, and bravery from the lives of Black LGBTQ ancestors.
Sista Docta Alexis Pauline Gumbs is a self-identified Queer Black Trouble-Maker and Black Feminist Love Evangelist who walks in the legacy of Black lady school teachers in post-slavery communities who offered sacred educational space to the intergenerational newly free. As the first person to do archival research in the papers of Audre Lorde, June Jordan, and Lucille Clifton while achieving her Ph.D. in English, Africana Studies, and Women’s Studies at Duke University, she honors the lives and creative works of Black feminist geniuses as sacred texts for all people. Her work functions as oracle, balm, and sacred space for those who are traditionally excluded from narrative and institutions of knowledge.
Share your post-graduation plans or update us on milestones in your life! With your consent, we will use this information to highlight the achievements of LGBTIQA+ graduates and to compile a resource directory for current Carolina students.
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Pride Week: Collaborating Across Campus
Featured story by Dr. April S. Callis, LGBTQ Center Assistant Director
For the first time in recent memory, a Pride Week celebration was held at UNC-Chapel Hill. Spanning April 8th through 12th, Pride Week included twelve events hosted by eighteen organizations.
At the beginning of the week, the LGBTQ Center invited students to Tie Dye Pride Week T-shirts. LGBTQ Center Ambassador Larson Carter was instrumental in planning the event as well as giving tie dying demonstrations day of. Gabby Brown and Mariel Eaves worked together to create the t-shirt design, which highlighted the collaborating organizations and departments involved in Pride Week. Monday was also the start of an online awareness campaign spearheaded by the student organizations Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) and the Black Student Movement (BMS) which focused on the intersections of gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity.
During the week, a variety of events were held on and off campus. These included a screening of The Imitation Game, Queer Karaoke, a Pride Field Day, an Interfaith Prayer, and Queer Trivia. On Wednesday, the European Studies Department held a mini LGBTQ Film Fest. And on Thursday, April 11th the LGBTQ Center and the Graduate School partnered with the Medical School’s Queer Straight Alliance, Kenan-Flagler’s Pride Club, Lambda Law Students Association, and STEM Pride of the Triangle for a Graduate and Professional Student Mixer.
The culmination of Pride Week was Queer Prom, which was cohosted by the LGBTQ Center and the Sexuality and Gender Alliance. Over 130 students braved a severe storm to dance the night away in a space decorated like an enchanted forest. Attendees also enjoyed a dedicated game room and a custom cake shaped like a unicorn. Thank you to our Graduate Student, Erin Case, and our volunteer Safe Zone facilitators who helped us by volunteering for prom (Edward Moreira Bahnson, Lauren Townsend, Jhom Cimmino).
Pride Week 2019 at UNC-Chapel Hill was a rousing success. In total, there were 465 attendees across the multiple Pride Week events. Planning is already underway for Pride Week 2020!
What's Inside
In this edition of the LGBTQ Center's semi-annual magazine:
Collaborating Across Campus: Pride Week at Carolina 2019
Reaching New Milestones in Safe Zone Programming
Cultivating Community among Graduate and Professional Students
A New Opportunity: LGBTQ Center Advancement Council
Looking Ahead to Fall 2019 Programs and Events
Recognizing LGBTIQA+ Achievement at Lavender Graduation
Carolina Pride Alum Network Celebrates Two Years of Connection
The LGBTQ Center staff are excited to embark upon another year of educating for equality, advocating for equity, supporting student growth and success, and working to create community on campus for and with LGBTIQA+ people. There remains much to do to ensure that all LGBTIQA+ people feel safe, seen and valued.
Last year was another busy and successful year for the LGBTQ Center. We provided 70 presentations to over 2,000 people. Our Safe Zone trainings consistently receive high ratings and comments such as “This training was beyond excellent! I learned so much and have a lot to reflect on. Thank you.” and “One of the most comprehensive safe zone trainings I've attended. Thank you!” We also provided 43 social and community building programs attended by over 500 people. In this issue you’ll read more about some of the year’s programs and events.
