The Western Regional Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Ally College Conference will be hosted at Cal Poly for the first time in the event’s 20 year history. The event will be coordinated by the Cal Poly Pride Center and will feature speakers, workshops and discussions aimed to teach guests about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
At least 17 UC, CSU and private colleges from across California are registered to participate. Campus organizers are expecting at least 650 people to attend, approximately 400 more attendees than in 1996 when numbers were first recorded. The event, which began on the UC Davis and the UC Santa Barbara campuses, will present speakers and hold 31 workshops for supporters and members of the queer community about sexual health, coming out, religion and LGBTQA education.
The theme for this year’s conference is “Honor the Past, Impact the Present and Define Our Future.”
With the theme, Pride Center Coordinator Erin Echols said event organizers want conference attendees to reflect on the history of the same-sex community such as their civil rights struggles, the hurdles they face now and ways to improve the future.
“Each workshop is listed as a different track so if health issues were of interest to you, you could go to a health workshop in almost every session,” Echols said. “Our goal was to give people an opportunity to learn about topics that maybe they already have some experience in or try out something completely different that they’ve never even heard about and get a beginner’s education in that.”
Animal science senior Daniel Pfau, chairperson of the conference committee, said the event would create an environment where homosexuals, bisexuals and transgenders would be the norm compared to what many experience in their daily lives.
Pfau said the event would add much needed diversity to Cal Poly’s campus and benefit students looking to learn more about differences in the world and in their lives.
“I think it’s a great honor for Cal Poly,” Pfau said. “I think it says a lot that we are branching out to something that has been a struggle for the school, in my opinion meaning diversity.”
Genevieve Flores, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Assembly executive director at the University of Southern California, said the visiting colleges will host seminars during the event, including a workshop on how to start LGBT outreach programs. One thing she’s most looking forward to is meeting LGBTQ members from other schools.
“I’m expecting to spend a weekend with like-minded people and get a chance to meet other queer students from California,” Flores said. “Here at USC we have been working more with L.A. colleges so it’ll be really cool to meet with other colleges outside of the Los Angeles area.”
The three-day event will also feature lectures and presentations from former Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation executive director Joan Garry, poets Buddy Wakefield and Andrea Gibson and a keynote address from Rick Jacobs, founder of the Courage Campaign, an organization that promotes the No on Prop 8 campaign and same-sex marriage.
“(Wakefield and Gibson) both identify as members of the LGBTQ community and they have some great things to say, some things that inspire people so that when they leave the conference, they’ll just be really psyched to go back to their campus,” Echols said.
Echols said she hoped the diversity of attendants will create a networking opportunity for students and campus officials of all sexual preferences and allow them to learn about topics they might not be able to in classes.
“Here there’s all these things that you wouldn’t be able to take a class on here at Cal Poly that just might be new, something that strikes you of interest,” Echols said. “And an opportunity to meet people of other campuses too, to really branch out. If you want to see diversity on Cal Poly’s campus, this would be a good way to see diversity.”
The conference, which is open to the public, kicks off Friday, Feb. 19 at 6 p.m. and goes to 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 21. Tickets can be bought at the door in the University Union or through the conference’s Web site, www.comeoutwest.org.