Awareness Week 2012 #LoveAwareness

March 19 – 21	Visibility Project (#LoveVISIBILITY) Slant Walk/Hub
March 19 7:30 pm	Guest Speaker: LIGHT aka DRED (#LoveLIGHT) LIGHT Facebook Event http://www.dredlove.com/ MPR, Shriver
March 20 7 pm	Diversity is Sexy, with Dr. Ruth (#LoveSEX) Part of DAC’s Diversity Week FSB 1000
March 21 6 pm	The Art of Drag with JAC Stringer (#LoveJAC) Psychology 125
March 22 11 am – 2 pm	Women’s Read-in King Library, room 320
March 22 8 pm	Laramie Project (#LoveMatthew) Leonard Theater, Peabody Hall
March 23 8:30 am – 4 pm	Love, Honor, and Pride Summit (#LoveProgress) MacMillan 212
March 23 4:30 pm	Pride Parade (#LovePRIDE) Parade Facebook Event starts at the Phi Delt Gates
March 23 8 pm	Laramie Project (#LoveMatthew) Leonard Theater, Peabody Hall
March 23 11 pm	Spectrum Drag Show (#LoveDRAG) Drag Show Facebook Event StadiUM Bar and Grille
March 24 2:30 pm	Laramie Project (#LoveMatthew) Leonard Theater, Peabody Hall

We’re ready! Are you??

We have an exciting, busy semester planned!  Check out all of our meetings and events on our Meetings page!

Remember, Spectrum is a safe place for all people and views.  Our first meeting is on Wednesday, January 18 at 7 pm in Shriver 336!  See you there!

Last Drag Show of the Semester!

The second drag show of the year is Friday, December 2 at StadiUm!  Doors open at 9:00 and the show starts at 11:00! Come out and help us raise money for a very important cause- the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Greater Cincinnati. Cover is $5 for under, $3 for over. EVERYONE is encouraged and welcome to attend! And remember, tip the Kings and Queens!!!

ALSO, we’ll have some special guests with us that night!  You’ll have to come to find out who… We only have one thing to say… you better WORK (covergirl)!

Let us know what you think!

Want to be a part of Spectrum’s future?  Fill out this quick survey and let us know what you think and what you want!

Look what we have planned!

Spectrum has a lot planned for the coming weeks!  As a reminder, always check our Events page to stay up-to-date on all Spectrum happenings.

Hidden Voices: The Lives of LGBT Muslims
Wednesday, November 2 at 7 pm in 25 FSB
“Hidden Voices: The Lives of LGBT Muslims” aims to highlight the many struggles and challenges facing sexual and gender minorities within the Muslim world and to examine the complex intersection of Islam, sexuality and gender.
With more than 1.5 billion followers Islam is considered to be the fastest growing religion in the world today, yet the Western world continues to view it with skepticism and uncertainty. While aiming to dispel common stereotypes and myths about Islam, this presentation will also explore the history of the queer Muslim movement in the United States and the suppression of LGBT rights around the world under the guise of the so-called “war on terror.
Using his own life experience and by exploring the complex history of the Islamic world, “Hidden Voices” strives to bring new light onto the lives of an often invisible and silent community: Muslims who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and questioning.
RSVP at the Facebook event.

Faith and Sexuality: In the Church and Out of the Closet
Thursday, November 3 at 6 pm in 25 FSB
An open, honest, and respectful discussion between representatives of various religious communities on the place of queer identities in the church—going beyond simply asking ‘what does the bible say’ to understand how attitudes across faiths compare.  RSVP at the Facebook event.
Panelists include:
Hillel Gray, Visiting Professor at Miami
Bill Hendrichs, Cru Staff Member
Jason Levine, Hillel Student Rabbi
Mike Underhill, Pastor at Nexus Church
Co-Sponsored by Cru, Hillel, Lights on Campus, and Nexus Church

Spectrum Thanksgiving Potluck
Wednesday, November 16 at 7 pm at 101 N. Main (Oxford Presbyterian Church)
This meal is a chance for us to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and allied community at Miami University. We hope that everyone (staff, faculty, students, community members) will join us.
Turkey, vegetarian lasagna, and plates will be provided by GLBTQ Services. We are asking you to bring and share your favorite side dish, dessert, or beverage. (If you can’t bring anything to share, we’ll still be glad to have you!)
RSVP and volunteer to bring a dish here.

