University Park

Penn State's LGBTA Center celebrates National Coming Out Week

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Each year, Oct. 11 is recognized as National Coming Out Day, to promote a safe world for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals to live truthfully and openly. Penn State’s LGBTA Student Resource Center has been celebrating National Coming Out Day since 1994 with a variety of educational programs for the Penn State campus community. For the 2011-2012 academic year, the Center is focusing its efforts on gender identity and expression – particularly as it relates to the Transgender community.

This year during National Coming Out Week, which begins Oct. 10, the Center will host S. Bear Bergman, who will speak on “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Gender,” at 7 p.m. on Oct. 11 in the HUB auditorium, and Shiva Subbaraman on “Queer Ragas: Dancing at the Intersections of LGBTQ Work,” at 7 p.m. on Oct. 13 in the HUB’s Heritage Hall. Other NCOW events will occur throughout the week. A list and description of events can be found at the National Coming Out Week website.

Later this semester, the LGBTA Student Resource Center will host Hudson Taylor, founder of ATHLETE ALLY. Hudson will speak at Penn State at 7 p.m. on Nov. 2 in the HUB auditorium. He will address the need for athletics to be more supportive of LGBTQQIA issues and share his journey as a competing athlete and Division I college wrestling coach at Columbia University with LGBTQQIA issues.

For all of its efforts supporting Penn State’s LGBTA community, the LGBTA Student Resource Center has once again been rated as a five-star Center by Campus Pride’s Campus Climate Index. The LGBT-friendly Campus Climate Index is a vital tool for assisting campuses in learning ways to improve their LGBT campus life and ultimately shape the educational experience to be more inclusive, welcoming and respectful of LGBT and Ally people. Since the index was created in 2001 and published for institutions to utilize, the LGBTA Student Resource Center at Penn State has maintained its five star ranking and been recognized for the services and programs it offers to the broader Penn State community.

For a list of collaborative programming offered throughout the fall 2011 semester, please visit http://www.sa.psu.edu/lgbt/SemesterEventsCalendar.shtml.
 

Last Updated April 19, 2017