The LGBTQ Center has been working with the university development office on the creation of an institutionally supported LGBTQ Alumni group. Some of the goals of this group include strengthening the engagement of LGBTQ alumni with their University, enabling advocacy and education on issues important to LGBTQ alumni, and facilitating the creation of local chapters of UNC LGBTQ Alumni. You can join this growing network by visiting http://provost.unc.edu/lgbtqalumni/ and providing your information. I’ll hope to see you at one of the upcoming events.
Terri Phoenix
What's Inside
In this edition of the LGBTQ Center's semi-annual magazine:
Introducing our New Assistant Director: Dr. April S. Callis
Partnering to Expand Services for Graduate and Professional Students
Lessons from Within and Without: Leadership Lunch and Learn 2016-2017
In many presentations that I’ve given since the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, someone has asked if heterosexism is still an issue since same sex marriage is now legal. It’s a question indicative of a belief that with same sex marriage now legal there is no need for education about the LGBTQ+ communities or for activism to address issues faced by these communities. In my opinion, nothing could be further from the truth. Legalization of same sex marriage was a huge step forward to be sure, but so much remains to be addressed within the LGBTQ+ community and within society at large.
In this volume, Adrianne Gibilisco has written a piece, entitled “Are We There Yet?” that outlines the many issues still in need of being addressed. She presents statistics on homelessness, suicide, bullying, and employment discrimination that powerfully demonstrate this need. I know these statistics but what spurs me to action most are the stories of people with whom I work daily. These statistics also fail to demonstrate the ways in which people with multiple marginalized identities (e.g., transwomen of color, queer people with disabilities) are impacted by multiple systems of oppression not only in society at large but also within the communities of which they are a part (e.g., the LGBTQ+ community).
We all have a role to play in the undoing of systems of oppression even as we may simultaneously hold identities that carry both the benefits of privilege and the undue weight of marginalization. With respect to the privileged identities held, the solution is not to feel silently guilty for that privilege but rather to utilize that privilege in service to equality. We can take small but significant concrete actions to disrupt racism, classism, heterosexism, ableism and other systems of oppression and marginalization. For example we can:
Challenge the roles and expectations of the gender binary
Make room for others by asking and using the correct pronouns
Seek racial reconciliation by centering the experiences of people of color
Utilize the principles of universal design in the creation of space and programs
Honor the wisdom of many beliefs and traditions
Speak out against hate, injustice and exclusion in all of its forms.
Consistently taking these kinds of actions can help to create a world that honors the dignity and worth of each and every individual.
On a separate note, it is with best wishes but also sadness that I announce that Adrianne Gibilisco is leaving the LGBTQ Center at the end of November to take the position of Communications Specialist with the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Education. We wish Adrianne all the best in her new position and we will miss her greatly. [Aw shucks...I’ll miss all of you, too! - Ed.]
Terri Phoenix
What's Inside
In this edition of the LGBTQ Center's semi-annual magazine:
"Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up."
— Winnie the Pooh (A. A. Milne)
For the past decade, the LGBTQ Center’s mission has been to foster a safe, inclusive environment for UNC-Chapel Hill community members of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions. We have sought to accomplish that mission through three main areas of focus: education, advocacy, and direct services. Last year, we celebrated 10 successful years. It seemed like an ideal time to review, assess, dream a little, and -- as Pooh so eloquently noted -- “organize” so that our moving into the future “is not all mixed up.”
Over the course of this past semester, we have been engaged in a strategic planning process to identify goals to guide the LGBTQ Center through the next 10 years. We have engaged in a number of tasks throughout the process by reviewing the following:
Findings and recommendations from our 2012 administrative review process (https://lgbtq.unc.edu/about-center/center-history).
