OUTober focuses on inclusivity, education

Oct. 26, 2015

Evan Musick
[email protected]

Megan Lunsford | The Scribe
MOSAIC conducted its annual OUTober events this month, which included Safe Zone, Lezberados, Ally Appreciation BBQ, a trans community teach in, free HIV testing and a Guess Who’s Gay panel.

The purpose behind these events was to increase awareness of LGBT issues while creating a safe and inclusive community, according to Jesse Perez, program director of the LGBT Resource Center.

Perez compared UCCS’ OUTober to other schools.

“Other colleges do weeks of events,” he said. “For National Coming Out Day, some people will just do a big event on that day, or maybe the week of. But for us, it was important to have LGBT events the entire month, to focus on that awareness piece.”

Perez said attendance was good for comedy show Lezberados and the Guess Who’s Gay panel, both averaging 50-60 students.

Perez added that while many of the events were meant to be fun, they also addressed serious topics.

“Even with our fun events, we do set aside time to talk about educational pieces,” he said.

Perez said that while the topics may have become uncomfortable to talk about at times, it got people talking and asking questions in a healthy manner.

Students who are not part of the LGBT community were more than welcome to participate and attend the events, and Perez encourages them to do so. He said that every ally and supporter is important.

Perez said there has always been an issue with inclusivity.

“It’s our time to really take hold of that, and try to create some change on campus,” he said.