It Gets Better Video
Week of November 14 at locations all over campus
SPECTRUM’s Awareness Committee is organizing the filming and production of Miami University’s very own IT GETS BETTER video, and we want your help!  Filming will take place during the week of November 14th, 2011. We’ll hold several main filming sessions throughout the week in order to accommodate everyone’s schedule.
Want to be in the video??  Write on the wall of the Facebook event or email Matt Metzler (metzlemr).
Learn more about the It Gets Better Project at http://www.itgetsbetter.org.

 

A Special Thanks

Westboro Baptist Church came and went, but Miami United.  We would like to thank everyone who made Unite Miami: Love is Our Resistance, White Out Hate, and the Teach In On Hate a success!!!  A very special thanks to all of our Co-Sponsors!  We know that Miami is a stronger, brighter community because of everyone’s courage and convictions!

So what will Unite Miami: Love is Our Resistance be like?

We have had an amazing amount of support rally behind this cause!
Performers include the Cheezies, the Mergers, the Remnants, and Britney Queers. Speakers include Bruce Beisner, Madelyn Detloff, and Student Body President Nick Huber. We will also salute our troops in combat and our veterans. This will truly be a unifying experience!
There will also be a bunch of student organizations hosting fundraisers at the event to raise money for a local veterans fund and a local LGBT cause. Come join us in a show of love, unity, and respect!

Thinking of Counter-Picketing?

We recognize that some people may feel compelled to show their disapproval of the Westboro Church through a counter-protest or other demonstration near the WBC site. If you choose to do this, keep a few things in mind.

q You are unlikely to make an impact on the WBC representatives by shouting or engaging with them.  After doing over 40,000 pickets, they’ve heard it all. Consider creative or silent ways to show your disapproval.

q They have the legal right to be on campus. They do not have the right to obstruct traffic or keep you from accessing buildings on campus.

q WBC has a history of litigation against counter-protesters.  Please do not threaten or hurt anyone.  Know your rights as well as your boundaries.

GLBTQ Services and Spectrum are here to support you as we continue this conversation. Do your best to keep yourself safe, and let us know what we can do for you. Contact glbtq@muohio.edu or 513-529-0831.

Spectrum’s Response to WBC’s Picket

First and foremost, Spectrum in no way endorses WBC’s beliefs, messages, or content.  We firmly believe that their hateful speech is harmful to most individuals, including the LGBTQA, Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, and military communities.  However, we must draw a line between what they say and their right to speak.  Furthermore, there must be a divide- a wall of separation- between academic inquiry to the nature of groups such as WBC and support for their messages and causes.

In planning Spectrum’s response to Westboro Baptist Church’s planned picket of Miami, most of Spectrum’s Leadership Team met with Dr. Hillel Gray, a professor who has studied Westboro Baptist Church and who has conducted numerous intimate interviews with members of the Phelps family.  We stand strong in our support of his work and of any public presentation of his studies that he wishes to pursue.  We believe that the first step to countering the effects of a group such as WBC is to understand how they operate, why they operate as they do, and thus the best ways to undermine their tactics.

Westboro Baptist Church is designed to picket.  Their ministry involves “rebuking” sinners on the streets and in targeted locations.  They are designed to have shock value, to elicit an emotionally violent, knee-jerk reaction.  They compare the negative reactions and counter-protesting to the vilification of the Old Testament prophets and use it as a means of reinforcing their doctrinal beliefs. Because of this knowledge, Spectrum will not host or endorse a counter-protest.  While we understand that some people will feel the emotional need to counter-protest (and we will not stop them), we will focus on building our community, not WBC.

Spectrum will pursue a multi-faceted approach to WBC’s picket.  We will work with other organizations across campus to create an event to take place during the picket, but in a removed location. We have chosen to remove ourselves from the location in order to mitigate the effect that Westboro hopes to have by sparking counter-protests and reinforce the positivity on which our community focuses. We will host a “teach in” discussion about hatred, organized hate groups, and organized responses from 3:30 to 4:00.  Then, for the duration of Westboro’s picket, we will have a Rally for Love, a coming together of Miami’s community to celebrate our diversity, our tolerance, and above all, our respect for each other.  This will be an opportunity to truly show our cohesion as a university and as a community.  It will be a loud event with music and celebration- an atmosphere of joy and love.  All are invited.  The location will be determined once we are made aware of where Westboro will be.

