Welcome...

In this week's edition...

• HOT LIST! The Kinsey Sicks, Comedy/Musical Act
• Last day! Camp Pride early bird rates end Saturday, April 16!
• Gender neutral housing continues to spread
• Gender-neutral housing and Camp Pride
• Gender-neutral housing FAQ
• A sad response to the Day of Silence
• Let us feature your campus!

Check out this week's great features after the jump...

HOT LIST! The Kinsey Sicks, Comedy/Musical Act

With a phenomenal performance record that includes an Off-Broadway show, an extended run in Vegas, two feature films, six CDs, and appearances throughout the US, Canada, Mexico and Europe, the Kinsey Sicks hardly need an introduction. For over 15 years America's Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet has served up a feast of music and comedy to audiences at performing arts centers, music venues and comedy festivals in every kind of town you can imagine, in over 40 states! Their award-winning a cappella singing, sharp satire and over-the-top drag have earned the Kinsey Sicks a diverse and devoted following. Learn more...

Last day! Camp Pride early bird rates end Saturday, April 16!

Don't forget: Registration for Campus Pride's fifth annual Summer Leadership Camp is open online.

The five-day event will be held at Vanderbilt University, July 19-24, 2011.

Our Happy Camper Discount ends on April 16, so start registering today!

Gender neutral housing continues to spread

More colleges giving student option to room with members of opposite sex
by Karen Sudol, The Record, Friday, April 15, 2011

Freshman Mark Rivera’s roommate experience at William Paterson University wasn’t exactly what he had envisioned.

After informing his roommate before school began that he was gay and sensing an air of tolerance, the student barely spoke to him during the first days and eventually switched rooms. He explained to Rivera by text that he was more homophobic than he realized.

"For the rest of the semester, I lived alone and still live alone," said 19-year-old Rivera, of Paterson. "No one should be robbed of the full college experience. It starts with a roommate."

It’s a core reason why Rivera, vice president of Chosen: The Gay-Straight Alliance, said he and others are encouraging the university to join a growing number of colleges that allow students to choose roommates of the opposite sex to live with — identified as gender-neutral housing.

Read the rest at NorthJersey.com...

Gender-neutral housing and Camp Pride

In January, Ohio University became one of 50-some colleges and universities across the nation to offer gender-neutral housing. The housing approach has taken hold at small and large colleges alike in recent years, led by a coalition of students across the country. But students have also learned valuable lessons on instituting such change at Campus Pride's Camp Pride.

Following Ohio University's announcement in January, one former Camper wrote to us: "Ohio University will officially have gender neutral housing next year!!!!!!!!!!!!! In fact, they are going to start the pilot program with FIFTY beds! Which is a very large pilot program!!"

The student continued, "I am so excited and I just want to say thank you to all of you! If I had never gone to camp this summer, met all of you beautiful people, and wrote my action plan, well, it never would have happened. So thank you all for all of your support and the courage you gave me to keep going!!"

Campus Pride gets so excited when we hear stories like these, and we're awfully happy we get to provide great programs like Camp Pride where students from across the country can come together to learn, explore and strategize change.

Gender-neutral housing FAQ

Some basic Q&A items, courtesy The National Student Genderblind Campaign. Read more FAQs and learn more at www.genderblind.org/faq/.

Why are policies that require men to live with men and women to live with women inherently exclusive and discriminatory?
1. They marginalize gay, lesbian, bisexual, and students of various sexual orientations who feel comfortable, or more comfortable, rooming with someone of the opposite sex/gender.
2. They alienate transgender, genderqueer, and intersexed students who are forced into uncomfortable, dangerous rooming situations based on birth sex rather than gender identification.
3. They assume that men and women can never, and will never, live together non-sexually given the choice to do so.

What is the solution?
We advocate for gender-neutral policy.

What are the objections?
Some people claim that gender-neutral housing may result in an increase in straight couples rooming together, promiscuity, and a potential for violence. Through talking with campus administrators who have enacted gender-neutral policies, these fears simply do not materialize. While fully inclusive gender-neutral policy does allow straight couples the option to room together, we have found that very few couples choose to do so. Notably, gay and lesbian couples are allowed to room together under conventional policies, but few opt to do so; there is simply no reason to assume that heterosexual couples would be more likely to room with one another. Moreover, of the colleges we have surveyed, college administrators with gender-neutral housing report that only about 2-3 percent of all students decide to select a roommate of a different sex. We believe that the concern about the possibility of increased violence fails to take into account the reality of both the current situation and our proposed solution. This view is often based on the assumption that sexual violence only occurs towards women, from men; it does not recognize the fact that men can take advantage of other men and that women can take advantage of other women, or that women can take advantage of men. Conventional policy brushes aside these facts and does little to ensure safety.

Learn more about The National Student Genderblind Campaign...

A sad response to the Day of Silence

On Anti-Bullying 'Day of Silence,' the Religious Right Cheers on the Bullies
by Michael B. Keegan, President, People For the American Way
Huffington Post, April 15, 2011

Today, students across the country will take a vow of silence to protest anti-gay bullying and harassment in schools. The Day of Silence, an annual event organized by GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network), is meant to draw attention to the "silencing effects" of anti-gay harassment and name-calling in schools and to be a way for students to show their solidarity with students who have been bullied.

But all this silence has made the religious right very uncomfortable.

The American Family Association and the Liberty Council have called for boycotts of schools that allow students to participate in the Day of Silence. But the prominent anti-gay group Focus on the Family has gone even further, organizing a rival event -- the "Day of Dialogue" -- for students who want to tell their classmates "what the Bible really says about His redemptive design for marriage and sexuality." The organization is encouraging students to come to school on Monday armed with "conversation cards" and ready to talk about how they think being gay is wrong.

Read the rest at HuffPo...

Let us feature your campus!

As Queer It Up! Take Action Fridays continue to gear up, we want to feature student leaders, campus organizations and other student-led and -initiated efforts. We want to praise your successes and examine your challenges. Profiling them here gives other students the opportunity to learn from your mistakes as well as your achievements. All-in-all, we can help each other make better campuses and communities for LGBTQ people! If your student-led campus or community group has something to share, shoot an email off to matt@campuspride.org.

Want more? Check out our past Queer It Up! coverage.