On Nov. 29, the Cardinal Lounge was home to the fourth annual Queer Monologues event hosted by the LGBTQ+ Student Union.
The event featured four students that presented 12 pieces prepared by both anonymous and credited writers about their personal experiences as members of the LGBTQ+ community with a complimentary rainbow cake for all that attended.
Jessica Suphan, senior psychology major and vice president of the LGBTQ+ Student Union expressed that the event is a good outlet for LGBTQ+ students to express themselves while maintaining anonymity if they so choose.
“Here, you get to say what you want. You can be anonymous if you want. You can read other people’s [work] that resonates with you.” Suphan said. “Our club and this event gives people a chance to come together and talk to each other and not have to censor themselves.”
The monologues tackled many controversial and important issues regarding the lives of LGBTQ+ community members such as coming out to family members, feeling isolated and coming to terms with their identities.
An Omoly, sophomore digital media production major presented multiple pieces because she wanted to connect with more people within the community.
“Throughout my life I haven’t been able to participate in the the LGBTQ+ community,” Omoly said. “And, ever since I joined college, I have opened up and learned more. I feel at home with these people.”
Omoly believes the goal of the event was to connect with other people and try to understand each other’s struggle while bringing attention to personal struggles.
“I think it’s to help bring people together and to help us understand we’re all not so different.” Omoly said. ”We all have our own orientations and ways of identifying ourselves. We all have our own stories.‘
Senior LGBTQ+ Student Union Treasurer, Azure Arnot, agreed the goal of the event was to give as many people the opportunity to talk about their experiences as possible.
“I think it’s important for the LGBTQ+ community to have as many outlets as they can since, historically, they have been a silenced community.” Arnot said.
Arnot stated the LGBTQ+ Student Union is trying to have a greater overall presence on campus and these events are a means of outreach.
As a “bisexual queer woman” Arnot wishes to use her voice to put her sexual orientation in a positive light.
Having attended three of the four monologue events, Arnot noted how the event varies by the climate of the LGBTQ+ community.
“Last year, it (the monologue event) was very politically fueled, with the election,” Arnot said. “But it’s always different with new performers and new poems every year.”
Liam McBride, senior english literature major and secretary of the LGBTQ+ Student Union said there was a time when he wasn’t actively involved on campus until he gained the courage to approach the LGBTQ+ Student Union booth one day.
McBride explained that these types of events allow LGBTQ+ students to be represented and completely visible to the rest of the campus community.
McBride went on to say that one of the important jobs of the LGBTQ+ Student Union is to represent and support the students who are “still in the closet” and not just the “ones who are out.”
“I feel like it’s important to get the people’s voice out there even if they can’t,” McBride said. “We allowed people to submit anonymously so we could let their thoughts be heard.”
Email Fernando Alba and Windsor Burkland at news@cardinalpointsonline.com