Programs, structure, and services of a number of our peer institutions (http://oira.unc.edu/institutional-effectiveness/institutional-performance-measures/peer-groups/unc-system-defined-peer-group/)
The Council for the Advancement of Standards for LGBT Programs and Services (http://www.naspa.org/images/uploads/main/Lesbian,_Gay,_Bisexual,_Transgender_Programs_and_Services_SAG.pdf)
The UNC-Chapel Hill academic plan (REACH Carolina) (http://academicplan.unc.edu/)
The UNC-Chapel Hill Diversity Plan (http://diversity.unc.edu/research-and-publications/diversity-plan/), and,
The Student Affairs Strategic Plan
Our program records and assessment data for the past five years.
Currently, we are working to consolidate all of that information in conjunction with envisioning what the future of the LGBTQ Center might look like in the context of current and anticipated needs of UNC-Chapel Hill students (undergraduate, graduate, and professional), staff, faculty, and alumni/ae.
As the director, I envision a future where the LGBTQ Center is prominently visible and engaged in a number of capacities:
disrupter of heteronormativity and the gender binary
advocate for equity in policies, practices, benefits, and opportunities
provider of information and resources
provider of cultural competency trainings and consultation
source of community for the diverse LGBTIQPAA, Two Spirit, and Same Gender Loving communities
Our goal is to complete the strategic planning process before the beginning of the 2015-2016 academic year and begin to use that plan to guide program and service planning and delivery. We welcome your input. If you have ideas, comments, or recommendations we encourage you to send those to [email protected].
Terri Phoenix
What's Inside
In this edition of the LGBTQ Center's semi-annual magazine:
The Growth of Graduate Programs
Fall Events in Review
Featured Alumna Spotlight: Kelly Johnson Barber-Lester
The news that has had everyone’s attention of late is that same-sex marriage is now legally recognized in North Carolina. On October 10th, Judge Max Cogburn, Jr. ruled that the state statutes preventing recognition of same-sex marriage were unconstitutional. Late Monday evening on October 13th, Chancellor Folt and Vice Chancellor Washington announced that, as a result of that ruling, UNC-Chapel Hill would begin offering equal benefits to employees with same-sex spouses. Full details about this change are available at: http://hr.unc.edu/benefits/benefit-plans/benefits-eligibility-for-same-sex-spouses/. This is a tremendous development for individuals directly affected as well as for the university and its students as a whole. The provision of equal benefits makes UNC-Chapel Hill much more competitive in recruiting and retaining faculty and staff. That, in turn, benefits the students’ experience and the university’s overall rankings among its peers.
When I was hired as the director of the Center, benefits equity was one of five top priorities I defined. As of this writing, four out of five of those priorities have become a reality (gender non-specific housing has not yet been implemented). This fact and the recent celebration of the 10th anniversary of the LGBTQ Center are prompting the creation of the next strategic plan. We know that provision of educational programming (e.g., Safe Zone), provision of direct services (e.g., peer support and discussion groups, social events), and continued advocacy to improve campus climate will be among the priorities set. The increased visibility of the LGBTQ Center over the past five years has positioned me to be at the table for some of UNC-Chapel Hill’s biggest conversations. As an example, I served on the task force that revamped the sexual assault, harassment, and discrimination policy. Issues of harassment based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression as well as specific concerns of responding to sexual assault within the LGBTQ communities were kept in the foreground throughout the entire crafting of that policy.
The university is making progress and the LGBTQ Center has been a significant factor in that progress and in the lives of many graduate, professional, and undergraduate students. It is a pleasure and a privilege to be engaged in this important work. Thank you to those of you who joined us for the 10th Anniversary celebration weekend. As we plan for the next 10 years, I am already looking forward to the 20th Anniversary celebration. Join us for the journey.
Terri Phoenix
What's Inside
In this edition of the LGBTQ Center's semi-annual magazine:
This year we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the LGBTQ Center (nee LGBT Office). The Center was commissioned in 2003 by then Provost Robert Shelton. Since that time, the Center has provided programs, resources and services to more than 25,000 people.
