Members of St. Thomas’ Queer-Straight Alliance run a table in the Anderson Student Center at a past event. St. Thomas’ Queer Straight Alliance and Center for Well-Being recently celebrated their one year anniversary of Qmmunity, which has provided students who identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community on campus an inclusive, safe space, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. (TommieMedia file photo)
St. Thomas’ Queer Straight Alliance and Center for Well-Being recently celebrated their one year anniversary of Qmmunity, which has provided students who identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community on campus an inclusive, safe space, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Qmmunity stemmed from the want for an extension of QSA and officially started in spring of 2020 before COVID-19 disproportinately impacted marginalized communities like queer folks. The program used its platform to cater to queer students during the pandemic.
“A lot of folks that lived with marginalized identities were overtly impacted even more so (because of) COVID, whether it was through the lack of community space to gather, whether it was the ability to express… primarily with the LGBTQIA+ community on campus,” Student Diversity and Inclusion Services Graduate Assistant Mads Clark said.
In spring 2020, Qmmunity primarily focused on students’ experiences with COVID-19, whereas in fall 2020, Qmmunity focused on how to make resources for mental and emotional well-being accessible to queer students. Qmmunity met every other Wednesday for an hour over Zoom.
“It was definitely more sort of tuned in on connecting students, staff and faculty with a lens of well-being, and that’s also carried into the semester as well,” Clark said.
Sophomore Kai Sanchez said she wants more ways like Qmmunity to bring queer people together.
“Representation would be having more clubs, organizations, advocating for the community. If there would to be more queer-targeted events,” Sanchez said.
QSA has also discussed other options at St. Thomas for queer folks, such as a physical center for queer folks and gender neutral bathrooms for inclusivity toward transgender students.
For now, queer students are given the opportunity to find acceptance, validation and a deeper exploration of their identities within the virtual Qmmunity space.
“I think what space literally and figuratively means for folks that have marginalized identities is really crucial and important not only again to expression but also to students’ development and sort of the ways in which students can come to understand their intersecting identities,” Clark said.
Josie Morss can be reached at mors7544@stthomas.edu.
So this is no longer a Catholic University. You chose perversion over the Catholic Faith. It is usually all about money and power without any moral values. Welcome to secular society.