SFUAD will host numerous Santa Fe Pride 2017 events on campus.
Words on Word of the Year
posted by Charli Renken
SFUAD students discuss the American Dialect Society’s decision to make “they”—as a singular gender-neutral pronoun—its Word of the Year for 2015.
Name Changes
posted by Charli Renken
Good news for transgender and non-binary students recently came out of Mouton: Assistant Director of Students Affairs Jeremy Hadley and Executive Director of Student Affairs and Operations Melissa Rudd have proposed new policies to allow students to use names other than their birth names on certain school documents such as student IDs, emails and class rosters.
Jewel Box Cabaret Presents “Hell on Heels!”
posted by Charli Renken
With Halloween quickly approaching, the Jewel Box Cabaret is furiously working on “Hell on Heels,” its newest, holiday-themed show. After a summer off the stage, the cast and crew of JBC are excited to pull their wigs and stilettos back on and give Santa Fe one hell of a season opener.
Conflict in the Gender Neutral Hall
posted by Charli Renken
Gender neutral hall residents have been in conflict this semester when it comes to the signage of their restrooms. Last year, the hall’s multi-stall restrooms were very clearly labeled as gender neutral, which allow any student, regardless of gender, to use them. While this year the hall was supposed to be gender neutral, the multi-stall restrooms were labeled with “Men” and “Women” signs. However, residents have collectively decided to use the restrooms as if they were gender neutral. Despite this, there have been recent allegations of conflict with facility workers over this decision. Resident Brian Iglesias claims he was told to leave the restroom by one of the janitors on the basis that he was a man in what had been labeled as a women’s bathroom. “I explained to her that the hall was gender neutral, so the signs didn’t mean anything and pointed to the ‘Human’ sign I’d made out of sticky notes to put over the ‘Women’ sign. She looked me dead in the eyes and tore it down,” he said. Later, Iglesias replaced his signs but they didn’t last the night. The next morning, Iglesias says he found the janitors cleaning and the signs were gone. “I just kept replacing them after that. I had plenty of sticky notes,” he said. Creative Writing major Dee Rose described a comparable experience. “I was in the bathroom washing my face… This guy from the cleaning staff walks in and tells me I can’t be in there. I thought he meant because he had to clean, so I pointed out that I wasn’t the only one in there. Both my hands and face are covered in soap during this whole conversation. He tells me again that I have to leave, but this time he says it’s because I’m a woman in the men’s restroom. I try to tell him that it’s gender neutral, but he said ‘No, the sign says men’s, so it’s men’s.’ I tried again to clarify that even though the sign says it’s men’s, it’s not….Everybody is allowed regardless of gender. He still makes me leave. I got the soap off my hands, but not my face. So I found myself sitting in my room, face full of soap, and my glasses still in the bathroom,” she said. After learning from Housing Director Connor Nelson that the hall wasn’t fully gender neutral, Iglesias made the decision to stop making his temporary signs until the hall was officially labeled as gender neutral in the school’s system. Nelson has released a survey for residents of the hall to officially make a decision on the restrooms. Until every resident has taken the survey, a decision about the bathrooms will not be officially made. Other residents took up the gauntlet and continued to cover the permanent signs with temporary, paper ones. One student, who wishes to remain anonymous, decided to remove the permanent “Men” and “Women” signs completely, hoping that would solve the issue. However, there are obvious problems with this approach. “They really shouldn’t have done that,” Nelson said, explaining that if the hall were to be used as anything other than a gender neutral hall in the future, they would need to order new signs. “We didn’t say anything about it, though,” he said, explaining that he understands the desperation behind the removal. Housing decided to not take action against the student for removing the sign and hopes that once the survey is complete, they can put up new, gender neutral signs for the hall. “We’re just waiting on a few people to turn in their survey before we make a decision,” Nelson added. While residents hoped removing the signs would solve the issue, this wasn’t the case. Allegedly, at least one janitor began writing “Men” on one of the restrooms in permanent marker. “She just came through with a sharpie… and wrote on the door. I was watching her,...
SF honors LGBTQ+ theater...
posted by Charli Renken
The cast and crew of a local LGBTQ+ themed play were recently honored when Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales officially proclaimed Sept. 18 to be “Almost Adults Theatre Day.” “Almost Adults” is a collection of five short plays written and co-produced by Aaron Leventman. Each play revolves around “love, sex, and immaturity,” and deals with the intricacies of being gay in the modern age. Assistant Director and SFUAD Theater major Triston Pullen said the proclamation meant the world to him. “I was saved by theater and found a family there that was like no other. We were all weird and unique in our own way. To have a mayor have a proclamation for LGTBQ Theater is groundbreaking in my opinion,” he said. Pullen not only served as assistant director, but also directed the second play in the production, “Maturity,” about a pair of twins and their struggle with the separation that comes with growing up. “What’s really incredible about being the mayor of Santa Fe are the people [who live] in it; the talented people who come together continuously to make sure that opportunities are given to the underserved or underrepresented people,” Mayor Gonzales said during the proclamation event. “Tonight it will be opportunities given to many of our youth to take part in plays that Aaron [Leventman] has developed.” He went on to say that he thinks “the best of our community are always shown on nights like this.” Gonzales is a large supporter of the arts as well as activism in the LGBTQ+ community. Just this summer, the mayor put into action an ordinance that requires businesses with single stall restrooms to make those facilities gender neutral, something of great use to the transgender community. The production’s involvement with the mayor started...
Gender Neutral Hall Snafus...
posted by Charli Renken
After the success of last year’s gender neutral hall, LGBTQ+ students on campus were excited to return to an inclusive living space. However, due to the closing of LaSalle, miscommunication and a push to fill residence halls to capacity, the gender-neutral hall this year has been less than ideal. Last year there were two bathrooms in St. Michaels B200, both completely gender neutral. The hall was designated only for those who had signed up for the hall. The “door decs” had been carefully made to include the student’s preferred names rather than their legal ones. This year, however, things have changed. The hall was moved from St. Michael’s B200 to B100, one floor below and, while there are three bathrooms, the only gender-neutral one is a single-use facility. There are also many students who didn’t sign up to be in the gender-neutral dorm who were placed there after the closing of LaSalle, making the hall a “hybrid of what it used to be,” says Housing Director Connor Nelson. While most residents feel that DeAndre Montoya is doing a good job with the hall, it was not communicated to him that he would be the hall’s RA until what many feel was last minute. Because of this, “door decs” had residents’ legal names, rather than their preferred names, something that is very important to transgender students. While this wasn’t Montoya’s fault, many students felt anxiety over the decorations. “[When I chose to live in the gender-neutral dorm] I was expecting that the bathroom signs wouldn’t still be up,” George says. This is one of the major problems the hall is having this year. With only one gender-neutral bathroom for transgender and non-binary students to use, it’s hard for them to feel comfortable in their own...
Recent Comments