SIU is celebrating LGBTQIA+ history month in October with the theme “History will Repeat. We Won’t Retreat.” The month kicked off with a pumpkin painting event at Becker Pavilion on Oct. 1. 

National Geographic says the name LGBTQIA+ started as LGB in the ‘90s to describe the lesbian, gay and bisexual community. Since then, the term has added more and more letters for an ever growing community. It added transgender, queer, intersex, asexual and any other group included with the plus. 

The events are sponsored and organized by many different student and community organizations, such as the Paulette Curkin Pride Resource Center, Saluki Rainbow Network, Hispanic/Latino Resource Center, SIU No Shame Theater, Southern Illinois Queer Archive and many more. 

The month brings people together and shows what resources the school and community have for LGBTQIA+ students and faculty. 

“I am just excited to celebrate my fellow queer community at SIU,” Kadence Lane, a graduate student said. “It’s actually my first semester at SIU, so I’m excited for the community aspect of it.”

Resources became available at SIU for the LGBTQIA+ community in the ‘90s with the Triangle Coalition. A group created by faculty to push for LGBTQ+ inclusivity on an institutional support level. 

It later became the Pride Resource Center. The center was renamed the Paulette Curkin Pride Resource Center about a year ago, in honor of alum Curkin, who worked for university housing and supported LGBTQIA+ students. She because the student development coordinator the the Pride Resource Center and a volunteer advisor for Saluki Rainbow Network. 

LGBTQIA+ history month has been celebrated at SIU for the last 21 years. 

On Oct. 2, the Student Center hosted a Queer Salukis Townhall where the Pride Resource Center talked about LGBTQIA+ responses, individual concerns and checking in with the community. 

Juniper Oxford, the coordinator for the Paulette Curkin Pride Resource Center, said the center wants to see everyone in the community feel safe and welcome. 

“I think the most important piece of that event was having … our LGBTQ+ community members know the names and faces of the people who represent them.” 

A keynote speaker, Jeanette Oxford, is planned for Oct. 10 at Morris Library at 3 p.m. in Guyon Auditorium. Oxford is an SIU alum who served as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives and was the first openly lesbian member of the Missouri Legislature.

Oxford is visiting SIU with two other Missouri Representatives and is a relative of Juniper Oxford. 

Juniper Oxford said that Jeanette Oxford will be “talking about the importance of interlocking queer justice with racial justice and the co-organizing that’s been happening; and standing up to injustice everywhere.” 

The next day, Oct. 11, will feature a Carbondale Pride Fest all day at the Carbondale Pavilion and Washington Street. This year, the festival lines up with National Coming Out Day.

“We always do a coming out social on campus and … also do a big group photo,” Oxford said. “And this year, because of the overlap, we’re going to have our national coming out day downtown, and we’re going to share the festivities, but we’re going to have a moment in that day where we’re going to come together and do a group photo of everybody in Carbondale, visiting Carbondale and those at SIU all in one photo. So hoping to break a record here on our biggest photo yet.”

SIU Safe Zone, a group that teaches staff on how to support the LGBTQIA+ community. They will have an LGBTQIA+ history session on Oct. 7, and a retreat on Oct. 27. Faculty can volunteer to go to a training session for Safe Zone and join a support system for LGBTQIA+ students across campus. 

The training sessions will also teach staff how to use inclusive language, learn about issues the community faces and how to become a support system for LGBTQIA+ students and staff. 

Lana Rizzo, an SIU alum and automotive professor, is most excited for the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” with shadow cast at the Varsity Center on Halloween night. Rizzo said she is impressed with how many events are planned for the month. 

“There’s so many events and it’s fantastic that, you know, there are that many events to go to all the cinemas and all the other pride parades and all the speakers that are coming,” Rizzo said. “There’s so many, and it just is like, it’s great that the resources are here for supporting the LGBTQ+ community.” 

Find the full schedule of events for LGBTQ+ history month at https://smrc.siu.edu/lgbtq/programming/ 

Digital Editor Peyton Cook can be reached at pcook@dailyegyptian.com, or on Instagram at @cookmeavisual.

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