The University of Pennsylvania was decked out in rainbows the past few days for the school’s annual LGBT-awareness week, which will wrap up this weekend with the appearance of an out Academy Award winner.
Dustin Lance Black, screenwriter of “Milk,” will deliver the keynote address for QPenn at 6 p.m. March 27 in Room G17 of Claudia Cohen Hall, 249 S. 36th St., an event that is free and open to the public.
Paul Richards, a senior international-relations major who’s co-chairing this year’s QPenn, said Black was at the top of the list of speakers that organizers started considering in September.
“Our main task in the fall was to nail down a keynote speaker, and we talked over some names, and he was really our first choice,” Richards said. “As a young activist, he’s someone that I think a lot of young LGBT people will be able to connect with.”
QPenn also offers a host of other activities for students to connect with one another and the entire LGBT community.
Throughout the week, many of the university’s undergraduate and graduate LGBT organizations hosted socials and discussions, such as the Queer People of Color’s evening with Isis King, the first transgender contestant on “America’s Next Top Model.”
Today at 2 p.m., the discussion will continue with a workshop on erotophobia at the LGBT Center, 3907 Spruce St. At 7 p.m., the Queer Student Alliance will host a drag show at College Hall, with proceeds to benefit the Vivek A. Patel Foundation, a mental-health organization named after a Penn student who was active in the school’s LGBT community and who died last year. And from 11 p.m.-2 a.m., the alliance will also host Wonderland!, a social at Midatlantic, 3711 Market St.
Before Black’s address on March 27, J-BaGeL, a club for LGBT Jewish students, will sponsor a discussion with professor Joy Ladin, a transgender teacher at the New York City Orthodox Jewish school Yeshiva University.
QPenn’s final day of events, March 28, will feature Penn Athletes and Allies Tackling Homophobia’s Pride Games at 3 p.m. at Hill Field, 34th and Chestnut streets, and Queer Undergraduates in Engineering, Science and Technology’s Quizzo Night at 6 p.m. at Mikey’s, 3180 Chestnut St.
Richards said the annual slate of activities typically draws involvement from beyond the LGBT community.
“My co-chair for QPenn is actually a straight woman, an ally, and another member of the board is an ally, too. One of the great things about QPenn is that it does involve the whole community. We’re out fliering for events so we meet a lot of people who don’t identify as LGBT but who are really interested in coming to QPenn events. People want to know more, they’re curious about the community and, at a place like Penn, it’s actually looked down upon to not be supportive of the LGBT community.”
Just as the event seeks to draw participation from the ally student community, it also encourages interactions among the entire Philadelphia LGBT community, an effort Richards said is exemplified by this year’s theme “It’s Always Queer in Philadelphia.”
“We thought it was neat because it encourages people to think beyond the Penn LGBT community. QPenn is a celebration of queer people at Penn, but we are welcoming the entire Philadelphia community to join us. The LGBT community at Penn is part of something that’s larger than just the campus community. We want people to look outside of the comfort zone that exists here.”
For more information on QPenn, search for QPenn 2010 on Facebook.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].