The Queer Community Coalition hosted two lobbying training sessions over the weekend to help students develop critical skills for activism against legislation like Senate File 051.
“We want to send a message as students, voters, and taxpayers, that we will not tolerate our tax dollars being spent on legislation that is not only detrimental to the LGBTQIA+ community but also is a fiscal drain and not an efficient use of our legislators time,” Riley Skorcz, Founder and Primary Chair for QCC, said.
Senate File 051, also known as the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, puts forth two major changes in high school and collegiate sports.
First, it would ban transgender female athletes from competing with their biological counterparts.
Second, it protects any persons who report violations of the act.
“If there truly was an issue with a transgender student participating in athletics in public school you wouldn’t hear about that from students, you are going to hear it from administration and parents,” Skorcz said.
Skorcz also said that the idea of pitting students against one another, no matter if it is at the high school or collegiate level, diminishes the welcoming environment schools try to build.
“We want to fight the notion that Wyoming isn’t a space place for queer people,” Skorcz said. “There are queer people everywhere, so let’s create spaces where they can explore their identity in a safe, supportive area.”
The Thursday training session was split into several sections including how to write to legislators, improving communications, data research, and understanding the process it takes to pass legislation in Wyoming.
“This is an opportunity to give students skills that apply to not just within lobbying and activism, but throughout their lives,” Skorcz said. “One skill that we teach students to use is how to communicate with legislators which is interviewing, and that is useful as an employee who is going to be out in the work field soon.”
“The more important thing is that this issue and this sort of legislation being pushed forward signifies to the queer population that they are not welcome,” Zoey Fulton, a double major in psychology and sociology, said.
Fulton is a transgender student on UW campus, and although she is not directly involved in sports she is a strong advocate for others like herself who are.
“Today it might be I can’t participate in sports, but then tomorrow it could be healthcare,” Fulton said. “This could be something that genuinely affects my life and, for a fact, it is this issue that is going to affect people like me.”
QCC also invited Wyoming Representative Karlee Provenza to the Saturday lobbying training, where she spoke directly to students about how to communicate with legislators.
“This was an opportunity to educate,” Kaylee Yeager, the Events Coordinator for QCC, said. “We want to make sure we are in good relations with our senators whose party values may not traditionally align with those of the LGBTQ community.”
Yeager said both training sessions left students feeling empowered and that teaching advocacy helps maintain an accepting environment for alternative identity and sexuality students.
“I get a lot of feedback about the kind of community building they want to see here,” Yeager said. “It was made very clear that when Senate File 51 was published that we needed to build a community around advocating.”
The Wyoming Legislature opened today and will run for a 20-day Budget Session.
While SF#51 has been received for Introduction, until it appears on the docket there will be no official lobbying actions from QCC or UW students.
