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A Space of Our Own |
L
We received a dubious welcome from the Council of the Students' Union (CSU), who ratified us as a society and informed us, through then-VP Internal Glenn Beck, that we could have office space for safe meetings -- just as soon as they found a room that wasn't needed to store spare ball-hockey equipment.
But one by one, people kept calling, and then dropping by our meetings, once we assured them we weren't the recruiting queer orgy of the growing campus rumours.
We held some movie nights, and a "coming out" party in the spring, complete with rainbow cake.
And we kept reminding the CSU that, stimulating as certain intramural sports might be, being queer or questioning is not a hobby and we needed a space.
Finally, in the fall of 1997, after a year of polite nudging and refusing to disappear, after blitzing the campus with LBGTMUN stickers (and after Beck was replaced as VP by Karen Keilly), the CSU granted us status as a Resource Centre, and an office in the TSC.
That's where we are now.
Lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgendered, queer and questioning members (and some who
choose not to pick any particular
"label") are in and out of the office 5 days a week. If you need to talk to someone for support,
find information on other resources around town, borrow a book or an article from our library,
look into our support groups, or just drink a free cup of coffee in an anti-homophobic
atmosphere, we'll be glad you dropped by.
LBGTMUN is a confidential peer support service.
We're here to listen if you need to talk, and to share information, books and space. We
aren't here to tell you whether or not you're
gay/bi/trans/lesbian, or what to do about it.
You don't have to be "out" to others, or even sure yourself,
to join us or use our resources.
LBGTMUN members can play a lot of different roles in the group. Some of us volunteer in
the office, taking calls and talking with visitors; others just come by to hang out. Some go to
general
meetings, while others are involved only through one of our specific support groups. How
involved you are is up to you.
Gower Street, St. John's,
Newfoundland
Resource centre: Staffed by volunteers; offers confidential support, a variety of resources and safe space. And we're always open to new projects!
Library: Coming out stories, queer-theme fiction and cartoons, magazines and political writings. Donations welcome too!
Support groups: Weekly general support meetings open to L/B/G/T/T/Q/? members of all genders, women's discussion group, transgender group. All groups are confidential. To join any of these groups, contact our office, or talk to us about starting a new group.
Advocacy: If you're getting hassled by a MUN office or organization because of your orientation or identity, LBGTMUN may be able to help. We keep track of anti-queer incidents on campus, and have made complaints in support of individuals.
LBGTMUN can
be found in room UC-6022 on the sixth floor of the new University Center of Memorial University in St. John's.
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