Spectrum will also organize alternate routes for passersby so that students, faculty, and staff will be able to avoid the picket.  We’ll deploy marketing materials and people to direct flows around Westboro in a manner that will mitigate the effects that Westboro hopes to have on passersby.  Finally, Spectrum wants to provide a means for people to show support of the efforts against hatred and bigotry.  We invite everyone to purchase a “Love is the New Label” t-shirt in our “White Out Hate” campaign.  If you don’t want to purchase a shirt, simply wear a white top on picket day to show solidarity! A mass of white shirts symbolizing our devotion to love instead of hate will be extremely powerful.  To purchase a “Love is the New Label” shirt for $15, email Billy Price (pricewc@muohio.edu) with your shirt size by Tuesday, October 11.  You can also get “No Hate on my campus” buttons from GLBTQ Services!  View the shirt design and stay up to date on our Westboro events at spectrummiami.wordpress.com.

The goal of this approach is to promote positive messages and to avoid giving Westboro what they’re looking for- what they thrive on.  It also mitigates the risk of escalation- physical or emotional- of a counter-protest; there’s no reason to risk the possibility of more hate.  We want all people interested in promoting a campus of tolerance and acceptance to be a part of our event.  Westboro is a strong group- we are stronger.  Let’s band together and do something that they’re not expecting.

Check out our Picket Day Events Page to stay up to date with our day-of events!

A Response to Westboro Baptist Church’s Visit to Miami

The open exchange of information and ideas is paramount to the development and dissemination of knowledge and ideas.   With that in mind, I would like to posit that the Westboro Baptist Church’s visit to Miami should be cautiously embraced for what it is- an invitation by a professor of Religious Extremism to Shirley Phelps-Roper to be the subject of an interview for hate groups.

Westboro and its founder, Fred Phelps, have had a history of controversial protests, pickets, and hurtful rhetoric.  This group is responsible for signs bearing slogans including “America is Doomed,” “Fag Troops,” “Thank God for 9/11,” “Priests Rape Boys,” “Thank God for AIDS,” “God Hates You,” and “God Hates Fags.”  Their beliefs are rooted in an extremely fundamentalist and literal construction and interpretation of Christianity.   Specifically, they argue that all death to American troops (as well as AIDS, 9/11, the Gulf oil spill, and myriad other tragedies) is God’s punishment for America’s tolerance of homosexuality.   Their website even features a running tally of the number of soldiers that “God has killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.”  It’s hard to separate their religious beliefs from bigoted hatred.

It is true that the Supreme Court recently upheld their right to picket funerals of fallen soldiers (in an 8-1 decision in Snyder v. Phelps).  The basis for this decision was that the first amendment protections of free speech extend to Westboro because their signs address matters of public importance (such as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, etc.)  While it was not a unanimous decision, the Court was unanimous in the belief that the speech is harmful.  Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. wrote the majority opinion, noting that the speech “is certainly hurtful and its contribution to public discourse may be negligible [but government] cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker.”   Justice Alito, in writing the dissent, argues that “Respondents’ outrageous conduct caused petitioner great injury, and the Court now compounds that injury by depriving petitioner of a judgment that acknowledges the wrong he suffered…  In order to have a society in which public issues can be openly and vigorously debated, it is not necessary to allow the brutalization of innocent victims like petitioner.”

In contrast to Westboro’s antagonistic approach of spreading their judgmental version of religion, Spectrum and many other student organizations offer peaceful, respectful dialogue between opposing views.  In Spectrum, every meeting begins with a Respect Agreement, a general code of mutual respect established for all people.  It’s how we run our meetings, and it’s how we grow.  All people are included in our discussion, and anyone who desires to speak has a chance to have his or her voice heard.  Peaceful, respectful exchange of information builds knowledge and enhances education.

With the general consensus (even in the Supreme Court) that Westboro’s speech is harmful, even hateful, it is appropriate that a Westboro spokeswoman is being invited to a class entitled “Religious Extremism.”  Even more apropos, this spokeswoman is being invited as a member of a hate group.  In light of these circumstances, Shirley Phelps-Roper’s visit is quite suitable.

-Billy Price
Co-President of Spectrum
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