Awareness Week to culminate in first school drag show
By Jessica Alway
The Bronco will host its first drag show this Friday night. The show serves as the culminating event of the third annual Gender Awareness Week, a five day celebration of sexuality, and is co-sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance (GALA) and Gays and Straights Promoting Educational Diversity (GASPED).
Awareness Week began Monday as students sported the color blue to show support for sexual diversity. An "Ally Workshop" was held in Benson at 9 p.m. where students participated in various activities to promote acceptance of all forms of sexuality.
On Tuesday, Sobrato hosted a student sexuality panel featuring gay, lesbian, bisexual and straight students. Wednesday was a day of silence to symbolize the forced silence of others in society, past and present.
Today students are invited to an open mic at Mission Bakery at 7 p.m. to discuss all they have learned this week. Finally, the drag show will begin at 10 p.m. tomorrow night. Students can still sign up to perform to win prizes or they can simply come to watch.
"Our basic goal was just to raise dialogue," Pablo Torres, an active member of GALA and a major contributor to the planning of the week, said. "Santa Clara is about 20 years behind other universities in that area when it comes to homosexual issues. At Stanford or Berkeley almost every student will graduate with at least one or two gay or lesbian friends within their extended circle of friends. That just isn't the case here."
It was for this reason students formed GALA in the late 1980s and GASPED in 1993. According to Torres, GALA serves as a social support group, while GASPED is an undergraduate student organization which provides information to the entire community regarding gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues.
Both groups have had representatives sitting at a booth in Benson throughout the week ready and willing to answer questions. GASPED handed out buttons with the letter "S," signifying support and acceptance. They also provided "Safe Space" buttons, a continuation of the program created in January 2001 to promote the right of all students to live and learn in a safe and respectful environment.
Initially, stickers on doors were the sole promoters of Safe Space, but the buttons make it more accessible to students on the go. The purpose of the program is very similar to that of Awareness week, to create consciousness of all the issues surrounding sexuality, make students feel more comfortable, breakdown stereotypes, and teach everyone how to be effective allies.