Usf lgbtq
At USF's Stonewall Suites, these queer students locate ready-made family
On the sixth floor of a residential building on the University of South Florida Tampa campus, things are quiet as students retreat to their rooms to study for their terminal exams.
WUSF is not disclosing the name of the residence hall, to shield the students who reside here.
Student resident assistant Kabeer Trikka points out the pops of color splashed here and there in the form of event flags and rainbow-colored stuffed animals, a stark contrast to the beige walls.
"The only agenda that we have here is to love each other, to respect each other, and make friends,” said Trikkha, a psychology major — and also nonbinary and queer.
"It's much more than just a place where we live together. It's a community. There's help resources, there's people that understand your struggles, it's more than just, ‘oh, here's where all of the gay people live.’ "Mykiah Perkins
They motion to a small library in the corner of the common area — a collective effort by students to provide queer-friendly literature to their peers.
They also show off a miniature room strewn with racks of clothing, shoes and accessories li
A USF professor highlights the history of Tampa Bay’s LGBTQ+ community on a new website
A University of South Florida professor recently launched a website that highlights nearly 100 years of history of the Tampa Bay area’s LGBTQ+ community.
David Johnson, a history professor, has been working on USF’s LGBTQ+ Collection since joining the school in 2003. The collection is housed at the USF Library on the Tampa campus and features materials dating website to the 1930s.
The USF Library has been collecting LGBTQ+ materials for over 20 years in its Special Collections and recently began to digitize them.
Zibby Wilder, assistant director of communications and marketing for USF Libraries, said that when walking into the Special Collections room, visitors shouldn't expect to come across dry stacks of words on paper. Instead, they will meet history.
"It's a lot more than just, say, books, which you would normally expect stored in a library,” she said. “It can be everything from photographs to letters to personal effects to objects. So it's the whole picture, just not the written part."
Wilder said part of her job is to form sure these kinds of materials don't just rest in boxes, but are actually
Roughly one year ago, communications sophomore Earnest Cherry came out to their loved ones. Now, after legislative changes and divisiveness in Florida, Cherry said they are scared to commemorate in the same way.
Cherry said their concern extends beyond just this month’s events.
“It’s scary to view what our state is becoming,” they said. “I no longer feel secure late at night, or going out to the club with friends. I don’t know if someone will pull a gun on me because I am wearing a crop top.”
Public health junior Bich Huynh said she worries that the lewd of anti-LGBTQ legislation makes room for more hate crimes to be directed towards her queer friends.
“I already don’t feel safe walking around campus as a woman, so with the hatred being more unlock to the [LGBTQ] society right now, it really scares me,” Huyhn said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has passed several bills involving LGBTQ topics in education and queer access to healthcare. The latest, Senate Bill 1438 titled “Protection Of Children,” aims to prohibit children from attending grown-up live performances that simulate nudity, display of sexual activity and prosthetics usually seen in drag performances.
For USF student Rachel Kandl, this year’s Lavender Gala at USF felt “different.”
Having attended the event twice before, she noticed several changes, including the move in venue from the Alumni Center to the Marshall Student Center and the renaming of the event.
“Although it’s super sad to see the way queerness is getting shunned, it is still warming to see the collective continue to display up for each other,” said Kandl, a senior English and chemistry double major.
Previously known as the Lavender Ceremony, the event was first celebrated at USF in 2018. The ceremony is a nationwide event that recognizes the accomplishments of graduating LGBTQ+ students and allies, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
Around 100 people attended this year’s gala at the MSC Ballroom on March 25.
USF representative Althea Johnson said all attendees had been informed of the event “in advance,” but did not clarify how many people received an invitation.
Related: LGBTQ+ USF students to be celebrated at Lavender Ceremony
Some USF students said the event’s changes demonstrate the broader impact of nationwide and state-level restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
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