We are recognizing and celebrating the 10th anniversary of the LGBTQ Center with an Alumni Reunion weekend to be held May 2-4, 2014. I have had the pleasure and privilege of working with many fantastic students (undergraduate, graduate, and professional), staff, faculty, alumni, and community partners during the eight and a half years I have been here. I am hopeful that many of them will return to help celebrate the successes and progress that were made possible through their investment of time, effort, talents, and energy. I am also hopeful to have the pleasure and privilege of getting to make the acquaintance of some of the alumni and former university employees whose efforts made possible the ultimate creation of the LGBTQ Center.
We will start the Reunion weekend with an informal mixer to be held at Top of the Hill’s Back Bar on Friday, May 2nd from 5-7 pm. On Saturday, May 3rd from 12-2 pm, we will gather in the Chancellor’s West Ballroom at the Carolina Inn for a catered celebration banquet. We will conclude the weekend celebration with the recognition of the newest Carolina alumni during the Lavender Graduation Ceremony. Lavender Graduation will take place on Sunday, May 4th from 4-5 pm with a catered reception following the formal ceremony. Registration for all of these events is available on the General Alumni Association website (alumni.edu.unc/lgbtq). There will be a nominal fee for the Friday night mixer and Saturday banquet in order to cover the majority of the cost for the event. We have made it possible for people to contribute additional money to sponsor registrations for current students who might otherwise not be able to attend due to financial limitations. I hope that people will support this effort to the extent they are able to do so.
The LGBTQ Center’s motto is “Educating for Equality.” This phrase emphasizes and makes visible the primary purpose behind the majority of programs and services offered through the LGBTQ Center. I hope that you will join us at one or more of the events held May 2-4, 2014 as we celebrate 10 years of Educating for Equality and as we applaud the work done by those who made the existence of the Center possible.
Terri Phoenix
What's Inside
In this edition of the LGBTQ Center's semi-annual magazine:
Happy New Year and Greetings from the LGBTQ Center! The LGBTQ Center was founded in the spring of 2003. As we begin preparing to celebrate 10 years of working to foster a safe and welcoming community for people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions we thought it was time to launch an LGBTQ Center newsletter. Our plan for this newsletter is that it will be a way for us to keep graduates informed about our work, to keep us connected to the accomplishments of graduates, and begin to build a network of people with whom future Tar Heels can connect after graduation. In order to create a title for the newsletter, we are hosting a “Name the Newsletter Contest” (see details on pg 11). We also welcome feedback and ideas about the content, features, and structure. We want to create something that you find informative, interesting, and valuable.
I have been privileged to serve in multiple capacities at the LGBTQ Center for eight years and I have seen much positive change in that time:
Creation of a policy that any new building or major renovation must include the creation of at least one gender non-specific restroom
Inauguration of the annual Lavender Graduation Ceremony
The addition of gender identity and gender expression to the UNC-Chapel Hill policy on nondiscrimination
UNC system-wide equity for student purchase of health insurance for a same-sex partner in the student health insurance plan
Creation of an inclusive language policy
Creation of gender non-specific housing option in campus housing
Increased advocacy by Human Resources and General Administration for benefits equity for staff and faculty with same-sex partners
Over 2,000 active (i.e., still on UNC-CH campus) Safe Zone Allies
While the LGBTQ Center and its staff played important roles in each of these accomplishments, they could only have happened in partnership and with the support of many people, organizations, and departments. Many of you reading this right now played instrumental roles.
The LGBTQ Center still has many things to address and accomplish. We will continue to push for benefits equity (i.e., the ability of employees with same sex spouses to purchase health insurance for their spouse); the purchase of health insurance that does not exclude coverage for transition-related medical care; increased inclusion in the curriculum of LGBTQ, intersex, Two Spirit, and Same Gender Loving communities; and improvements in campus climate for LGBTQ, intersex, Two Spirit, and Same Gender Loving communities and their allies. We hope that former Tar Heels will stay in touch and support us as we continue to work toward full equality and inclusion of people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions.
We hope that Tar Heel Graduates who value this continuing work will support us with donations of time, talent, energy, and finances. I’ll look forward to hearing from you.
Dr. Terri L. Phoenix
What's Inside
In this first edition of the LGBTQ Center's semi-annual newsletter:
