Fall 2015 Highlights

The fall semester has been a great one at LGBTQ Life! Here are a few highlights of fall 2015. Check out our Instagram feed for more images of everything we do. We are grateful to everyone who helped us make this semester wonderful. Have a happy new year, and we look forward to another wonderful semester this spring!

Key Events

Queer Chinese Identities – November 9: Yige Dong of the Sociology Department hosted a talk on queer identities and lived experiences in China. The program included viewings of two short documentaries. The 40 people in attendance enjoyed catered sushi by Bamboo Café afterwards. The event was cosponsored by the Chinese Students Association and aKDPhi sorority.

Dinner with President Daniels and Joanne Rosen – November 10. 28 students and faculty were honored to have dinner with President Ron Daniels and Joanne Rosen at Nichols House, the president’s Homewood Residence. We gathered for community building and to discuss experiences on campus.

LGBTQ Life Family Holiday Party – December 2. We enjoyed our annual holiday event, featuring crafts, karaoke, and snacks. OMA provided goody-bags for the party. About 55 people engaged in relaxed conversation as well as enjoyed some crafts, which included cookie decorating, picture frame decorating, and coloring books.

Key Programs

Safe Zone training. Safe Zone trainings are 3 hour sessions that anyone can attend and learn more about the LGBT community. They are led by trained facilitators (who can be students, staff, and faculty), each able to offer their own perspectives and experiences. We currently have 39 facilitators, which includes 12 new facilitators who were trained this semester. This semester, we trained 186 new Safe Zone members!

Meet-ups. Our meet-ups were a new addition to our regular programming this year. We were pleased to support meet-ups for three different identity groups throughout the semester. These gatherings are open only to individuals who share that identity. We hosted meet-ups for LGBTQ people of color, which turned into a regularly occurring group called Roots. We hosted two meet-ups for transgender and genderqueer people, and one meet-up for asexual people. The meet-ups were well attended and participants told us they were important for building community. We plan to continue them in the spring

Coffee hours with faculty. We sponsored four coffee hour events designed to help students connect with faculty members. Faculty are invited to spend time in the LGBTQ Life office and chat with students informally. Our thanks to Timothy Atherton (of Tufts), Emily Reihl, Van Dixon (of STScI), and Stephen Campbell for participating as guests at our coffee hours.

Trans-inclusive benefits. Beginning in January 2016, employees at JHU will have access to health insurance that cover hormones and gender confirmation surgery. Benefits will also be available to family and partners of JHU employees. This means that staff and faculty will have benefits similar to those already provided in student health insurance. We will continue working with the Diversity Leadership Council to get similar benefits for JHMI employees.