The Campus Activities Center will host a series of workshops discussing LGBT issues throughout April starting with a workshop this Friday.
Safe Zone, a student-run educational program, has partnered with the Center to offer three workshops on the LGBT community this month. The first of these workshops will focus on the basics of LGBT studies, giving students an introduction into the topic before later sessions expand on it.
“Our goal is to make our campus and community a more inclusive space for the LGBTQIA+ community through education and allyship,” Safe Zone Coordinator Xanthe Yorke wrote in an email. “Our programs are geared towards creating safe and inclusive spaces for the LGBTQIA+ community.”
As suggested by the name, the primary goal of the Safe Zone program is to help make LGBT students feel safe on campus, improve the campus climate surrounding LGBT issues and create a network of visible allies for LGBT students.
The Safe Zone program has a long history on campus, holding meetings about LGBT issues since 1996. In 2015, they introduced their current curriculum, which focuses on helping non-LGBT students understand the community and become trustworthy and visible allies.
Though the program is focused on educating the University of Wyoming campus on LGBT issues, people from all walks of life are welcome to attend.
“This program isn’t just geared towards students,” according to Yorke. “Faculty, staff and the Laramie community as a whole is more than welcome to attend Safe Zone sessions.”
The first session, held April 5, is “LGB 101” and will offer an opportunity for those in the Laramie community to learn the basics of queer studies. Through activities and talks, Safe Zone hopes to explore different aspects of the community as well as educate people on the fundamentals ahead of both the Shepard Symposium on Social Justice and workshops later in the month.
Although the workshop is geared toward those who have little to no knowledge about LGBT issues, people of all levels are invited to attend.
“We get people from all different backgrounds at our Safe Zone sessions,” wrote Yorke. “There are, of course, people who know more than others, but I’d say we get people with all levels of knowledge and experiences.”
This is the second time this semester that Safe Zone has held these trainings. In February, the group hosted a series of programs similar in scope to this month’s.
One would expect for there to be some opposition to the politically-charged LGBT issues in Safe Zone workshops, but Yorke said that is not the case.
“I haven’t heard received any negative comments or witnessed any negative behaviors during my time working at Safe Zone,” Yorke wrote.
The first Safe Zone training, “LGB 101,” will be held Friday at noon on the third floor of the Wyoming Union. The event is free and open to the public, and lunch will be provided. Further workshops discussing deeper topics will be held on following Fridays at the same time and place.
