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...

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...

Despite a rocky start due to equipment malfunction and bad weather, Pride Week was a big success. From Thursday April 16 to Sunday April 19, the campus was buzzing with Pride related activity.

Pride Week kicks off today with an open mic this evening, April 16, in the Forum at 7 p.m. In addition to the open mic, students will be performing skits, plays and poetry. The Screen will also be showing “The Birdcage” tonight at 10 p.m with free pizza. Sponsored by COLORS, Pride week will continue with events happening each day, ending Sunday, April 19.